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According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a letter sent to the Minister on Tuesday, S. Chichanouskaja asks to change the Lithuanian name of Belarus to a form closer to this country.
According to the ministry, the letter states that such a decision by Lithuania would express respect for the sovereignty of the neighboring state and “support the linguistic and cultural identity of the Belarusian nation.”
“Belarus means ‘White Russia’, not Russia. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry will submit an application to the Lithuanian State Language Commission to evaluate the proposal and initiate the procedure to revise the name,” Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said at the report.
He told BNS that he had discussed the issue with Cichanouskaya herself on Friday.
My goal is to start the discussion, ”Landsberg said.
“It just came to our attention then. Both the historians of Vilnius University and the rector Mr. Petrauskas have expressed an important and audible position on the possible name of Belarus,” the foreign minister told reporters at the Seimas on Tuesday.
“I can have a personal opinion, like a little history, that that part of Russia is much later.” “Neither the nation nor the state is associated with the name, and the original name is from the time of Kievan Rus’, namely White Russia, which is acceptable and acceptable to us,” he said.
“I strongly urge state institutions to get involved in this discussion, because it is very significant and contributes to the formation of the self-awareness of the Belarusian people,” Landsbergis emphasized.
The ministry awaits proposals on a specific form of the commission’s name, G.Landsbergis spokeswoman Vytautė Šmaižytė told BNS.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Sviatlana Cichanouskaya
“We are awaiting the opinion and proposal of the State Lithuanian Language Commission. Because it’s the name of the state, linguists should appreciate it, ”he said.
He doesn’t see any possibility for that at the moment.
VLKK President A. Antanaitis told BNS that the commission “strongly supports the Belarusian people fighting for freedom” but is cautious about “things that depend on political circumstances”, because the state itself does not request officially a name change.
“There would be a lot of questions, first of all, and because Ukraine is Red Russia, Russia is Black Russia. So the answer is why we only changed one name. And yet the names of the states are not a policy currency. Maybe after this banditas Lukashenko will fall, Belarus will ask us to change its name, just like Sakartvel did, ”said the VLKK head.
Antanaitis also said he understood that the opposition leader and “Belarusian president-elect”, Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, were calling for it, but according to him, this could set a dangerous precedent.
Irmanto Gelūno / 15min nuotr./Audrys Antanaitis
“There may be many states whose opposition leaders or even leaders would ask for a name change, but it would still be difficult. I understand that Sviatlana is the president-elect. But maybe we will wait for the situation to calm down,” he said.
A year and a half ago, at the request of the then Foreign Ministry, the VLKK had already approved an alternative name for Georgia: Sakartwell.
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