Cutting or Tightening the Gordian Knot

Some political actors have strongly, openly and publicly demanded recognition
of Kosovo. 24 Namely, all Albanian political parties in Macedonia
are unanimous that Kosovo needs to be recognized as soon as possible.
After his temporary withdrawal from the governing coalition in
March 2008, Menduh Thaci the leader of DPA, came back in the coalition
Government with six demands, of which one was the recognition of
Kosovo. It is interesting to note that the other five demands applied to
the status of the rights of Albanians in Macedonia, i.e. were political
demands related to domestic political issues. In the same manner, DUI
the strongest political party of the Albanians in Macedonia, during the
campaign for the early elections in June 2008 has demanded recognition
of Kosovo and introduced the policy in its election campaign. Similar to
DPA, DUI is introducing the issue of Kosovo recognition on the domestic
political scene in Macedonia. The reaction of the political parties of
the Albanians shows accommodation to the views and needs of the ethnic
Albanians. In general, the political parties of the minorities in Macedonia
are mono-ethnic, functioning as interest seekers, and willing to
enter various coalitions to meet their rational and pragmatic interest and
needs. 25 In that respect the political parties of the Albanians in Macedonia
are accustomed to using ethno-mobilization especially during election
campaigns. They are not forgoing an opportunity to request recognition
of Kosovo when the overwhelming majority of the Albanians in
Macedonia support that and regard it as an important priority.
It is quite likely that the future policies of Macedonia in its relations with
Kosovo will be influenced in similar ways as the issue of recognizing the
independence of Kosovo. Most likely the ethnic Albanians will be strongly
in favour, while the Macedonians will be more sceptical to developing
stronger ties to Kosovo, being concerned of various implications that
the development of such relations may cause. The underlying factors of
the Macedonian behaviour are the strong negative sentiments toward
Kosovo, to a lesser extent, and to a greater extent the fears that the Kos-
24 Note by the editors: Macedonia recognized Kosovo on 9 October 2008.
25 See for more details Taleski, Dane: Minorities and Political Parties in Macedonia.
In: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Ed.): Political Parties and Minority Participation.
Skopje 2008 (forthcoming).
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