Macedonian political crisis could drag on for years, party leader warns

Record ID: 401417

  • Title: Macedonian political crisis could drag on for years, party leader warns
  • Date: 8th March 2017
  • Summary: TETOVO, MACEDONIA (MARCH 7, 2017) (REUTERS) DOWNTOWN TETOVO ALBANIAN MEN TALKING PIGEONS FLYING/PLAYGROUND CHILD DRIVING TOY CAR WITH ALBANIAN FLAG PLAYGROUND PEOPLE/TRAFFIC HEAD OF DEMOCRATIC UNION FOR INTEGRATION (DUI), ALI AHMETI, GIVING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) HEAD OF DEMOCRATIC UNION FOR INTEGRATION, ALI AHMETI, SAYING: "The issue in Macedonia is a political
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2017 15:19
  • Keywords: Macedonia parliament government coalition Albanian minority
  • Location: TETOVO, MACEDONIA
  • City: TETOVO, MACEDONIA
  • Country: Macedonia
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001673N0AH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A leader of an ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia warned the political crisis in the country could drag on for years and could be used by some politicians to ignite an ethnic conflict.
    Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) said a political deadlock after president refused to give mandate to coalition of ethnic Albanians and Social Democrats to form the government could continue for "up to four years" when next election is due.
    "The issue in Macedonia is a political one, the crises are political, and the political crisis should be resolved with political means. This political crisis should not be turned into interethnic clashes for political gain of some parties in the country," Ahmeti told Reuters late on Tuesday.
    Ahmeti's party, the biggest ethnic Albanian party in the parliament, emerged as king maker following December 11 poll after neither of the two biggest Macedonian party -- nationalist VMRO-DPMNR and Social Democrats -- won enough votes to form the government themselves.
    VMRO-DPMNE and its leader, former prime minister Nikola Gruevski were in the centre of the surveillance scandal that emerged in 2015 and brought the government down last year.
    Ethnic Albanians make one third of the population in the Former Yugoslav republic.
    Last week DUI, which had been in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE for 8 years from 2008 until 2016, announced it would support the government of Social Democrats led by Zoran Zaev.
    President Gjorge Ivanov refused to give the mandate to Zaev to form the government saying concessions they gave to ethnic Albanians including a wider use of Albanian language threatened the country's sovereignty.
    EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, last week asked Ivanov to reverse the decision and urged political leaders to step back from a dispute that risked sparking conflict.
    Ahmeti said that according to the coalition deal he had made with Zaev, Albanian would be used in state institutions and on banknotes. He also said the parties have agreed to elect ethnic Albanian as speaker of the parliament, for the first time since the Balkan state seceded from Former Yugoslavia in 1991.
    "In the parliament of the republic of Macedonia if I am its speaker I should speak in Albanian. I should run the parliament session in the Albanian language. Both in spoken and written form, Albanian should be used in all state institutions. This is the official use of the Albanian language. At the moment the Albanian language is used and archived only on the local level," Ahmeti, a former guerrilla commander, said.
    Ahmeti said that now it is time that the Ohrid agreement to finally be closed regarding the official use of the Albanian language, referring to the Ohrid agreement that was brokered with the help of the EU and U.S. officials to end Albanian insurgency in 2001.
    The agreement between Zaev and Ahmeti triggered street protests in several cities in which nationalists marched and waved Macedonian flag.
    Ahmeti said his party could not backtrack on the wider use of language.
    "That would be a wrong step and this may fuel tensions and give another reason to Albanians for interethnic tensions. Albanians were patient, they have waited for this problem to be resolved in an institutional manner. Now is the moment for the Albanian language issue to be closed in a regular legislative process."
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