Everyone is for yes

Sally MAIRS and Saska CVETKOVSKA -

From the brink of war to decades of discrimination and poverty, it has not been an easy ride for the Albanian minority wedged into Macedonia’s northwest corner.

But a referendum on Sunday to change the country’s name — and open the door to EU-membership — is giving the community a sliver of hope that a better future awaits.

Ethnic Albanians, who make up nearly a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population, are expected to play a decisive role in Sunday’s vote to settle a long-running row between their Macedonian compatriots and Greeks across the border.

And their position is no mystery: many say they will happily accept the name “North Macedonia” — a compromise between Skopje and Athens — if it means clearing their country’s path to the EU. “Everyone is for yes,” said Selajdin Latifi, a 46-year-old post office worker in Aracinovo, an Albanian village perched on a hillside above Skopje.

“Here we have nothing, but in the EU, there is everything.” Nearly two decades ago artillery shells were raining down on Aracinovo, a rebel holdout for Albanian guerillas who brought Macedonia to the edge of civil war in 2001.

A peace deal was reached that year after more than 100 were killed, guaranteeing more rights and representation for Albanians in government.

But high unemployment, crime and a xenophobic brand of Macedonian nationalism have stalked Albanians since.

The country’s stalled integration with the West — a process held up by the Greece dispute — has sowed further disappointment.

“Everyone just wants a better life. No one wants to fight or think about war,” said Latifi, sipping a coffee in the village’s dusty main square. A high turnout on Sunday could see up to 300,000 Albanians cast ballots, overwhelmingly for “yes”, said Albert Musliu, a political analyst. That would represent a large chunk of the 900,000 votes needed to pass the 50 per cent mark of registered voters to make the poll credible.

There is scant data on the economic situation of Albanians, as Macedonia has been unable to complete a census since 2002 due to ethnic tensions.

But Musliu said high poverty rates among Albanians date back to Yugoslavia, when the community was excluded from state institutions and firms, and therefore missed out on the economic boons of privatisation in the 1990s.

Albanian political parties say their communities still suffer low rates of state investment. — AFP