The President of the Democratic Union for Integration, Ali Ahmeti, on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the independence of North Macedonia, sent a message to the political elites to work for respect and equality between communities with a status on his Facebook page.

- 33 years ago, Albanians rejoiced at the separation from Yugoslavia and raised the hope of building a new state equal for all. But that did not happen, the new Macedonian state continued the Serbian legacy in Yugoslavia, treating the Albanians as second class citizens. This led to the war in 2001 and the Ohrid Peace Agreement. 23 years later, we see that there are still tendencies for majoritarianism, for disrespecting the democratic will of the Albanians by the party representing the majority community, for violating ethnic legitimacy in order to create servants among the Albanians for their monoethnic policy.

Therefore, on this anniversary of independence, I appreciate that the Macedonian political elites should be aware of the great responsibility they have in building the state, respecting the political will of the Albanians and equality, because this state belongs to all of us and cannot be built without respected ethnic legitimacy, says Ahmeti, according to the statement from DUI.