Kormakitis’ oldest woman dies

A funeral was held on Wednesday for the oldest woman and enclaved individual in Kormakitis Christina Fordraris, who died at the age of 103 on New Year’s Day.

Friends and family gathered to pay their final respects to Fordraris, who died at the Ayios Antonios Foundation, where she had been placed in care for the last seven months, a statement from the presidential palace said.

On behalf of the president, the commissioner for humanitarian affairs Anna Aristotelous attended the ceremony.

In the eulogy, Aristotelous said: “She was humbled and grateful to say farewell to the woman, who was a symbol of Kormakitis, an emblematic individual of the occupied Maronite village.”

Fordraris was born in 1922, and lived for over a century in her village, even after the Turkish invasion of 1974.

“She taught her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren what it means to love your roots, your home, every corner of your village, where you played as a child, where you dreamed, where you lived your whole life.

“To this woman we make a promise that we will make every effort to create a home for the elderly in Kormakitis, so that our enclaved can remain in their place. This is what they want. That is what Christina wanted,” Aristotelous said.

Concluding, she stressed that the president, who had visited Christina Foradaris, supports the enclaved.

She added that enough has been done, but more will be done for the enclaved and resettled people “who for 49 years have kept our Maronite villages alive”.

Aristotelous laid a wreath from the president in honour of Fordraris.