Macedonia’s DPA Proposes New Rules

Skopje | 27 May 2009 |

Menduh Thaci

A new set of rules based on true partnership is needed for the ethnic Albanian voice to be properly herd in Macedonian politics, the main ethnic Albanian opposition, the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA says.

The party will soon consider such a platform which will later be proposed for adoption, the DPA head Menduh Thaci says. DPA asks for the West to help.

Thaci says that the current coalition between the centre right VMRO DPMNE and the smaller ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI is going largely in favor of the larger party.

''Multi-ethnicity in the country is degraded,” Thaci said in the Dnevnik daily paper. He reiterated accusations that VMRO DPMNE is secretly working for the establishment of Macedonia as “a state of one ethnicity” thus neglecting the Albanian community that makes about one quarter of the population.

“We do not seek to oppose the main cornerstones of the state, its Unitarian character and the NATO and EU perspective,” Thaci said.

In 2001 there was a short lived conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the Macedonian government. The row ended the same year with the signing of the Ohrid peace accord that provided greater rights to the country's Albanians.

But observers say frustration among Albanians in the country grows as Macedonia is locked into a dispute over its name with Greece, that is blocking the country's entrance into NATO.

Opinion polls show Albanians are much more eager to trade the country’s formal name in return for NATO accession.

The Albanian party that is currently in power together with the ruling VMRO-DPMNE has failed to persuade their parthers to adopt a more pragmantic approach to the name issue.

(Reporting by Sinisa-Jakov Marusic)

Main News Page

Comments:

Greater Albania, phase two is on the move...
2009-05-28 00:01:39

"...''Multi-ethnicity in the country is degraded,â€ Thaci said..." Just want to correct myself. In my previous post I stated that Phase Two will move on with Albanian civic disobedience under pretext of "violation of their human rights". Well, that is correct, but as we could see, Albanians are much more precise - they will insist on the "violation of their ethnic rights", as a part of the violations of their human rights in general. Albanian civic disobedience in Macedonia will start in the fall this year in Skopje with the aim of causing Macedonian extreme nationalist groups to respond violently against "peaceful Albanian demonstrators". Albanians will use that as an excuse to portrait themselves as the victims of ethnic violence. That scenario will force Macedonian government to start "new round of negotiations" with the Albanians, which will inevitably lead to the Albanian demand for the "Albanian federal unit within Macedonia". That would be phase three...

2009-05-28 01:29:16

The Albanian population is more than a quarter just quietly.

FYROM
2009-05-28 15:58:58

2/3 of FYROM is Albanians, dhe rest of 1/3 are Bulgaro-Slavo-Roma-Turkish-Greeko so called â€œMacedoniansâ€. The only pure people in FYROM are Albanians. The so called â€œMacedoniansâ€ language is really Bulgarian language and Albanian language not â€œMacedonianâ€ language as they pretend. The FYROM is a pretended state and its borders should be adjusted and corrected.

Please read Terms and Conditions first
Your name:
Subject:
Comment:
Type in this code (used to prevent spam):

Dancing Alexander-style, Down Under

Macedonia’s DPA Proposes New Rules