THE ARMENIAN General Benevolent Union (AGBU) said yesterday that reports of the imminent sale of the Melkonian Institute in Nicosia were “unfounded and false”.

The New York-based AGBU administers some 20 Armenian schools worldwide, including the Melkonian, which was founded in 1926 and is the only secondary school for the Armenian community in Cyprus.

Reports that the school, sitting on a £40 million plot in the capital’s commercial district, was up for grabs by developers surfaced earlier this month, but the AGBU initially declined to comment.

Yesterday, in a written statement, the organisation said the land facilities and financial conditions of the Melkonian were not the primary concerns of the central board at this time “and will not be determinants in setting future directions for the school”.

“As it embarks toward is centennial and as part of a larger agenda focusing on the review of all the schools it operates worldwide, AGBU will continue to consider issues and challenges facing MEI today. In due course the central board will announce its conclusions in this regard,” it added.

AGBU sent a consultant to the island in September to make a report on the future of the school and he has already reported back to New York, representatives of the Armenian community in Cyprus revealed last week. The AGBU meeting on the school is set for around December 10, they said.
The 3,000-strong community in Cyprus is up in arms over reports that the loss-making school may be closed down and are hoping the government will step in to save it. The Melkonian also caters for Armenian students from the region and has been the centre of Armenian culture on the island for nearly 80 years.

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