U.S. English Foundation Research

ARMENIA

Language Research

6. Language in everyday life: The use of language in everyday life, e.g. education, broadcasting, and other

Russian is taught at primary, secondary schools and Universities. Kurdish, Jewish, Greek and Polish are taught on primary level at Sunday school in the framework of community activities. There are weekly periodicals issued by national minorities in Russian, Ukrainian and Kurdish. The weekly newspaper of the Jewish community is published in Armenian, Russian and English. The Russian minority has a large access to radio and television (daily on radio and weekly on TV). The other minorities have only weekly radio broadcasting in their languages. The Jewish community broadcasts only in Russian.

Updated (November 2003)

BROADCASTING

Both state and private television and radio broadcasting is available in Armenia. The law provides for at least one public television/radio company with nationwide coverage. Another public television station with local coverage called “Shirak” and a public radio station called “Asparez” exist in Gyumri (the second largest city in the country.

Three forms of private broadcasting exist in Armenia: aired, cable and satellite. The number of operating television/radio stations in Yerevan is 25. Another 38 companies operate in the regions (marzes). Founders of the private media can be both legal and physical entities.

Currently, the public radio of Armenia broadcasts daily programs in the languages of national minorities. A 30-minute program in Russian called “Hayq” is broadcast every day at 9:30. Another 30-minute program for Jews is broadcast daily as well as a program in Kurdish (between 18:45 and 19:15). A 10-minute program in Georgian is aired every day except Sundays.

The only minority language used in public television broadcasting (news) is Russian. The private television/radio stations “Prometevs,” “Armenia,” “Shant TV,” “Radio Van,” “Radio Ardzaganq” and others, broadcast programs in Russian.

In addition to private broadcasters, the Russian ORT (public television), RTR (based on the intergovernmental agreements), and NTV are also available in Armenia. “Shant TV” rebroadcasts programs of REN TV (a private Russian television station). Occasionally, programs are aired in other national minority languages on private television/radio channels.

Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf

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Updated (September 2004)

• EDUCATION (valid for all minorities below)

Primary and secondary schools are available for Armenian national minorities either in relevant languages or minority language teaching becomes an integral part of the curriculum at least for the pupils, whose families requested so and they are in sufficient number.

The Republic of Armenia allows university or other forms of higher education in the languages of minorities or these languages can be taught as disciplines at universities and higher educational institutions.

ASSYRIAN

Assyrian is taught as a special course at schools in the villages of Verin Dvin, Dimitrov, Arzni and Nor Artagers and in Yerevan Pushkin School No. 8. Nearly 800 pupils attend the classes. Several universities offer special courses of Assyrian on demand. In particular Davit Anhaght Humanitarian University offers the Assyrian Studies.

YEZIDI

At both primary and secondary level Yezidi is taught (2-4 lessons a week) at schools in the villages of Zovuni and Kotayk. There are similar courses in 16 villages of Aragatsotn marz inhabited by the Yezidi population. Due to lack of qualified teachers schools in some villages cannot function regularly. Several universities offer special courses of Yezidi on demand, in particular Yerevan University of Management.

GREEK

Greek is taught in Yerevan School No. 12 and 74 both at the primary and secondary level. Concerning the university education, several universities (Yerevan State University, Yerevan Linguistic University, Atcharyan University) offer special courses of Greek. There is the Department of the Greek Language at the Yerevan University of Culture with twenty-two students. Greece finances the visits of school graduates' of Greek descent to Greece, to continue their higher education there.

RUSSIAN

In Armenia primary and secondary education in the Russian language is available to all children who express a wish to get it. Russian schools or groups are always established in those areas, where the Russians constitute a significant proportion of the total population (in Yerevan, Tsakhkadzor, and in the villages of Fioletovo and Lermotovo).

There are Russian language departments (classes) in forty-seven schools (fifteen of them in Yerevan) where more than 10,000 children study. Three schools of the Russian Federation Army also function in Armenia (Yerevan, Gyumri, Armavir), as well as the Russian Embassy school (Yerevan Secondary School No. 54)¹. Besides, in all primary schools, Russian is taught as a compulsory subject (4 lessons a week).

According to the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Support, signed between Armenia and Russia in 1997, Armenia will create conditions for profound study of the Russian language. This obligation was brought to life by Government Resolution No. 48, from September 16, 1999, according to which schools provided with professional staff were given an opportunity to organize profound study of Russian with a special program (4-6 lessons a week). Currently there are fifty-two such schools and in five other they carry out Armenian-Russian bilingual teaching with a special program and special textbooks.

Secondary schools use books and handbooks published both in Armenia and Russia. In the 7th and 8th grades students study also the subjects "History of Russia" and "Russian Literature". At this level Russian is taught as a compulsory subject (foreign language) 3 lessons a week².

Concerning higher education in Russian, it is available in all major settlements of Armenia (Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Gavar). There are 250 students at the Department of Russian Philology at Yerevan State University; 240 students at the Department of Russian language and Literature and at the Russian Department of Primary Education Pedagogy and Methods at Yerevan State Pedagogical Institute named after Kh. Abovyan; 350 students at the Department of Russian Linguistics and Intercultural Relations; 75 students at the Department of Russian and English Languages at Yerevan Brusov State Linguistic University; 200 students at the Department of Russian Language and Literature at Gyumri State Pedagogical University; 100 students at the Russian Department of Primary Education Pedagogy and Methods at Vanadzor State Pedagogical University and 100 students at the Department of Russian Language and Literature at Gavar State University. There are also Russian departments at several private universities in Armenia (in Yerevan "Haibusak", "Hiusisayin" and "Hrachya Acharyan", in Gyumri "Progress" and in Spitak "Spitak", etc.). According to the intergovernmental agreement signed in 1997, Russian-Armenian (Slavonakan) State University was established, which currently has 700 students.

