Government to Introduce State Program for Abkhaz Language Protection Civil Georgia

The Government of Georgia plans to develop a state program on protection and development of the Abkhaz Language, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said at the government session on Friday.  

The new initiative was unveiled on the Day of the Abkhaz Language, marked annually on October 27.

Within the program, the government will finance educational and academic projects aimed at teaching, protecting and developing the Abkhaz language. The program will be jointly administered by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Reconciliation and Civic Equality.

Speaking at the government session on October 27, PM Kvirikashvili congratulated “the Abkhaz brothers and sisters” on the Day of the Abkhaz Language and noted that the new state program would “lay a solid foundation in the confidence building process.”

“I believe that our honest and comprehensive approach towards the Abkhaz language and the culture will be pivotal in restoring the burnt bridges, which are crucial for our unity,” Kvirikashvili said. 

President Giorgi Margvelashvili also congratulated “the Abkhaz citizens and the entire Georgian society on the Abkhaz Language Day.” 

“The culture of Abkhazia is an integral part of our common history and, I strongly believe, of our common future,” the Georgian President said in a statement released on October 27. “I would like the Abkhaz fellow citizens to know that we are looking forward to the day when we will be able to advance on our painful experience and talk in the language of peace, love, and cooperation.”

Abkhaz is recognized as the official language of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia alongside Georgian, according to the Constitution of Georgia.

The Tbilisi-based Abkhazian government-in-exile, which has been kept by Tbilisi since the armed conflict in Abkhazia in early 1990s and is formally deemed by Tbilisi as the only legitimate government in Abkhazia, has been running Abkhaz language classes since 2015 in four schools under its authority in Zugdidi, Tbilisi and Senaki.

The Abkhaz language has also been taught in two Batumi schools since 2017. 

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