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[halil]

Cypriot Maronite Arabic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Probably the most divergent of all Arabic varieties is Cypriot Maronite Arabic, still spoken by most of the 130 elderly Maronite Catholics in Kormakiti (Korucam) in Northern Cyprus, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Brought to the island by Maronites fleeing Lebanon at least 700 years ago, this unique variety of Arabic has been very heavily influenced by Greek in both phonology and vocabulary, while retaining certain unusually archaic features in other respects.

i would like to get more information about above writing.pls write down more things about Cypriot Maronites.

thanks.

[the_snake_and_the_crane]

Halil, did you edit the bit about them being from 'Northern Cyprus' (occupied) or did you only post this because it mistakingly mentions the occupied areas as 'Northern Cyprus'.

[halil]

this is only reserch.pls write anything u know about Cypriot Maronit's.
Maronites are Catholic Christian people of Arabic origin, who came and settled in Cyprus ............. so and so ........
. They speak their native tongue, an Arabic dialect, which is mixed with many Greek and Turkish words etc....etc...

[kafenes]

January 29, 2004 edition of the Christian Science Monitor

Aramaic, language of Jesus, lives on in Cyprus
A Maronite village, isolated by the island's division, struggles to carry on the tongue.

By Michael Theodoulou | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

KORMAKITI, CYPRUS – If the people of this remote village were to travel back to Jesus' time and hear him preach, they wouldn't need an interpreter to understand the Sermon on the Mount or the parable of the prodigal son.
That's because they speak the same language as the Son of God. Literally.

Spoken in the Middle East during Jesus' time, Aramaic is still used in everyday life by most of the 130 elderly Maronite Catholics in Kormakiti, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.

This could be good news for Mel Gibson. If the megastar has trouble finding an audience for "Passion," his upcoming movie about the final hours of Jesus' life on Earth with dialogue mostly in Aramaic, due to be released next month, the folks here should have no trouble with the original biblical tongue.

Still, Kormakiti's unique diluted version of Aramaic, called Cypriot Maronite Arabic, is in danger of extinction. Once the thriving center of the island's Maronite community, Kormakiti now has the eerie atmosphere of a ghost town.

Many of the village's stone and mud-brick houses are derelict, their wooden-beam roofs sagging and broken, letting in sunlight. There is bird song but no sound of children, because there are none left in the village. "Sometimes we're like astronauts in the sky - no one's here," says villager Elias Kassapis.

The elementary school, run by Mr. Kassapis until 1991, closed down a few years ago when the last pupil left to attend a secondary school across the island's dividing "green line" in the Greek Cypriot region.

Under Cyprus's 1960 Constitution, following independence from Britain, the island's Maronite, Armenian, and Latin religious minorities had to choose to belong to either the Greek Cypriot majority or the smaller Turkish Cypriot community. They chose the former.

After Turkey's invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, the island's four Maronite villages found themselves on the wrong side of the cease-fire line. The majority of the 6,000-strong Maronite community was displaced, moving south.

A stalwart few stayed behind in Kormakiti and three nearby villages in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, and are viewed by those who left as heroes protecting Maronite land.

The Rev. Antony Terzi, the village priest, negotiated with the invading Turkish Army on behalf of those who refused to be uprooted. And he said the village was safeguarded by the Pope's personal protection.

The community nevertheless suffered. Families were forced out because of lack of opportunities, especially schooling. Those who left to study in the south were allowed to visit Kormakiti but not permanently return. Nor are villagers allowed to bequeath property to outside heirs.

Providing a lifeline to those enclaved in Kormakiti are Maronite Catholics in the south of the island who send food, medicine, fuel, and other humanitarian supplies, which are delivered every two weeks by UN peacekeepers.

On weekends, Kormakiti is transformed when hundreds of uprooted worshipers cross back north to celebrate mass. The main parts of the liturgy are read in Aramaic, Kassapis says.

Kormakiti's long isolation from the main currents of the Arab world helped to keep alive its exotic strain of Aramaic, which incorporates Greek, Turkish, French, and Italian words.

Hopes for Kormakiti's renaissance were stirred last April when the Turkish Cypriot authorities unexpectedly allowed limited access across the "green line" for the first time in nearly three decades. Now Maronites can visit for longer periods but are still not allowed to reside there.

