Saturday, February 06, 2010

Albania Silent over Scandal with Macedonian Language

While Albanian kids in Macedonia study all of their subjects in Albanian (and refuse to learn Macedonian), Macedonian kids in Albania aren't allowed to study their native Macedonian language.

Sali Berisha, Albania's PM publiclyhas stated he would make sure Macedonian kids study their native language, but so far no Albanian institution answered our questions why the Ministry of Education ordered teachers to stop teaching the Macedonian language.

The only exception came from OSCE and the Council of Europe in Tirana, who said they would investigage why was Macedonian banned in Golo Brdo. Albanian media, in general has ignored the case.

- The situation is quite different when it comes to 'problems' of Albanians in Macedonia. Media in Tirana do not even consider printing our press releases, let alone anything else - says Vasil Sterjovski, member of NGO "Ilinden", which holds free courses in Macedonian language for about 200 kids in Golo Brdo.

Council members of Trebište and Golo Brdo came to document send by the regional director of the Ministry of Education, in hich she requires local authorities to take measures against those who hold courses in the Macedonian language.

This document was sent by the editorial board of "Nova Makedonija" to the Ministry of Education of Albania, Ministry of European Integration whose spokeswoman Majlinda Bregu is also the spokesperson of the Government, and the Embassy of Albania in Skopje.

All of the above institutions failed to respond, although Macedonian journalists were informed they will receive a response. No response from the author of the scandalous letter, Miranda Kurti.

However, some reaction is expected from the OSCE office in Tirana. Greece's Joanna Karapataki, press officer of the OSCE in Tirana, sought to review the disputed document.

The Macedonian Foreign Ministry is following the situation.

- No comment so far. We will see how the situation will develop, then will decide how to act - says Peter Chulev, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

Macedonians in Albania believe that the Albanian government wants to ban the Macedonian language in Golo Brdo and to the north in Gora, because of pressures from the European Union that Albania puts a graph on the 2011 census for ethnic minorities.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The response is quite simple really, Macedonia should ban the Albanian language in Macedonia on the same grounds.