Protesters shout and whistle in front of government
A1Plus.am
05:13 pm | June 09, 2010 | Social
The number of citizens protesting against a bill on opening
foreign-language schools in Armenia is increasing outside the
government building.
The protesters today met deputies hurrying to a NA sitting with shouts
and whistles.
“My mother lived in Iran but she did not know Persian. When I asked
her why she did not speak the language, she said that in villages they
had been forbidden to speak a foreign language not to pass the infants
through mother’s milk. If illiterate peasants realized the simple
fact, why shouldn’t our government officials do the same? I fear that
in the future, the mothers will breast-feed their children with a
lullaby in a foreign language,” said Iranian Armenian Khoren Aramuni
who participated at the protest.
Protester Armine Pujikyan says she has no expectations from the
National Assembly though she is determined to struggle till the end.
“Recently, I constantly heard Russian words and phrases but I wasn’t
concerned since I knew that my mother tongue was not endangered and
was protected by the state. But if the bill is adopted, we shall
encounter a new conflict, like the one we witnessed in the 80s,” she
said.
ARF-Dashnaktsutyun MP Hrayr Karapetyan assured A1+ that their party
would vote against the bill.
Freelance deputy Victor Dallakyan claims that the bill conflicts with
the country’s constitution.
“Education cannot be exposed to experiments. I think that the
government should elaborate a concept to develop the sphere of
education and science. The most important question today is which
country we long for – a country of casinos, brothels or a democratic
republic based on high technologies. Only after answering these
questions, should we clarify what citizens Armenia needs to have.”
From: A. Papazian