Language Research

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was ratified on June 4, 1996 and enacted on February 1, 1998.

The European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages was signed on November 12, 1992.

Updated (September 2002)

On August 27, 2002 Cyprus officially ratified the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

As Greek and Turkish are the official languages in Cyprus, the Charter only applies to Armenian, which is considered to be a non-territorial language (a language used by nationals of the state, which differs from the languages used by the rest of the population, but which, although traditionally used within the territory of the state, cannot be identified with a particular area thereof).

Out of 850,000 inhabitants of the island 2,000 belong to the Armenian minority. The Armenians have three elementary schools and one high school with instructions in their mother tongue, Greek and English. They also have churches and access to one hour of broadcasting in Armenian.

The Charter will enter into force on December 1, 2002.

So far 12 members of the Council of Europe have signed the document and 17 have ratified it.

Source: Eurolang, www.eurolang.net, Brussels, August 28, 2002, by Margret Oberhofer

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Updated (January 2003)

The ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages deposited by the Republic of Cyprus entered into force on December 1, 2002. Cyprus signed the Charter on November 12, 1992 and ratified it on August 26, 2002.

The declaration only mentions Armenian as a non-territorial language but does not take into account the Maronite Arabian language, which, according to the consulted source,1 is spoken by 1,300 speakers within a community (6,000 members) living on the island since the 8th Century.

Armenians, on the other hand, have a community of 2,000 speakers and came to the island between 1915 and 1920.

Source: Mercator News; December 2002; http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

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