More rewriting of textbooks is being planned – Education Minister Mila Carovska met today with two Albanian officials to discuss changes to history books after Albanian parties objected about the representation of the centuries of strife between the Macedonian and Albanian nation.

Carovska met with the powerful Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi and former Education Minister Arbr Ademi. Both DUI officials acted to seize the issue after it was raised by the opposition Alliance of Albanians (AA). The opposition Albanian party shared segments from a geography textbook which stated that many of the oldest Albanian families in Macedonia were Macedonians or Turks, Roma and Cerkezi who adopted Islam and later the Albanian language, and that much of the settlement of Albanians in Macedonia was done forcefully under the Ottoman Empire, with the Turkish beys eager to have Muslim settlers in the largely Christian region.

Carovska is currently pushing a very controversial change to the elementary school curriculum that would roll several classes into one – geography would be merged with history and civics. The proposal came at a time when Macedonia is under strong pressure from Bulgaria and Greece to rewrite its historic narrative. While Bulgaria and Greece condition Macedonia’s EU accession to extract the concessions they demand, Albanian parties hold the key to the continued survival of Zaev’s regime.