President Stevo Pendarovski, on the occasion of the celebration of December 21 – Day of Turkish Language Teaching, sent a congratulation message to the members of the Turkish community in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Dear fellow citizens of the Turkish community,
Let me congratulate you on December 21 – the Day of Turkish Language Teaching. One of the first decisions of ASNOM Macedonia was to enable mother tongue teaching for several communities, including the Turkish. On this day, in 1944, teaching in Turkish began in the “Tefeyuz” school in Skopje, which released the potential of the community, preserving its identity and developing its culture, to contribute to the common good.
The roots of today’s holiday precede not only the modern Macedonian state, but also the modern Turkish state. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey and the 95th anniversary of language reforms and the introduction of the new Turkish alphabet, which in a short time led to mass literacy.
The Turkish community makes a unique contribution to the construction and development of our common Macedonian homeland and the enrichment of coexistence in the Macedonian multi-ethnic, multilingual and multi-religious society. Despite the challenges in education and in other areas, the representatives of the Turkish community in North Macedonia make a great contribution in every sphere, in education, health, art and sports. Therefore, the state must remove the last obstacles so that our fellow Turks can exercise this basic human right to education without any problem.
Apart from contributing to the Macedonian homeland with its loyalty, the Turkish community is also a strong bond with brotherly and friendly Turkey. Fruits of that friendship are the excellent bilateral relations and mutual support, numerous investments, joint projects, donations for education, science, health and culture.
I take this opportunity to congratulate you on December 21 – the Day of Turkish Language Teaching.
Many happy returns to this great holiday!
Stevo Pendarovski
