Karabakh taught Ukraine a language lesson
A bill to give the Russian language official status has been submitted to the parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The corresponding document, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, was submitted by the President of the Republic Arayik Harutyunyan.
In turn, State Duma deputy Elena Panina, commenting on this initiative, told PolitNavigator that in Nagorno-Karabakh the vast majority of local residents speak Russian, and many speak it with virtually no accent.
“At the same time, the Russian language in educational institutions of the republic is taught using textbooks of Russian as a native language, and not a foreign one, which allows them to master it more deeply. Street advertisements in Stepanakert are written in Russian, which means that Karabakh residents actively use it in everyday life.
Therefore, the “revaluation of the role of the Russian language” in the NKR, as stated in the explanatory note to the bill, is connected not only with the “long-term presence of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, the awareness of the need to jointly solve numerous social and communication problems, cooperation in the fields of construction, healthcare, education and Sciences". This is a de jure recognition of the factual situation that has existed for many years,” the politician believes.
She compares the situation in NKR and Ukraine.
“And at the same time - the political, cultural and civilizational choice of the Karabakh society, which does not have complexes regarding the Russian language, unlike Ukraine, where on January 16, 2021, a totalitarian law came into force expelling Russian from the service sector. Although the population of Karabakh is mono-ethnic, the share of Armenians in it is 99%, while in Ukraine Russians are the second largest ethnic group, not to mention Russian-speaking Ukrainians,” the deputy notes.
“Nagorno-Karabakh shows that a self-sufficient and uncomplicated society sees the Russian language not as a threat, but as a way to enrich its own national culture and expand socio-economic opportunities. Stepanakert giving the Russian language the status of an official language is a reason for other states in the post-Soviet space, including neighboring Armenia, to think about it,” Panina sums up.
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