Academic Ilija Casule called on the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts to resist the pressure that it is renamed along with more than a hundred other public institutions, which received orders from the Government to change their names. Noted linguist Casule, who has spent time examining the ancient Macedonian language, condemns the move to replace the adjective “Macedonian” with “national” in many institutions.

Head over heels we are renaming hundreds of institutions, some with new, absurd names. If we had to do it, the new names could’ve been along the lines of “Macedonian Television, Skopje”, “Macedonian Information Agency, Skopje”. What will “national” mean to the rest of the world? In this light, the Macedonian Academy must not change its name. It is an institution with its own history and integrity, with a long list of foreign members. In the worst case scenario, it could be called the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Skopje. No adjectives such as “national”, Northmacedonian or of North Macedonia should be applied. It is the Macedonian academy, regardless of the ethnicity of all its members and Macedonia is a glorious, broad term which rises above us all, and especially above those who traded with it, Casule wrote on his social media accounts.

The Macedonian National Theater was a rare institution which received an exemption from the Government order – given that Macedonia already has a Turkish or Albanian theater. The MANU academy is, reportedly, still in talks with the Government over what it should be called.