Young Macedonian linguists issued Wednesday a Proclamation for the Protection of the Macedonian Language and Literature and Macedonian Studies after the Macedonian Foreign Affairs Ministry published the unilateral declaration on Macedonian language.

After the publication of the Unilateral Declaration of the Republic of Macedonia attached to the minutes of the first IGC, in which the important scientific facts about the history and continuity of the Macedonian language and literature are omitted, and at the same time scientifically incorrect claims about the Macedonian language are made, we, the young Macedonian linguists, are obliged to stand up for the scientific truth and Macedonian studies and not allow ourselves to be contemporaries of starting a stage of a self-denying process, with a political act that does not take into account the scientifically confirmed knowledge and conclusions of either Macedonian or world philology, reads the Proclamation.

They demand immediately, without delay, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, i.e. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to withdraw the Declaration, bearing in mind that it does not respect established scientific knowledge and established facts about the Macedonian language, literature and, in general, cultural identity, behind which stands not only domestic and foreign Macedonian studies, but also contemporary world Slavic studies, linguistics, literary science and historiography.

Such declaration can lead to serious and lasting consequences for the nation, the state and the overall Macedonian culture, and therefore we point out that if it is not withdrawn, it will be considered illegitimate by us, and every further act  based on or referred to it will also be illegitimate, say Macedonian linguists calling on the president of the state Stevo Pendarovski and the Macedonian Parliament to stand in defense of the Macedonian language and literature, of Macedonian studies and of the state’s interests and to use all available mechanisms for this shameful Declaration to be withdrawn, because it politically attacks the foundations of Macedonianism, behind which stands the science.