Armenia: Minorities Say Authorities Indifferent to Problems

Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 15:17:34 +0200 (EET)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Armenia: Minorities Say Authorities Indifferent to Problems

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Felix Corley <[email protected]>

Armenia: Minorities Say Authorities Indifferent to Problems


Ethnic Minorities in Armenia Say Authorities Indifferent to Problems
21 Jul 2000
Snark
 
[FBIS Translated Text] 
Yerevan, 21st July: Ethnic minorities living in Armenia are
experiencing serious difficulties in preserving their national
language and culture. This conclusion was drawn by those taking part
in a round table organized by the Union of Nationalities of Armenia,
which took place at the National Academy of Sciences today. The
speakers pointed out that all ethnic minorities face common problems
stemming from the difficult socioeconomic situation in the republic.
 
A.Sardaryan, the chairman of the board of the Association of the
Kurdish Intelligentsia, complained about the Armenian authorities'
indifference to the problems of ethnic minorities and spoke negatively
of their activities. He said textbooks have not been published in
Kurdish for almost 20 years and that the Armenian Education Ministry
has not yet reacted to a request from the Kurdish community to restore
the two hours of national language and literature lessons which took
place under Soviet rule in schools in Kurdish villages.
 
Tamrazov, a representative of the 7,000-strong Assyrian diaspora,
recalled the absence of representatives of the Atur Association of
Assyrians and the Jewish secular community from the coordinating
council under the adviser to the Armenian president. He said this was
a flagrant violation of agreements reached before the congress of
Armenia's ethnic minorities in the spring.

-- 
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe

Submissions: [email protected]  
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected] 
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================