Albanian Flag

A court decision to limit the use of Albanian flags in minority-dominated communities has sparked an outcry.

By Goran Trajkov for Southeast European Times in Skopje - 12/11/07

A recent ruling by the Macedonian Constitutional Court has heightened ethnic tensions in the country. In its October 25th decision, the court moved to limit the right of Albanian communities to fly the Albanian flag alongside the Macedonian one. Two ethnic Albanian judges on the court promptly resigned in protest.

[Getty Images]

Constitutional Court President Mahmut Jusufi and Judge Bajram Polozani argued that the ruling was politically motivated. "As president of Macedonia's Constitutional Court, I cannot sign such a decision, and therefore I resign," Jusufi said.

Anger over the issue has been fueled by apparent confusion over what the court actually decided. Initial media reports said minority-dominated communities would no longer be able to fly their flags in front of or inside municipality buildings, government offices or at receptions for domestic and foreign state leaders.

In its official explanation on October 30th, however, the court said this was not entirely accurate.

The court said it had abolished only the provisions that gave priority to the Albanian community over other ethnic groups in the country, and called on the government to decide whether the Albanian flag should be displayed or not.

The statement also said minority flags were banned from display only when international meetings, including sporting events, were being held by the municipalities.

Despite the clarification, the dispute shows no signs of abating. The largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) has vowed not to accept the ruling and to block any attempt to remove flags.

However, the Democratic Party for Albanians, a member of the governing coalition, says the DUI and the Social Democrats are to blame.

"The structure of the Constitutional Court was created by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and DUI. This is their scenario to complicate things in Macedonia and to make chaos and to raise ethnic tensions," the party said.

According to one analyst, the authorities should be in no hurry to implement the court's ruling.

"There are other decisions from the Constitutional Court that are still not implemented. The law should be revised and harmonised with the constitution," Suad Misini said.

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