Russia, Moscow, 13 February / Trend corr. R.Agayev / Official Baku support the decision on opening an Azerbaijani language department in the Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU). "We are pleased to open the department at the Moscow University," Nigar Akhundova, the Advisor on Humanitarian Issues of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia, stated.
"We usually say that Azerbaijan and Russia are strategic partners. I believe that our strategic ties should have functional language relations, as many people connected with tourism, economy and culture want to achieve certain success in their sphere of engagement by studying the language. We completely back this will," Akhundova stated during a Moscow-Baku video-conference on the topic of 'Better understanding each other: study of the Russian language in Azerbaijan and study of the Azerbaijani language in Russia'.
Most Azerbaijani students, according to Akhundova, traditionally study in Russia. According to Akhundova, a decree issue by the Azerbaijani President on students studying abroad, new students will come to Russia to choose the best Universities in Moscow, as well as the most demanded specialties as the program is paid for by the Presidential Fund. Akhundova demonstrated support for the establishment of a Centre of Azerbaijani Culture at the Moscow Linguistic University.
Kamal Abdullayev, the Rector of Baku Slavic University, also welcomed the idea of the establishment of the department at the Moscow University. Opening the department at the Moscow university will create grounds for the study of Turkic languages. Great importance is paid to the development of the Russian language and literature in Azerbaijan, and the study of Russian is of national interest to Azerbaijanis.
Irina Khaleyeva, the Rector of Moscow University, told how the university had been engaged in the establishment of Centres to study languages of CIS member-countries since 2000. There are graduates of Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian languages from the university, as well as being graduates of the Kyrgyz language in 2008. There are plans to open departments for the study of Georgian, Tajik and Turkmen languages. Khaleyeva is confidence that an Islamic Cultural Centre should be established. "We are also planning to create an Islamic Cultural Centre and from this point of view we are interested in Azerbaijani language, culture and religion worshiped in Azerbaijani," Khaleyeva stated.
According to Bella Musayeva, a tutor of Azerbaijani at the Moscow university, the fact that the Azerbaijani language was included in the exams as a second foreign language, is a very pleasant aspect, as well as a very responsible fact. "Our class studies the language for a week. However, we attended events of the Azerbaijani community in Russia for three to four months, closely cooperated with Azerbaijani organizations in Russia, youth organizations, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia, representatives of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Russia and others," Musayeva stated.