On October 26, at the initiative of the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia and with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Lebanon, Haigazian University of Lebanon and the AGBU Armenian Virtual University, the RA Ministry of Diaspora hosted a teleconference devoted to the strategy on development of the Western Armenian language, preservation of the purity of the language and regulation of the language and distance language learning.

Among the participants from Armenia were RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan; Deputy Minister Serzh Srapionyan; Head of the Chair of Armenian Language of the Faculty of Armenian Philology at Yerevan State University Yuri Avetisyan; Director of the Hrachya Atcharyan Institute of Language at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA0 Victor Katvalyan; the Institute’s scientific workers Hagop Cholakian and Ani Fishenkjian; President of the AGBU Armenian Virtual University Yervant Zorian; Director of the AGBU Armenian Virtual University Hasmik Khalapyan; Syrian-Armenian teacher of the University Zepyur Khabligian; Director of the Hybrid Program Arpine Tavakalian; Administrative Affairs Director Garnik Sevoyan; scientific worker of the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts-Matenadaran Mihran Minasyan; Assistant of the Chair of New and Modern Armenian Literature and Teaching of Armenian Literature of the Faculty of Philology at the Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abovyan, Knarik Abrahamyan; Iraqi-Armenian public figure Varant Bedrossian and Western Armenian language translator of Hayern Aysor online newspaper of the RA Ministry of Diaspora Sosi Avakian.

Among the participants from Lebanon were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Republic of Lebanon Samvel Mkrtchyan; representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Lebanon Vladimir Poghosyan; Head of the Center for Armenian Diaspora Studies at Haigazian University Antranig Dakessian; Editor of Aztag Armenian Daily Shahan Kandaharian and Director of the Armenian Evangelical College Armen Yurneshlyan.

Greeting the gathered, Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan particularly stated the following: “Upon the instruction of the President of the Republic of Armenia, we are developing a strategy on the development of the Western Armenian language, preservation of the purity and regulation of the language, and today, our goal is to sum up all the plans, proposals and viewpoints that will help integrate and create a main and solid strategy. This issue is a primary issue for state and academic circles in Armenia. The Institute of Language of the NAS RA, state institutions and devoted individuals and specialists are dealing with the solutions to issues related to preservation and development of Western Armenian, and I am glad that Diaspora Armenian teachers, professors and field experts are also engaged in these efforts. Today, the Western Armenian language is under state care.” The Minister emphasized that pure Western Armenian must be used in Armenian schools, in Armenian households and within Armenian communities of the Diaspora. “Armenia also needs to prepare specialists of Western Armenian. Alongside Western Armenian literature, high schools must also offer Western Armenian language courses,” Minister Hranush Hakobyan stated.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Republic of Lebanon Samvel Mkrtchyan highly appreciated the organizing of such teleconferences and expressed willingness to foster the preservation and development of Western Armenian within the Armenian community of Lebanon.

Head of the Center for Armenian Diaspora Studies at Haigazian University Antranig Dakessian expressed his willingness to join the task force of the Institute of Language of the NAS RA set up to preserve Western Armenian and made several recommendations regarding the topic.

Director of the Armenian Evangelical College Armen Yurneshlian highlighted the lack of children’s books, films and cartoons in Western Armenian.

Editor of Aztag Armenian Daily Shahan Kandaharian stated that there is also a need for the convergence and enhancement of professional terminologies in Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian.

President of the AGBU Armenian Virtual University Yervant Zorian presented the activities of the University and the opportunities for the dissemination and development of Western Armenian through distance learning. “E-learning has been widely applied around the world for the past 20 years. In 2004, we took advantage of the opportunities that the latest technologies have to offer and presented the Armenian language (with its two ramifications), as well as Armenian history and culture through distance learning. Recently, online chess courses have become widely popular. To this day, we have had nearly 23,000 students, and 35 Armenian schools are already referring to our courses. We have had students between the ages of 7 and 83,” Yervant Zorian stated.

The Armenian Virtual University also carries out several events devoted to preservation of the Armenian identity, including courses for adults, educational programs for schools, cultural events, application of e-books and more. “We also combine communication with content. These are integral parts of the learning process, and I am very glad that, with students stretching from Egypt to the USA, we are also creating a large network in which the Armenians of various communities can meet, exchange ideas and create new programs and projects,” Zorian emphasized.

Among other speakers were scientific worker of the Matenadaran Mihran Minasyan, Iraqi-Armenian public figure Varant Bedrossian and Western Armenian language translator of Hayern Aysor electronic newspaper Sosi Avakian.