Language Research

ALBANIANS

The Albanians demand the government endorse the widest possible use of the Albanian language. They want Albanian to be the country's second official language, next to Macedonian. They complain that they cannot carry out administrative procedures in their mother tongue. All letters addressed to an administration, even local, have to be written in Macedonian, or else they are likely to be rejected.

Albanian names have to be transcribed into the Cyrillic alphabet, which is not always possible. At post offices, train stations and police headquarters, all forms and signposts are in Macedonian. Sometimes they are also in English and in French, but never in Albanian, not even in the towns where the majority of the population is Albanian.

In towns where Albanians account for more than 50% of the population road signs can be in both languages according to Article 90 of the Law on Municipalities. However, since very few activities are entrusted to the municipalities (mostly water and power supply, garbage collection, and road maintenance) these provisions have little effect in reality.

Macedonians do not learn and do not speak Albanian. This makes it harder to administer the law. For example, at a meeting of a municipal council where there may be one Macedonian and ten Albanians present, the deliberations must be in Macedonian, since Macedonian is the only official national language. This is obviously more advantageous to the native Macedonian speakers.

Language claims are also made in the area of education, especially higher education. Currently, Albanian primary school students are taught in Albanian. As of the third year of school, all Albanian students are expected to learn Macedonian. In higher education, only the Faculty of Pedagogy in Skopje offers courses in Albanian (future Albanian language teacher's study there). Albanian students who sign up at other faculties must take all courses in all subjects in Macedonian. They have a more difficult time at university, and therefore fare less well than Macedonian students.

The division between the two communities also permeates social life. Albanians mingle only with Albanians, Macedonians only with Macedonians. Shops, cafés and restaurants generally have either Albanian or Macedonian clients. The Albanians say that at times they go to Macedonian bars or restaurants, but that Macedonians never go to Albanian ones. In actual fact, such cases are rare but they do occur, both on the Albanian and on the Macedonian side. The difference is that the Albanians who go to a Macedonian bar or shop speak Macedonian, whereas the Macedonians who go to an Albanian one do not speak Albanian.

Lastly, marriages between Albanians and Macedonians are extremely rare. The Albanians refuse to give their daughters to Macedonian men, for the "fear" or "risk" of assimilation. The absence of inter-cultural marriage is revealing of the mutual mistrust between the two groups.

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Updated (May 2003)

THE ALBANIANS' DISSATISFACTION

According to the Macedonians much has already been done for the integration of the Albanians to the Macedonian society. However, until the 2001 changes the Albanians' perception of their state of affairs was not quite the same.

They pointed out the following issues as the major sources for their dissatisfaction:

• First of all, they were dissatisfied with their constitutional status. The 1991 Constitution proclaimed that Macedonia is the state of the Macedonian people, while the Albanians were lumped together with all other minorities. The Albanians found that this wording diminished their status to that of the non-national minorities, like the Vlachs and the Roma. To support their claim, the Albanians turned to the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution, where they were declared equal to the Macedonians. Thus, the Albanian leaders demanded to change the Constitution to declare Macedonia as a bi-national state of the Macedonians and the Albanians. They also wanted Albanian to become the second official language of the state.
• The second source of discontent for the Albanians came from the fact that until the July 2000 introduction of a new Education Law, there had not been any Albanian institutions for higher education. After the 1985 closure of Skopje University's Faculty of Pedagogy and the denial to reopen this institution in the early 1990s, Albanian activists tried to fill the gap by founding the private University of Tetovo in 1994. The Macedonian authorities banned this university, but the activists reopened it in 1995 and moved the classes to various private premises.

  To date Tetovo University has not been officially recognized, because its registration demands that it becomes a state university and not a private one. The Albanians argue that they contribute to the state budget as much as Macedonians do, so they should have the same right to state education in their mother tongue. The new Education Law opened a door to the students to pass the official state exams in order to have their education and diplomas recognized.

  The Macedonian authorities claim that the reason for non-recognition of Tetovo University is that it does not meet the standards of higher education. They also consider the university to be an institution fostering Albanian nationalism.

• Furthermore, the Albanians complained about their unequal participation in the state institutions. Although taking part in the administration, the Albanians occupied the middle and lower levels, and were seriously underrepresented in the police and army top brass. In general, unemployment among the Albanians is claimed to be very high.

ALBANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

As mentioned above, one of the sources of conflict between the minority and the state was the Albanians' demand for higher education in their mother tongue.

In former Yugoslavia, the main center of higher education for Albanians from Kosovo and Macedonia was the University of Pristina in Kosovo. In 1991, the Serbian authorities shut down this university, on the grounds that it had promoted Albanian separatism.

For similar reasons, several years earlier, in 1985, the Macedonian government discontinued Albanian language instruction at the Pedagogical Faculty at the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje.

In 1994, Albanians took an initiative in opening a private university in Tetovo. The Macedonian authorities declared the formal university opening in December as illegal and the institution was shut down. The police operation led to the death of one Albanian protester. Several Albanian academics were arrested and imprisoned. The University of Tetovo reopened in private houses in February 1995.

In January 1997, the Macedonian Parliament passed legislation that allowed the use of the Albanian language where appropriate for the training of teachers at the Pedagogical Faculty in Skopje. This act spurred demonstrations of nationalistic Macedonian, mostly high-school students in Skopje. In general, Macedonians believe that the state has done more than enough to promote Albanian education. The quota for Albanian students at the University in Skopje increased from 10 percent to 23 percent for the 1996/97 academic year. Yet, the Albanians claim that these reforms are insufficient and statistics support their concerns. During the 1993/94 academic year only 2.8 percent of all graduate students were Albanians, and in 1995, only 2.4 percent.

In July 2000, a new Educational Law was introduced in Macedonia allowing higher education in Albanian in private universities. This law was passed with the strong support of the OSCE's High Commissioner on National Minorities, Max van der Stoel, and with the active promotion of the ruling Albanian DPA Party.

LANGUAGE

The Albanians desire Macedonia to become a "bi-national" state in which the Albanian language is given an equal status to that of Macedonian. So far, this has been an unacceptable demand.

The 1974 Constitution guaranteed a linguistic equality of Albanians and Macedonians. However, according to the Albanians, since the 1980s their position has constantly deteriorated. After 1982, the Macedonian authorities insisted on the use of Slavic toponyms in non-Slavic language textbooks and the media. In 1983, the use of Macedonian in school records and public notices was made obligatory. Although the situation has improved significantly after 1991 (the use of the Albanian language regulated by the Constitution and several other laws (On Self-government (1995), Identity Cards (1995), Education (1997, 2000))) the Albanian community remained unsatisfied with their gains.

Issues concerning education of the Albanians created inter-ethnic tensions throughout the 1990s. On the one hand, the Albanians were dissatisfied with their educational status and demanded more opportunities to study in their native tongue within the state educational system and on the other hand, the Macedonians believed that this would endanger the integrity of the state. When in January 1997, the act of Parliament allowed the use of the Albanian language in the Pedagogical Faculty at the state University in Skopje, nationalist Macedonian students organized several demonstrations. In the first three months of 1999 there were 14 small skirmishes between Macedonian and Albanian secondary school students in Skopje and Koumanovo.

Source: Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe, Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE), Minorities in Southeast Europe, Albanians of Macedonia, April 2002, http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/pdf/cedime-se-macedonia-albanians.doc

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