Avas or Avantas (Greek, modern: Άβαντας, katharevousa: Άβας, Bulgarian: Дервент, Turkish: Dervent) is a village in the southern part of the Evros regional unit, Greece. Avantas is located 10 km north of Alexandroupoli. It is on the Greek National Road 53 (Alexandroupoli - Mikro Dereio - Ormenio), between Alexandroupoli to the south and Aisymi to the north. In 2021 its population was 486.
Population Year Population 1912 about 400 1981 555 1991 516 2001 497 2011 527 2021 486
History
The village was founded by the Ottoman Turks. Its inhabitants were 3/4 Bulgarian and 1/4 Turkish before the Balkan Wars and the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922). According to professor Lyubomir Miletich, the 1912 population contained 320 Bulgarian families.Любомиръ Милетич. Разорението на тракийскитe българи през 1913 година, Българска Академия на Науките, София, Държавна Печатница, 1918, стр. 295. Refugees from east of the Evros river and from Asia Minor arrived into the village. Its name was changed from the Turkish Dervent to the current Avas.
People
Mitro Karabeljata, Revolutionary leader and strategist of Tane Nikolov
See also List of settlements in the Evros regional unit
References