Growing ethnic tensions in Macedonia (FYROM)

Racial conflict: A rebel fighting for ethnic Albanian rights wears the Albanian flag

March 18, 2012: Macedonia has been enjoying something of an economic boomlet. Given Greece’s economic turmoil, some Greek companies have begun new operations in Macedonia. However, the Macedonian government is very concerned about an increasing ethnic violence between Macedonian Slavs and Albanians, and with reason. Around 40 people have been injured in Slav-Albanian ethnic violence since early January. Several of the incidents have been attacks involving groups of young people. Though no report has yet described the clashes as gang violence, gang formation would be a likely next step if the violence continues. The step after that is particularly troubling. In the Balkans, gangs have a tradition of becoming guerrilla bands. So the government regards the recent incidents as a cause for worry.

In 2001 the government defeated an insurgency launched by Albanian separatists. The Ohrid Framework Agreement (August 2001) which ended that insurgency guaranteed Macedonian Albanians equitable (proportional) representation and power in the government, to include a guarantee that the police forces would reflect the country’s ethnic composition and ethnic distribution. So the subject of ethnic balance in Macedonia has real political and security implications. Macedonia has a population of around two million. No one is quite sure what the next census will reveal. Macedonian Albanians claim they number 600,000, which is roughly 30 percent of the population.

The last official figure was 500,000, or 25 percent. Macedonian Slavs argue that they have lived up to the Ohrid Framework Agreement but their Albanian compatriots are abusing the power-sharing system and intend to carve the country into enclaves. Macedonian Albanians counter that Macedonia would have fallen apart in 2001 if not for the Ohrid Framework Agreement. That may or may not be true, but the agreement did end the bloodshed. The Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA, the main resistance group) also handed in 3,000 weapons. Still, some neighborhoods in Skopje, the capital, have become ethnically contested areas, as Albanians move in and Slavs leave (thus the worry about youth violence in the capital turning into turf battles). 

One pro-Slav commentator recently described what he claimed is an Albanian tactic for driving Slavs from a neighborhood. Albanians (who are predominantly Muslim) move in and build a mosque. The mosque then blasts the prayer call (over loud speakers) five times a day. The Christian Slavs move out because of the noise. Macedonian wits have dubbed it sonic cleansing. The ethnic tension, however, isn’t funny. Nor are Slav suspicions that Albanians still yearn for a Greater Albania, which would include Kosovo and parts of western Macedonia.