Radomirovic: Persecution of any people begins with the denial of their language rights

Journalist Vladimir Radomirovic stated to Kosovo Online that Serbs in Kosovo had been deprived of the right to use their native language for years, adding that the denial of this right marked the beginning of persecution for any nation.

"It is an attempt at violent assimilation of Serbs to become some sort of Kosovars, to strip them of their identity, and it is terrible that the international community and Western human rights organizations don't react to this issue. We know what happened to the Serbian language in the past and how our people managed to endure, but this situation is such that everyone turns a blind eye to this persecution. The fate of Serbs is very difficult. I believe that Serbia and all our partners need to raise their voices and save what can be saved at this moment," Radomirovic stated.

Reacting to Albin Kurti's statement that the Law on the Use of Language is respected at all levels, our interviewee says that it enables the West to turn a blind eye.

"Kurti can say whatever he wants to foreign media. This is how Kosovo has been progressing for years in terms of respecting human rights, fighting corruption, media freedom... even though there is evidence that all these freedoms are endangered, especially the freedom of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, Western organizations dealing with these issues choose to ignore it," he notes and assesses that the Serbian language is almost non-existent in Pristina institutions.

"Where it supposedly exists, it is in Latin script and some corrupted Serbian language, whereas we know what the situation was like before the unilateral declaration of independence; it was Cyrillic, and the language was nurtured. How and why did it come to this, and why didn't our state react? That is a question we all need answers to, and we need to fight now for Serbs to have basic rights, let alone advanced rights under this regime in Kosovo, which is difficult to discuss," Radomirovic believes.

Commenting on the position of Serbian journalists who are mostly deprived of translation into the Serbian language at official conferences of Pristina institutions, Radomirovic reminds that there is a Language Commissioner within the Government of Kosovo.

"He should raise his voice and demand regular translations into the Serbian language and the use of Cyrillic, which is the most important issue. Serbs write in Cyrillic, and we shouldn't use a corrupted language that offends all Serbs. The Commissioner should consider requesting changes in signage in Latin script at administrative crossings; it has nothing to do with the Serbian language. Why doesn't he speak up instead of asking journalists to file complaints? He must act based on his mandate to protect the rights of Serbs to language and script," Radomirovic says.