In Armenia there are also fifteen branches, departments or educational-consulting units of different Russian higher educational institutions with more than 2,000 students. Annually the Russian Federation allocates seventy state scholarships to Armenian citizens (ten exclusively to the Russian community) and also otherwise supports the Armenian-Russian University (computers, laboratory equipment, etc.). The rest of higher educational institutions included a two-year course of Russian in their curricula.

KURDISH

Kurdish is taught (2 lessons a week) at primary and secondary schools in the village of Zovuni and Kotayk. Until recently there have been similar courses in twenty other villages inhabited by the Kurds (Ria-Taza, Amre-Taza, Mirak, Sangiar, Shenkani, Alagiaz, Hakko, etc), but due to lack of teachers they do not operate regularly.

Several Armenian universities offer special courses of Kurdish on request. There is such a course at the Department of Oriental Studies of the Yerevan State University. Yerevan "Davit Anhaght" Humanitarian University offers Kurdish Studies as well.

• LEGISLATION & ADMINISTRATION

Legislation in Armenia is available in the state and Russian language. Texts in other minority languages are rare as the Assyrians, Greeks and Kurds have a good command of Armenian and Russian.

With regard to local or regional bodies, on the territory where minority languages speakers live in sufficient numbers they can use their language both orally and in writing. For example, the alderman and the village mayor of Fioletovo village community are given the right to formulate their resolutions, messages or official notes only in Russian.

The Armenian Law on Geographical Names specifies that when giving settlement names, the natives' viewpoints must be also taken into consideration (Article 3). When naming or renaming, offers may be made by both local self-governing bodies and by legal and natural persons (Article 6). In practice several squares, streets, fields, etc. in the villages inhabited by the Assyrians have Assyrian names.

Legislation envisages an opportunity for people to preserve or change their name, surname or a patronymic name or to restore their previous name, surname or a patronymic name. The minorities are free to choose Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish or Russian surnames and to use them in their languages.

• MEDIA

Article 28 of the Law on TV and Radio envisages that public TV and Radio Company can spare airtime for special programs in minority languages.

The same law provides the national minorities with an hour a day of broadcasting on Armenian public radio and an hour a week on public TV.

GREEK

Greek radio and TV programs may be organized within this hour if the community itself takes the initiative and procure the language and a subject part.

RUSSIAN

Half of that daily radio hour is given to the pubic cultural information program called "Haik"³, and fifteen minutes are given to a Russian news program. Every Sunday the spiritual program "Haitnutyun" (Discovery) and on Saturdays a ten-minute information-analytical program called "Antsats shabatum" (During the past week) are broadcast. Fifteen minutes daily are given to the interstate (for the CIS countries) Russian-language information program "Mir" (World)⁴. Radio Company "Van" broadcasts mostly Russian language programs.

Thirty-five minutes of that above-mentioned hourly TV broadcasting in minority languages is allocated to an information program in Russian. Besides, on average 6-7 hours of Russian films (original or translated) are aired. Several private TV companies have regular programs in Russian: "Prometheus", "ALM", "Kentron", etc. and nearly all of them show 5 to 8 hours of Russian films (original or translated).

Recently the publishing house agency of the Ministry of Cultural, Youth Matters and Sport has allocated more than a million Armenian drams to publish newspapers for national minorities. Due to this funding "Respublika Armenia", "Urartu" and "Novoye Vremya" newspapers and "Literaturnaya Armenia" magazine are published.

Many newspapers and magazines in the Russian language are published in rather great circulation and are freely disseminated. The Russian Embassy in Armenia has subscribed to two Russian-language newspapers ("Rosiyskaya Gazeta" and "Uchitelskaya Gazeta") for twenty-five organizations of Russian community. The Russian newspaper of Jewish community "Magen Davit" (Davit's Shield) is available in Armenia. A number of bilingual (Armenian and Russian) and multilingual magazines and newspapers are also published.

KURDISH

For many years a thirty-minute Kurdish program is being broadcast every day (information, community life, culture, folk music, etc).

Since 1999 the bilingual newspaper "Mijagetk" (Mesopotamia) has been published every two weeks, with the first fourteen pages in Armenian and the last two pages in Kurdish, to teach the Kurdish language and to disseminate Kurdish culture. The Newspaper "Ria Taza", for the same purpose, sometimes looks like a native language textbook.

Source: the Council of Europe, Periodical reports, the Initial Periodical Report by Armenia presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, September 3, 2003, http://www.coe.int/T/E/Legal_Affairs/Local_and_regional_Democracy/Regional_or_Minority_languages/Documentation/1_Periodical_reports/2003_7e_MIN-LANG_PR_Armenia.asp

¹ In these schools Armenian language is not taught.

² In schools oriented to studying Russian it is 4 to 6 lessons a week.

³ On Saturdays "Haik" is devoted to the national minority communities in Armenia, to their culture and public problems.

⁴ 30 minutes on Sundays.

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