Podgorica, (MINA) - Linguistic diversity is one of Montenegro’s biggest assets and no one should be denied the right to express themselves in their mother tongue, said the Center for Civic Education (CGO), adding that the politicization of language issues is becoming increasingly frequent.

CGO project assistant Ivan Kascelan recalled, on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, that Montenegro is a multilingual country.

According to him, the 2007 Constitution, in addition to recognizing Montenegrin as the official language, recognizes four other languages ​​in official use – Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian, while the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets are equal.

“Although the Montenegrin language is standardized, internationally recognized and codified within the ISO language standard, the denial of its uniqueness within the wider South Slavic language group is still, unfortunately, institutionalized”, Kascelan said.

He also pointed out that Serbian nationalist currents are increasingly advocating for the change of Article 13 of the Constitution, which regulates language issues.

“CGO reminds that the status of the Serbian language in Montenegro is regulated in the same way as in neighboring Serbia, where Article 10 of the Constitution defines it as a language in official use”, said Kascelan.

According to him, the initiative to introduce such changes is of political character and opens up space for deepening social divisions.