The political analyst in Tetovo, Enis Shaqiri, considered the alarm bell, the protest held in Skopje by thousands of Albanian students against not allowing the jurisprudence exam to be held in the Albanian language.
In a “Skype” connection with the “Good Morning Albania” show, Shaqiri said that students and citizens are demanding a right that belongs to them according to the Constitution and the law.
“Yesterday’s protest was the alarm bell of what is happening in North Macedonia. We have tendencies to degrade the Albanian language as official by the government which, since the 2024 election campaign, has been faithful to part of its electoral promises against Albanian achievements and why is it camouflaged in the discourse.
Actions show otherwise. Initially, the balancer law that was supposed to account for non-Macedonian affiliations in the public administration was dissolved, and to this day there is still no new law. The renewal of the repeal of the language law by the Constitutional Court, which was initially opposed by the ruling party and met with resistance from the opposition, now seems to be facing students and citizens who demand a right that belongs to the Constitution and the law, but which the Ministry of Justice continues to not honor.“, he declared.
According to Shaqiri, the concrete actions of institutions show the opposite of public statements. He mentioned, among other things, the repeal of the law of the balancer, which according to him guaranteed the representation of non-Macedonian communities in the public administration, as well as the ongoing debates about the law on the use of languages.
The analyst also considered problematic the fact that, although the Albanian language is used in state institutions, it is not allowed in a key process such as the jurisprudence exam.
He added that the current wording of the law on languages, where Albanian is defined as “the language spoken by over 20% of citizens”, creates space for interpretations and, according to him, constitutes a form of institutional underestimation.
In conclusion, Shaqiri warned that recent developments could create the perception of a nationalist tendency to devalue the Albanian language, stressing that the reaction of students and citizens is a clear signal against these policies.
“The only party that restores this is VMRO-DPMNE. The language law basically has only one gradation from the Macedonian language where Albanian is excluded from international use while in other parts legally it must be treated as equal. A fundamental problem remains the fact that it is not named exactly as the Albanian language, but as the language spoken by more than 20% of the citizens and then the brackets are opened and the Albanian language is inserted.
Here we have puns and interpretation technicalities from a linguistic point of view.
It is absurd that the Albanian language is used in the highest state institutions while it is degraded in a key process such as the jurisprudence exam on the grounds that translation slows down linguistic processes. Another absurdity: if there are universities in the Albanian language in the legal field, then there must be the final act, the jurisprudence exam in the same language, as a basic condition to become a judge, prosecutor, lawyer”said Shaqiri, while adding that this creates the impression of a nationalist tendency to create an unspoken but real devaluation of the Albanian language.
