Being one of the codifiers of the contemporary Macedonian literary language, Blazhe Koneski deserves our greatest respect and gratitude, according to President Stevo Pendarovski in a keynote speech on Monday. He highlighted that 2021 marked the centenary of Koneski’s birth and would be a year honoring his legacy.

Addressing participants at St. Cyril and Methodius University’s International Seminar on Macedonian Language, Literature and Culture, President Pendarovski said all state institutions in the areas of culture, science, and education would carry out projects related to Koneski’s legacy in 2021.

The first in the series of events in honor of Koneski is the online Macedonian studies winter school that the long-standing International Seminar on Macedonian Language, Literature and Culture is holding from Jan. 25 through Feb. 5.

“At a time when, unfortunately, for political reasons, the existence of the Macedonian language is again denied although it has long been supported by research done by international linguistics scholars, it is Koneski’s legacy itself that has been under the heaviest attack,” Pendarovski said.

The International Seminar on Macedonian Language, Literature and Culture, with its more than half-a-century tradition and over 500 past participants from 60 countries across the globe, is one of the most important strongholds against these “baseless and often irrational attacks,” he added.

Thanking this year’s participants for their contribution to affirming the Macedonian language, Pendarovski expressed hope that after the pandemic is over, classes would again be held in-person in Ohrid, as is tradition.