The triangle Tirana-Pristina-Skopje, the challenge of the Albanians/ Bushati in the podcast with Osmani

2023-05-26 18:34:00, Aktualitet CNA

The triangle Tirana-Pristina-Skopje, the challenge of the Albanians/ Bushati in

Bujar Osmani, Foreign Minister of North Macedonia

The Albanians of North Macedonia, their state-forming role, the challenges of our neighbor and the strengthening of the Tirana-Pristina-Skopje triangle, are some of the topics that Ditmir Bushati discussed with Bujar Osmani in the next podcast.

Osmani is the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia, the first Albanian to head this institution and is also the next chairman of the OSCE.

Bushati and Osmani discussed the increasing representation and state-forming contribution of the Albanians of North Macedonia.

According to Minister Osmani, "North Macedonia in these last 20 years, after the Ohrid Agreement, has been transformed from a divided society in which communities lived parallel lives".

But, while today in the Macedonian government, apart from the head of diplomacy, we have a finance minister and the speaker of the Albanian parliament, it seems that we still cannot say that we have reached the point of no return.

The triangle Tirana-Pristina-Skopje, the challenge of the Albanians/ Bushati in

“… This process is more top-down. If it was from the bottom-up, it would have created trust in people, tolerance, elimination of prejudices for such phenomena, but I think it is imposed from above with international agreements, with political agreements and it takes time until all layers are affected of society", asserts Osmani.

Challenges of interethnic coexistence and relationship with neighbors

Another important issue that the two interlocutors discussed is the challenges of inter-ethnic coexistence and relations with neighbors.

He adds that in the capacity of Foreign Minister, he had to manage a topic which is the ethnic cigar of the Macedonian community, but with state implications, which determines the Euro-Atlantic future of the country.

"That was the issue with Bulgaria, about language, about history, the issue of the rights of the Bulgarian community. It was really difficult for an Albanian minister to manage a process, which was seen as an ethnic process. So it was necessary to create trust in the Macedonian community, to maintain the trust and credibility of the Albanian community," he underlines.

The minister was asked how the Tirana-Pristina-Skopje triangle can be strengthened.

"As an Albanian, I think that we are living the best five minutes of our national history, of full international and regional factorization, and I remember that through cooperation, through economic and educational development, international representation, this position will be even stronger but all this, again, in the interest of general reconciliation in the region", believes Osmani.

Meanwhile, in relation to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, he says that North Macedonia is playing a very constructive role.

North Macedonia's position regarding Kosovo and the dialogue with Serbia, Bujar Osmani says that "we support this dialogue to reach a comprehensive agreement that is based on mutual recognition between the two countries".

Bushati and Osmani shared the belief that the challenges are numerous, from the issue of demography, migration to the challenges of different ideologies, which have their own negative impact.

Osmani brings to attention the possible malignant influences that we must be careful of, however, he adds that the Albanian people in the region are more resistant to the Russian influence./ CNA.al