Epress.am News from Armenia
The agreement recently signed by Armenia’s Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan and his Georgian counterpart Dmitry Shashkin will also benefit Azeris living in Georgia, said the Armenian minister himself, while speaking to journalists in Yerevan today.
As previously reported, the agreement stipulates that the number of hours of Armenian language instruction in Georgian schools catering to the Armenian community will increase by 7–10 hours.
“The Azeri community in Georgia will also benefit from the agreement on classes, since if Armenian language classes are being reinstated, Azerbaijani language classes in Azerbaijani schools [in Georgia] will also be reinstated. That is, the Azerbaijani minister has to be grateful to the Georgian minister and, perhaps, also to me, that I raised the issue faster and earlier,” he said.
Ashotyan said regretfully, Azerbaijan did not participate in the launch of the South Caucasus Youth Parliament program in Georgia — at neither the ministerial nor student level.
“Unacceptable is exploiting young children in great policy, unacceptable is developing anti-Armenian hatred and in the young generation, unacceptable is when students become a tool in political games, unacceptable is when the policy of anti-Armenian hatred is spread on that generation which tomorrow is fated to be at our side, at our children’s side, to live, work, think,” said the Armenian education minister.
According to Ashotyan, he asked Armenian students in Georgia “to again search for opportunities, not to lose the moment, to become acquainted and make contact with their Azerbaijani peers.”