English
DUI leader Ali Ahmeti outraged the public with another belingerent statement, which is coming a norm as part of his heightening of rhetoric.
Ahmeti was accusing Macedonian politicians, who left him out of the Government, of running the country for the benefit of ethnic Macedonians alone. “They speak like snakes, that this country belongs only to the Macedonians. That is not so, it’s not only theirs. They ask us why are the Albanians speaking in Albanian? If they want to speak Albanian, they should go to Albania. If some are supposed to go to Bulgaria, and others to Albania, who will we leave this country to?, Ahmeti said during a visit to the village of Caska.
The statement from the former warlord was seen as hinting at ethnic cleansing. It also means that Ahmeti is alluding that Macedonians are speaking Bulgarian, and was noted in Bulgaria. Ahmeti’s party is facing a number of criminal corruption investigations, including against Ahmeti’s relatives and close associates, which, coupled with the fact that DUI is in opposition for the first time in decades, led to a high level of anxiety in its ranks. Meanwhile, reports are coming from inside the party that notable officials are trying to leave for any of the number of other Albanian parties who are part of the ruling coalition, and that the flight of Ahmeti’s heir apparent Artan Grubi badly shook the party’s activists and staff. One of the reports coming from DUI indicates that another of Ahmeti’s top associates, former Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, is preparing to leave for Turkey, where he would join a private clinic.
