The Language Issue in Ukraine should be discussed without Political Implications, but with Attraction of Experts and Representatives of the National Minorities V.Lytvyn
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, believes
that the language issue in Ukraine
should be discussed comprehensively, experts and representatives of the national
minorities being involved.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine made this statement on Wednesday, meeting Knut Vollebaek, High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
V.Lytvyn declared that the language issue was topical for Ukraine. He deems necessary to hold round table discussions with the attraction of experts, representatives of the national minorities and leaders of the deputy factions. He admitted that the principle "make haste slowly" should be followed.
The Head of the Parliament stated that several bills on language issues had been registered at the Parliament. V.Lytvyn addressed the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine with a request to make an expert conclusion whether these legislative acts "are conditioned historically and comply with the international law."
"The comprehensive resolution including the amendments to the law on the national minorities and the National Policy Concept should be adopted," the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stated. "The Parliament will be offered this action plan. However, there should be no political implications."
V.Lytvyn warned that consideration
of the language issue should not come to the problem of two languages, Russian
and Ukrainian, as "there
should be a common recognition of the status of the Ukrainian language as the
state one."
K.Vollebaek supported the suggestions of V.Lytvyn. He declared the willingness of his organization to send the guidelines on the bills mentioned.
V.Lytvyn expressed his gratitude to K.Vollebaek for "active assistance in the normative and legal settlement of the issues connected with the national minorities in Ukraine." "Since the latest visit of the High Commissioner of the OSCE to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Party "has continuously worked upon the act on the rights of the deported persons in the Crimea. Your guidelines are of great importance for us as they offer aspects to be considered in the Ukrainian legislation," V.Lytvyn stated. "It is crucial to preserve national peace and tolerance characteristic of our people."
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stated that the Parliament should adopt such a bill on the restoration of rights of the deported persons that would be supported by the People´s Deputies and meet the international standards. The specialized parliamentary committee will be recommended to boost its work over the document to adopt the law at the current session.
The Head of the Parliament believes
that the issues connected with the Crimean Tatars are rather sensitive. He
calls for boosting public discussions between the representatives of the
Crimean Tatars and the Crimean government to settle the issues of the deported persons.