North Macedonia is a fictitious state, and the tensions recently created by the denial of Albanian students the right to take the law exam in Albanian, which also prompted Albanian protests in Skopje, are a fear of being left without an identity.

This was stated by News24 journalist Renaldo Salianji, invited to "This Week".
"VMRO-DPMNE has been trying to create the myth of ancient Macedonia for years. They have built projects like 'Ancient Skopje' with plaster statues to create an artificial identity. Today's Macedonia takes territories from Albania, history from Greece, heroes from Bulgaria and linguistic elements from Serbia. Not being sure of their identity, they are trying to fill the historical gaps by opposing Albanians. Fearing that they will be left without an identity, they attack precisely the Albanian factor, which is the greatest guarantee for the stability of the Macedonian state itself," declared Salianji.

He emphasized that the issue of the jurisprudence exam in the Albanian language was only "the last straw," as according to him, there has been a discriminatory climate against Albanians in the RMV for years.

"Now, in fact, the use of the Albanian language in the jurisprudence exam was the last straw, because there have been a series of events in recent years in North Macedonia that have affected Albanians and the Albanian language.
Initially, there were statements by the Minister of Education, who refused to speak Albanian in Albanian municipalities, demanding that Albanian journalists ask her questions in Macedonian.

Secondly, there was the removal of signs in the Albanian language in municipalities with an Albanian majority, which is also stipulated in the law on languages, that in those municipalities where there are more than 20% Albanians, even street signs must be in Albanian; they have been removed.

Third, there has been a growing hate speech of Macedonian chauvinism towards Albanians, with the increase in slogans written on walls such as "gas chambers for Albanians" or "murder for Albanians," he said.

Salianji warned that straining interethnic relations would be to the detriment of North Macedonia itself.

"The Albanian factor is the element that keeps North Macedonia stable. If there were a new Albanian-Macedonian conflict, the biggest losers would be the Macedonians themselves, faced with the interests of Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia in the region," the journalist concluded.