Georgia celebrates mother language day when Georgians resisted attempts of Soviet gov’t

Today Georgians are celebrating a day of the mother  language, expressing gratitude to the protests back on April 14,1978 when the country’s population took to the street to oppose the goals of the Soviet authorities to remove Georgian from the country’s constitution as the mother language and replace it with Russian.

The protests succeeded and Georgians managed to maintain their language as the mother language.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated today that “language is one of the main signs of a nation’s identity.”

“ The Georgian language combines the originality of Georgia, historical memory, patriotic spirit and our national self-consciousness. For our nation, language is a value that has always been uncompromisingly defended, symbolized by April 14, 1978.  Our victory preserved the state status not only for Georgian, but also for the languages ​​of other republics,” Garibashvili said.

He stated that a 10-year program of the state language approved by the Government of Georgia has established new goals necessary for the full functioning of the state language and the conditions to achieve this goal.

 “The 10-year strategy will contribute to the better fulfillment of the functions defined by the Constitution for Georgian and Abkhazian languages, as well as the protection of the Kartvelian languages, research and development of language technologies,” Garibashvili said.

He stated that it was the duty of every Georgian to treat the language with special respect and to preserve, develop and pass it on to future generations.