Kirghizia's Parliament Voted For Giving Official Status To Russian Language

On Friday the deputies of Kirghizia's parliament voted for giving the Russian language the status of an official language and for introducing a corresponding amendment to the Constitution of Kirghizia. As the press service of the parliament of Kirghizia reported, the deputies approved this draft law in its second reading by a majority of votes. But to make a change in the Fundamental Law of the country, it is necessary that parliament vote twice for the amendment. According to chairman of the information policy committee Kabai Karabekov, a decision on this question in parliament "will be taken soon and is likely to be positive". "Probably, before New Year's Day the Russian language will acquire an official status in Kirghizia and will become, in essence, the second national language," Karabekov stressed. So, the country's Russian-speaking population will be protected from discrimination on the linguistic basis during the state employment procedure, the deputy noted. The law on the official status of the Russian language was adopted by the parliament of Kirghizia and approved by the country's president Askar Akayev in 2000.