(CTK, 1 December 2000)

Text of report in English by the Czech news agency CTK

Presov, eastern Slovakia, 1st December: Codification of the Ruthenian language, establishment of a Ruthenian studies section at Presov University and a Ruthenian theatre are the main achievements of the Ruthenian Renewal over the past 10 years, its members said at their anniversary celebration today.

The problem of Ruthenians’ own radio broadcasting and of the establishment of a Ruthenian university department still remains unresolved, members of the Ruthenian Renewal and the World Congress of Ruthenians said at a press conference.

These problems were also the subject of today’s meeting of the Ruthenian Renewal coordination committee in Presov, which was also attended by World Congress of Ruthenians member professor Paul R. Magocsi from University of Toronto, Canada.

Coordination committee spokesman Peter Krajnak said they would like to solve the question of starting their own radio broadcasting before the census in May next year.

According to official data, about 17,000 Ruthenians live in Slovakia at present. However, in the last census a total of 50,000 people said that Ruthenian was their mother language. According to the Ruthenian Renewal representatives, up to 130,000 Ruthenians live in Slovakia, being the second largest community of Ruthenians after the United States, where about 620,000 of them live.

Ruthenians also live in the Czech Republic. Officially only 1,700 have claimed this origin, while according to the Ruthenian Renewal there are about 12,000 of them in the Czech Republic.

Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1541 gmt 1 Dec 00

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