WHY THE MELKONIAN MUST REOPEN
Eleni Theocharous

Cyprus Mail
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April 23 2009

ON APRIL 24 we remember the victims of the Turkish Genocide against
the Armenian population of Asia Minor. We honour the Armenian nation
and its suffering through resolutions and emotional speeches. In my
opinion, there is a much better way to act: let’s reopen the Melkonian
school. We owe it to the surviving, active Armenian community here,
we owe it to ourselves because the Armenian community is a part of us.

Despite our participation in pan-European campaigns to respect
multiculturalism (after all, 2008 was the Year of Multiculturalism)
and despite the declarations by governments to mark the multicultural
character of our homeland, a living part of our culture and the history
of our country has been allowed to wither and eventually to close –
the historic Melkonian school.

This school played a vital role in the past 80 years towards the
support and development of the Armenian language, culture and history,
as well as for the preservation of this nation’s identity. It was the
only institute of its kind in the whole of Europe that provided an
education to Armenian students, with this education based on their
heritage and the language of learning being in Armenian.

The Melkonian Educational Institute was established by the great
visionary Garabed Melkonian as an orphanage in 1926 to provide shelter
and protection to hundreds of survivors of the genocide. The building
that housed the school until its closure – that currently houses the
Aglandjia Gymnasium – is protected by the Republic of Cyprus as a
part of our national heritage.

The forest that surrounds it was planted by orphans, the first
inhabitants of the orphanage, to remind us all of the genocide. Each
tree represents one of the many Armenian communities scattered
across the world. It is therefore a holy place and a historic one
that symbolises the hope that other genocides are not perpetrated in
this world.

Thousands of Armenians from all over the world have studied at the
Melkonian when it eventually became a school and many loved Cyprus,
carrying with them the drama and the history of this island, the
culture and its suffering, to the rest of the world.

Many have excelled and distinguished themselves, becoming the leaders
of the Armenian communities in every country, while also contributing
in various fields towards the development of the Armenian culture,
education, language and national identity. Thousands of graduates
have left their mark in world history by distinguishing themselves in
literature, the arts and sciences and in the field of business. At
the same time, they became ambassadors of Cyprus supporting the
just cause of the people of Cyprus vying for a fair solution to the
Cyprus problem.

Included among the many who passed through the Melkonian are Bedelian,
Abcarian, Vahan Tekeyan and so many other eminent scientists, artists,
musicians, teachers, writers, historians and athletes who have lived
and still live among us.

Many of the students who were at the Melkonian when it suddenly
closed have found themselves in a dire situation, not knowing what
to do. Furthermore, the closure of the Melkonian has also endangered
the Nareg elementary school because its graduating pupils who do not
have a secondary Armenian school to continue to are now making other
choices as regards their primary education.

All these constitute a real threat to the Armenian language,
culture and civilisation. They are leading Armenians to assimilation,
instead of incorporating them with their unique characteristics within
Cypriot society as has happened for almost a century. Incorporation,
instead of assimilation, is a fundamental principle of the European
Union which is implemented in the case of migrants. Even more so,
this should be the case for living communities of a member state.

It is, therefore, necessary to save the Melkonian. To help it
reopen. Our devotion to the meaning of multiculturalism should be
deep and sincere and addressed with actions towards every community
of Cyprus. The civilisation and creativity of the Armenians of Cyprus
is a benefit to us all, it is not a detriment. Nor is this something
to display in museums in a few years. Equally so, the land of the
historic Melkonian school is not even for sale, neither for commercial
exploitation or even for prime development of luxury hotels.

n Dr Eleni Theocharous is an MP for the DISY party and a candidate
for the European Parliamentary elections. As an active member of the
Doctors of Cyprus, she has travelled on many occasions to Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh and operated on hundreds of children