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The Albanians of Macedonia are mostly situated in the western half of Macedonia. The largest Albanian communities live in Tetovo, Skopje, Gostivar, Dibra, Kërcova, Struga and Kumanovo. In 1944 the current western half of Macedonia was part of Albania until Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia. The Albanians are the second largest population group in Macedonia and comprise 40 percent of the population with 700,000 people, after the majority Slavic Macedonians, about 50 percent of the population. The remaining 10 percent of the population are a combination of Turks, Vlasies, Roma and Bulgars.

Social Impact

Although there are a few Christian Orthodox villages due to Macedonian proselytizing, the Albanians of Macedonia are overwhelmingly Muslim and are also united in their language (Albanian). They retain both a cultural and economic identity with Albania. The agriculture sector of Albanians in Macedonia is progressively developing despite poor soil quality, little industrial infrastructure, and a serious lack of job opportunities since 1981 due to large scale dismissal firings by Macedonian authorities that has led to 40 percent of Albanian workers operating abroad. Macedonians under the new constitution easily dominate the army, police, judiciary system, economy and the government. Jobs and licenses are also hard to come by as the government regulates them.

Political Parties

The Party for Democratic Prosperity (PPD), led by Party President Abdurrahman Haliti, is the largest Albanian party in Macedonia and is the third largest party in terms of representatives in the Macedonian Parliament. The Party for Democracy of Albanians in Macedonia (PPDSH) is led by Party President Arben Xhaferi and is the second largest Albanian party in Macedonia and broke off from the PPD. The main PPDSH support comes from the cities of Tetova and Gostivar. The People's Democratic Party (PDP - Partia Demokratike Popullore/Narodna Demokratska Partija) led by Party President Iljaz Halimi is one of the first Albanian parties to form after opposition was legalized. Like the PPDSH, the PDP is considered a right-wing party. Any Albanian candidate trying to become a member of the parliament must have 3 times as many votes cast in his favor in order to win against a Slavic-Macedonian. The Albanian populace in Macedonia will never be able to change the discriminatory laws because over 25% of the Albanian population who have lost their citizenship since independence, and all Albanians who work abroad, are unable to vote.

"The position of the Democratic Party of Albanians in Macedonia (DPA) is that the crisis is an interethnic one, because it raises issues that have to do with the position of Albanians in the social system. The crisis in Macedonia is not a spillover from Kosova, as many observers initially surmised, and credit for this should be given to the Albanian political factors in Kosova, Albania, and Macedonia who condemned violence as a means of expressing political dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, this does not change the inherently ethnic character of the conflict."

                                                        -Arben Xhaferi

History

In the 1950’s and 60’s during the tenure of Macedonian interior minister Aleksander Rankovic, more than 450,000 Albanians were deported to Turkey. Tens of thousands were tortured and an all out genocide of Albanians took place in well-populated cities like Shkup (Skopje) and Monsatir (Bitola). Even today in Bitola, Albanian houses are destroyed and the Albanian population is constantly intimidated by both verbal and physical threats. In pre-independent Macedonia Albanian citizens were technically protected under the Macedonian constitution, although this was not the case in practice. The discrimination and ethnic tension the Albanians experienced in everyday life prior to Independence was nothing compared to their treatment after 1992. Although the Albanians compose around 40% of the Macedonia’s population, by changing the Macedonian constitution and revoking all national rights of non-Slavic Macedonians, the Macedonian government contends that Albanians are only one of the minority populations in Macedonia and therefore are not allowed to complain of inequality.

In January 1992, the Albanians in Macedonia organized a successful referendum on territorial autonomy. The Slavic Macedonian government claimed this was an attempt to secede and began a crackdown by declaring the referendum illegal. The Council of Albanian Political Parties in the Former Yugoslavia, an organization that represents ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia proper and Macedonia, promptly decided that autonomy would only be a possibility for Albanians in Macedonia if other democratic efforts failed to procure political and cultural rights. The three most debilitating circumstances for Albanians in Macedonia currently are lack of rights under the constitution; coupled with harsh taxes, poor education - due to the use of the Slavic-Macedonian language in all legal universities (the Albanian university in Tetova is considered illegal by the Macedonian government) and the harassment and racism organized by FYROM. Albanians in Macedonia suffer from restrictions in voting, education, employment, defense, housing conditions, and participation in cultural activities that include methods of suppression such as torture, kidnapping, and illegal detainment both by FYROM and international standards. These issues must be reversed if any economic or social recovery is to take place, and such changes must go hand in hand with a new constitution acknowledging and accepting the multiple ethnicities and religions in Macedonia.

External Links

Albanians in Macedonia Crisis Center Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization