PRESS RELEASE
The Armenia Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
04 June, 2008
HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND COMPLETES VERIN HORATAGH SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION:
SCHOOL NAMED AFTER BARONESS CAROLINE COX
Yerevan, June 04, 2008 – Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is proud to announce
that a new school has opened in the Verin Horatagh village of Karabakh on
May 30. The project has been sponsored by the Toronto affiliate of Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund.
The new school will bear the name of a great humanitarian, the Deputy
Speaker of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Baroness Caroline Cox.
Dubbed as the "Guardian Angel of Arstakh", Baroness Cox has been an adamant
supporter of Nagorno Karabakh both in the United Kingdom and
internationally, calling for the full and proper recognition of Nagorno
Karabakh, as well support for its redevelopment. Baroness Cox has visited
Nagorno Karabakh more than 60 times and has led numerous humanitarian
missions to the fledgling republic. In 2006 she was awarded the Mkhitar Gosh
Medal by the President of the Republic of Armenia.
Baroness Caroline Cox, who arrived in Karabakh together with her son,
daughter-in-law and grandchildren, was the guest of honor at the event.
Among the official guests attending the ceremony were the Prime Minister of
Nagorno Karabakh Araik Harutyunyan, Minister of Education and Science
Vladimir Khachatryan, Minister of Civil Construction Aleksandr Mamunts, Head
of the Martakert Administration Sergei Ohanyan, as well as the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund Executive Director Vahe Aghabegians, Deputy Director Ara
Vardanyan, Chairman of the Toronto affiliate of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Migirdic Migirdician, other representatives of the affiliate, representative
of the Fund in Karabakh Michel Tancrez, other officials and guests from
Armenia, Canada, France, Nagorno Karabakh, and the U.S.
Verin Horatagh, now a community of 530, was devastated in the Artsakh war.
"Most of the families had to abandon the village to escape the horrors of
war. When it was over, Verin Horatagh resembled a ghost town," recalls Naira
Arustamyan, principal of the school. "We are grateful to the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund, Baroness Cox and our Armenian friends in Canada for this
wonderful modern school. I am convinced that the new school will bring a new
sense of hope for a better future to the residents of our village," she
added.
Baroness Cox visited Verin Horatagh village for the first time in 1992 while
carrying out one of her numerous humanitarian missions in Karabakh. Two
years ago she shared her memories in an emotional keynote address at the
annual fundraising banquet organized by the Toronto affiliate of Hayastan
Fund. By the end of the highly successful event funds were fully raised for
the construction of the new modern school.
"Baroness Caroline Cox’ involvement and support counted so much in this
project that it is altogether fitting and proper to have the school named
after her. We hope that the school will make a profound difference in the
lives of children and people in the region", said Migirdician.
"It is a privilege and a great honor for me to be in this precious part of
the world today. Your people are wonderful; you kept the spiritual and
cultural values alive in the dark days of war. This new school will help
give the young people the future they deserve", said Baroness Cox.
The funding of the school was made possible thanks to a number of
individuals among them Massis Kesisyan, who initiated a bicycle ride from
Toronto to Montreal, and prominent pianist Serouj Gajian, who donated the
proceeds from a concert to the construction of the school. Two classrooms in
the school are now named after them. A tiny replica of an Armenian Church on
the roof of the school is a gift to the community by the Verin Horatagh
village tinsmith Varpet Seiran who has been involved in the construction of
the school.
"We are grateful to the Toronto affiliate of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund and
Baroness Caroline Cox for the beautiful gift to the people of Artsakh. This
school will open a brighter chapter in the lives of residents of Verin
Horatagh", said Aghabegians, Executive Director of Hayastan All-Armenian
Fund.
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Hayastan All-Armenian Fund