Spokesman of the Bosniak Party (BS) Adel Omeragić announced that that party would advocate for the Bosnian language to be official in Montenegro, but neither his party nor the parties of the ruling majority and the opposition wanted to comment on it or answer the questions of "Vijesti"
According to the Constitution, the official language in Montenegro is Montenegrin, and Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian are also in official use.
"Language protection is one of our priorities and we will advocate for the Bosnian language to be the official language in Montenegro," Omeragić said two weeks ago as a guest in a podcast published on his Facebook account. Ruzdija Radončić.
Among other things, he said that the party he belongs to is the only one that deals with the protection of the Bosnian language, but also that their interest is the development of the north, as well as the proportional representation of Bosniaks. "Let's not be second- and third-class citizens, but so that tomorrow, when we have a competition in the country, someone is not eliminated, because their name is Ruždija or Adel".
BS did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" when they will officially initiate the request for Bosnian to be the official language, nor did they discuss this with their colleagues from the ruling majority.
Also, from the party he leads Ervin Ibrahimovic they did not tell the list whether their statements were related to the announcements of part of the ruling majority that Serbian should be standardized as official, and whether they support it.
The parties that together with BS form the ruling majority did not want to comment on Omeragić's claims, or answer whether they would support such a request in parliament.
Minister of Human and Minority Rights Fatmir Đeka who comes from the ranks of the Albanian Alliance coalition, said that he was not familiar with Omeragić's allegations.
"I only know that it requires a change in the Constitution, and that is a long road that requires the widest consensus," he added.
Last week, Ibrahimović announced that he would raise the issue, if there is a consensus at the state level, on the show "Nachisto" on "Vijesti" television.
He called the statements of a part of the ruling majority that the Serbian language should be given official status populist, explaining that changes to the Constitution require two-thirds support in parliament, but also that three-fifths of those registered in the voter list support it in a referendum.
"Vijesti" tried to contact the other members of the BS, and some of them said that they were not familiar with Omeragić's allegations.
Even the opposition parties did not want to comment on the announcement of the spokesperson of the largest minority party in Montenegro.
The questions were sent to the Democratic Party of Socialists, the Social Democrats (SD), the Citizens' Movement URA, United Montenegro, as well as the leader of the Croatian Civic Initiative to Adrian Vuksanović.
Social Democrats told the newspaper that their position is not to comment on that request until it is formal.
According to data from the census conducted in December 2023, the majority of Montenegrin residents speak Serbian - 43,18 percent (269.307 citizens), followed by Montenegrin - 34,52 percent (215.299), and Bosnian - 6,97 percent (43.470). Albanian is spoken by 5,25 percent of the population (32.725), Russian by 2,36 percent (14.731), and Serbo-Croatian by 2,08 percent (12.999). 1,71 percent of the population (10.691) did not want to say what language they speak.
After the published results in October of this year, messages could be heard from some of the ruling majority parties that Serbian should be given the status of an official language.
President of the Assembly and leader of the New Serbian Democracy Andrija Mandic said in an interview for "Večernje Novosti" that there is no country in Europe, and probably not even in the world, with the possible exception of certain totalitarian regimes, where the language spoken by the majority population is not the official language of that country.
As he added, there is a new parliamentary majority "that wants to state what the people clearly and unequivocally said, which is that the majority speaks the Serbian language and asks to be granted official status."
"If we are not able to make an agreement, according to the achievements and the best practices of the developed world, there is a solution, and that is to create a Constituent Assembly," said Mandić.
Also, the Deputy Prime Minister for the political system, judiciary and anti-corruption and a Democrat official Momo Koprivica he said that the request to introduce the Serbian language as an official language in Montenegro is completely legitimate.
"It is not a language spoken only by one nation, but also by members of other nations. Serbian is the language of those people who are on their own in Montenegro, who are constitutive. But I add that I am an advocate of dialogue. The issue of language, like other issues, requires dialogue, and extremists from any side in Montenegro, and prompters from outside will not be helpful," said Koprivica, as reported by the RTCG portal.
His party colleague and Minister of Internal Affairs, Danilo Saranović, said that he would support the initiative to make the Serbian language official, but that he thinks "that can never happen while the Constitution is as it is".
The deputies of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) also said that Serbian should become official. Bogdan Božović i Sladjana Kaluđerović, suffers UCG Goran Danilović, as well as the Minister of Sports Dragoslav Šcekić (SNP).
The Democratic Party of Socialists and the Social Democrats spoke against it.
More than two thirds of Bosniaks speak Bosnian
MONSTAT data show that the majority of Bosniaks speak the Bosnian language. Of the 58.956 who declared themselves Bosniaks, 42.319 speak Bosnian, and 1.843 speak Bosniak.
The Montenegrin language is spoken by 14.118 Bosniaks, and Serbian by 197 of them.
On the other hand, the majority of citizens who declared themselves Muslim in the census held at the end of last year speak the Montenegrin language. Out of 10.162 Muslims, 8.550 of them speak Montenegrin. 464 Muslims declared that they speak Bosnian, slightly fewer speak Serbian - 399, and 204 - Serbo-Croatian.
Bonus video:
