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SUPREME COURT OF CYPRUS RULES IN FAVOUR OF AGBU IN THE MATTER OF MELKONIAN PROPERTY
NICOSIA, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. On December 11, 2006, the Supreme
Court of Cyprus (Judicial Review Jurisdiction) rescinded the so-called
Conservation Order, by which the Ministry of the Interior of Cyprus
tried to prohibit the sale of Melkonian institution by AGBU. The
sentence was passed "for lack of justification" of the Conservation
Order.
The Conservation Order had been issued by the Interior Minister of the
Republic of Cyprus in 2004, later upheld by the Council of Ministers,
restricting the use of the AGBU Melkonian property in Nicosia.
Earlier, the Supreme Court of Cyprus (Appellate Jurisdiction) in a
unanimous opinion dated December 21, 2006, has ruled in favour of
AGBU in its appeal of an Interlocutory Order that the District Court
of Nicosia had issued on February 3, 2006, upholding the petition
of His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, Armenian Patriarch of
Istanbul and All Turkey, to restrain AGBU from selling, alienating,
or changing the use of the Melkonian property. Patriarch Mutafyan was
seeking a declaratory judgement that the Melkonian property was held
by AGBU "in trust" and "the re-registration of the said property in
his name as trustee for the Armenians all over the world."
According to the Cyprian Armenians periodical, the Supreme Court
of Cyprus has recognised AGBU's full ownership rights to the
property. Quoting extensively from the relevant parts of the Deed of
Transfer of 1926, the Court states that AGBU's "ownership [of the
Melkonian property] and the right of disposal etc.....was without
the conditions and restrictions invoked by the Respondent."
NICOSIA, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. On December 11, 2006, the Supreme
Court of Cyprus (Judicial Review Jurisdiction) rescinded the so-called
Conservation Order, by which the Ministry of the Interior of Cyprus
tried to prohibit the sale of Melkonian institution by AGBU. The
sentence was passed "for lack of justification" of the Conservation
Order.
The Conservation Order had been issued by the Interior Minister of the
Republic of Cyprus in 2004, later upheld by the Council of Ministers,
restricting the use of the AGBU Melkonian property in Nicosia.
Earlier, the Supreme Court of Cyprus (Appellate Jurisdiction) in a
unanimous opinion dated December 21, 2006, has ruled in favour of
AGBU in its appeal of an Interlocutory Order that the District Court
of Nicosia had issued on February 3, 2006, upholding the petition
of His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, Armenian Patriarch of
Istanbul and All Turkey, to restrain AGBU from selling, alienating,
or changing the use of the Melkonian property. Patriarch Mutafyan was
seeking a declaratory judgement that the Melkonian property was held
by AGBU "in trust" and "the re-registration of the said property in
his name as trustee for the Armenians all over the world."
According to the Cyprian Armenians periodical, the Supreme Court
of Cyprus has recognised AGBU's full ownership rights to the
property. Quoting extensively from the relevant parts of the Deed of
Transfer of 1926, the Court states that AGBU's "ownership [of the
Melkonian property] and the right of disposal etc.....was without
the conditions and restrictions invoked by the Respondent."