Armenian candidates line up for by-election

THE THREE candidates for the October 9 by-election for the Armenian Representative to the House of Representatives yesterday submitted their candidacies to the election service.

For the first time since the Republic was founded in 1960, the Armenian elections will be a three-man instead of a two-man race. The three will be fighting it out to win the votes of nearly 2,000 Armenians to replace two-term representative Bedros Kalaydjian, who died on September 1.

The third candidate, Parsegh Zartarian from Nicosia, only announced he would be running last week as an independent, joining two Nicosia doctors Dr Antranik Ashdjian’s and Dr Vahakn Atamyan.

Atamyan is a graduate of the Melkonian Educational Institute and Chairman of the governing board of the Nareg Armenian elementary schools; his main rival, Dr Antranik Ashdjian, chairs the Armenian National Committee in Cyprus that lobbies for Armenian issues in Europe and on international fora.

Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Lazaros Savvides, who accepted the candidacies yesterday, said the electoral list had not yet been completed. Voting will take place in four centres, two at the Nareg school in Nicosia, and one each at the district offices in Larnaca and Limassol.
Zartarian told reporters yesterday that he believed the Armenian community had matured enough to want an independent candidate. He said he believed he has the ability to bring together all Armenians in Cyprus to face the issues of the community on the island.

Atamyan said: “If the Armenian community honours me with their votes I will do the best I can to find solutions to the problems of the community.”
He said his priority was to save the Melkonian, the Armenian secondary school that was closed down this year by its US-based administrators.
He also said he would concern himself with the destruction of Armenian religious and cultural heritage in the north and join the bigger fight for a Cyprus solution.

Ashdjian said his priority would be the preservation of the Armenian identity, language and culture. This also meant the fight to save the Melkonian, he said.

Members of the Armenian community argue that the survival and subsequent reopening of the Melkonian is vital for the future of the religious group, as defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.