On June 4, the students of the Armenian one-day school in the Pushkino District and Ivanteyevka City of Moscow Oblast held an event dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of the liberation of Shushi and the formation of the army of Artsakh. As reported the community to Hayern Aysor, among the attendees was journalist and public figure Gevorg Kotanjyan, who had traveled from Armenia and shared his impressions with Hayern Aysor.

“When you live far away from the homeland, it is very often impossible to preserve culture and language. This is why there are unions of ethnic groups, and the school is initially the component for preservation of culture and language. The people in Armenia don’t feel the need for that since it is part of the mindset of the Armenians, and the society has shaped its image that has turned into a mindset. The latter is the culture shaped around the stereotypes amongst us, by which we guide and educate our descendants. Thus, it is important to instill in every Armenian abroad everything that is related to Armenia and the Armenians, educating a new Armenian child and a young Armenian growing up abroad, conveying to him or her elite culture, and the right to bear that culture is God-given. In Armenia, one can often attend events featuring performances of Armenian songs and dances, but it is very inspiring to attend that kind of an event in the Russian Federation. Perhaps the most impressive thing is seeing the shine in the eyes of a child who utters the word “Armenia”, without having good knowledge of the language and not being able to express his thoughts in the language correctly. That homeland is not strange to the child, but a part of the child. It is with great pleasure that I tell everyone about the tremendous amount of work that the “Argisht” Armenian Community of Pushkino District of Moscow Oblast has done, and the most impressive is the existence of the “Argisht” Armenian Sunday School where Armenian children and young people receive an Armenian education. As a person from Armenia, it was strange to listen to the Armenian that the children here were speaking, but when you interact with the local Armenian children and see that they barely know Armenian, you realize how hard the administration of the School works and how devoted it is, and it is clear that the administration couldn’t achieve such a result without hard work and dedication. I think there is a need for such centers in every Armenian community of the Diaspora in order to prepare young people with an Armenian upbringing, just like the School I mentioned does. Only by showing this kind of an approach can we become a strong homeland with a strong Diaspora, become a social and political nation and eventually become the one who dictates, not the one who is dictated.”