FUEN visited the Aromanian community in Serbia

FUEN Vice President Halit Habip Oglu visited  representatives of the Aromanian/Vlach Community in Serbia on Friday, the 26th October 2018. The organisation of the Aromanian community in Serbia, Srpsko-cincarsko društvo "Lunjina", founded in 1991, had expressed interest to be part of the FUEN family and applied for membership in the FUEN in 2018. The youth organisation of Lunjina has been a member of the Youth of European Nationalities (YEN) since 2015. After submitting all necessary documents, the statutory Fact Finding Mission took place in Belgrade, in order to get to know each other.

The representatives of Lunjina welcomed the FUEN Vice President in their premises in the heart of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia and presented their structures, activities and the main content of their work. The President of Lunjina, Lila Cona, said that a membership in FUEN would be a very important step and an honour for the Aromanian minority. FUEN Vice President Halit Habip Oglu was impressed by the enthusiasm and passionate dedication the small community puts into promoting and preserving the culture and identity of the Aromanians.

The main point of Lunjina's activity is the preservation of the Aromanian language and culture. The organisation offers weekly language courses for its members. In order to preserve the cultural heritage and language, numerous dictionaries, grammar books and anthologies of poems by famous Aromanian poets have been published in the last years.

In contrast to Albania and Macedonia, the Aromanian community in Serbia is still not recognised as a national minority and enjoys no financial support from public funds. The activities of Lunjina are therefore financed by private means and donations.

Through a membership in FUEN, Lunjina hopes to fight with the solidarity of the FUEN family on a European level for the recognition of their community and minority rights in Serbia as well as to achieve progress through a cooperation in the "Non-kinstate" and "Education" working groups of the FUEN.