The debate about the Albanian language in North Macedonia/ Afrim Gashi: Nothing has changed

2024-10-26 13:18:00, Aktualitet CNA

The debate about the Albanian language in North Macedonia/ Afrim Gashi: Nothing

Afrim Gashi, the Speaker of the Assembly of North Macedonia

Afrim Gashi, the speaker of the Assembly of North Macedonia, was invited to Ditmir Bushati's "Public Square" podcast.

Among other things, he also spoke about the clashes over the law on the use of the Albanian language.

Afrim Gashi said that the problem of the North Macedonians with the Albanians started from the beginning of independence and continued even with the Ohrid Agreement.

"These are issues since the beginning of North Macedonia's independence that have been established as barriers to communication between the two largest communist countries, and as you know, the 1991 constitution, with which Macedonia declared independence at that time, was very majoritarian and discriminatory. in relation to the Albanians and the year 2001 was to create the Ohrid Agreement, the conflict and the armed struggle of the Albanians for constitutional equality and unfortunately even the Ohrid Agreement does not sanction equality. Even the agreement that was made in the Preamble in Ohrid, when it was transferred until it reached, figuratively speaking, in Skopje, it was changed, it was modeled and from Macedonia, which was supposed to be a state of all citizens, it was again decided that the Macedonian nation will be the bearer of sovereignty and there is a play on words", he said.

The Speaker of Parliament of North Macedonia said that nothing has changed with the issue of the Albanian language, as he emphasized that it has never been formalized.

"As for the statements of the media, I think we are in a transitional phase where many media are influenced or how to say they are paying the last installment of the parties that have been in power and try to create a mess, however I think there is no changed nothing in the essential aspect, either in the use of the Albanian language, or in the attempt for a national baraza in North Macedonia.

Beyond the truth we must be correct with the correct addressing of problems. The Albanian language, even during the 2001 war and with the Ohrid Agreement, has not managed to become an official language, and as you know, due to the rejection of the wording that the Albanian language be an official language, an amendment was created that states that 'the language that more than 20% speak it and they are not part of the majority, that language is also official', which has implied that it could be Albanian. But in the law on the Macedonian language and in the law on the use of languages, the Albanian language is not mentioned anywhere. In this case, we must correctly define the work that Albanian has not managed to become an official language, this will remain an attempt by the Albanian political factor, in which position or opposition should fight this battle for the officialization of the Albanian language", underlined Gashi./ CNA