Newsletter December 2021

Dear members of the WG Non-Kin-State, dear friends,
First of all, I hope this newsletter reaches you while you remain healthy!

With this newsletter I would like to inform you about the news of our Working Group Non-Kin-State:

1. News: Annual meeting of the WG Non-Kin-State took place in Dagebüll/Doogebel in 2021.
From 18 to 20 November 2021, representatives of fifteen different Non-Kin-State minorities from eleven European countries met for the hybrid annual meeting of the Non-Kin-State Working Group in Dagebüll/Doogebel, Germany. Thematically, the meeting was dedicated to the topic of "Tourism as a Tool for Language Preservation", which is of great relevance for the North Frisians in Germany and also for many other Non-Kin-State minorities, such as Rhaeto-Romans in Switzerland or Ladins in Italy. In addition, the meeting focused on the culture, language, institutions and other challenges of the North Frisians. The annual meeting was reported on the FUEN channels and the press releases are available on the FUEN website. A selection of photos taken during the event can be found in the FUEN Gallery.

2. News: Video of the annual meeting of the WG Non-Kin-State 2021 in Dagebüll/Doogebel.
Our annual meeting was documented in a video montage with Frisian music - a nice reminder of the event. You can download the video here.

3. News: Tatar Democratic Union was welcomed at the annual meeting of the WG Non-Kin-State.
During the meeting, the WG Non-Kin-State was able to greet a representative and the president of the new FUEN member organisation, the Tatar Democratic Union from Romania. The representatives of this community without a Kin-State were connected via Zoom and reported about their current situation and the work of the organisation. The Tatar Democratic Union has 5800 members. In September 2021, the Tatar Democratic Union was accepted as an Ordinary Member of the Federal Union of European Nationalities. You can read more about the Tatar Democratic Union here.

4. News: Meeting of FUEN Vice President Bahne Bahnsen with the President of SKOKRA and the Chairwoman of the Int. Chr. Educational- and Social Initiative for Sinti and Roma.
On 9.12.2021 FUEN Vice President Bahne Bahnsen and the coordinator of the WG Non-Kin-State Arvid Martens met with the President of SKOKRA, Jorge F. Bernal, and with the Chairperson of the the Int. Chr. Educational- and Social Initiative for Sinti and Roma, Jane Simon. The Federation SKOKRA unites several organizations of Sinti and Roma in South and North America. During the meeting, the work of the respective organizations was presented and future cooperation within the framework of the activities of the WG Non-Kin-State was planned.

5. News: Annual Meeting of the WG Non-Kin-State 2022 in Velingrad, Bulgaria -Save the date
We are currently planning to hold our annual meeting of the WG Non-Kin-State in the second week of June 2022 in Velingrad, Bulgaria, in cooperation with the Pomak Community.  The exact date will be communicated later. In 2022 we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the WG Non-Kin-State. The WG was founded in Rome in 2017. In Velingrad we plan to organize an anniversary event to mark the occasion. The planning of the annual meeting in 2022 is still subject to the epidemiological situation and will depend on the course of the pandemic. For the time being, we would like to ask you to mark this timeframe in your calendar.

Arvid Martens is available for your questions, ideas and suggestions! Feel free to write to him at arvid.martens@fuen.org

On behalf of the FUEN Presidium and the entire FUEN team, I wish you happy holidays and good health also in the New Year.

Bahne Bahnsen
FUEN Vice President