Dr. Demetris Stavrou – European Institute of Plastic Surgery – Nicosia Branch

About Nicosia

Nicosia (), also known by its Greek name Lefkosia (Λευκωσία; pronounced [lɛfko'siɐ]), its Turkish name Lefkoşa (pronounced [lefkoʃa]), and by several other names, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. Nicosia is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capitals. It has been continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years and has been the capital of Cyprus since the 10th century. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities of Nicosia segregated into the south and north of the city respectively in early 1964, following the fighting of the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64 that broke out in the city. This separation became a militarized border between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus after Turkey invaded the island in 1974 following an attempt at Enosis. Apart from its legislative and administrative functions, Nicosia has established itself as the island's financial capital and its main international business center. In 2018, Nicosia was the 32nd richest city in the world in relative purchasing power. == Names == The earliest mention of the city is on a clay prism of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon dated to 672 BC, which calls it Lidir. The local form of the name was later variously hellenized as Ledra (Greek: Λήδρα, Lḗdra), Ledrae (Λέδραι, Lédrai), Ledroi (Λήδροι, Lḗdroi), and Ledron (Λεδρῶν, Ledrō̂n, and Λῆδρον, Lē̂dron).By late antiquity, early Christian sources were recording the location as Leuteon (Λευτεῶν, Leuteō̂n) and as Leucon (Λευκῶν, Leukō̂n), Leucotheon (Λευκοθέον, Leukothéon), Leucoi Theoi (Λευκοί Θεοί, Leukoí Theoí), and Leucopolis (Λευκούπολις, Leukoúpolis), incorporating forms of the Greek words for "white" (λευκός, leukós) or "poplar" (λεύκη, leúkē) and for "God" (Θεός, Theós), "god" (θεός, theós), or "goddess" (θεᾱ́, theá), with possible allusion to a supposed son of Ptolemy I Soter or to the sea goddess Leucothea. During the Byzantine period, the form Leucosia (Λευκουσία, Leukousía)—usually parsed as intending "the white estate" (ἡ λευκή οὐσία, hē leukḗ ousía)—became common; this developed into modern Greek Lefkosia (Λευκωσία, Lefkosía, [lefkoˈsi.a]) and Turkish Lefkoşa ([lefˈkoʃa]).