• Russian Language and Literature
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• no.64
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• pp.191-217
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• 2019

This article aims to examine the possibility of conflicts and disputes between titular nations and ethnic minority groups in the post Soviet countries where most of the policies were designed only for the titular nations. Most of the Post-Soviet countries supported a policy that a language of the indigenous national must be used as a lingua franca. This caused the resistance of minority people in the countries. Especially, the promotion of the language status and function as an indigenous national language resulted in discrimination in the political, economic and socio-cultural areas of the ethnic minorities. In the 14 new independent countries except for the Russian Federation, the Russians became an ethnic minority. It led Russian peoples to emigrate out of the new independent country, creating a chaotic situation. In the Baltic region, Russians have descended to ethnic minorities, and the use of Russian language has also been banned. Thus there is a possibility of a conflict between the titular nations and Russians. The ethnic minorities in Moldova are also Russians, who constitute a de facto independent state, Transnistria. Another ethnic minority, the Gagauzes, compromised with the Moldovan government and formed a self-governing organization in the territory of Moldova. However, there is a possibility of a conflict between the titular nations and Gagauzes. Ethnic minorities in the Caucasus region are the Abkhazians, Ossetians of Georgia, the Russians and Azerbaijani of Armenia, and the Russians and Armenians of Azerbaijan. The status of the Russians and Russian language in Armenia and Azerbaijan remains virtually unchanged, but the Russian-speaking regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia are still likely to experience ethnic and language disputes. Minorities in Central Asia are the Karakalpaks and Tajiks in Uzbekistan, and the Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan (mostly in Osh Province) as well as the Russians and Koreans, who were Russian single language users and became ethnic minorities in the new environment.