Language Research

2. Background: Background notes

Macedonia is a former constituent republic of the Socialistic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Ethnic tensions do exist in the FYRoM, but in contrast to the situation in many other regions of the SFRY, they were contained during the first half of the 1990s and did not explode into war and ethnic cleansing. The main tensions are between the ethnic Albanians and the ethnic Macedonian Slav majority, and such issues pre-date the break up of the SFRY. They are based on the one hand on ethnic Albanian calls for greater autonomy, and on the other hand the Macedonian Slav fears of Albanian nationalism. A particularly troubling issue is the possible secession of the western area to form an ethnic Albanian republic with Kosovo. Tensions began to escalate in the mid-1990s, erupting into more frequent outbreaks of violence.

Independence was achieved on September 17, 1991 from Yugoslavia.

Current international disputes: A dispute with Greece over the name of the Republic.

In September 1995, Skopje and Athens signed an interim accord resolving their dispute over symbols and certain constitutional provisions. Athens also lifted its economic embargo on The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The border commission formed by The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro in April 1996 to resolve differences in delineation of their mutual border has made no progress so far. Albanians in Macedonia claim discrimination in education, access to public-sector jobs and representation in government. The Party for Democratic Action (DPA), which is now a member party of the government, is calling for a rewrite of the Constitution to declare ethnic Albanians a national group and allow for regional autonomy. 

Top of page

Updated (June 2002)

HISTORICAL FACTS

The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia from 1989 negatively influenced members of national minorities. It all began with the massive differentiation and discrediting of the minority intellectuals. People were arrested for banal reasons like mentioning Albania or the prominent Albanian cultural or historical personality. In the period between 1981-1989, books published in Tirana were destroyed, regardless of an author. This went so far that even house libraries were inspected.

Another form of pressure towards nationalities was demolition of courtyard fences of the Albanian, Turkish and Roma houses with an excuse that it is done to integrate them more successfully into the society. The organs of internal affairs composed a list of names that were forbidden irrespectively of the fact that these names were widely used among the members of national minorities.

The studying opportunity in Macedonia was reduced both in Macedonian and in the languages of national minorities. Albanians, Turks and Roma couldn't be employed in the governmental institutions, were excluded from the privatization and they were very often forced to leave the country. The consequences of those attitudes prevail by now.

By the end of the 90s the Roma community had neither resources nor special programs to reinforce their financial and educational status. The number of Roma with higher education was very small and they owned less than 30 craft shops. Because of this discrimination, they were forced to find other sources of income and they became unpopular among the Macedonians.

The national minorities supported Independence (September 17, 1991) and they saw in it a possibility to achieve their rights. To be represented in a newly created country, they established their own political parties.

The minorities; however, were not satisfied with the first Constitution. In 1992, the representatives of the Albanian political parties organized a Referendum as a response to the disagreement with the adopted model of the Constitution.

The new constitutional legal decisions did not satisfy the educational requests of the Albanians. The insufficient response of the Macedonian ethnic representatives resulted in an initiative to establish the University with the Albanian language of instruction supported by the Albanian political parties and three municipalities with the Albanian majority (Tetovo, Gostivar and Debar).

Another constitutional decision considered to be discriminating was an inability to use national symbols. After the wave of violence connected with this restriction the government was forced to pass the Bill on Using the Flags of the Nationalities. The Bill regulated the use of the flags of the national minorities and was effective immediately.

Source: Association for Democratic Initiative,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/message/1946 and

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/157.htm 

Top of page

Updated (May 2003)

TERRITORY INHABITED BY THE ALBANIANS

Most of the ethnic Albanians live in the western part of Macedonia that borders Albania. A substantial part of the community inhabits the northwestern area adjacent the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, and the Macedonian capital of Skopje. In some municipalities, namely Tetovo, Debar and Gostivar, the Albanians constitute the majority of the population.

THE ALBANIAN LANGUAGE

In the course of its evolution, the Albanian language acquired borrowings from many other languages. Initially influenced by Latin, after the 16th Century Albanian was enriched with words from the Italian, Turkish, Greek, Slavic and Romance languages.

Present day standard Albanian is based on its two dialects, Gheg (Gegënisht, or northern Albanian) and Tosk (Toskërisht, or southern Albanian). The two dialects are distinct from each other, and in their extremes they could be mutually incomprehensible. Most Albanians living in western Macedonia use the Gheg dialect.

In November 1908, Albanian intellectuals met in Monastir (Bitola) and agreed that written Albanian will be standardized based on the Gheg dialect. The Latin alphabet was adopted for spelling on account of its international usage.

Between 1912 (when independent Albania was founded) and the Second World War, Albanian literary development was connected with the Gheg dialect. However, the Albanians living outside the borders of the new country remained isolated from the literary and linguistic trends of the time. The differences among the Albanian dialects increased after 1945, when a Tosk-speaking communist elite came to power in Albania. In 1952, Tosk became the official Albanian language. That same year the Albanians in Pristina (Kosovo) asserted their commitment to Gheg.

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 

Top of page

Updated (July 2003)

GOVERNMENT'S DECISION FOR LEGALIZATION OF TETOVO UNIVERSITY

On July 11, 2003 the Macedonian government passed the amendments to the Law on Higher Education. According to them, the University in Mala Recica (so-called Tetovo University, founded in 1994) enters on the process of legalization. This University is expected to be transformed to the state one either in October this year, or in a school year 2004/2005. The later date is more realistic because a certain period is necessary to collect funds for operation of the university.

After the legalization the university will have the Faculties for Humanitarian and Natural Sciences and the Faculties of Law and Economy.

According to the Minister of Education, Aziz Polozani, this step will solve the problem with the university education of the Albanians in Macedonia.

The Minister also announced that until 2005 a way will be found for verification of the diplomas of 400 graduated students of this university. Currently around 10,000 students study at Tetovo University, out of which 5,000 are in their final year.

The amendments to the Law on Higher Education will be adopted by the Parliament by the end of the next month.

Source: Minelres News, July 14, 2003, from the Macedonian Information and Liaison Service, Skopje, June 30, 2003, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2003-July/002830.html 

Top of page

Updated (October 2008)

THE SAME OLD DISPUTE

At a press conference in Brussels, the EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn expressed his hopes that an end to the 17-year-old “name dispute” between Greece and Macedonia might come into sight.

He was heard to say that it is important to settle the name issue, which is a bilateral conflict between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece.

Greece has refused to recognize its neighbor's constitutional name – the Republic of Macedonia – since it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece argues if they allow Skopje to call their state Macedonia, which is also the name of northern region in Greece, it will open the way to territorial claims.

However, Macedonia's name has been recognized by many countries worldwide, including Russia, the US, China, Canada, Turkey, as well as a number of EU states.

The Macedonian President Crvenkovski also expressed his faith in positive outcome of the issue: “The Republic of Macedonia is prepared for a fair compromise that will not go against our cultural and national identity and I hope that the Republic of Greece will (also) show some flexibility.”

Source: Eurolang News, October 13, 2008 by Georgios N. Papadakis http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3103&Itemid=1&lang=en

Top of page

Updated (July 2009)

GREECE AND MACEDONIA MAY SOLVE THEIR LONG-LASTING PROBLEM

An agreement between Athens and Skopje over the official name of Macedonia could be made soon – the Macedonian President announced that his cabinet is to reply in August to the proposals put forward by the UN mediator, Matthew Nimetz. The proposals offered several variations of the term "Northern Macedonia" and included guarantees of Macedonia's language and identity.

There is every indication that this is an optimum time to make progress towards the end of the naming dispute, as the Greek Government has recently expressed its will to reach an agreement.

Source: Nationalia Ciemen, News, July 15, 2009 http://www.nationalia.info/en/news/540

Top of page