Russian population of Azerbaijan need to learn Azerbaijani language: head of Russian community

Law on Support to National Minorities of Azerbaijan should be reviewed in accordance with the existing realities, member of Azerbaijani parliament and head of the Russian community in Azerbaijan Mikhail Zabelin said.

"Current law passed in 1992 is relatively outdated and it does not take into account Azerbaijan’s sharp economic and social growth,” Zabelin said.

The Russian community of Azerbaijan enjoys support of both society and the government and does not experience those problems which sometimes Russians living in other countries have to face, he said.

"The Russian community is grateful to the government and president of Azerbaijan for their support,” Zabelin added.

He also noted that currently more than 160,000 representatives of Russian nationality live in Azerbaijan.

"Unfortunately, most of them show less social activity. Primarily, this is due to the fact that many of Russians in Azerbaijan do not know Azerbaijani language,” the head of the community said.

Zabelin also noted that the Russian community wants the Russian population of Azerbaijan to learn Azerbaijani language and is going to take appropriate measures to encourage the study thereof.

/Novosti Azerbaijan/