Gerolakkos or Yerolakkos (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: Γερόλακκος, Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

: Alayköy), is a village near Nicosia

Nicosia

Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...

, the capital of Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

.

It was the site of intensive fighting during the Turkish invasion

Turkish invasion of Cyprus

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...

 in 1974. Gerolakkos is immediately to the north of the ceasefire line, later known as the Green line, separating Northern Cyprus from the rest of the country.

Nowadays the town has a population of over 5 thousand people, most of whom have been moved there from other parts of Cyprus since the invasion of 1974. It is also the site of Nicosia International Airport

Nicosia International Airport

Nicosia International Airport is a largely disused airport located to the west of the Cypriot capital city of Nicosia. It was originally the main airport for the island, but commercial activity ceased following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974...

, which has been closed since 1974 as it is in the UN buffer zone. Nowadays Nicosia Airport is the headquarters of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).