Skopje, 5 May 2023 (MIA) - Today we celebrate May 5 - Macedonian Language Day, a safeguard of our identity, present and future, the root of our being, a day when we celebrate our uniqueness. Today we pay tribute to the Macedonian language, which is the guardian of our collective memory, the eternal monument to our existence and linguistic pride, President Stevo Pendarovski said in a message of congratulations on the occasion.  

The Macedonian language, with a long oral and written tradition, is the seed of the Macedonian state and an urge that guides us in achieving and preserving our place in the world with honor and dignity," Pendarovski points out. 

"Therefore, it is our duty to future generations to preserve, develop and affirm the Macedonian language as it is our stake for the future, to support domestic and international scholarly research on the Macedonian language and its dialects, to nurture the distinctiveness of the Macedonian language and to use it correctly in order to preserve it for future generations," Pendarovski adds. 

He calls on us not to forget our ancestors and their struggle to prove the uniqueness of the Macedonian language. 

"We remember all of those who have become embedded into the Macedonian language with their work throughout the centuries. Among them is Krste Petkov Misirkov, who told us that the language is our spiritual treasure. We remember with reverence the codifier of the Macedonian language, Blaze Koneski, who taught us that our language is our only complete homeland," says Pendarovski.

In the year we celebrate the birth centenary of Macedonian poet Aco Shopov, one of the founders of modern Macedonian literature, President Pendarovski pointed to the necessity to invest more in the Macedonian language and literature because, he noted, only then will we be a dignified part of the European cultural and educational space. 

Photo: MIA archive