Makedonarmân Council

                                                                                                      

International Conference : Multilingualism, Regional & Minority Languages
16-17 April 2009, University of London

This international conference was organised jointly by the SOAS-UCL Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Languages of the Wider World (LWW CETL) (UK, www.lww-cetl.ac.uk) and the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning of the Fryske Akademy (The Netherlands, www.mercator-research.eu).

All people have the right to learn and use their mother-tongue, and to learn a second and third language.

This formal right is often absent and its use in practice is often less well guaranteed and less developed than should be the case, especially for speakers of smaller languages variously labelled as “regional”, “minority”, “immigrant”, “community” (including sign languages), “heritage” languages, etc.

The conference focused on theoretical and empirical work in research and implementation of teaching and learning models and strategies for language learning.
The conference combined the fields of interest of the partner institutions. The LWW CETL focuses on languages of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Netherlands. The focus of MERCATOR and the Fryske Akademy is on language learning and language transmission of Regional and Minority Languages and smaller state languages in Europe.

This conference brought together researchers and practitioners from these various fields to define, analyse and explore new directions and paradigms for “Languages of the Wider World”. It also provided opportunities for further research and future collaborations.

The parallel sessions covered four broad themes: Language Transmission, Education Issues, New Technologies, and Social Benefits and Costs.

The Macedonarmân Council accredited two representatives to participate at this Conference with the theme “Transmission of Arman / Macedonarmân language and culture in the multilingual educational context within Balkan States”.

 

 

 

Seminar on Cross-border Cooperation of the Armâns(Macedonarmâns)
Disentis, Switzerland, 25 -28 October 2007

In many aspects the Macedonarmân people is a special „European“ problem in the field of minority issues. They are endangered by extinction, their political and judicial status differs from one state to the other.
The traditional Macedonarmân life style was completely disrupted at the beginning of the last century by the political and social changes in the Balkans. When their territory was divided up among four different sites and the borders were made permanent, the different Arman(Macedonarmân) communities found themselves unable to conduct their traditional exchanges. More often than not, their herds and lands were sold, and many Armâns left their traditional mountainsides to settle in the towns and thus merge with the masses. As a result, the Macedonarmân language and culture, which had survived for 2000 years in the Balkan mountains, are today threatened with extinction.

In 1997, the Council of Europe passed a recommendation in which the cultural demands are formulated to prevent total extinction.

The Armâns want to be recognised as a national minority and they want support by the states in the following fields: mother tongue teaching, religious services, newspaper, magazines, radio and TV programmes as well as support for their cultural associations.

Due to different reasons, unfortunately the recommendation(Recommendation 1333/1997) has not so far brought significant results.

One of the problems is the fact that the single associations aren’t able to cover the fundamental needs in the various fields of the language and culture. A precondition for protecting and preserving the Arman language and culture would therefore lie in a minimal coordination of the associations and the state bodies of the Balkan states concerned.

This Seminar was organized by Convivenza(Internationales Zentrum für Minderheiten) in collaboration with FUEN ( Federal Union of European Nationalities ).

The aim of the project was to bring the most important Armân associations and the state bodies concerned together and to initiate and to strengthen a cross-border cooperation between the Balkan States as a condition for the efficient promotion of the Armân(Macedonarmân) language and culture.

The first step was to obtain an extensive analysis of the situation, the Macedonarmân language and culture and the political and cultural status of the Arman in the states concerned.

What is the real situation, what exists already, which are the good practices, where the differences ?

Which fields of activity are fundamentally needed for preserving the Armân Language and culture?
How could the states concerned together with the Armân associations coordinate their work, profiting from of the synergies by avoiding duplicated work?

By a repartition of the different fields of activities in the different areas it should be possible to avoid the „amateurism“ in favour of professional work regarding the training of teachers, the production of textbooks, the language studies, the history etc.

The aim of the seminar was also to reach a consensus about the creation of a cross-border Armân(Macedonarmân) Council.

A preparatory group has been elected to concretize the project and prepare the seminar in 2008 or 2009 when the Council should officially be installed.

The composition of the preparatory group will include representatives of the Balkan States concerned, representatives of the most important Armân Associations; FUEN / Convivenza will offer the assistance as a neutral partner (presentation, fundraising).

