When Education Minister Levon Mkrtchyan was asked about the importance of the Russian language referring to the concept of Russian language teaching, while the world strives to acquire command of the English language, the Minister answered, that of course it is very important, since there are many Armenian employees in Russia, who regularly go there and come back, and it is important for them to know Russian.
In this regard Avetik Ishkhanyan, the Chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Committee, ironically asked, “that is if there were many Armenians in Turkey, would Turkish be the second official language, and moreover, would a survey be conducted to ask people whether they want to learn Turkish as a second language?”.
Member of the Television and Radio Commission, publicist Tigran Hakobyan added, that people often visit Dubai too, so Arabic also should have been asked about.
According to Avetik Ishkhanyan, “If the authorities in Armenia had dignity, they would not say anything like that. If you give a tough response to it at the state level, they will not only avoid saying such a thing but will also respect you. If they say, then we are weak. And if you are obeying their demand without even responding to it, you will not receive anything except ignorance”.
Political analyst Karen Kocharyan said, “Russia is not attractive, they can’t force people to learn the language. When it becomes attractive, the world would be willing to learn Russian as today they want to learn English”.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
