MANU protests against EU's omission of Macedonian language
Skopje, 27 October 2011 (MIA) - By omitting the name of Macedonian language, some EU institutions fail to act in line with the principles of the UN, UNESCO cultural strategies and policies for safeguarding the endangered languages, lingual and cultural diversity. This practice is also contrary to the EU's official cultural policy, based on the principle for protection the lingual and cultural diversities of the member and candidate countries, the Presidency of Macedonian Academy of Science and Art (MANU) concluded at a session on Thursday.
"The practice of ignoring the attributes of the Macedonian identity is not in line with the UN official documents, where in the column for Macedonia's ID, the Macedonian language and nation have been registered, while under the UN Resolution of 1993, Macedonia and Greece should negotiate on a use of the name of the Republic of Macedonia in international institutions, not on the name of the Macedonian language and nation," MANU says in its letter to media.
The language, MANU says, is an inherent, sacred part of the cultural heritage of every nation, national identity and a base of the collective cultural memory, which surpasses the borders of people that use it, and becomes a constituent element of the European, global cultural heritage.
The MANU Presidency expects for all EU institutions to respect the scientific facts, which should not be a subject of politicization and daily-political interpretation. The institution also hopes that in the future the Macedonian language, along will all other attributes of the Macedonian national and cultural identity, will be respected as a realistic fact, thus putting an end to attempts for substituting them with general, variable terms, which treat as relative the identification of the Macedonian lingual uniqueness and culture.
"Macedonian language is the basic denominator of the Macedonian cultural, ethnic and national identity, hence it has also denominated the constitutional and cultural identity of the Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonian language is irrefutable cultural and historic fact, clearly defined by the European, global linguistic science as one that belongs to the Indo-European family, autonomous member of the Slavic languages with particular linguistic individuality within the the group pf South Slavic languages," the letter reads.