Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijani language is gaining popularity among Armenians, as more and more people in the post-Soviet country believe it is necessary to speak "enemy's language".

Increasing trend in the number of those desiring to know Azerbaijani was emphasized in an article recently published by the Open Caucasus Media news agency.

The author of the article, titled “A growing trend in Armenia – learning Azerbaijani,” writes that the Armenians believe it is strategically important “to know the language of the enemy.”

The relations between the two South Caucasus nations have dramatically severed in late 1980's, following Armenia's wish to annex Azerbaijan's region of Nagorno-Karabakh through war. Armenia occupied 20 percent of neighboring Azerbaijan's territory and displaced over 1 million Azerbaijanis from their native lands. Since then the Armenian authorities pursue the policy of hatred against Azerbaijan among their population. Armenian children are behaved with in the spirit of strong hatred towards Azerbaijanis, and maybe this is one of the main reasons why the almost 30-year-old Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still unresolved.

However, the Armenian authorities claim that “Armenians are peaceful people who are raising children in the spirit of peace.” It is obvious that majority of Armenians do not like and even hate their eastern neighbor Azerbaijan, because the political regime of this country leads the nation in this way.

It is noteworthy that Armenians do not learn Azerbaijani for no reason. As the deputy rector of the Oriental Studies Faculty of the Yerevan State University Ruben Melkonyan said, the university courses in Azerbaijani language started in 2008, and this program is implemented together with Armenia’s Ministry of Defence, which funds the education of four students.

Thus, it is clear what would be the future occupation of these students in the future. They will obviously become Armenian saboteurs, which won’t only join the Armenian intelligence agency but also may organize terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan by infiltrating into the country with false documents.

There were enough proofs of Armenian attacks against Azerbaijani civilian population in the past. For instance, there were two terrorist attacks in March and July 1994 in the Baku metro. The investigation then established that the instructors of these terrorist acts were the members of the Armenian intelligence agency Colonel Karen Bagdasaryan and Captain Seyran Sargsyan.

Therefore, the fact that the Armenian Defense Ministry funds the courses of the Azerbaijani language raises serious concerns. There is a high probability that those students are being prepared for further provocations against Azerbaijan and the country’s population.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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