Ozanköy: Olive and Carob Village Guide

Ozanköy, one of the villages people ask about most, sits on the hillside between Kyrenia and Bellapais, a few minutes inland from the coast. Leaning against the foot of the Kyrenia Mountains, the village was formerly called Kazafani; it owes its present name to the poet Osman Türkay, who was born here, and in Turkish "ozan" means folk poet. It is genuinely rare for a settlement to take its name from its own poet. Yet the village's real signature, we would say, is hidden in the kitchen. The reason is clear: in our research and elsewhere, carob molasses (pekmez) and olive oil have been mentioned alongside the village's name for years. In the sources we examined we found that things here still run by the farming calendar, and the calendar is set by the harvest. We are talking about a few minutes from central Kyrenia, yet the village still keeps a rhythm of its own, separate from the coast.

Where Kyrenia Ends, Ozanköy Begins

The village lies between the east and south-east of Kyrenia, bordering Beylerbeyi, that is, Bellapais. The neighbourliness causes "confusion" even on paper: a hotel on the boundary gives a Beylerbeyi address in its own publicity while travel sites list it under Ozanköy. The distance to central Kyrenia is in the two-to-three-kilometre band, so it is more sensible to expect a drive of a few minutes... The same overlap shows in postal addresses too: a business here writes its address directly under Kyrenia. As for population, the only clear figure we have dates from before 1974, and in the 1973 census the village had an average of 1,099 inhabitants. The numbers circulating today are no more than estimates, though the sources repeat that the village has grown with tourism.

Good News for the Health-Conscious: The Village's Bread Comes from Carob

The traditional economy rests on livestock and farming. The products that made the village's name, though, are molasses (pekmez) and oil, meaning olive oil. The molasses here is generally made not from grapes but from carob, the fruit of the carob tree. But how is this dark syrup obtained? The juice of the fruit is slowly evaporated, leaving a thick consistency. There is a reason we underline the distinction: across the island, when people say pekmez most of them think of grapes, and in some listings even the village festival is recorded as a grape molasses festival. The mix-up looks innocent, but it misdescribes the village's best-known product, because what goes into the cauldron here is carob from start to finish. Kyrenia Municipality, for its part, names carob explicitly in its own publicity. Tahini with molasses comes out of the same kitchen; carob's place on the village table is not limited to a single product. Olive oil is the second item on this stall, and on festival days it is sold among the village producers' goods.

At the End of August the Street Turns into a Market Stall

From what we saw in the sources, the 2026 edition of the Molasses Festival was the eighteenth and took place on 28-30 August. The organiser is Kyrenia Municipality, and the venue is Dr. Fazıl Küçük Street inside the village. Since free shuttle buses run from the Baldöken car park and the area around Kyrenia Castle, on those three days it is easier to use the shuttle than to drive into the village. On the stalls, alongside carob molasses, there is grape must and tahini with molasses, and traditional Cypriot sweets and home-made pastries are sold further along the same rows. Local cheeses, olive oil, jams and preserves complete the list. By the municipality's own definition, the aim is to encourage carob production and bring eco-tourism to the village.

The second day of the programme is devoted to the life and work of the poet Osman Türkay, so the village also commemorates its namesake in the festival calendar. Let's also clear up a common mix-up here. Kyrenia's famous olive festival belongs to another village, Zeytinlik, formerly Templos. Because both villages host Kyrenia Municipality's harvest-themed festivals, the risk of confusing the two is high. The announced timing for the twenty-fifth festival in Zeytinlik is late September to early October.

The Crusader Road Still Carries the Same Name

The village's past rests on an agricultural settlement that grew up around a feudal estate called Casal Pifani. The settler traces of the Crusades and the Lusignan period are hidden in that name. The most tangible legacy of that era is the name of a route: the road known in the village as the Crusader Road is still described by the same words centuries later. After the Ottoman conquest, the village is mentioned as one of the mountain settlements to which the former Latin residents of Kyrenia Castle were exiled. We can tell how far back the link goes from the name of the abbey too: in historical sources Bellapais Abbey also appears for a time under the village's old name, as the Abbey of Cozzafani. The village's own church is still standing, and its two photographs in the archives are labelled only with the old name, the building's own name having never made it into the records. The everyday fabric is far more recent: Ozanköy Sports Club was founded in 1956 and still takes the field in the amateur leagues.

You Come Here by Car

Since public transport is weak at this location, a hire car or a taxi from Kyrenia is in practice the only sensible way. For short distances there is one more alternative: the electric scooter-sharing scheme Kyrenia Municipality runs with Tazı has brought this village into its service area along with Karaoğlanoğlu, Doğanköy and Beylerbeyi. The scooter, of course, is for short hops within the village, not a transport plan for someone setting out from Kyrenia. As for the surroundings, Buffavento Castle is reached from behind the village via the Değirmenlik pass, so for anyone putting the castle on their programme this is a natural starting point. With Bellapais next door, combining the two in one outing is easy too; the two settlements already line up on the same mountain foot above Kyrenia.

For those who love walking there is good news, we could say, because there is a sample route described in a record from 2016. Starting in Doğanköy, running via Beylerbeyi to Ozanköy and descending to the coast, this route shows on the map as roughly 23 kilometres and 8.5 hours. The figures may suggest this is not the same thing as a day trip round the village, so we strongly recommend you compare the route against an up-to-date source before setting off. Should you come on those three days at the end of August, or in a week outside the festival? For those wondering: during the festival the street belongs to the stalls and shuttle buses, while in the remaining weeks you can drive into Dr. Fazıl Küçük Street in your own car.

For the village next door, see our Bellapais village guide; for the castle reached from behind the village, read about Buffavento Castle; and for the latest dates of the molasses festival, check our North Cyprus festival calendar.