YEREVAN ASKS TBILISI TO DECLARE ARMENIAN A REGIONAL LANGUAGE

Hurriyet Daily News
Sept 3 2009
Turkey

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian has called on the Georgian
government to expand the cultural rights enjoyed by ethnic Armenians
in Georgia.

"I believe that recognition of Armenian as a regional language,
registering a diocese of the Armenian apostolic church and the
preservation of Armenian historical monuments will only serve to
deepen the Armenian-Georgian friendship," the Interfax news agency
quoted Sarkissian as saying.

Separatist tensions have long simmered under the surface in Georgian
areas with high concentrations of ethnic Armenians, Georgia’s
second-largest ethnic minority group. Some experts in Tbilisi said
that making Armenian an official language could touch off similar
efforts by other ethnic minorities in Georgia, according to a report
distributed Thursday by the Eurasia.net Web site.