Moldovan language must become broad communication means, leader of Union of Moldovans in Transnistria

The Moldovan language with Cyrillic script, which is one of the official languages in the Transnistrian region, must be not only an object of study, but also a broad means of communication, the leader of the Union of Moldovans in Transnistria Valerian Tulgara said during a meeting of national union heads and the leader of the breakaway republic Igor Smirnov, Info-Prim Neo's correspondent in Tiraspol reports. The heads of the Transnistrian unions asked that the executive and legislative bodies devote greater attention to the development of the Moldovan and Ukrainian languages in the region. Leonid Tkachuk, the head of the Union of Ukrainians, said new programs are now needed to promote the development of the official languages. Valerian Tulgara said the Moldovans and Ukrainians living in Transnistria do not demand that the language-related problems they face be solved immediately. “We make proposals for the future,” he added. Transnistrian foreign minister Vladimir Yastrebchak stressed the Moldovan language schools in the region encounter difficulties because they are not supported by the neighboring countries as other institutions are. “It is hard to find extrabudgetary resources for the Moldovan language schools,” he said. Minister of education Maria Pashchenko said it costs twice more to maintain Moldovan and Ukrainian classes as they include only two to ten persons. “However, we try to preserve these classes,” she added. Mihail Burla, the deputy head of the Transnistrian legislative body, said all the official documents and laws are published in Russian, this representing an infringement of the constitutional rights of the Moldovans and Ukrainians. Igor Smirnov promised the authorities will do their utmost for the Russians, Moldovans and Ukrainians as well as the representatives of other nationalities living in the region not to lose their national identity. {De jure,} there are three official languages in the Transnistrian region – Russian, Moldovan and Ukrainian. {De facto,} Russian has a dominant position. According to the census taken in 2004, the Moldovans make up 31% of the Transnistrian population, the Russians – 30%, the Ukrainians – 29, other nationalities - 10%. On August 31, 1989, the Parliament of the former Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic passed a law on the functioning of the languages on the territory of the MSSR, whereby the Moldovan language was declared official language. The Cyrillic script was replaced with the Latin script. The given modifications sparked later secessionist movements in the Transnistrian region.