Kofinou (; or ) is a village located in the

Larnaca District The Larnaca District, or simply Larnaca (also Larnaka), is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its capital is Larnaca. It is bordered on the east by Famagusta District, on the north by Nicosia District and on the west by Limassol District. A sma ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. It is situated where the roads from Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol trisected, prior to the by-pass built in the 1990s.

History

Cyprus was invaded and conquered by Ottoman Turkey in 1570-1 A.D. At that time a small contingent of Turkish forces was stationed there. Their descendants lived in relative peace with the local Greek and Christian population for many years. In the 1950s during the uprising by Greek Cypriots to overthrow British Empire rule the relationship between the Greek and Turkish population worsened and the Greeks left but were replaced by Turkish Cypriots from another village. The village became infamous on 15 November 1967, when some National Guards troops overran the TMT (a Turkish-Cypriot armed group) fighters located at the village, including the neighbouring mixed village of Agios Theodoros. Turkish-Cypriot TMT members stationed at the area were controlling the area and blocking the main road from Nicosia to Limassol, making it impossible for Greek-Cypriots civilians to pass through the area without UN escort. After repeated warnings through the United Nations on 15 November 1967, General Grivas and his National Guard to Turkish Cypriots to stop fire at civilians they attacked. The fighting escalated and some 24 Turkish Cypriots, including unarmed civilians lost their lives in the overnight events; Turkey's ultimatum the following day resulted in the withdrawal of the National Guard from the two villages. This event in particular saw the return of Grivas and his battalion back to Greece. In addition, this event also culminated in the removal of all road blocks upon which Turkish Cypriot buses entering Nicosia were being stopped and by which means the passengers were subjected to a body search. After the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish Cy ...

in 1974, the original Turkish Cypriot population of Kofinou were allocated the village of

Lefkoniko Lefkoniko (; or ) is a town in the Mesaoria Plain under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus, claimed by Cyprus. Lefkoniko is the birthplace of Cypriot national poet Vasilis Michaelides and is known for its lace. Geçitkale Air Base of ...

– the new Geçitkale – in the north by the Turkish Cypriot administration, to this day where many of them reside. Kofinou is planned to be the place for large

HVDC converter station An HVDC converter station (or simply converter station) is a specialised type of substation which forms the terminal equipment for a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.Arrillaga, Jos; High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, s ...

s for the 2,000 MW

EuroAsia Interconnector The Great Sea Interconnector, formerly known as the EuroAsia Interconnector was a planned HVDC interconnector between the Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli power grids via the world's longest submarine power cable, with a length of from Israel to Cyp ...

and the

EuroAfrica Interconnector EuroAfrica Interconnector is a planned HVDC interconnector and submarine power cable between the Greek, Cypriot, and Egypt power grids.

.EuroAsia Interconnector – Official site
/ref>EuroAfrica Interconnector
/ref> The

is a 2000 MW electricity interconnector between

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, Cypriot, and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

power grid ''Power Grid'' is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'', designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004. ''Power Grid'' was released by Rio Grande Games. I ...

s via a 1520 km long

submarine power cable A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water.EuroAfrica Interconnector EuroAfrica Interconnector is a planned HVDC interconnector and submarine power cable between the Greek, Cypriot, and Egypt power grids.

is a 2000 MW interconnector between

, Cypriot, and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

s via 1710 km long submarine power cable. Converter stations will be near the existing Kofinou 132kV transmission substation of the

Electricity Authority of Cyprus The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) (Greek: ''Αρχή Ηλεκτρισμού Κύπρου (ΑΗΚ)'') was founded in 1952 by the British colonial government. The 28 private electricity companies of the time were nationalized and absorbed i ...

References

{{Larnaca District Communities in Larnaca District Turkish Cypriot villages depopulated after the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus