Maronites, Armenians and Latins
Cypriot Muslims and Christians can be said to be in a love/hate relationship. From the rise of Greek nationalism in the 1820s and 1830s through the later partitioning of Cyprus, the two major ethnic groups rarely cooperated,(with the exception of revolting against Ottoman taxation). Otherwise, there was no real segregation until Turkish troops landed on the island in 1974 in response to a Greek-sponsored coup aimed at annexing the island to Greece. Cyprus had three other ethnic groups at the beginning of the period: Maronites, Armenians and Latins. Together they numbered only about 6,000—less than one percent of the island's population, but they maintained social institutions of their own and were represented in organs of government. The Maronites and Armenians came during the Byzantine period and the Latins slightly later. Maronites are Catholic Christians of Aramaean origin, who settled in Cyprus 1,200 years ago from Lebanon. They speak an Arabic dialect mixed with many Greek and Turkish words. By the mid-twentieth century, they lived mainly in four villages in northwestern Cyprus. Armenian Cypriots were primarily urban and mercantile, most of whom had arrived after World War I. Latins were concentrated among merchant families of the port towns on the southern coast and were descendants of the Lusignan and Venetian upper classes.
Read more about this topic: Cypriot American
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