Gerard Cafesjian and Kirk Kirkoryan have been awarded with great
humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Fridtjoff Nansen medal.

Armenia TV
January 6, 2005

Prominent American-Armenian benefactor Gerard Cafesjian has been awarded
with the Fridtjoff Nansen medal for his active socio-political
participation, establishment of humanitarian principles, investments in
the motherland, namely for reconstruction of the ”Cascade” museum,
and for his active participation in all nation-wide projects. Fridtjoff
Nansen Fund’s chairman also delivered that . another prominent
Armenian-American benefactor and businessman Kirk Kirkoryan has also
been awarded with the same medal for reconstruction of the Armenian
economy and desaster zone, for reconstruction of cultural objects, for
unprecedented number of highway-construction projects and for financing
a great deal of other humanitarian initiatives. ”This once again
testifies that nothing is left unnoticable by people who live in
Armenia.” Said Felix Bakhchinyan, chairman of the ” Fridtjoff Nansen
Fund”. The fund functions for about ten years. During this period it
has awarded with medals several prominent people: among them, grandson
of the great humanitarian, architect Aidil Nansen, Russian
ex-prime-minister Nikolay Rijkov, president of the Norwegian National
Academy Bjarne Vaaler, presidendts of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, the
prime-minister of Armenia, defense ministers of Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh, writers Eduartas Majelaitis, Silva Kaputikyan, Zori Balayan,
president of the Natioanal Academy of RA Fadey Sarkissyan and so
forth. Chairman of the Fridtjoff Nansen Fund congratulates the great
patriots on the occasion of beeing awarded with the medal of the Nobel
Price recipient Fridtjoff Nansen. Felix Bakhchinyan also congratulates
them both on the occasion of the New Year and Christmas. Please, find
underneath the texts of the certificates, which were awared to Gerard
Cafesjian and Kirk Kirkoryan.

Honorable Mr Gerard Cafesjian, for your fruitfull activities conducted
towards establishing of social-political and humanitarian principles, as
well as for your unforgettable merit put within development of the
republic’s economy and for your most active participation in all
nation-wide projects, you are being granted with the comemorative medal
of the great humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize recepient Fridtjoff
Nansen.

Honorable Mr Kirk Kirkoryan, for your fruitfull activities conducted
towards establishing of social-political and humanitarian principles, as
well as for your unforgettable merit in the motherland’s development,
reconstruction of the desaster zone, road-construction and renovation of
cultural centers, you are being granted with the comemorative medal of
the great humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize recepient Fridtjoff Nansen.

High Comissioner of the League of Natioans, recipient the Nobel Peace
Prize, National Hero of Norway, physician, polar explorer and great
friend of the Armenian people Fridtjoff Nansen encountered numbers of
Armenian refugees, who escaped the Great Genocide committed by the
Turks. He also has implemented a prolific work in introducing the
Armenian problem to the world. It is well-known that Nansen has given
passports with his own signature to those Armenians who had no
documents. And those passports were accepted in many countries. n those
times the great humanitarian helped the people of Povoljie to escape
starvation. He sent to Russia 4000 trains packed with food, as a result
of which, 7 million people escaped death. Today one in every 5 Russians
is the generation of those who once were saved by Fridtjoff Nansen. In
1925 Nansen visited Armenia in order to learn personally the refugees’
situation. He understood that the super-powers and the League of Nations
once again have deceived Armenians and himself. After this, he left for
the United States, hoping to collect donations. Nansen delivered
lectures in all Universities, receiving money in return. And in the
end, in the streets of big cities, the citizen of the world, Fridtjoff
Nansen, began to ask for money for Armenian refugees.