Late love for the Russian language

On March 25, the so-called parliament of the self-proclaimed quasi-formation of the NKR granted to the Russian language the so-called status of the second official language after Armenian language.

The Armenians are trying to present Nagorno-Karabakh as a kind of exclusive territorial substance in the South Caucasus region, which is distinguished by a special love for Russia and the Russian language. This unexpectedly kindled love broke out as a result of the lost war and the restoration of Azerbaijan's jurisdiction over the liberated occupied territories.

However, the statements of the leaders of the Armenian community of Karabakh and a number of facts only confirm the opportunistic and tactical nature of this political action: The goal is to enlist Moscow's support for confronting the puppet regime with official Baku and, moreover, to drag Russia into a direct clash with Azerbaijan.

“The increase in the importance of the Russian language is not justified and unnecessary,” says Mane Tandilyan, Minister of Labor, Social Security and Migration of Nagorno-Karabakh on Facebook. According to her, you need to learn foreign languages, but at the same time, you cannot trample your own self-determination and dignity with your feet. “The state language is based on the nationality of the people living in the country, and these are Armenians,” writes Die Tageszeitung.

The facts of recent history evidence that these provocative actions are taken to bring Russia and Azerbaijan into conflict. After Armenia gained independence and occupied Karabakh and adjacent Azerbaijani territories in 1993, the official Yerevan and the puppet Nagorno-Karabakh began a policy of ousting the Russian language from official and everyday life. On April 17, 1993, a law on language was adopted, which established a monopoly position for the Armenian language in all spheres of activity.

According to this law, all state secondary schools teaching in Russian language were liquidated in Armenia. Educational institutions have survived at Russian diplomatic missions and military bases, since they are part of the Russian education system and are subordinate to the relevant ministry of the Russian Federation. They trained mainly children of military personnel and border guards, diplomats, posted government officials and employees of Russian enterprises. As an alternative for children with citizenship of other countries or belonging to ethnic minorities, there are Russian classes in 40 schools of the country, where only a few disciplines are taught in Armenian. Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia selects children for teaching Russian classes.  To have the right to study in Russian, one of his parents must be a non-ethnic Armenian or have citizenship of one of the CIS countries. This racist approach has not been observed in any CIS country.

In the mid-2000s, the number of hours on teaching Russian was reduced. The educational standards introduced by the Ministry of Education in 2007, provide for the Russian language in the lower grades two hours a week, from the 4th to the 9th grade - three hours.

The neutralization of the Russian language in Armenia was actively carried out by the former leaders of the separatists in Karabakh, then the presidents of Armenia, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsyan. Their experience of eradicating the Russian language in Karabakh was developed in Armenia. It was under Sargsyan that in 2017 Russian received the status of a foreign language in Armenia and is now taught as a foreign language and is noticeably flawed in relation to English, French and other Western languages, the strengthening of the role of which is encouraged by the state.

Both figures and their henchmen, who passed the so-called law on the official status of the Russian language in Nagorno-Karabakh on March 25, carried out linguistic genocide in the occupied territories. A non-verbal example of the status of the Russian language in Karabakh before last year's war. Before the second Karabakh war, 223 primary and secondary schools functioned in Nagorno-Karabakh. The teaching was exclusively in Armenian. Only one school in Khankendi taught in Russian.

Azerbaijan, with which Armenian nationalists are trying to confront Russia, did not take any artificial actions aimed at neutralizing the Russian language, which, due to historical realities, remains an important communicative means of accessing world information in the field of science, literature, art, and interpersonal communication. Here, the so-called evolutionary language policy is carried out, which adapts to social needs in the region.

Just like in the entire post-Soviet space, including Russia, the population's interest in English and other foreign languages ​​is noticeably increasing in Azerbaijan. Schools and universities with an English bias are opening in order to satisfy the growing public interest.

But at the same time, Russian remains dominant.  Currently, in Azerbaijan, in more than 300 secondary schools throughout the country, 18 local universities and 38 secondary specialized educational institutions, teaching is conducted in Russian. There is an Association of Teachers of Russian-Speaking Educational Institutions of Azerbaijan. On November 24, 2009, the first in the post-Soviet space "House of Russian Book" was opened in Baku.