Sandu's Promise Not To Fuel Language Conflict In Moldova Untrustworthy - Lawmaker

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th December, 2020) The renaming of Moldova's official language from Moldovan to Romanian on the president's website undermines new President Maia Sandu's promise not to fuel a sensitive language conflict in the country, Nikita Turcan, a lawmaker from the Party of Socialists (PSRM), told Sputnik on Friday.

The presidential website was updated following Sandu's inauguration on Thursday. Now the website is available in Romanian, Russian and English.

"This means that the promises that Maia Sandu made to the people of Moldova regarding the fact that she would not fuel linguistic and ethnic conflicts will not come true. We have a rich history, traditions, we should be proud that our people have their own country.

In particular, we must defend the name of the language spoken by our ancestors, and this is precisely the Moldavian language," Turcan said.

The lawmaker added that many official documents prove the existence of the Moldovan language.

In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that Romanian was the national language, though, according to the country's basic law, the state language is Moldovan. The court's verdict was based on the fact that the text of the declaration of Moldova's independence, in which Romanian is named as the state language, prevails over the country's constitution.