Russian language in Azerbaijan and Georgia: Vesti FM on language policy in South Caucasus

The host of the 'Live' program Giorgi Saralidze in the studio of the Vesti FM radio station spoke about the place of the Russian language in the post-Soviet space and proposed considering the linguistic situation in the two neighboring republics – Azerbaijan and Georgia.

After gaining independence, Azerbaijan treated the Russian language carefully. "There are as many Russian schools in Azerbaijan as there were in 1990. Even if the total number of people studying the Russian language decreased, now it has reached the level of 1990 again. In Baku they used to speak in Russian and they do it now. Baku was more international than Tbilisi during the Soviet period: when you went to a store, people began to talk to you in Russian, but if you answered them in Azerbaijani, then they replied in Azerbaijani too. Azerbaijan, I guess, is one of the republics of the former Soviet Union where the Russian language remains at a high level," the host noted.

According to him, knowledge of the Russian language has even increased over the past decade in some regions of Azerbaijan. "The reason is that the branches of two large Russian universities were opened in the country – a branch of Moscow State University and a branch of the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. Graduates receive a diploma, which allows them to work in both Azerbaijan and Russia. In general, the preservation of the Russian language is really a serious state policy in Azerbaijan, and, of course, it is associated with the names of the last two presidents – Heydar Aliyev and Ilham Aliyev," Giorgi Saralidze said.

Speaking about Georgia, he recalled that almost immediately after the collapse of the USSR the authorities began to "aggressively close Russian schools in the country." "At the moment, as far as I know, there are only two Russian schools in Georgia. It all started in the Soviet Union, when Zviad Gamsakhurdia and his supporters came to power.  The Russian-language newspaper where I worked was closed because it criticized Gamsakhurdia's policy. Similar work was done in relation to Russian schools as well, gradually it became a state policy, " the host noted.

"For example, a Russian-language school which was located near my house was quickly turned to the Georgian sector. It's another thing that the desire to learn the Russian language has remained. There were many different commercial offers for the study of Russian language: courses, tutors, Russian-speaking nannies. Now Georgia is generally changing its language policy, especially with regard to the large influx of tourists from Russia. There was a time when young people didn't speak Russian, but now the situation has changed," Giorgi Saralidze pointed out.