C. Special Advantages for MEI’s Location in Cyprus

The Armenian community in Cyprus is constitutionally recognised as a Minority and there are special rights and privileges that Armenians in Cyprus already benefit from, with more advantageous prospects to come starting May 2004, when Cyprus will officially enter the European Union. Please note that although France has a community of 400,000 Armenians, they are not constitutionally recognised as a Minority and therefore cannot enjoy benefits like the Cypriot Armenians.

The government pays 1200 CP per each Cypriot-Armenian only when they attend MEI for their secondary education. This is done to comply with its obligation to offer secondary education in the minority language.

MEI not only enjoys the privilege of offering an in-depth Armenian programme, as part of the general curriculum, but rather it is encouraged to maintain all symbols of the Armenian culture – language, literature, history, art and traditions). Moreover, because the Armenian language is recognised as a non-territorial language, “Cyprus is obliged to provide public funding on account of its recent ratification of the European charter for regional languages.” Armenians are the only Minority in Cyprus to have their language, and, therefore, the government of Cyprus assumes the responsibility to fund projects that perpetuate the Armenian language.

Accession to Europe will benefit MEI because, though it is a private school, the government considers it as serving its Armenian minority and therefore public funding will continue to pour and increase in the years to come. On one hand, the Cypriot government will not be obliged to build and finance a secondary school for Armenians, while on the other hand, MEI will benefit from these funds to balance its budget. The first grant of 70,000 CP ($140,000) is being executed, without any conditions of commitment from AGBU. There are two other grants that are in the pipeline and are being pursued by Mr Bedros Kalaydjian, the Representative of the Armenian Community in the Parliament: a) a substantial yearly grant so that MEI continues its mission of perpetuating the Armenian language, culture and heritage in favour of its Armenian community.
the upgrade of the sports facilities estimated at about 50,000 CP ($100,000).

It is true that the Armenian community in Cyprus is not very large, about 3000 people, yet with the privileges granted to it children of all Armenians coming from different communities are benefiting.

Special funds from European programmes such as Erasmus, Socrates, Oracle,… not only will open new opportunities for research for the Armenian Department, but also facilitate the exchange of students and MEI’s integration with the larger European community.

It would be a great pity to disregard all these advantages that only Cyprus can offer.