Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
Feb 4 2006
Last ditch effort to save the Melkonian
THE Armenian community of Cyprus has been mobilised in a final effort
to help save the Melkonian school after two Supreme Court decisions –
issued coincidentally at the same time – overturned a heritage
preservation order and an injunction on the use of the land, paving
the way for the destruction of the historical school and the
commercial development of the founders’ estate.
Community members say the determination with which the New York-based
organisation entrusted with the administration of the estate sought
to overturn the protective measures on the historical buildings and
the forest on the main Limassol Avenue, proves that it never wanted
anything else but to sell the land and develop it.
`This is holy ground. It is the cultural and historical heritage of
all of us – Armenians as well as Greeks of Cyprus and cannot allow
anyone to destroy it,’ they added.
In a series of protest letters signed by the Armenian Representative
in Parliament, Vartkes Mahdessian, and Archbishop Varoujan of the
Cyprus Prelacy, and supported by political and other organisations
that represent the vast majority of the community, the Armenians of
Cyprus are demanding that the government find ways to save the estate
so that the school can reopen some day soon.
They also demand for some explanations from the Attorney-general,
asking him to investigate why the public defence failed in the case
of the preservation order.
`It is with sorrow and regret that the Armenian community of Cyprus
was informed of the Supreme Court decision dated December 11, 2006,
in the appeals case 943/05, that overturned the preservation order on
the historical buildings and the forest of the Melkonian School,’
said the protest letters that were sent to the political party
leaders as well as the President of the Supreme Court Council,
expressing their frustration to the latter.
`According to reports in the daily press, the reason given for the
reversal of the preservation order did not take into consideration
the historical, cultural and national importance of the place, both
to the Armenian community of Cyprus as well as to the whole of the
people of Cyprus, as it is regarded as an important cultural heritage
site for all Cyprus.
`We demand that the Attorney-general consider this as a matter of
national interest and comprehensively contribute to the efforts to
reassign a protection order on the historic buildings and the forest,
in order to save one of the greatest national treasures of Cyprus and
the whole of the Armenian diaspora.’
The Armenian community has also asked that all the political parties
position themselves clearly and practically on whether they are in
support of saving the historical site and reopening the Melkonian
school.
The protest letters conclude by reminding the political parties that
`the House of Representatives had condemned (on March 26, 2004) the
decision to close the Melkonian school as a `hostile act’. But the
organisation that is entrusted with the administration of this
national treasure continues to mock the House and its members and is
proceeding with the implementation of its plans, that is the
levelling and the commercial development of the property and the
forest.’
`We don’t want them to give us pledges any more. Let them transform
their promises to actions,’ the community members added.
As regards the reversal of an injunction on the use of the Melkonian
Estate, as was requested in the Cyprus courts by the Armenian
Patriarch of Bolis, members of the community say it is not impossible
for the case to be heard at the European Court of Justice, a
development that would also have negative political implications for
Cyprus.