Professors Spar with Govt over ‘Bias Against Montenegrin Language’

Protests in front of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sport in the town of Cetinje. Photo: Ljubo Filipovic

"This faculty is the only educational institution which propounds the Montenegrin language, so the new government is trying to close it. Montenegrin institutions have been captured by the government whose prime minister sees Montenegro as a Serbian state," the dean of the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature, Adnan Cirgic, told media.

There has been a dispute over the status of the Serbian language in independent Montenegro since 2007, a year after the country split from Serbia when it adopted a new constitution that named the official language as Montenegrin, much to the annoyance of the country's Serb community.

The Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature had the strong support of the former government led by Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.

The DPS was ousted at elections last August and a new government came to office in December headed by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, leader of the pro-Serbian alliance For the Future of Montenegro.

On March 3, the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature accused the new Education Minister, Vesna Bratic, of undermining it by cancelling its funding.

The ministry denied this, insisting that the government is financing the faculty regularly and paying the salaries of all its employees.

"The dean of the faculty is knowingly deceiving the public by presenting untruths while claiming that the abolition of the faculty is being planned. We will file a criminal complaint to the state prosecutor's office against Cirgic and other protesters for an attack on state institutions," the Education Ministry said in a statement after...

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