Baku marks Pushkin's birthday and Russian Language Day

On Baku 6, Baku is marking the birthday of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, who is considered the founder of the modern Russian literary language, as well as the Russian Language Day.

Participants of the event laid flowers to the monument to Pushkin, installed in the park in central Baku. Tatyana Kerimova, chairman of the Republican Society of Solidarity of the Peoples of Azerbaijan 'Sodrugestvo', welcomed the audience. "The installation of the monument to Alexander Pushkin in Baku is a guarantee of strong relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, which have been as eternal as Pushkin's poetry," AzerTAc cited Kerimova as saying.

The adviser of the Russian embassy in Azerbaijan Artem Barkov, the first deputy head of the executive power of the Sabail district Khalid Bayramov and others also addressed the event.

Head of the expert council of Baku Network, Elkhan Alasgarov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the Russian language has played a progressive role during all the periods of the existence of the Azerbaijani people and Azerbaijan as a state. "Using the Russian language, the Azerbaijani intelligentsia had the opportunity to receive education in Moscow and abroad before the Revolution. The creators of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic were fluent in Russian. The Russian language is tought in a variety of schools and universities, being an important piece of knowledge of any citizen. We have a large Russian community, it has its own public organizations, and a lot of people here speak Russian," he said in the first place.

"Russian language is the means of our friendship with Russia, a way to establish and maintain relations between our countries at the level of strategic partnership For us, the knowledge of the Russian language is a sign of good tone. Of course, Azerbaijani is our state language. But we respect the Russian language and believe that the Russian  Language Day on June 6 is not alien to us. Moreover, there is a special Baku dialect of the Russian language, considered one of the pure forms of the literary Russian language, because it was spoken by Molokans," Elkhan Alasgarov said.

Political scientist Rovshan Ibrahimov stressed that the Russian language has an important place in the social, economic and political life of Azerbaijan. "Modern Russian and translated into Russian literature is sold in Azerbaijani bookstores, many media are published in Russian," he recalled.

"Since Azerbaijan gained independence, no Russian-language school in the country has been closed. There is Slavic University in Azerbaijan, there are certain specialties with instruction in the Russian language in other universities. The branches of Russian universities, primarily the Moscow State University branch, operate in the country," Rovshan Ibrahimov underlined, drawing attention to the government's support of the Russian language.