PRESS RELEASE
ARMENIAN PATRIARCHATE
TR-34480 Kumkapi, Istanbul
Tel: +90 (212) 517-0970
Fax: +90 (212) 516-4833
Divan@ArmenianPatriarchate.org

ARMENIAN PATRIARCHATE TAKES LEGAL ACTION TO KEEP MELKONIAN INSTITUTE OPEN

CONTACT: RAFFI ZINZALIAN
951-453-9917

On behalf of Melkonian alumni, around the world, the Patriarch of the
Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey, Mesrob Mutafyan, as the original trustee of
the Melkonian gift, filed a lawsuit on January 13, 2005, with the Superior
Court of the State of California, against The Armenian General Benevolent
Union seeking to continue the Institute as the premier Armenian educational
facility in the world and enforce the terms of the Garabed Melkonian Trust.
The suit will be prosecuted by MacCarley & Rosen, PLC of Los Angeles,
California.

Devoted alumni from around the world have banded together to oppose the
closing of their beloved Melkonian Educational Institute, a treasure of
Armenian culture and education in Nicosia, Cyprus. Using the proceeds of a
large financial gift from Garabed Melkonian, a benefactor, the Armenian
Patriarch of Constantinople, Zaven Der Yeghyayan, in 1923 established the
Melkonian Educational Institute in Cyprus. It has nurtured three generations
of Armenian teachers, educators, lawyers, doctors, poets, scientists, and
leaders. Its location in Cyprus puts it at the crossroads of the Armenian
culture-between the Armenia homeland and the millions of Armenians who have
immigrated to Europe and the America’s.

In 1925, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople with Garabed Melkonian’s
concurrence thereafter conveyed the entire gift, including the Melkonian
Educational Institute, in trust to the Armenian General Benevolent Union,
with the express direction and expectation that the AGBU would maintain the
Institute in Cyprus and continue to educate Armenian youth long into the
future. The Melkonian School now educates over 200 students from throughout
the world every year at its 40 acre campus in Nicosia.

The AGBU has recently announced that the Melkonian Institute will be closed
at the end of the 2005 school year. Melkonian graduates from around the
world have united in vigorous opposition to any effort to sell off the
School and to do injustice to Garabed Melkonian’s vision and foresight. So
far, individual calls to AGBU to retain the school have gone unanswered.