GHM/MRG-G: EBLUL and Eurolang Drop References to "Slavo-Macedonian
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Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 11:02:01 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: GHM/MRG-G: EBLUL and Eurolang Drop References to "Slavo-Macedonian
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original semder: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>
GHM/MRG-G: EBLUL and Eurolang Drop References
to"Slavo-Macedonian Language" in Favor of "Macedonian Language"
GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM)
MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP - GREECE (MRG-G)
Address: P.O. Box 60820, 15304 Glyka Nera
Telephone: (+30-1) 347.22.59
Fax: (+30-1) 601.87.60
e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.greekhelsinki.gr
PRESS RELEASE
13 March 2002
TOPIC: EBLUL AND EUROLANG DROP REFERENCES TO "SLAVO-MACEDONIAN
LANGUAGE" IN FAVOR OF "MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE" FOLLOWING CRITICISM BY
MACEDONIAN DIASPORA AND MINORITY RIGHTS NGOs
Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) and Minority Rights Group-Greece (MRG-G)
welcome the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL)'s
decision to drop references in its text to "Slavo-Macedonian" language
in favor of the internationally accepted term of "Macedonian
language," following criticism by the Macedonian Human Rights Movement
of Canada (MHRMC), Australia-based publisher of books on, inter alia,
Macedonian minorities Victor Bivell, GHM and MRG-G.
Following the constitutive meeting of EBLUL's Member State Committee
in Greece (MSC-G), on 26/1/2002 in Thessaloniki, EBLUL's release
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/message/3428), as well as
press coverage in Greece
(http://www.iospress.gr/mikro2002/mikro20020202.htm) and by Eurolang
(EBLUL-supported news agency
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/message/3507), referred to one
of the communities represented in the new MSC as "Slavomacedonians,"
"Slavomacedonian group," and to the corresponding language as
"Slavomacedonian."
GHM received criticism from Macedonian diaspora NGO members about the
use of the term in the documents of EBLUL and Eurolang it had
distributed to various lists. It responded recalling its own
opposition to the use of the terms "Slavomacedonians" and "Slavs" for
both the minority in Greece and the Macedonian population in the
Republic of Macedonia, including by many and important international
media (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mkakademija/message/1117). GHM
recommended that criticism be directed to the sources of these
documents, a recommendation followed by the letter writers. Eurolang
replied promptly by correcting its article (see its related answer to
Victor Bivell in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mkakademija/message/1146), taking even
the - rare for media and thus very commendable - extra step to
"apologize for the mistake" explaining that they "used the term
'slavo-Macedonian', as it was used in the formal greeting of the Greek
Member State Committee by the President of the EBLUL." Several weeks
later, and more exactly yesterday, EBLUL informed the MHRMC that they
"will use the term Macedonian while referring to the minority
language." Today, EBLUL's website (http://www.eblul.org/wow/) was
accordingly corrected, but references to present-day "Slavic people"
and "Slavic minority" in Greece remained: hopefully they too will be
changed in the near future. It is also hoped that this very
significant change will be shared by EBLUL with the Greek media and
authorities, in the hope that, at long last, they respect the use of
the name of the language (and the corresponding people) chosen by its
users and unanimously accepted by the international scholarly and NGO
community, as well as by many intergovernmental fora.
--
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