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  • Melkonian students remain in uncertainty

    PRESS RELEASE/NEWS REVIEW

    MELKONIAN ALUMNI CYPRUS

    Contact: Masis der Parthogh

    P.O. Box 16077, CY 2085
    Nicosia, Cyprus.
    Tel. +-357 22 678666
    Fax. +-357 22 678664
    Email: [email protected]

    Melkonian students remain in uncertainty

    There were no registrations for the new school year

    PHILELEFTHEROS - Monday, August 30, 2004
    (Translation)

    By Frixos Dalitis

    The prospect of the new school year being the last one for the historic
    Melkonian school of the Armenians is imminent. Everybody despises this
    outcome but the intention of the Armenian General Benevolent Union
    (AGBU) charity foundation is to close the school and sell the land.

    The registrations for new students have not taken place this year by
    decision of the Executive Board of the foundation and the decision
    is to close the school at the end of the new school year. The issue
    has caused the extensive reaction of the Armenian community, which
    on the initiative of the school's Alumni Association is resorting to
    actions to prevent this closure.

    As the vice president of the Alumni Association, Masis der Parthogh,
    told "Phileleftheros", registrations did not take place this year by
    decision of the foundation that manages the school. Also, he said,
    the local representatives of the AGBU are warning parents that the
    school will close and they deserve to find something better for
    their children.

    As regards the Melkonian, the Environmentalists' Movement had raised
    the issue in November 2003 suggesting that the development zoning
    levels for the whole estate be reduced to prevent anyone from selling
    it. On April 2, by decision of the Minister of Interior, two thirds
    of the land (the twin buildings, the founders' villa, the boarding
    house and the forest) were declared as a protected area. However,
    according to Mr. der Parthogh, the company that administers it has
    objected to the proposal to declare the land as protected.

    "I don't think this decision can change, because the matter has to go
    to the Council of Ministers which I consider is impossible to change
    the declaration," Masis der Parthogh said.

    Also, on March 26, the House plenary session called on the government
    to intervene so as not only to declare the buildings as protected but
    also for it to continue to operate as a school and for the AGBU board
    that is based in New York to come into contact and cooperate with the
    Armenian community of Cyprus and to discuss the future of the school.

    Since then, Mr. der Parthogh said, nothing has happened and the AGBU
    representative in Cyprus ignores the House decision and continues to
    implement the decisions of the foundation's board without coming into
    contact with anyone.

    "We, as the Association, sent a letter to the President of the House,
    as well as to all the deputies of the House Education Committee and
    the Ministers calling for their immediate intervention, because these
    people have not only put aside any decision of the House, but they
    ignore it as well. We say, through our Representative in the House,
    that we are in a position to undertake the complete management of
    the school, if the State, the Parliament or any other body can start
    a dialogue for us to take control of the school's administration,"
    Masis der Parthogh said.

    Referring to the Association's position and the actions they are
    taking to prevent the school's closure, he said: "That ground, we
    do not accept that it belongs to them, as they claim. Our lawyers
    here have been working for months trying to prove the opposite,
    that they simply had the administration of the school and not its
    ownership. The Melkonian is a private school that belongs to a trust,
    the administration of which is in the hands of the foundation.

    "From the 1920s to the early 1930s efforts were made to transfer
    the ownership to the Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople. This
    is what we are trying to discover with our lawyers with searches in
    many countries. Furthermore, what we are saying is that as this is a
    trust they cannot sell it, but they can only administer it and nothing
    else, so it has to revert to the Armenian community. We are trying
    to involve all the bodies, political parties, etc., in order for a
    political decision to be taken to ensure the continued operation of
    the Melkonian school."

    Ministry of Education's hands are tied

    The Melkonian school is a private school for secondary education with
    an offer for free education by agreement of the Republic of Cyprus. It
    was established in 1926 and initially operated as an orphanage,
    providing shelter and board and later education to orphan Armenians who
    survived the genocide by the Turks. Gradually, the Melkonian school
    was transformed to a large educational institute for the Armenian
    diaspora with an international reputation and for the national culture
    for the Armenian community of the diaspora. The school's continuation
    is considered as vital for the Armenian community in Cyprus.

    The Ministry of Education, through the Director of Secondary Education,
    Andreas Skoteinos, assures that it is doing everything possible within
    its ability for the school to continue to operate.

    "Some legal problems prevent the Ministry from taking further action
    as the school is private and the law does not allow for any further
    involvement in the matter," he said. However, he expressed the hope
    that "we will not be led to the prospect of the school closing."

    "O Phileleftheros Ltd."
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