VLEN urges Ali Ahmeti to tell Albanians the truth about the Ohrid Agreement

VLEN has demanded that Ali Ahmeti provide answers to Albanians about compromises made during the negotiations around the 2001 Ohrid Agreement, saying that for more than two decades Albanians have been presented with only one side of the story. The call was issued by Besar Durmishi, who tied his remarks to recent statements by Gzim Ostreni, described as one of the key actors in the events of 2001.

Durmishi said that Ostreni publicly flagged problems with how the language issue was recorded in the Constitution while Ahmeti led the political process. "There are truths that hurt, but they must be told," Durmishi said, referring to Ostreni's comments.

According to Durmishi, Ostreni pointed out that the Albanian language was not entered into the Constitution under its own name but through a formula that refers to "a language spoken by a community that constitutes more than 20 percent of the population." Durmishi stressed that Ostreni himself had believed the wording meant the Albanian language until, many years later, he realized the Constitution did not say "Albanian language" but rather used the higher-threshold formula.

"Even harder is that Ostreni himself thought it referred to the Albanian language. Only many years later did he realize that the Constitution does not say 'Albanian language', but 'a language spoken by a community that constitutes more than 20 percent of the population'," Durmishi said.

Accusations over political ownership

VLEN also accused Ali Ahmeti of presenting a party-centred version of the Ohrid Agreement as the political legacy of DUI. Durmishi argued that Ahmeti repeatedly invoked the agreement to shield the party from criticism.

"Whenever DUI was put under pressure because of corruption, failures or political bargaining to the detriment of Albanians, Ali Ahmeti would appear before them invoking the Ohrid Agreement. He used it as a shield for everything he did, but also for many things he did not do," Durmishi claimed.

Durmishi concluded by underlining that the Ohrid Agreement should not be treated as the possession of a single party or politician. "The Ohrid Agreement is not the deed of DUI, nor the personal property of Ali Ahmeti. It is the result of the sacrifice of an entire people" because

Photo: press material from the event