A VOTE FOR UNITY: ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVE PLEDGES TO RE-OPEN MELKONIAN
By Jean Christou

Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
Oct 11 2005

DR VAHAKN Atamyan was the winner of the by-election on Sunday for
the Armenian seat at the House of Representatives, after garnering
52 per cent of the 1,500 votes cast at the polls.

Atamyan received a total of 769 votes. In Nicosia, he snagged 224
votes at one of the two polling stations in the capital, and another
272 at the second. In Limassol he received 113 votes and in Larnaca
160. He succeeds Bedros Kalaydjian, who died on September 1, aged 71.

The second of the two main candidates, Dr Antranik Ashdjian received
a total of 649 votes or 43.91 per cent. In Nicosia, he received 198
votes at the first polling station and 222 at the second, while in
Limassol Asdjian secured 89 votes and in Larnaca 140.

Outsider and late-entry candidate Parsegh Zartarian received a total
of 60 votes or 4.06 per cent. In Nicosia, he garnered 26 votes at
the first polling station and 15 at the second. In Limassol Zartarian
secured 13 votes and in Larnaca 6.

All three candidates were running on a ‘unity’ ticket, pledging to
bring the divided 3,000-strong Armenian community together to resolve
decades of polarisation within the ethnic group.

Immediately after his victory on Sunday, Atamyan promised to act as
representative for all Armenians in Cyprus and strive to meet his
pre-election commitments.

He called on all Armenians to join him in a struggle to promote
solutions to the serious problems faced by the community and said he
would be also be running for re-election in the May 2006 parliamentary
elections to finish the work he is about to start.

Atamyan said he had already begun contacts with all Cypriot political
parties to solve the problems faced by the Armenians in Cyprus.

He told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that he plans to visit the Armenian
Patriarch in Lebanon and to begin negotiations for the reopening of
the Melkonian, the only Armenian secondary school in Cyprus, which
was closed down for financial reasons.

Opponents of Atamyan, who had been on the school board, said he had
not done enough to help save the school.

“I will start in the next few days to have negotiations on the school
with the alumni and we will see how to proceed,” Atamyan said.

Commenting on the election results yesterday Ashdjian said he had
been honoured by the number of votes he received.

“It shows that nearly half of the Armenian community were pro change
and worried about the future and the mismanagement and closure of
the Melkonian,” he said. “I congratulated Dr Atayman last night and
I will see if his promises of cooperation will be met.”

Zartarian said he hadn’t expected to secure more votes than he had
“because of the deep polarisation that exists in the community”.

“However I am happy that my message was heard by all of the
electorate. I’m glad that I had a lot of positive feedback from people
and that the message was approved, even though for various reasons
it was not converted into votes,” he said. “People didn’t want to
switch. But it’s a start.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress