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Bilingualism has somehow unexpectedly surfaced from the Framework Agreement
From the moment they were seated in their positions, all panels with official names were translated into Albanian and so were websites; updated to include an Albanian version
All ministries that are governed by Albanian ministers have an Albanian version website. Official boards now bear logos in the Albanian language. Official correspondence between employees and departments in these ministries is also conducted in the Albanian language. Letterheads and printed material in the ministries and institutions run by Albanians is done in the Albanian language. International official correspondence carried out by Albanian ministers with their foreign counterparts is conducted in the Albanian language. This it seems is more or less an overt attempt by the Albanian minority in Macedonia to become equal to the Macedonian majority in official circles.
It seems that bilingualism is pushed in Macedonia but who exactly is pushing it? Does the Constitution support the official use of minority languages in the ethnic communities? Does the Constitution allow the Albanian language to be equal to the Macedonian in mixed communities where members of a minority exceed 20 percent of the population? Just last week two pieces of public information surfaced pointing to the official use of the Albanian language being employed outside of the Constitution and outside of the law. The first piece was a letter written in the Albanian language, bearing the signature of Albanian Minister Besimi, which last week was sent to his Kosovo counterpart to cancel a meeting in Pristina, even though the Constitution clearly states that “for international relations an officer must use only the Macedonian language”. The second piece was a message from Nasufi Ipchja, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, addressed to the Skopje health institutions and hospitals, and to the clinics and hospitals in the municipalities where over 20 percent of the population is Albanian, asking them to use Albanian as an official language. According to the information Ipchja made a request that, besides the Macedonian language, all tables, referrals, hospital reports, recipes, fiscal accounts and all written communication and documentation of patients in these institutions should be in the Albanian language.
These are just two of the many examples where the Albanian language was put into official use. Employees in ministries and institutions run by Albanian ministers have also said that, outside of the oral addresses and directives given to them by their official in the Albanian language, their aim is to make use of the Albanian language for the entire official documentation. This includes regular use of facsimiles and memoranda in certain institutions regardless of whether the text of the documents is in both Macedonian and Albanian.
They also have requested that names of Albanian government officials be exclusively written in the Albanian language.The spontaneous introduction of the Albanian language as an official language equal to the Macedonian has especially made progress in the ministries held by Albanians. Once seated in their positions, Besimi, Minister of Defense and Blerim Bexheti, Minister of Justice, have updated all panels bearing the official names of the ministries to include information in the Albanian language. The websites of all the ministries in which cadres of DUI are in charge (Secretariat of Framework Agreement, Secretariat for European Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Justice, Economy, Local Government and Environment) have also been updated to include an Albanian language version of the information. This however, has not been the case with other Government ministries or other Government websites, which contain exclusively Macedonian information and an English version.
“Citizens who speak a language other than Macedonian may use their own language in local and central institutions and the institutions owe them that much, and apart from the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet, they may provide answers in that language. And with that the Constitution defines the official language of communication between citizens and institutions. As for the official correspondence within the institutions of government, meaning at the central level, the Constitution states that one can introduce another official language, other than Macedonian, but only the law. But no such thing had been done by use of the law” says Vlado Popovski, Professor of the Law Faculty, who has participated in the writing of the framework agreement.
The use of the Albanian language in official purposes is defined in the Constitution, in the Law on Assembly and parliamentary rules and in the law on languages of ethnic communities.
Even though these documents clearly define when, how and by whom a language other than Macedonian can be used, there are no penalties defined for their abuse. Experts say that in this case, if there is no criminal or misdemeanor provision, for officials and civil servants who do not respect the law, then there must be political responsibility.
The wide use of the Albanian language at the administrative level in the central institutions of government was discussed in Parliament a month ago. Menduh Thaci’s DPA believes that the application of constitutional provisions and the law on languages is at an appropriate level, since the framework agreement, according to this party, provides full bilingualism in Macedonia .
“The Law of 2008 prohibits the use of the Albanian language at the central level and it is not clear why we fought when not a single right of the Albanians has been realized,” said Member of Parliament Zijadin Sela from the DPA to the Albanian deputies of DUI.
The DPA has said that it will challenge the legality of this law through the Constitutional Court and will put forth a new law to the Parliament that supports full bilingualism in the country.
Bilingualism has somehow unexpectedly surfaced from the Framework Agreement
From the moment they were seated in their positions, all panels with official names were translated into Albanian and so were websites; updated to include an Albanian version
All ministries that are governed by Albanian ministers have an Albanian version website. Official boards now bear logos in the Albanian language. Official correspondence between employees and departments in these ministries is also conducted in the Albanian language. Letterheads and printed material in the ministries and institutions run by Albanians is done in the Albanian language. International official correspondence carried out by Albanian ministers with their foreign counterparts is conducted in the Albanian language. This it seems is more or less an overt attempt by the Albanian minority in Macedonia to become equal to the Macedonian majority in official circles.
It seems that bilingualism is pushed in Macedonia but who exactly is pushing it? Does the Constitution support the official use of minority languages in the ethnic communities? Does the Constitution allow the Albanian language to be equal to the Macedonian in mixed communities where members of a minority exceed 20 percent of the population? Just last week two pieces of public information surfaced pointing to the official use of the Albanian language being employed outside of the Constitution and outside of the law. The first piece was a letter written in the Albanian language, bearing the signature of Albanian Minister Besimi, which last week was sent to his Kosovo counterpart to cancel a meeting in Pristina, even though the Constitution clearly states that “for international relations an officer must use only the Macedonian language”. The second piece was a message from Nasufi Ipchja, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, addressed to the Skopje health institutions and hospitals, and to the clinics and hospitals in the municipalities where over 20 percent of the population is Albanian, asking them to use Albanian as an official language. According to the information Ipchja made a request that, besides the Macedonian language, all tables, referrals, hospital reports, recipes, fiscal accounts and all written communication and documentation of patients in these institutions should be in the Albanian language.
These are just two of the many examples where the Albanian language was put into official use. Employees in ministries and institutions run by Albanian ministers have also said that, outside of the oral addresses and directives given to them by their official in the Albanian language, their aim is to make use of the Albanian language for the entire official documentation. This includes regular use of facsimiles and memoranda in certain institutions regardless of whether the text of the documents is in both Macedonian and Albanian.
They also have requested that names of Albanian government officials be exclusively written in the Albanian language.The spontaneous introduction of the Albanian language as an official language equal to the Macedonian has especially made progress in the ministries held by Albanians. Once seated in their positions, Besimi, Minister of Defense and Blerim Bexheti, Minister of Justice, have updated all panels bearing the official names of the ministries to include information in the Albanian language. The websites of all the ministries in which cadres of DUI are in charge (Secretariat of Framework Agreement, Secretariat for European Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Justice, Economy, Local Government and Environment) have also been updated to include an Albanian language version of the information. This however, has not been the case with other Government ministries or other Government websites, which contain exclusively Macedonian information and an English version.
“Citizens who speak a language other than Macedonian may use their own language in local and central institutions and the institutions owe them that much, and apart from the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet, they may provide answers in that language. And with that the Constitution defines the official language of communication between citizens and institutions. As for the official correspondence within the institutions of government, meaning at the central level, the Constitution states that one can introduce another official language, other than Macedonian, but only the law. But no such thing had been done by use of the law” says Vlado Popovski, Professor of the Law Faculty, who has participated in the writing of the framework agreement.
The use of the Albanian language in official purposes is defined in the Constitution, in the Law on Assembly and parliamentary rules and in the law on languages of ethnic communities.
Even though these documents clearly define when, how and by whom a language other than Macedonian can be used, there are no penalties defined for their abuse. Experts say that in this case, if there is no criminal or misdemeanor provision, for officials and civil servants who do not respect the law, then there must be political responsibility.
The wide use of the Albanian language at the administrative level in the central institutions of government was discussed in Parliament a month ago. Menduh Thaci’s DPA believes that the application of constitutional provisions and the law on languages is at an appropriate level, since the framework agreement, according to this party, provides full bilingualism in Macedonia .
“The Law of 2008 prohibits the use of the Albanian language at the central level and it is not clear why we fought when not a single right of the Albanians has been realized,” said Member of Parliament Zijadin Sela from the DPA to the Albanian deputies of DUI.
The DPA has said that it will challenge the legality of this law through the Constitutional Court and will put forth a new law to the Parliament that supports full bilingualism in the country.
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