Daniel Gheorghe: The road for EU integration of Serbia, Cyrillic approaches. Stalin invented ”Moldovan” language, Serbia invents “Vlach” language

YouthVoice.ro: Daniel Gheorghe: The road for EU integration of Serbia, Cyrillic approaches. Stalin invented ”Moldovan” nation and language, Serbia invents “Vlach” nation and language...

One of the most controversial issues of the European affairs is the creation of fictive national identities in order to assimilate different minority groups inside and extreme nationalist state. This anti-democratic practice was first time elaborated during Stalin totalitarian communist regime. The technique has the purpose to gain and maintain the state control over large spaces and over different nations by using force and persuasion in a large scale strategy. This is done by dividing peoples and nations.

The Stalinist example of ”Moldovan” nation and language Stalin, during his terror over the eastern Romanian lands like Bessarabia, developed in the labs of the soviet communist party the so called “Moldovan” nation. This was in reality a fictive nation invented from political and anti-Romanian reasons. In order to understand they are different than Romanians, this new ”nation” needed to have a different language... and since they could not take Russian as mother tongue very fast, the Soviets propagated the idea that the language of the inhabitants of Bessarabia is ”Moldovan”...

The same ”scientific” technique -postmodern approaches Presently, in this postmodern and apparently free Europe this scenario is repeating. Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, neighbour and “historical friend” of Romania, is practicing a constant state policy of dismantling the important Romanian community from the Timoc and Crajna regions in Eastern Serbia.

There are after independent estimations more than 250.000 Romanian ethnics in Eastern Serbia called by the Serbs as “Vlachs”. The Romanian minority based in Eastern Serbia live in the same traditions, language, origin and legacy with their brothers from modern Romania. The purpose to call them “Vlachs” aims to identify them as other ethnic group than the one they are representing. The lack of fundamental rights is a cruel reality when we are speaking about the Romanians from Timoc region. Hunted by the Serbian state, forgotten by the Basescu’s administration of Romania, this minority is struggling for ethnic surviving.

Despite all the Serbian-Romanian treaties and despite all the assurances from the Serbian president and from the Belgrade Government that they plan to give all the necessary rights to Romanians in Timoc, the situation of those forgotten Romanians is getting worse. With all the commitments regarding the rights of minorities taken by the Serbian policy makers on the road to European integration, the reality of the practice on the field of dealing with national minorities is telling us a different story.

The invention of the “Vlach” nation using the old Bolshevik model is a significant obstacle towards the democratization of Serbia and a very unfaithful act on the relation with Romania, a country which has many political ties with Serbia and which has a long history of bilateral relations with this south-western neighbour. There are no “Vlach” people and there cannot be any Romanian language written with Cyrillic alphabet (“Vlach language”) .

More than this diversion with this fictive nation, there are other aspects of violating the international conventions on the protection of minorities such as the involvement of the state authorities in the issues of self-organization of the Romanian minority in Serbia. This illegal policy of forced control over the civil organizations is a proof that Serbia is still having big problems with breaking with the authoritarian past.

We think that the situation of Timoc and Crajna must be dealt as a European political issue and this unpleasant problem is necessary to be put on the attention of the European Parliament and Council of Europe. Meanwhile, on the process of ratification of the EU-Serbia association and stabilization treaty, the question of the rights of the Romanian minority from Eastern Serbia cannot be missed. The convention over this European issue should be a part of a separate addendum chapter of Serbian-Romanian relations besides the EU – Serbia association agreement.

We think that is the obligation of the Romanian and European authorities to take a stand on protecting minorities’ rights from Serbia. The Serbian government should understand that protecting the rights of Romanian minority, they are helping their own society in the process of reopening to the world and in the process of cooperation in the south Eastern Europe.

The “Vlach” term is a derogatory for “Romanian” and it is the duty of the Romanian authorities, of the Romanian Parliament and of the Romanian parties to understand that we have the moral right to convince the Serbian state that recognizing the Romanians as Romanians and not as “Vlach”, the opening of Romanian schools (or Romanian lessons in schools) and Romanian orthodox churches in Timoc , giving those people civil and cultural rights (such as access to mass-media in the mother tongue ) is a legal and moral “must”.

Daniel Gheorghe

Sursa: Romanian YouthVoice.ro