ARMENIANS OF JAVAKHK DISCUSS THEIR PROBLEMS WITH SORBONNE UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR

AKHALKALAK, JUNE 22, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 21, a
professor of the Sorbonne University, the political scientist Zhirayr
Dumouny met with representatives of nearly 20 Armenian NGOs at the
office of the Javakhk Youth Sports and Cultural Union. During the
meeting they discussed a number of issues related to language, higher
education, and religion.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by Javakhh-Info, the discussions passed in
a heated atmosphere: Seda Melkumian, the European Center’s
Samtskhe-Javakhk spokesperson responsible for national minorities,
presented the problems in the educational sphere in detail.

A number of MPs of the Akhalkalak Municipality taking part in the
meeting stated that according to Article 9 of Georgian local
self-government law, the clerical working language at local
self-government bodies is Georgian, but today their activity is
illegal, as only 1% of the Akhalkalak population and only a few of the
32 elected deputies master the Georgian language.

In spite of differing opinions about a number of issues, almost all
participants of the meeting unanimously stated that the Armenians of
Javakhk are ready for dialogue. However, one-sided dialogue is
impossible. The majority’s interest is also needed.