Attempts made to return Macedonian toponyms in SE Albania

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Albania's legislative parliamentary commission at yesterday's session with votes from deputies of the ruling majority passed a draft-law on restoring authentic toponyms in settlements in Mala Prespa. The law has been put forward by a deputy of the ruling Democratic Party of Albania, Edmond Spaho. This is his second attempt to restore authentic toponyms in Mala Prespa - which were Albanized in the 1970s by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha. Members of the opposition Socialist Party were against the draft-document calling its adoption a "precedent". A two-third majority is required in order the draft-law on restoring authentic toponyms to be enacted, which means that opposition MPs need to be in favour of the document. It is expected the draft-law to be voted by the Albanian parliament at a session scheduled this Thursday. "In the municipality of Pustec no one uses the Albanized name of the municipality (Liqenas), or the other names of places such as Leska, Gorna and Dolna Gorica... for us and for our ancestors and future generations it has been and will always be Pustec, Leska, etc. In 1973 a decision had been reached against the will of the Macedonians in Mala Prespa to change the toponyms. In recent years, the Macedonian language is in use thus they are written in Macedonia with Cyrillic letters," says the mayor of Pustec, Edmond Temelko. He is optimistic believing that the second attempt will yield results. According to him, it is time to amend this injustice done to the inhabitants of Pustec. Moreover, the Memorandum of Understanding with Minorities signed by the Albanian government in 2009 entitles local authorities to give traditional names to roads, bridges, villages and various toponyms. Representatives of the Macedonian community in Albania have welcomed the move to restore the names of settlements. One of their main demands is the restoration of traditional names used by the Macedonian community.