Ahmeti: 2 August reminds us freedom rests on equality, not domination

Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), used his Republic Day message on 2 August to call for equal citizenship and to warn that recent trends are moving the country away from the inclusive ideals of Kruševo and the Ohrid Framework Agreement.

Ahmeti: equality, not domination, must be the basis of freedom

In his statement Ahmeti said: "2 August reminds us of one of the noblest ideals of our shared history — the belief that freedom is not built on the dominance of some over others, but on equality, respect and coexistence." He linked that ideal to the spirit of Kruševo and to the goal of a state where Albanians, Macedonians and all communities share responsibility and fate.

Ahmeti warned that the country has moved away from those goals. "Unfortunately, more than a century later, instead of moving closer to that ideal, we are moving away from it. Instead of partnership, the logic of domination is returning, and instead of inclusiveness, exclusion is deepening. Albanians are increasingly marginalized in state institutions, administration, diplomacy, the security sector, the judiciary, education, culture, health, the economy and in decision-making processes that determine the future of the state," he said.

He further argued that the Ohrid Framework Agreement — which he described as the contemporary continuation of the spirit of the Kruševo manifesto — faces constant attempts at being undermined.

Ahmeti singled out concrete practices and legal changes he regards as alarming: attacks on the official use of the Albanian language, elimination of a mechanism that guaranteed fair representation, weakening of safeguards against majoritarianism, disregard for the census-established reality, selective justice and the promotion of a mono-ethnic state concept. He also criticized certain Albanian representatives who, he said, back those policies instead of defending the citizens they claim to represent.

In the closing passage of his message Ahmeti reiterated the political choice he says Albanians have made: "We chose a shared, unitary, democratic and European North Macedonia, in which no one feels less worthy than another and in which the state belongs equally to all its citizens. That is the path to a just state, firmly rooted in NATO and integrated into the European Union. On this symbolic day, let us remember that the future is not built with divisions, fear or exclusion. It is built by seeing this state not as the property of some or others, but as our common homeland. Only on the foundations of equality, mutual respect and sincere partnership can we build a strong state and a secure future for everyone," Ahmeti wrote.

Photo: press material from the event