Pulse Returns to Maronite Village in Cyprus

With its lush green meadows and fragrant citrus groves, this sun-drenched village overlooking the Mediterranean seems like the perfect island getaway. But for its handful of inhabitants, Kormakiti was long an open-air prison that they were unable to leave without official permission.

“We were living in a golden cage,” said Maria Skollou, a local restaurateur.

After three decades, that has changed for residents of Kormakiti and three nearby villages that are home to a dwindling community of Maronite Christians whose ancestors came to Cyprus from Lebanon during the Crusades hundreds of years ago.

Freedom for the Maronites in Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus returned two years ago when Turkish Cypriot authorities eased access across the U.N.-monitored “green line” that bisects the island. The move was aimed at reviving frozen peace talks with the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government in the south.

“It was one of the happiest moments of our lives,” Skollou said.

Cyprus, whose total population is barely 1 million, has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the island in response to a brief Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

The majority of the 6,000-strong Maronite community moved south into the Greek zone. The 100 or so Maronites who stayed behind were viewed with suspicion by Turkish Cypriot authorities and were prohibited from leaving their enclaves without authorization, “even if it was to go shopping in town,” Skollou recalled. To ensure that they returned, villagers were forced to leave behind their identity papers.

“They thought of us as Greeks because we are Christians,” said Paul Kumi, the 67-year-old village priest. “Sadly, the Greeks have never fully trusted us either, because they are Orthodox and we are Catholics.”

Under the open-door policy, the Maronites can leave their villages at will and move freely within the North. They can also join Greeks and Turkish Cypriots in day trips across the green line.

The impact of detente is palpable in Kormakiti, where the smell of fresh paint and cement competes with the scent of wildflowers. Maronites who resettled in the Greek zone have recently begun to restore their ancestral homes here, a right that is still denied to tens of thousands of Greeks who also own property in the North.

“The Turks are helping us fix our roads, they are being very helpful,” said Petros Katsiolides, a Maronite employed by the Greek Cypriot government.

Like many, he comes on the weekend when Kormakiti springs to life. Peals of children’s laughter echo across the village square. Skollou’s restaurant overflows with Greeks, Turks and Maronites dining on strips of tender roast lamb. After a few rounds of the house red wine, all begin to sing the same tune, albeit in different languages. “Ah, just like the good old days,” sighed Kumi the priest.

Maronites resettled in the Greek Cypriot region are still barred from residing permanently here. Many in Kormakiti agree that their survival is ultimately pinned on the island’s reunification. Unable to speak Turkish, most Maronites in the North remain deprived of job opportunities and an education.

As a result, younger members of the community have left permanently for the more prosperous Greek zone.

“Only old people live here,” Skollou said.

Kormakiti’s elementary school, now overrun by weeds, closed in 2001 when its last and only student left to attend high school in the south. Kumi says his greatest fear is that the Maronites’ ancient tongue, an exotic blend of Arabic, Greek, Turkish and Italian, will die.

Hopes for the community’s rebirth were briefly rekindled last year when the Turkish Cypriots backed a United Nations plan that would have reunited the island as a European Union member under a loose federation of autonomous Greek and Turkish states. Many Maronites supported the deal because it accorded their villages a special, independent status. The plan collapsed when the Greek majority rejected it and was allowed to join the EU anyway last May.

The Greek Cypriot president, Tassos Papadopoulos, has rebuffed international efforts to revive the plan, saying Turkey, which is also seeking membership in the European bloc, needs to take further steps before he returns to the negotiating table.

Bowing to pressure from European leaders, Turkey last year agreed to sign a free-trade agreement with Cyprus that amounts to recognition of the Greek Cypriot government, but has ruled out further concessions. Undeterred by the deadlock, Turkish Cypriots last month reelected a pro-reunification government that has pledged to make Kormakiti a showcase for the island.