MOTION ON CROATIAN LANGUAGE IN VOJVODINA'S STATUTE TURNED DOWN

Belgrade, May 25 (Hina) - The parliament of Vojvodina on Thursday refuted a motion of a group of MPs that the Statute of this northern Yugoslav province cite the Croatian language along with other languages used in Vojvodina. The group of representatives asked that the notion "Serbo-Croatian language" should be erased from the Statute. Instead, the document should cite the notion "the Serbian language" and quote Croatian as a language of one of minorities in Vojvodina. Ethnic Croats in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have not yet been recognised as an ethnic minority. "Croats in Vojvodina account for 3.4 percent of the entire population, and this means that some 74,000 people are denied their civil right. The voting against the introduction of the Croatian language in Vojvodina's Statute further limits Croats' rights," said Kalman Kuntic, the president of the Croatian People's Alliance and its deputy to the Vojvodina parliament, during today's parliamentary discussion. Those who oppose the introduction of the Croatian language regard such changes in the Statute as a breach Serbia's Constitution, and insist on the adjustment of this document with the Serbian law on the official use of languages. Vojvodina's parliament speaker, Nenad Canak, said "spiritus movens of the Serbian Constitution is in prison, and its product is what prevent us from offering basic human rights as the right to the language to one part of our fellow citizens." Yugoslav minister in charge of minorities, Rasim Ljajic, on Wednesday said that by the end of this month a draft law on minorities should be completed and subsequently adopted after a broad discussion. The minister added that the draft act could cite Croats, Bosniaks and Muslims, as national minorities. However, he said, the matter should be clarified with "Backa Croats (Bunjevci)" and "Sokci" who mainly do not want to declare themselves as Croats. (hina) sb ms