The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the concept of the Crimean Tatar language development.
The government made the decision at its Wednesday meeting, according to the press service of the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories.
"The Concept lays the foundation for our work for the next 10 years. This is the first step toward creating a Strategy for the Development of the Crimean Tatar language for 2022-2032, which the President instructed us to develop," said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov.
The deputy PM says the approach proposed by the Concept will allow, firstly, ensuring that the language passes through generations, that the indigenous nation has the opportunity to exercise their linguistic rights guaranteed by Constitution.
Among other things, the idea is being consolidated of developing the Crimean Tatar language based on the Latin script. This is a strategic decision, which since 1991has been relevant for the Crimean Tatars, and will unite the Crimean Tatar diasporas worldwide around the agenda put forward by Ukraine.
Read alsoG7 foreign ministers welcome Ukraine's Crimean Platform initiativeSecondly, opportunities will be created for everyone to learn the language. "Even now it is clear that there is great interest among Ukrainians. But you need textbooks, dictionaries, online courses, and more. We have foreseen it all. And we're already moving forward. We're already launching a project to support the Crimean Tatar Wikipedia. Over time, its content will allow adding the Crimean Tatar language to the Google Translate service. We also sent an official letter to Duolingo, the world's most popular language-learning platform, with a proposal to run a Crimean Tatar language course," Reznikov noted.
Thirdly, developing the language is maintaining a live connection with Crimea.
The approval of the Concept, Reznikov stresses, provides conditions for effectively drafting the Strategy and the relevant Action Plan. The government is expected to present a "high-quality document" at the Crimean Platform summit in August 2021, to send "an important signal" at the international level.
