Mircea Snegur: the emancipation of the people of Moldova has started at the end of the 80’s, once the Romanian language was declared as state language

The process of detachment from the Soviet Union and of emancipation of the people of R. Moldova has started at the end of the 80’s, once the Romanian language was declared as state language and along with the switching to the Latin alphabet. This was decided by hundreds of thousands of people, which were present on August 27, 1989 in the square of the Great National Assembly from the capital city, Mircea Snegur, the first president of R. Moldova, has told Info-Prim Neo. According to the participants in the events of 17 years ago, it was then decided to render homage to the language by decreeing the day of the 31st of August to the national celebration called “Our Romanian Language” or “The Day of the Romanian Language”. Throughout a number of years, until 2001, this celebration was marked by manifestations of great patriotism, of identification of roots, by reemploying old traditions and monuments that have had an impact on the history. The last first-secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova, Grigore Eremei, considers that not only the leadership of the R. Moldova, but also all of its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity, which live on this territory, have to know the language and history of its natives in order to be closer to them in body and soul and in order to avoid any anti-romanianism manifestations. The russification and alteration of the Romanian language are experiencing greater proportions than during Soviet times, the former president of the intelligence services, Tudor Butnaru has told Info-Prim Neo. He claims that at present, those in power make absolutely no effort to cultivate a beautiful and literary language. According to the cited sources, as of 2001, the leadership of the R. Moldova “has confiscated” a significant part of the name of the celebration, calling it “Our Language”. In 2004, the Parliament has decided to merge the two national celebrations – Independence Day and “Our Language”, calling it the Day of the Republic. The merger failed, but the Independence Day now has a new name – the Day of the Republic. Just as before, this year, the president of the R. Moldova, Vladimir Voronin will not attend the “Our Language” celebration. According to a press statement of the Presidency, the chief of the state has resumed, as of August 30, his holiday which had been cut in order for him to take part in the festivities of August 27.