Friday, April 25, 2008

Melkonioan still closed.

Yesterday the Western Armenian National Council finished its conference in Nicosia. They discussed the fate of the Melgonean school. To remind the readers - Melkonian was closed a few years ago by the AGBU. The main motive, it is alleged, is to sell the real estate that it sits on. Those who have been in Nicosia have seen that the Melkonian area is a high growth place with ever increasing real estate prices.

Melkonian issue raised at Western Armenian conference in Cyprus

BUSINESSMEN and academics of the Armenian Diaspora met in Cyprus last weekend where they raised the issue of the closure of the historic Melkonian School, calling for the US-based charity responsible to reopen the school in Nicosia.
Anoushavan Danielyan, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Western Armenian National Council, said he would raise the issue with the leadership of the AGBU in New York.

“If there are 1,200 schools in Armenia, adding one more would simply bring the total to 1,201, while closing a school in the diaspora will have dire consequences for Western Armenians that would also impact on present-day Armenia,” Danielyan said. He was commenting on the AGBU announcement that plans are under way to start a ‘Melkonian Summer School’ near the capital Yerevan to teach the Armenian language and culture to about 400 diaspora youths for three months each year.
Six speakers were invited by the 40-member central committee meeting held at the Holiday Inn in Nicosia to elaborate on the history of the school and the reasons behind its closure, as well as to explain whether there was any hope or grounds for the school to reopen.

Ambassador Nicholas Makris, a member of the Council of Europe committee that drafted the Charter for European Minority Languages, said that the Melkonian should reopen, otherwise the whole of the Armenian community of Cyprus would disappear. He said the government of Cyprus had an obligation to implement the Charter, and this was best done through the reopening of the school.
Dr Akabie Nassibian-Ekmekdjian, historian and director of the school in the 1980s gave a historical overview of the school, saying that the Melkonian Education Institute, initially established in 1926 for orphans that survived the genocide, has produced hundreds of scientists, doctors, lawyers, artists, teachers and other professionals, who moved on from their studies to excel in their fields and become community leaders.

Yeran Kouyoumdjian, editor of a community newspaper, and Armen Urneshlian, an educator from Lebanon, argued that the closure of the Melkonian was not for financial reasons and was already having a negative effect on the Armenian diaspora. Vartan Tashjian, former headmaster of the Nareg elementary schools, spoke of his personal experiences and explained how Cypriots in general were opposed to the school’s closure and how they supported the struggle to reopen it.

The final speakers of the session included Masis der Parthogh, journalist and alumnus, who said that the school’s closure was planned years in advance with the intention to exploit the land, and Manouk Yildizian, journalist, who explained the legal aspects of community and minority rights in Cyprus and gave an overview of the government’s pledge to support the school, both financially and academically.

Present among the few seats reserved for observers from the community was former AGBU Central Board member Benon Sevan, who said that it was “unfair” that only one side of the argument was heard.

The session’s chairman argued that the AGBU’s positions were very clear and that the committee members wanted to hear about the prospects of reopening the historic school.

Dr Ekmekdjian added that the worldwide Melkonian alumni and friends had always wanted a dialogue, but it was the AGBU that refused for years to discuss keeping the school open.

The three-day meeting ended on Sunday with the central committee members visiting the Melkonian School grounds and laying wreaths at the founders’ monument.
This was the sixth meeting of the Organising Committee of the Western Armenian National Council that is expected to reconvene later this year to discuss several issues related to the Armenian Diaspora, such as social, community and historic aspects of the Western Armenian language, history and heritage.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sopranos are taking over the Carmine?
What Anushavan Danielian and the like have to do with Melkonian or Western Culture in general?
The closure of Melkonian has been in the roots of the Banditocracy, The Catholicos (who could legally stop the closure as a legal caretaker, The Kocharian and Serj who could stop it with at least not proiding grounds in Yerevan for the so called "Melkonian camp").
To me this sounds like an attempt to take over a lucrative share of Western Armenian donations which after Melkonian case are not flowing to AGBU's accounts.
And they use Melkonian for this.
The only way Melkonian can be re-opened is by ending the banditicracy both in Armenia and in Diaspora.

Ankakh_Hayastan said...

Is Anoushavan Danielyan the former prime minister of NKR.

Anonymous said...

Stop blaming Danielyan and the Catholicos and talk to AGBU. It is their decision, even though it is not clear they have the moral right to decide Melkonian's fate.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous it seems that you have very little knowledge of the situation. Melkonian Alumni has tried to talk to AGBU over many years but AGBU ignored us.
Coming to Catholicos he is an AGBU board member and by the will of Melkonian brothers he has the powers to veto the AGBU decision. He was asked to act many times but always dodged it.
Anoushavan Danielyan is the former prime minister of NKR and has no business in Western Armenian culture or so is percevied in diaspora therefore this council can never win the trust of the Diaspora.
Danielyan being the head or a leader of this council, and the formar president of NKR becoming the minister of the newly formed Diaspora Relations Ministry of RA looks like the the so called karabakh clan is now getting involved in Diasporan issues.
I always disapproved the Karabakh Clan term but it seems that it exists and the people who suffer are all armenians be that in Armenia , in NKR or now in Diaspora.

Anonymous said...

according to this logic the USA is suffering under texas clan.

Ankakh_Hayastan said...

Not quite. If the American president was from New Zealand, and the executive branch was comprised of Kiwis then your logic could be true.

As far as I know, Texas has been an American state since the Civil War, and is not an independent country.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for comparing Armenians born in Karabakh as Kiwis to americans.

