DUI leader 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 Albanian media, he said that this would bring 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 as happy, it was not as 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. But 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. Because Georgievski's proposal defined the 30% Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia in a territory of somewhere around five to 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 and Ohrid. Painful for both sides. 260.000 Albanians had to be expelled from their lands and "60.000 Macedonians would also be expelled from their lands who lived in the Albanian-majority part. The pain would be the same for both sides," he 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. He 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.
"I do not regret it because I did not cause greater pain to either Albanians or Macedonians. I did not cause them any pain and I do not regret this solution. And the agreement progressed quite a bit. The University of Tetovo was legalized. The Albanian language was initially used in state institutions, the presidency, the government, the assembly, all of which are also in Albanian. Materials began to communicate, after the law was passed, the use of languages, because before the use of languages, the use was limited. Albanians advanced in the administration from 2%, 1%, 0.5%, 5% in the institutions that were represented, the representation went to 21-22%. After the law was passed, all central institutions, all with inscriptions in Albanian, ministries, began communicating with municipalities in both languages and in Albanian, because the Albanian language, according to the agreement signed and guaranteed by America, Europe and NATO, the language spoken by over 20% in the Republic of Macedonia at that time was the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It is also an official language and its alphabet in all state institutions, at all levels, as will be determined by law, and for 15 years we have not closed the language law, we have advanced it, we have made some steps", he emphasized.
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