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Un til December 1963, wit hin th e wa lled N icosia there was the Armenian district, wh ich could be defin

follows : to the north of Paphos Gate, to the east of the m oat, to the south of the foun tain of Zahra street

to the wes t of the v irtual line that formed the extension of Athanasios Diakos street towards Mula bas

Although the majority of the residents were Armenian-Cypriots, the Armenian Quarter was far f

ctmonochromett, as many Turkish-Cypriots, as w e ll as some Greek-Cypriots, Maronite-Cypriots, Latin-C

ots and British used to live there. In act, un til he fir st years of the British Era, the area was also kno wthe Latin Quarter; late r onit wa s s plit between the Karaman Zade and Arab Ahmed quarters.

WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER-MICHAEL HADJILYRA

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LIFE IN THE ARMENIAN OUARTER

t i ful , whereas each celebrat ing house wouldoffe r dishes to the neighbo urs too. The ladiessay tha t most Armenian foods are s imi la r tothe Cypriot ones, their mode of preparationbeing the ma in differentiation.

The sma ll forestM rs Elsie, whos e house wa s located on Tanzi-m at s treet , facing the moat , make s part icu larreference to the sm al l forest on Roccas bastion,the so-ca lled

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ie ~ or e oing 1 01, w e usea rca church, whe re w e lit a candle beroe miraculous icon of Saint George, tc

Greek-Cypriots also brought oblat

The diversity was bewildering: scholars, den-t is ts , labourers , mirror-ma kers, lawyers, hat-ters, m erc han ts, taxi drivers, musician s, chefs,photographers etc . Looking back, I r e m e m her Top,th e Sinanianfamilyhouse(great-grandparentsof Mr sElsiehow colourful theywere and I wonder how far Utidjianlas it s today. Below,th e weddingof Marielskenderianwith

Jirayrde rAvedissian.October1950.the old t r au ma s of the Genocide contr ibuted totheir gaiety ..Armenian-Cypriot life revolved around thechurch of the Virgin Mary on Victoria street,buil t in 1308 as a Bene dictine abbey, wh ich iswhy enchanting Crusader tombstones werefound there.In m y memories s tand out the s t reet vendors 'shouts , the housewives ' chat ter from opendoorways and the t i red cars f inding i t ha rd toqo throuqh the narrow al leys. Victoria s treetits el f sta;ted f r o m th e ati inchurch, later onwe found the Armenian-Orthodox church,whi le a t the end was the Arab Ahmed mosque;the Armen ian Evangelical church was found onits extension. At times, t he voice of the priest,the pastor and the muezzin wou ld overlap.The Armenian Quar ter was cramped wi thhouses with Ottoman kiosks and thei r charac-ter is t ic shutters , with few pavements and evenfewer t rees , whi le on the lamp -pos ts I r e m e m -ber the plastered funeral announcements. Ourhouses had secret g ardens [i nne r yard]. Myroad, Tanzimat s treet , was a mixed one [Arm e-nian-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots] with

houses made of sandstone, on which ot he rth anthe respectable farni l ies l ived some rougedladies of the n ight .. >>

Uprooting of 231 familiesThis was thes or t of l i fea t th e Armenian Quar ter,this beautiful ne ighbourh ood of old Nicosia.