Tatarstan\'s Constitutional Court issued a ruling on 24 December stating that the republic has the right to determine which script is used in writing the Tatar language, RFE/RL\'s Tatar-Bashkir Service reported. The court was considering an appeal by the republican legislature\'s Committee on Science, Education, Culture, and National Issues. In September 1999, the Tatar legislature passed a law restoring Latin script for the Tatar language, and a year ago, the State Duma passed a federal law making Cyrillic mandatory for all state languages. The committee\'s chairman, Razil Valeev, told TNV television that the court\'s decision does not put an end to the issue, noting that the \"problem of defining the official language of a republic has long since turned into a political matter rather than a legal one.\" He added that his committee will seek further discussion of the matter in the republican legislature and might seek additional clarification from the federal Constitutional Court. (RFE/RL)