Ahmeti: I put the partition of Macedonia on the table, but it was not a good solution

The leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, Ali Ahmeti, has revealed that before the signing of the Ohrid Agreement, the partition of Macedonia was proposed to him. In an exclusive interview with Pandi Gjata on Ditarin i Pasdite on A2 CNN, he said that this would have serious consequences. Ahmeti stressed that the proposal had come to him from the then Macedonian government, led by Ljubco Georgievski, but was rejected because, according to him, it would lead to a war for territories and massive displacement of the population.

"We accepted the Ohrid peace agreement as the best solution, a real compromise, but the other solution was not so happy, it was not so good, but it was painful for both Macedonians and Albanians, because the proposal for the division of Macedonia was put on the table by the Macedonian Government, Prime Minister Georgievski. However, it was not the best solution, it was a solution that would cause much greater clashes. It would take many lives, because the war would be fought for territories. That proposal by Georgievski defined the 30% of Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia in a territory somewhere around five or six percent, mainly Tetovo, Gostivar and my birthplace Zajazi and Oslomeja. But without Kičevo, without Struga, without Skopje, without Kumanovo, without Prespa, without Manastir, without Veles, without Ohrid. Painful for both sides. About 260 thousand Albanians had to be expelled from their lands and 60 thousand Macedonians also from their lands who lived in the Albanian-majority part. The pain would be the same for both sides," Ahmeti said.

According to Ahmeti, the best solution remained the Ohrid Agreement, despite the fact that it was a compromise and did not fully satisfy either party. Ahmeti recalled that the agreement brought important progress for Albanians, such as the legalization of the University of Tetovo, increased representation in institutions and the wider use of the Albanian language.

Speaking at the panel discussion at the Diaspora Summit in Tirana, Ahmeti said that the Albanian language in North Macedonia is in danger. 

"As for the Albanian language in Macedonia, it is a real danger that I think we should master the entire language that we all speak," he said.

He said that the Albanian language in North Macedonia is guaranteed by the Ohrid Agreement of August 2001, which ended the war in North Macedonia. That agreement ensured, among other things, that Albanian became an official language and that the participation of Albanians in government institutions, the police and the army increased.

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He said that that agreement was signed and "guaranteed" by both the United States of America and NATO and that it is a shared responsibility to protect it.

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