Tirana calls for calm in Macedonia

TIRANA, Jan. 31 – Albania has shown great concern for the recent religious friction emerging in Macedonia.
A church caught fire in Macedonia late Monday, as underlying tensions between the Slavic and Albanian population resurfaced, more than a decade after the country tottered on the verge of a war along ethnic lines.
“This repulsive act, together with some other recent occurrences, are condemnable, regardless of whom and why they were committed. Callings or actions with disruptive, discriminating and racist character that inseminate ethnic and inter-religious hatred are unacceptable from society itself and the public opinion in Macedonia,” said a Foreign Ministry statement.
“The ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of Macedonia is a value for the country and not an inclination for intolerance. It is necessary to respect the history and the cultural heritage of each community in the country, as well as to promote works which contain unifying elements and to strengthen the social cohesion, not the separation.With consensual works and common activities in the social life of the country, between Macedonians and Albanians, real opportunities for the consolidation of the fundamental European values are created, values which the region has already embraced. The interethnic, intercultural and inter-religious harmony is crucial to the integrity and stability of Macedonia and to the entire Balkan region,” it continued.
The incident followed the burning of a Macedonian flag in Struga by Albanians and the raising of Albanian and Islamist flags in reaction to a local carnival in the previous week in which Islam was mocked.
Struga is an ethnically mixed town on Lake Ohrid, Macedonia’s best-known vacation destination. It lies directly on the de facto line of separation between the Slavic and Albanian Macedonian population. Macedonia had come to the verge of a civil war in 2001, when Albanians – who make up between one-quarter and one-third of the population – rebelled, demanding more rights.
An escalation of the conflict was averted with a peace-and-reform deal brokered by NATO in Ohrid after six months of fighting.
The deal improved the position of Albanians: Albanian was promoted to an official language; a university in an Albanian town was recognized; and the country’s administrative boundaries were redrawn.