YEREVAN AND KAZAN TO BECOME SISTER CITIES
Noyan Tapan
Oct 29, 2009
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Minister
of Diaspora Ms. Hranush Hakobian on October 27 received Mikhail
Khachaturian, Head of the Armenian community in the Republic of
Tatarstan (Russia), member of the Presidency of Tatarstan’s Peoples
Assembly.
M. Khachaturian informed the minister that 10-15 thousand Armenians
live in Tatarstan and presented the work done by the Armenian community
there. He said that a Museum of Friendship, which is also the Armenian
center, has been established in an area allocated by the Municipality
of Kazan, the capital city of Tatarstan. According to M.
Khachaturian, an agreement on making Kazan and Yerevan sister cities
is being prepared for signing. A Sunday Armenian School with 40 pupils
functions in Kazan. Armenians take an active part in construction work
in Tatarstan, and they are also famous in other fields of social life.
H. Hakobian attached special importance to the involvement of
Tatarstan’s Armenian community in some projects and to the preservation
of Armenian identity, in particular, the solution of the problem of
knowledge of Armenian language. In her words, the participation of
Armenian students and pupils from Tatarstan in the programs organized
by the RA Ministry of Diaspora will serve this purpose. She also
underlined the importance of exchanging information through the
ministry’s electronic newspaper – Hayern Aysor.