18:27, 9 July 2007

The Armenian language can be awarded regional status in Samtskhe-Javakhetiya

The District Assembly of Akhalkalaki (Georgia) has made a decision to set up a special board consisting of members of the Assembly and Armenian and Georgian specialists to tackle the issue of awarding the Armenian language in Samtskhe-Javakhetiya the status of the regional language along with the state Georgian language.

The proposal of awarding the Armenian language the status of regional one arrived from David Rostakyan, a member of the Regional Assembly. The Assembly has also adopted a statement addressed to the Georgian government. According to Rostakyan, the statement was made according to the constitutional norms of Georgia, and to the international norms referring to national minorities.

Azat Shinaktsyan, observer of the "Voice of Armenia" newspaper, notes that the Georgian leadership has been for many years neglecting the demands of public organizations, which outgo from the Framework Convention of the European Union ratified by the Parliament of Georgia, on awarding the regional status to the Armenian language.

Author: Ashot Ter-Grigorian, CK correspondent