Belarusian-Speaking Spanish Girl Called Kiryienka “Idiot On Bike”

A poet Ángela Espinosa Ruiz is convinced that a racing cyclist Vasili Kiryienka does not know the language situation in the Basque Country.

A girl from Spain, Ángela Espinosa Ruiz, writes and speaks Belarusian, and has even published a collection of poems, “Grand Piano By the Sea”. She started to study Belarusian since 2013. IN her Facebook the girl commented on the statement of the Belarusian cyclist Vasili Kiryienka. He had said that “Belarusian is a dead language, and it is interesting for him to know the language of Basque Country, Euskara.”

“The Belarusian language is not a modern language, it is a dead language, and practically no people speak it. I think that it is imposed on people involuntarily, for example, my daughter is forced to study it,” – Kiryienka told in an interview to Radio Svaboda.

Ángela Espinosa Ruiz has written ironically, that the Spanish state “force-feeds”, imposes the Basque language, and even “forces” it to be used in schools and state institutions. But it is a difficult language, and an absolute minority of Basques speaks it. But Vasili Kiryienka thinks differently, as he does not want to see the reality.

“About that idiot on a bike: he does not value his own language, and he does not know the language situation of Basques. The Spanish state (oh, how awful it is) “imposes” the Basque language, for it to be present in schools and in government bodies. But it is a difficult language, as it differs greatly from other languages in Spain and in Europe, and most regrettably, an absolute minority of Basques speaks it.

But he writes in a different way, as he does not want to see the reality. His words sound like as if I would write that everyone in Belarus speaks Belarusian like Yanka Kupala (and in verse on weekends). It is not the truth simply, though I would like it to be this way.”

Earlier BATE secretary general Andrei Vashkevich wrote about Kirienka: “Vasya, you are talking and spreading utter nonsense.”