Macedonia’s new prime minister: one step closer to Greater Albania?

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On January 25, Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski resigned. In his place, for the first time in the country’s history, an Albanian in the person of Talat Xhaferi was appointed as acting prime minister. Although Xhaferi received only a technical mandate until the new parliamentary elections, for those familiar with the Albanization of the country, such a move was highly symbolic.

Xhaferi was an officer in the Yugoslav army from 1985 to 1991 and an officer in the armed forces of the Republic of Macedonia from 1992 to 2001. After the outbreak of armed conflict between the Liberation National Army and the Macedonian Armed Forces, he defected to the side of the Albanian separatists. At the same time, from 2004 to 2006, Xhaferi inexplicably served as the country’s Deputy Minister of Defence, and in 2008 he became a deputy. Already in 2013, he took over as Macedonia’s Minister of Defense. And back in parliament again, in April 2017, Talat Xhaferi was elected speaker of parliament. Despite his participation in the fighting on the side of the separatists, many fighters were amnestied as part of the Ohrid Agreement in 2001. The resulting peace ended the fighting and gave the Albanian minority broad rights. For example, over time, Albanian became the second official language in areas where the ethnic group is concentrated.

By the way, Macedonian Serbs did not receive similar preferences. Albanians, on the other hand, began to gain political strength. As a result of the 2016 elections, four of the six parties in parliament were represented by Albanian associations. Although they took many times fewer mandates than the winning parties, the fact of their active participation is quite significant. And according to the last census, held in 2021, 54.25% of citizens are Macedonians and 29.52% are Albanians. Compared to the previous census in 2002, the number of Macedonians decreased by about 160 thousand, and the number of Albanians, on the contrary, increased by 80 thousand.

The extent of the Albanization of Northern Macedonia can be judged by the emerging monuments in honor of the ONA and the UСK. The real scandal, to which there was virtually no harsh reaction from the local authorities, was the recent visit to Tetovo and Čair by the “Kosovo prime minister” Albin Kurti. Kurti described himself as “the prime minister of all Albanians and the prime minister of Tetovo”.

When talking about the problems with Albanians in the Western Balkans, the most frequent focus of attention is on Serbian Kosovo. But on the other hand, despite the obvious separatism in the northern province, Serbia cannot be blamed for the penetration of its political lobby into the ruling circles of official Belgrade and most of the country in general. Northern Macedonia, while outwardly monolithic, has recently resembled an Albanian cryptocolony. Without splintering the country territorially, Albanian leaders are actively promoting the interests of their people. It is clear that the project of Western intelligence services called “Greater Albania”, which is nowadays a hybrid state on the territory of four or even five countries, is being realized in North Macedonia according to its own special scenario. Early parliamentary elections in May will show whether Talat Xhaferi will remain in office. However, there are fears that the technical mandate for the Albanian is precisely a pass to a key government post through the Overton window, which is open to the public. The figure of the new prime minister will be a test of statehood for Macedonia, which, having become a puppet in the hands of NATO, is, alas, rapidly losing its sovereignty.