Kurti defactorised Albanians in Macedonia, Albanian is also excluded from road signs

The Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) has published a photo clearly showing that the inscriptions are only in Macedonian and English, completely excluding the Albanian.

This development comes at a time when the issue of official Albanian language status in northern Macedonia has been questioned, Paparaci reports.

The defactorisation of Albanians in northern Macedonia had made Kosovo's own prime minister, Albin Kurti, with his statements minimising the importance of Albanian language and its official status in this country.

Denying the existence of a special law on Albanian use and stressing that the current language law does not recognise Albanian as an official language, Kurti was perceived as the one who reinforced the exclusion of Albanians in northern Macedonia, thus weakening legitimate requirements for equality and recognition.

In November last year, prior to the joint meeting with the Macedonian government, Kurti, questioned the latest developments about the Language Law, stressed that in northern Macedonia there has not been and there is not a special law on Albanian language, but only one law on the use of languages referring to the percentage of 20 %s of the population.

This is an issue of the Constitutional Court in Northern Macedonia because three provisions of the Law on Use of Languages are sent to the Venice Commission and these three provisions have been paradoxically not implemented in the past and now belong to the Constitutional Court in Northern Macedonia to assess. But one thing we need to explain: There is no law in Northern Macedonia for the use of Albanian and there has not been in the past. There is the law on the use of languages that mentions 20 %s. So it's not the law to use Albanian, it's the law to use”, Kurti said at a media conference.

He has said that unlike Serbian, which is an official language in Kosovo, it cannot be said of Albanian in northern Macedonia.

On the other hand, I believe that we should all wait for a fair decision by the Constitutional Court there, which makes no exceptions or discrimination and respects the language that exists in northern Macedonia, where the entire population does not speak the same language. You know that in Kosovo, although 4 %s we have Serbs, Serbian is an official language. But in northern Macedonia, it cannot be said that we have Albanian official language and that it is now at risk because that is not true. We want very good neighbourly relations with northern Macedonia, and for that we will co-operate, but there are other power organs which make decisions”, Kurti said.

Under the Law on Use of Languages, the Macedonian language with the Cyrillic alphabet is the official language throughout northern Macedonia, writes Paparacy.

The law also stipulates that a second language becomes official if spoken by at least 20% of the population, which includes Albanian.

Since Albanians make up more than 20% of the country's population, Albanian has status of an official language in northern Macedonia

Thus, the Law ensures that the Albanian language is used in institutions, official documents, and in communication with state bodies.

The law does not directly mention Albanian as a particular language, but it does so through the clear definition that includes every language spoken by at least 20% of the population.

In the concrete case, this has a direct effect on Albanian language, which is widely used in all institutions of the central and local government where this criteria are fulfilled.

In a specific way, Article 1 of the law says the other <x0judge that speaks at least 20% of citizens (Albanian Court), is also the official language and its alphabet, in accordance with this law. ”

This provision stipulates that in cases where the percentage of Albanian population meets this threshold, Albanian can be used in the same measure and with the same status as Macedonian. /Periscopi/