Ramiz Mekhtiyev: "Russian must be one of languages taught in Azerbaijan"

"Like in Europe, the command of two foreign languages is necessary in Azerbaijan, and Russian must be one of them," Ramiz Mekhtiyev said at a conference of educationalists ahead of a new academic year, which begins in Azerbaijan on September 15.

He said a decline in the teaching of Russian at schools was "one of the negative occurrences in the sphere of education."

Meanwhile, observers note that situation with the Russian language in Azerbaijan is better than in many other former Soviet republics. There are up to 400 schools in the republic, where teaching is made in Russian in parallel with the Azerbaijani language. There are 30 Russian schools in Azerbaijan, and not only ethnic Russians study there, but also many children from Azerbaijani families.

There are Russian sectors at practically all higher educational establishments. Over 20 newspapers and magazines are issued in Russian.

The Russian language is actively used in everyday life. Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev has superb command of the Russian language, and many other state officials can speak Russian.

/Itar-Tass/