The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov today, within the official visit to the Republic of Albania, held talks with representatives of the Macedonian national minority in the Republic of Albania.

President Ivanov called on Macedonians in Albania and the leadership of the political party “Macedonian Alliance for European Integration” (MAEI) to unite in order to be able to ensure their minority rights and to improve their living standard in this neighbouring country, where local elections are to be held in May, while the census of the population is scheduled for November.

Representatives from Mala Prespa, Golo Brdo and Gora, places in Albania mostly populated by Macedonian minority, conveyed their problems to President Ivanov and expressed satisfaction that their issue was discussed at the highest level for the first time

The visit of the Macedonian President for us is crucial and the fact that talks were held with the Prime Minister and President of Albania to discuss openly the problems of Albanian Macedonians, recognised only in Mala Prespa, in the municipality of Pustec. Those outside of this municipality are not registered as Macedonians and do not enjoy any right. Hopefully, these bilateral meetings will finally solve the issue and Macedonians from Golo Brdo and Gora will be recognised as Macedonians by official authorities in Albania and enjoy the rights of the Macedonians in Mala Prespa, stated after the meeting Edmond Temelko - President of MAEI and Mayor of the municipality of Pustec.


Vasil Sterjovski, Director of TV Kristal from Korca, said that the President urged Macedonians in Albania to be united over their party, as a way to obtain their rights. Only by being politically engaged in Albania, we will manage to become integrated in the institutions and by securing posts in the local authority and MP seats, we will have the chance to raise issues at economic and national level, Sterjovski said. He commended that the Albanian President Bamri Topi for the first time discussed the minority issue. President Topi also for the first time expressed his opinion concerning the census in Albania, something we consider an encouragement for all minorities. It is considered positive since President Topi condemned ultra-nationalists who organize on a daily basis demonstrations and refuse to have a census with an ethnic section in the form, not only for Macedonians, but also for other minorities, being scared that Albania would become a multiethnic state, stated Sterjovski.
At the meeting, the talks also focused on the issue involving the border crossing point Dzepiste - Trebiste near Golo Brdo and the construction of a road, which is to solve infrastructure problems – due to this, people are isolated in winter time. The problem is mostly in the part of Albania, involving a road of 20 km. In the part of Macedonia, the section is very small and Macedonia has already fulfilled its obligation. Thus, Albanian citizens will have to travel only 3 km to be in Macedonia, instead of travelling about 80 km to the nearest border crossing point. The conditions are very difficult because there is no infrastructure in the area of Golo Brdo and therefore the Macedonian population has moved from there to other cities in Albania. Hence, most important for us is the border crossing point  Dzepiste - Trebiste, which will solve all the troubles in that region, said Edmond Osmani, Vice President of MAEI  in charge of the party branch in Golo Brdo.


Road infrastructure, as a problem, was also discussed at yesterday's talks that President Ivanov had with Albania's state officials, because it is vital for free flow of people, commodities and services and for promotion of Macedonian products on the Albanian market. Macedonians in Albania also welcomed the initiative of turning the Macedonian Language Study Program into a Department at the University of Tirana, something that was promised to President Ivanov by Prime Minister Berisha. The Lecturer, Ms. Valentina Nestor, said that this would be beneficial for the Macedonians for the preservation of the language as most important feature of their identity. The Study Program was established 15 years ago and currently 73 students study Macedonian language as an optional subject.