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]
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Melkonian relative returns to help save school
Financial Mirror – November 10, 2004
Jack R. Melkonian, a grand nephew of the founders of the Armenian
high school in Nicosia, was in Cyprus to judge for himself the fate of
the historical school and lend a hand to the campaign to keep it open.
He addressed a fund-raising banquet on Sunday organised by the school’s
local alumni where more than 300 graduates and friends attended.
“A financial institution sitting 5,000 kilometres away cannot be the
owners of this school — you are the owners of the school,” he said
to a wild applause from the crowd.
Jack Melkonian hailed the importance of maintaining such an important
school for the rapidly changing Armenian diaspora and added that
opportunities were missed to transform the Melkonian Educational
Institute into a school of excellence.
On March 16, the New York-based AGBU charity organisation announced
that it would close the 78-year old Melkonian Education Institute
next June, claiming that the school no longer fulfilled its purpose.
The argument has been strongly contested by the alumni, parents and
friends in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and North America,
who have embarked on fund raising events to finance the struggle to
overturn the decision.
Members of the House of Representatives and Ministry of Education
officials have debated the closure extensively, with Education
Committee Chairman Prodromos Prodromou declaring on March 24 that
“in a multicultural society we should be opening new schools, not
closing them. This decision will be considered a hostile act against
the people and government of Cyprus.”
The House plenary session also voted through a unanimous resolution
on March 26 calling on the New York-based group to reconsider its
decision and start a dialogue with all parties concerned, including
the Armenian community of Cyprus and the worldwide alumni associations.
In April, a large part of the school’s estate including the historic
buildings and the wooded strip along Limassol Road were declared
a national heritage site. The protection order is widely seen as
depriving the U.S.-based organisation from selling the land, valued
at tens of millions of pounds.