Kopay
கோப்பாய் කෝපායි | |
|---|---|
Town | |
     From top left to right: Vada Kovai Verakaththi Vinayakar Kovil, Kopay St Mary's Church, Kuthiyadi Kulam – A royal swimming pool, Jaffna National College of Education, Divisional Secretariat Building | |
| Motto: Dedicated Public Service | |
  Kopay | |
| Coordinates: 9°41′0″N 80°03′0″E / 9.68333°N 80.05000°E | |
| Country |  Sri Lanka |
| Province | Northern |
| District | Jaffna |
| DS Division | Valikamam East |
| Government | |
| • Type | Valikamam East Pradeshiya Sabha |
| Elevation | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 10,128 |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone) |
Kopay (Tamil: கோப்பாய், romanized: Kōppāy) is a Sri Lankan town about 4 km from the city of Jaffna along Point Pedro road. An agricultural town consisting mainly of vegetable farms, paddy fields and coconut gardens. The suburb Kopay has several scholars because of very strong schooling system. Arumuka Navalar established the school managed by Suwaminathan is famous for this. Arrival of Church Missionary Society (CMS) strengthened the educational system. Kopay Christian College is one of the oldest schools in Jaffna with 150 years of service remain unbeaten in producing quality scholars.
During the Sri Lankan civil war, Kopay was also known as the place where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) built their first war cemetery (known as Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam) for their dead fighters when they controlled the Jaffna peninsula in the early 1990s. This cemetery was destroyed by the Sri Lankan armed forces in 1996 after they captured the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. The cemetery was then rebuilt in 2002 during the ceasefire period. However, after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, the Sri Lankan armed forces completely demolished the cemetery in July 2010, and also built an army base on the site of the cemetery.
