By Jasmina Mironski and Briseida Mema — A political crisis that has paralysed Macedonia for two years is sliding into an ethnic dispute, with nationalists taking to the streets over a series of demands by the country’s Albanians. The issue seemed to be closed after 2001 when, following a seven-month ethnic Albanian insurgency that left more than 100 people dead, a peace accord provided more rights for the minority.
Albanians account for around a quarter of Macedonia’s two million people. But a deadlock following December’s snap election, part of a deal brokered by the European Union aimed at solving long-running political troubles, has threatened to reawaken the demons in the former Yugoslav republic. The crisis erupted in 2015 when the opposition Social Democrats (SDSM) and the ruling conservative nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party exchanged accusations of corruption and wiretapping.
An acrimonious conflict ensued between the two predominantly-Slavic parties, lacking any ethnic connotation and watched over by smaller Albanian parties, themselves divided.
The election changed all that — but not in the way the EU hoped for.
The polls gave no clear majority, with the conservatives taking only two more seats than SDSM. The Albanian groups emerged in the role of kingmakers.
After several meetings over the border in the office of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, these groups settled their differences and created a joint platform, notably demanding that their language obtain official status across Macedonia. Currently, the language is only official in areas where Albanians make up more than 20 per cent of the population, in line with the 2001 peace deal. The Albanian demands were accepted by SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, in a bid to gain power after 10 years of rule by conservative leader Nikola Gruevski, his arch-enemy.
But on March 1, President Gjorge Ivanov — an ally of Gruevski — refused to give Zaev a mandate to form a government, saying the Albanian platform undermined “Macedonia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence”.
The move was swiftly denounced by the opposition as a “coup” and condemned by both the United States and the European Union, which Macedonia aspires to join.
Thousands of Macedonians agree with the president and have since taken to the streets, chanting patriotic slogans and calling for the country’s unity to be preserved.
The demonstrators, mostly middle-aged men and women waving the red and yellow national flag, fear the Albanian demands will lead to the “federalisation” and potential break-up of the small country.
“There is no end to ethnic Albanians’ demands. Step by step there will be a Greater Albania and no Macedonia,” said Lidija Vasileva, a fashion designer from Skopje who is a regular at the protests. — AFP
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