Here's some excerpts from the very long article....
By Iason Athanasiadis
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Originally from Syria, today's Maronite community in Cyprus was shaped by four successive waves of emigration that started in the 8th century and lasted over six centuries.
The influx of Maronites who arrived on the island in the 12th century were initially privileged as they based themselves in the mountains and guarded the coastal areas of the Crusader kingdom against invasion. Up to 32,000 Maronites were killed during the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in 1570. At the battle of Famagusta alone, 8,000 died in a bid to stop the Turks from breaching the city walls. Only 812 remained on the island. The Ottomans punished them for their insubordination by appointing the Greek Orthodox religious majority the main Christian representatives on the island and banning Catholicism. This fomented conflict, for the indigenous Orthodox community resented the Maronites, thinking them deviants.
Ottoman rule was harsh for the Maronites. They were victimized both by the Muslim Turks for their opposition to the Ottoman invasion and by their Orthodox coreligionists. Fourteen Maronite villages became extinct during the three centuries of Ottoman domination as waves of Maronites escaped back to the Sham region or moved westward to Malta.
While persecution is no longer a threat, Maronites today face their greatest threat in the form of assimilation into the homogeneous, Greek Orthodox Christian majority in the south.
--------------------00000000000000000000---------------------------------
... ...
