Cyprus News Agency – Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Nicosia – Students, teachers and graduates of the school from 1946 to 2003 staged a demonstration Wednesday afternoon protesting the decision of the Armenian General Benevolent Union based in the U.S.A. to close the Melkonian.

The students wore black armbands and held placards that said “The Melkonian is not for sale”, “Hands off Melkonian” and “78 year civilization for sale”. Future graduates of the school had the year of their graduation written on their back with a question mark.

Present at the protest to support the students’ struggle to keep the school open was the Chairman of the Parliamentary Education Committee and DYSI [Democratic Rally] MP Prodromos Prodromou, AKEL MP Andros Kyprianou, DYSI press spokesman Tasos Mitsopoulos, the Deputy Leader of the United Democrats Michalis Papapetrou and the party’s General Secretary Costas Themistocleous, the Armenian representative in the House Bedros Kalaydjian, as well as the Mayor of Aglandjia Andreas Petrou.

During the demonstration a resolution was read out which will be sent to the AGBU in New York and the President of the Republic of Armenia.

The protest ended with the school’s anthem and the placing of carnations by al present on the mausoleum of the Melkonian founders.

In his statements, Mr. Prodromou said that both for DYSI as well as the Education Committee, “the closure of this school is beyond discussion,” and added that “this is no time to close schools but a time to open schools.”

Mr. Prodromou said that the Education Committee has sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior asking “to speed up the ratification of the declaration of the buildings as national heritage, to declare the whole grounds as a site of special historical and cultural importance so that it can neither be developed nor its purpose changed.”

He added that the Education Committee is drafting a resolution to be submitted to the House Plenary Session, probably next Friday, “so that the House can later ask the assembly’s president to undertake an initiative with the government.”

He noted that the issue was discussed during yesterday’s [Tuesday] session of the Committee, in the presence of the representative of the school’s operators, to whom the Committee members “made clear that their decision is not acceptable and, if they are honest that they want to continue the educational purpose, we proposed to him that they suspend their decision” in order to discuss the matter.

”The Melkonian is not only part of the heritage of the Armenian community, but the heritage of the whole of Cyprus,” Mr. Prodromou said.

Mr. Kyprianou said the school “has been linked with the Armenian community in Cyprus and generally with the traditions of the land,” adding that he considers the decision that has been made as “utterly wrong.”

As he said, “education is being sacrificed at the altar of money, and for that reason we are wholeheartedly on the side of the Armenians who are struggling to revoke this decision.”

He expressed the assurance that the government will get involved.

In his speech, Mr. Mitsopoulos said that the struggle against the closure of the school is “a sacred matter for a sacred cause,” adding that “the Melkonian is not just a school” but it is a symbol, primarily for the spiritual resistance and struggle of the Armenian nation.

He added the Melkonian is “a symbol of education and culture and as such, the Melkonian should remain open.”

He assured those present that both he and DYSI “will unite our forces with yours to keep the Melkonian open.”

In his statement, Mr. Papapetrou said that he expressed the solidarity of the United Democrats “in the struggle of the Armenians to overturn this insensible decision,” adding that the Melkonian school is “a symbol for the whole community of Cyprus.”

“Generations of Cypriots have grown up with this symbol,” Mr. Papapetrou said, who expressed the opinion that “it is the duty of the whole of the Cypriot people to stand by the side of these Armenians to revoke this unacceptable decision.”

Mr. Kalaydjian condemned the decision to close the school, saying that as the Armenian community of Cyprus “we cannot accept this and we cannot imagine a Cyprus without the Melkonian.”

He called for the support of all Cypriots and expressed his satisfaction with the recent decision of the Ministry of Education and Culture to grant an annual 150,000 Cyprus pounds [300,000 dollars] in financial aid to the school.

(Translated from Greek)