Sensing more of a future for their ancestral village, some are renovating their old homes for weekend use. Their hopes are pinned on a comprehensive settlement plan for Cyprus, which was submitted last year by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, but which has been rejected by the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash. Under the plan's terms, the Maronite villages in Turkish-held northern Cyprus would come under Greek Cypriot administration. According to some in the Maronite community, the provision was included after intervention by the Vatican.

Without a solution to the long-running Cyprus problem, the Maronite community - and its ancient language - in northern Cyprus could vanish, members say.


http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0129/p07s02-wome.html

[halil]

Thanks.....Kafanes...... your information is usefull for me thanks again u are the first person that gave me information. As we know they are the Cypriots as well.
Have u visited the village aka Kormatiki (Kormaciti =Koruçam).
i would like to invite u for a lunch at Yorgo's Restaurant we can talk more about Maronites and so on..... i would like to make a documentary about them.it will take long time to work on it.
Yorgo's Restaurant is a family establishmen Like everyone else in the village, they are very hospitable. They chit-chat and joke with customers and on some special occasions, they organise special sirtaki and tavern type entertainment too.
Kormaciti is a typical Cypriot village. Wherever you look you will see traditional Cypriot style houses .Even though some of the houses might be in need of some renovation, the texture is there. The newly built houses are also built in the same style in order not to change the facade of the village. Gardens are well taken care of in the village and streets are very clean. There are several old churches in the village square and one dominant Catholic Church. The priest and the nuns are very welcoming, can invite u into the church to take photographs.
Many Cypriot Maronites still preserve their customs and traditions and have a Maronite village mukhtar (community leader or government local representative). almost every house has a Cyprus style oven in their garden.

[kafenes]

Halil, thank you for your invitation. In actual fact I know nothing about Maronites (I am an Armenian Cypriot). Yiorgos Restaurant sounds very nice and when one day I will be able to visit all of Cyprus without showing any documantation, then I might take on your offer. Please don't take this personally.

[jambo]

Did you that the owners of waterworld ayia napa, are Maronites.
The melas family, they are good friends of mine .
maybe you could interview them.

[humanist]

The Turkish Cypriot leadership and Turkish army are barbarians of no return......... They play victims to the majority of Greek speaking Cypriots yet have not recogniosed the ills to the minority groups menttioned above. Yet another indicator that the aims of the T urkish military and Turkish speaking Cypriot leadership is partition of their own Island to serve the needs of the very few Turkish speaking Cypriot elite.

Cyprus has been lost for ever.

[halil]

Halil, thank you for your invitation. In actual fact I know nothing about Maronites (I am an Armenian Cypriot). Yiorgos Restaurant sounds very nice and when one day I will be able to visit all of Cyprus without showing any documantation, then I might take on your offer. Please don't take this personally.

it is very intersting for me to meet Armenian Cypriot too.
also i wish to travel all around the Cyprus without showing any documantation.it will take long time...... even any Turkish Cypriots holds a Cypriot identification card they have show it at the greek border .
do u belive now i am 50 years old and i have never been at Pafos.i have been only i visited larnaka and limassol thats all.

İt's been sometimes now i do search about maronites.it will be very interesting for all of us to see below forum conservation between 2 forum member.i found it today.
pinar



Joined: 02 Mar 2005
Posts: 6
Location: NORTHERN CYPRUS Maronites

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I would like to learn cultural things about the Maronites. How do they celebrate Christmas, Easter? how their family works? Recently I traced my family hisory and according to Archives here in Cyprus, my great great great-grand parents were Maronites, who converted to Islam and became Turkish-Cypriots. My old family name was Avraam.
_________________
The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war
--Ralph Waldo Emerson


Sharkis



Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 1
Location: CYPRUS Cypriot Maronites

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Dear Pinar,

My name is Sharbel and I come from the Maronite village of Kormakitis ( Korucam in Turkish) from the North of Cyprus.

Now I leave in the South but I visit the village weekly at least. My parents and many relatives still live there.

In Cyprus there exist 6000 Maronites who emigrated here in waves from Lebanon and Syria 1300 years ago.

For more on the Maronites of Cyprus please visit our website maronites-cy.com

You may register and converse with our visitors in English as well as Greek thus participating in our forum discussions. See you soon so that we can trace together your ancestors.