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HOW THE DAILY “ETHNOS” REACTED TO THE IFEX/GHM APPEAL AGAINST THE CONVICTION OF THE AROMANIAN ACTIVIST

The construct

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) protests the sentencing of Sotiris Bletsas after charges brought against him by Nea Demokratia MP, E. Haitidis, for having distributed texts at the “Vlach Meeting” that characterized the Vlach dialect as “Rοmanian” and one of the “minorities languages” spoken in this country.

The characterization of the Vlach dialect as a “minority language” (in a text from the unofficial European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages) provoked negative reactions from the Vlach Associations in this country. Certainly, it is one thing to preserve existing dialects and another for certain people to attempt to construct nonexistent “minorities” in this country.

 

N.M.

Ethnos  7/2/2001 (p. 10)