Also thanks comparing what New Zealand is to the USA with the what NKR is to Armenia.

Such comments remind me history of dashnak-bolshevik situation back in 1920.

If an Armenian from Karabakh is not Hayastantsi-Armenian and is not a diasporan-Armenian, then who is he?

A kiwi?

Ani said...

Puerto Rican??

Anonymous said...

Cambojian????

Anonymous said...

This divide and conquer technique is used by Turks to try and demonstrate that local Armenians and Diasporans are different nations.

The radical opposition took their cue and painted the Karabakhtsis as Mongol Tatars, and even referred to some as half-Armenian half-Karabakhtsi.

Fire up the dancing music and back to the opera to celebrate the racism!!

Anonymous said...

"while Arevmtahay or Arevelahay are all one ethnic group and one nation", except Gharabaghtsis since "NKR is an independent state... "

Ankakh_Hayastan said...

Anonymous at 'April 30, 2008 2:48 AM'

the Gharabaghtsi people are Arevelahay, not a separate nation or ethnic group.

Please stop the BS about them not being Armenian!

Anonymous said...

Nazarian - Have you ever condemned LTP for sowing hatred against Karabakhtsis? For the racist analogies like Mongol-Tatar hordes? For the "half-Karabakhtsi-half Armenian" mocking comments during the election campaign??

It was at that point that I became appalled at the LTP movement and realized it had nothing to do with positive change or democracy.

Ankakh_Hayastan said...

reflective, please show me something where LTP or any prominent opposition figure sows hatred towards Gharabaghtsi. They have talked about the Gharabaghian clan (RK, SS and company) with which I agree. The Monghol-Tatar analogy was about the avazakapetutyun. I am not a historian to know how the Mongol-Tatar political system operated but i agree that we have an avazakapetutyun instead of a normal state.

You should not confuse labels attached to the avazakapets with regular people. It doesn't matter where you are from - RA, NKR, USA, Lebanon or I don't know where - if you are an Armenian then you are an Armenian. Just like it doesn't matter where the avazakapets are from - right now the elite avazakapets are from Gharabagh. If they had not been from Garabagh, they would still be avazakner.

Anonymous said...

///right now the elite avazakapets are from Gharabagh. If they had not been from Garabagh, they would still be avazakner.///

right now the elite oil-barons are from Texas. If they had not been from Texas they would still be thugs. And yes, your/LTP logic shows that ... the USA is strugglig under texas clan ...


----Antilocution is a term defined by psychologist Gordon Allport in his book the Nature of Prejudice, 1954. Antilocution defines verbal remarks against a person, group or community, which are not addressed directly to the target. Generally referred to as "talking behind someone's back," the impact of this is often overlooked. However because antilocution creates an environment where discrimination is acceptable, it frequently progresses to other more damaging forms of prejudiced behavior.-----

///You should not confuse labels attached to the avazakapets with regular people.///

Nazarian, have you ever asked yourself on why ordinary people confuse labels attached to RK/SS to regular Gharabaghtsi-Armenian? And is LTP happy for this? Go read and distribute NIkol developed tale about KGB and how the task of KGB was to ... enrich Gharabaghtsi and other oligarchs... can you elaborate on why he separates Gharabaghtsi from other oligarchs, or isn't he a prominent leader?

And how Nikol found 200 KGB specialists from Karabagh?


Or another masterpiece, quotin LTP "Միայն մի էլեմենտ կա, որի հետ ոչ ոք չի կարող հաշվի չնստել` Հայաստանի հաջորդ նախագահը պետք է լինի ոչ ղարաբաղցի, որպեսզի հնարավոր լինի գործընթացը ետ պտտեցնել: Պարզ, շատ պարզ, հստակ դիրք է: Ես լինեմ, թե մի ուրիշ ոչ ղարաբաղցի, վաղը չի կարող ասել` ես ներկայացնում եմ նաեւ Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի տեսակետը:"

And guess, LTP is not talking about criminal clan but ANY Gharabaghtsi.

You may argue that that is not the intention but let's look at results

example 1) A teacher entrs into the class, talks about history of Karabagh and student angrily replies, Gharabaghtsis are not Armenians

example 2) March 1 event an injured screams "mi hat Gharabaghtsi bereq mortem"

go and talk to your bosses, are they happy with these results?, was this their intention?, and if not are they ready as "leaders of the nation" to fix it?

Anonymous said...

Nazarian - we can agree that of all the examples to draw from history, LTP chose one that destroyed Armenia (from the East...even more convenient).

Let's find the enemy within (look they're all around you!!), scapegoat them for our problems (drive them out, and everything will magically get better), and force the 90% caught in between to either join us or them (divide and conquer).

It is this politics that drove me far far away from LTP as he re-emerged on the political scene.

And if it is avazakapetutyun that we are discussing, of ALL people, LTP should not be talking.

He created it.

Anonymous said...

reflective
LTP was the one who organised the Karabakh movement and teh liberation of Karabakh.
how can you miss the obviouse?

Anonymous said...

////H said...
ռeflective
LTP was the one who organised the Karabakh movement and teh liberation of Karabakh.
how can you miss the obviouse?///

Stereotype revisited

All positives are attributed to LTP, all negatives are situational and objective.

When it comes to negatives during LTP era, then he didn't have enough power/resources to control situation and it was other evils in his teams doing it.
However he was organizer of Karabakh movement. Poor Monte and Vazgen Manukya, poor Vazgen Sargissyan and poor people. They didn't know that there is organizer and it was LTP.