Every year, on April 14, Georgians commemorate Mother Language Day to honor the events of April 14, 1978.
According to the New Soviet Constitution of 1977, the Soviet authorities, while Georgia was still a part of the Soviet Union in 1977, decided to strip Georgian of its official language status and only consider Russian as the official language.
As a response, thousands protested on Rustaveli Avenue. Georgians demanded that the communist government reverse its decision. It is notable that the majority of those who participated in the demonstrations were university students. The 14th April was a particularly tense day.
On this day, around 15,000 people marched in the direction Rustaveli Avenue from Tbilisi State University. They were joined by other people. The Communist government retracted its decision, and Georgian became the official state language.
Foreign media wrote about the success of the Georgians in preserving the language. In 1978, the New York Times published two articles with the headlines “Soviet Georgians win on language” and “Soviet Georgians take to the streets to save their state language”.
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