Milovanovic: We have a duty to defend our national identity through our script

Bosko Milovanovic, a professor at the Teacher Training Faculty from Prizren, based in Leposavic, told Kosovo Online that the Council for the Serbian Language, which recommended that the Government of Serbia intervene with UNMIK and other international institutions to protect the Cyrillic script in Kosovo, has recognized a very serious moment of threat to the Cyrillic script in the region.

“The Council submitted a request to the Government to take action in order to preserve our identity. When someone alters place names, geographical names, river names, or names of institutions, they are directly impacting the cultural identity of a nation. The dismantling of national identity begins with the language, and then with the script,” Milovanovic emphasized, adding that the Council for the Serbian Language is a young body but includes distinguished figures in the field of Serbian language—such as academician Sreto Tanasic (ANURS), Professor Milos Kovacevic, and Professor Aleksandar Milanovic.

Milovanovic suggests that in terms of preserving Cyrillic in Kosovo, appeals should be made to UNESCO and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. He explains that when the government of a nation addresses UNESCO, the request is forwarded to the Council of Europe for review.

“We should appeal to them because they were the very institutions that upheld the rights of Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija before 1999, and I am certain that if Serbs were to request the same rights in Kosovo that Albanians had before 1999, they would never be granted, because that would mean full recognition of the national identity of our people. These two institutions are the right addresses precisely because there are mechanisms in place to monitor their decisions, even if those decisions may ultimately be unfavorable to us. But, as Njegos said, ‘Time is a masterful sieve,’ and time will prove that we were right, because we believe in the truth, which is always on the side of the oppressed,” Milovanovic stated.

He stressed that toponyms are the most visible aspect and noted that Kosovo authorities have changed many, such as Vucitrn becoming Vushtrri, and the birthplace of Prince Lazar in Kosovo Pomoravlje—originally called Prilepac—now being renamed to Prepelnice.

“What is less visible are all the decisions Serbs submit to Kosovo courts and institutions, which respond to us using the Latin script. We are obliged to defend our national identity through our script, because as long as our script exists here, it affirms the identity and continuity of a people in this area. I am convinced that what they have envisioned has no real future,” Milovanovic concluded.