A common cross-border project giving the prestige of a „European dimension“,
is urgently necessary to ensure the survival of this over 2000 years language and culture in the region and to guarantee the professional work in the vital sectors of the language and the culture, especially in the field of education.

That increases the chances of a financial support of international institutions like EU and private sponsors and could be a special importance in view of the start of the detailed work in the different fields in the region in the next years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report on recent activities of Macedonarmân Council

1. Participation in International Congresses, Conferences, Seminars, Forums

 

 * United Nations Forum on Minority Issues – Second Session, 12th – 13th of November 2009, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, with the thematic focus “Minorities and Effective Political Participation”. The Council of Macedonarmâns accredited four representatives to this Forum and submitted  to the Secretariat of  the Forum on Minority Issuesa a statement concerning The Minorities and Effective Political Participation in the Balcan states, focused on Macedonarmâns, had also an oral intervention.

* International Conference: Multilingualism, Regional & Minority Languages, University of London, 16th – 17th of April 2009, organised jointly by the SOAS-UCL Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Languages of the Wider World (LWW CETL) and the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning of the Fryske Akademy. Themes : Language Transmission outside the school, Multilingual Education, New technologies in teaching and learning languages, Social benefits & costs of multilingualism. The Council of Macedonarmâns has accredited two representatives to participate at this Conference with the theme “Transmission of Armân / Macedonarmân language and culture in the multilingual educational context within Balkan States”.

* United Nations Forum on Minority Issues – Inaugural Session, 15th – 16th of December 2008, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, with the thematic focus “Minorities and the Right to Education”. The Council of Macedonarmâns accredited three representatives to this Forum, who have held two speeches with comments on the proposed draft recommendation.

* International Seminar, European Parliament, 16th – 17th April 2008, Bruxelles, with the thematic focus “Minorities in Greece”, two accredited persons, on the part of Armân Council, have attended this seminar.

* Cross – border Cooperation Seminar, 25th – 28th of October 2007, Disentis, Switzerland, organised by Convivenza(International Center for Minorities) in cooperation with the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN). Many Reports on the Situation by State Representatives and Members of Armân Associations(member Associations of Armân Council), State of Cross-border Contacts and Cooperation and Common Problems, were held; a final Resolution was adopted.

* International Seminar : Multilingualism, Regional & Minority Languages, 10th – 11th May 2007, Leeuward, Netherlands organised by the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning of the Fryske Akademy. Thema: Multilingual Education. Two accredited persons have held speeches concerning “Armâns, an example of multilinguism”.

* International Forum: Partnership for Diversity, EBLUL, 29th – 30th of June 2006, Skye, Scotland, forum for discussion and exchange of views and experiences which brought together European citizens from a great variety of often remote places and regions with hidden cultures and languages.

* International Seminar on Minotity Issues, Bolzano 25-27 October 2006 with the thematic focus “Minderheiten, Alles was Recht ist…!!!”, 4 representatives of the Arman Community of Romania(member of Council of Armâns) attended this Seminar.

* Annual FUEN Congresses, with the participation of the Associations which are members of the Armân / Macedonarmân Council (Armân Community of Romania, Center for Armân Language and Culture of Bulgaria).

2. Organizing Cultural Activities

* Organizing of the Armân National Day in Bucharest ( 23rd of May 2008 / 2009) with an audience of thousands of people from many Balkan countries.

* Organizing of the Armân Cultural Days ( each year, End of August, in Constanza – Romania ), with the participation of artists, theatre groups and folklor assambles from Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, R. of Macedonia, Albania, Serbia.

* Organizing of annual meeting in Dupnitsa/Bulgaria (Conference and Folklore Festival) with the participation of folklore groups from Bulgaria(Velingrad, Sofia, Rakitova, Dorkova, Peshtera) and from other Balkan countries.

* Organizing of two cultural days in Albania ( on 20th of December 2008 in Korce, on 21st of December 2008 in Tirana ) with the participation of a theatre group from Bukarest-Romania and cooperation on organizing of the Conference of the “Armân Union of Albania”, on 21st of December 2008 in Tirana.

3. Strasbourg, Council of Europe

* The Council of Armâns (Macedonarmâns) accredits a delegation to meet, during of each Parliamentary week in Srasbourg(4 times/year), persons from various departments in order to establish practical methods of cooperation with the Council of Europe on minority issues, on promotion of cultural and natural diversity, on education and linguistic diversity issues.