Relations Between Albanian Parties in Macedonia

AIM Skoplje, November 18, 2000

There are contradictory assessments of Albanian political parties in the Republic of Macedonia regarding the exercise of Albanian rights in this country because of which their internal relations have been radicalised to the extreme. The Albanian Democratic Party (ADP), which is a member of the coalition Government, thinks that it has found a partner with which it can exercise the rights of the Albanians which figure prominently in its programme, namely: the official recognition of the Albanian language, resolution of the problem of higher education in the Albanian, as well as proportional representation of Albanians in state institutions. According to ADP President, Aber Xhaferi, although the Macedonian bloc has not yet agreed to Constitutional amendments, several concrete steps have been made with the current Government partners, i.e. VMRO-DPMNE and Tupurkovski's Democratic Alternative in the improvement of the position of Albanians in Macedonia.

"The improvement is evident especially in the representation of Albanians in state institutions, as well as in efforts exerted for the resolution of the problem higher education in the Albanian language, after OSCE Commissioner, Max van der Stoel rendered his support to the project of the opening of an institution of higher learning in the Albanian language". The Albanian opposition party - Party of Democratic Prosperity – whose programme sets the same requests, concludes that the status of Albanians in Macedonia has not changed in the least. It states that the current Government, which enjoys ADP's full support, is at odds with the current situation regarding the democratisation of the society, especially in the field of inter-ethnic relations.

Representatives of Albanian political factors have repeatedly insisted on the need of coordinating stands on the fulfilment of main Albanian requests. This has been achieved to a certain extent, especially before various elections that were held in the Republic of Macedonia. However, they admit that after the most recent Macedonian local elections the relations between two largest Albanian parties did not improve at all. This was reflected in heated disputes between delegates of Albanian political parties in the Republican Assembly, who accused each other of resorting to manipulations at the latest local elections. ADP delegate, Bilal Lutfiu says that cooperation with PPD is not proportionate to and in line with problems facing the Albanian population in Macedonia. According to delegate Lutfiu, the reason for such a state of relations between Albanian political parties are the activities of a group of PPD delegates who are unable to break themselves free of their "communist" past because of the fact, as he said, that they had been and still are partners of the Macedonian opposition party SDSM.

According to him, the Party of Democratic Prosperity, always wanted to break off cooperation with ADP, which is now the largest Albanian party in Macedonia. "Although PPD claims that the programme does not reflect any differences between Albanian parties in regard to the concept of implementing the rights of Albanians, that platform is just a text, while cooperation is a prerequisite for the realisation of common interests in practice", says Lutfiu. He thinks that excessive rivalry between Albanian parties is also reflected on the relations between Albanian and Macedonian parties. "That is why we have approached the Macedonian party VMRO-DPMNE with which we think we can promote the democratisation of the society, by creating a new reality regarding the position of Albanians in Macedonia".

According to PPD President Ymer Ymeri, the Albanian political factor should be united in all state institutions. He thinks that there is not much difference in the programme orientation of Albanian political parties. "Our common target is the resolution of Albanian problems in the Republic of Macedonia. In that respect only methods for the realisation of these aspirations differ. That is why good cooperation between Albanian parties in Macedonia is essential, and why false coalitions should be avoided as they only serve narrow party interests. For the time being we can say that that cooperation is non-existent."

He further says that the Macedonian Government always tried to create a dissension among the Albanians. "There are no differences among us as to what should be done, but the problem are spiteful and power-hungry people. There are many things which radicalise our relations in the negative sense. However, the question of higher education and the last local elections held in Macedonia represent blatant examples which only deepen the divisions between Albanian political parties in this Republic.

The Party of Democratic Prosperity thinks that there is no good-will partner in the Macedonian bloc with which it could seek a solution for the position of Albanians in Macedonia. "We should understand that the Macedonian political factor must be forced into becoming a more constructive partner and that that can be achieved only if the Albanian act together towards the exercise of their rights".

The Party of Democratic Prosperity thinks that the current Macedonia Government should be brought down. They say that they will form a coalition with any party only if an agreement is reached which would specifically guarantee what would the Albanians benefit by it.

Who will PPD and its parliamentary group side with, is an extremely important factor in the race on the Macedonia scene for securing the majority in Parliament. After the last meeting of PPD Parliamentary Group, its President Ymer Ymeri stated that his party was interested in the overthrowing of the current Macedonian Government.

This party's representatives say that there are opposite opinions regarding the future position of PPD after the crisis which has been created in the ranks of the Government coalition. There are opinions in this party that the offered cooperation of Prime Minister Ljupco Georgijevski should not be discarded if it comes to a no-confidence vote to his Government, while a group within PPD thinks that this party should support the opposition bloc in overthrowing Georgijevski's Cabinet and creating parliamentary majority without VMRO-DPMNE and ADP. A PPD delegate, Ismet Ramadani announced a possibility of a meeting with the Democratic Alternative Party after which it will be much easier for it to take position as a political party.

Delegate Kastriot Haxhirexha says that he is not sure whether he will support this bloc. According to Naser Ziberi, Coordinator of PPD's Parliamentary Group, a meeting of all party bodies will be convened in connection to party's future position at which the party's platform and stance will be determined. He said that each PPD delegate should behave in line with the stands of the General Convention. On the other hand, ADP delegate, Isni Shaqiri is of the opinion that the majority required to support the Government will be secured and that it will only be necessary to overcome manipulations of the Macedonian opposition party SDSM. The Party of Democratic Prosperity once again insisted on the bringing down of this Government because it should not be forgiven for the way it ruled in the previous two years, to which this party has many objections.

AIM Skoplje

Nexhbedin SHAQIRI