The Self-Determination Movement is not registered as a subject in North Macedonia and does not seek power there, officials of this party told Radio Free Europe (RSE).
However, they admit that the party led by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti cooperates with certain parties in North Macedonia and that its members with Macedonian citizenship will participate in the parliamentary elections there on May 8 this year.
The engagement of representatives of the Self-Determination Movement in the election race in a neighboring country caused certain reactions.
Those familiar with political events in both countries say that there is a risk that the moves of the party in power in Kosovo will be understood as interference in the internal affairs of North Macedonia, while Kurti himself assured that Self-Determination as a party will not participate in those elections.
"First, here (in North Macedonia) it belongs to the citizens, to the political parties whether they will have a candidate and who he or she will be. The Self-Determination movement is not officially registered in North Macedonia... Therefore, we as the Self-Determination movement are not participating here," he said. Kurti after the conference on the Western Balkans in Skopje on January 22.
How did it start?
At the end of December last year, the three opposition Albanian parties in North Macedonia - Besa Movement, Alternativa and Democratic Movement - published a joint electoral list for the May 8 elections.
Bekim Qoku from the Self-Determination Movement, who also has Macedonian citizenship, said that his party will join this list.
"Today I am here to launch our cooperation as the Self-Determination Movement... a kind of fourth pillar of this coalition, which has already been established here," said Ćoku, who is also Prime Minister Kurti's political advisor.
Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski, who is also the president of the Social Democratic League (LSDM), is surprised by this engagement of Self-Determination regarding the elections in his country.
"I don't think this represents the desired dynamic," Kovačevski said on December 25.
Another reaction was expressed on January 17 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, saying that "the inclusion of the official politics of Kosovo in the political scene of the Albanians in North Macedonia can be reflected in the fragmentation of the Albanian politics - a tendency encouraged by external factors".
Despite all efforts, RSE was unable to get in touch with Ćoku in order to learn more about his intentions.
However, the Self-Determination Movement says that it does not see the statements of its representatives - also government officials in Kosovo - as interference in the internal affairs of North Macedonia.
This party insists that Self-Determination will not participate as a political entity in the elections there and that it is not registered as a party in this country.
Asked to comment on the statements of Bekim Ćoku, a member of the Self-Determination Movement, the spokesperson of this party, Arlind Manxhuka, told RSE:
"The Self-Determination Movement has sympathizers and members of Albanian nationality, but also of other nationalities, who are citizens of different countries, in many countries of the world, and they definitely have political rights according to the law in the countries of which they are citizens."
Mandžuka says that the support of the Self-Determination Movement to followers or politicians of different countries is "exclusively support for their ideas and programs, according to three pillars: social democracy, the fight against mafia corruption and the fight against ethnic discrimination against Albanians, but also other ethnic groups".
How do the surveyed citizens of Skopje see it?
Analyst Berat Azizi assesses that the sympathies of the Albanian citizens of North Macedonia towards the Self-Determination Movement are "great".
"But that does not mean that self-determination here will be the same as in Kosovo," he says.
For lawyer Lejla Nebia, Self-Determination in Kosovo set a good example of how to govern a country, "where the law and its rule are the main principles."
"To repeat the same experience, the same experiences, in (Northern) Macedonia is more than necessary. But the same should be done with people who are dedicated to those principles," Nebiu told RSE.
Does Self-Determination interfere in the internal affairs of neighbors?
Belgzim Kamberi from the Institute for Social Policy "Musine Kokolari" in Pristina says that in the international arena of parties, the ideological political orientation of the Self-Determination movement, in principle, makes it a natural partner with the SDSM, within the Progressive Alliance and the Socialist International.
According to him, the Self-Determination movement "balances between the concept of the social democratic movement and the sovereignist left."
On the other hand, the three Albanian opposition parties in North Macedonia, which will compete in the elections as a coalition of the European Movement for Change, have a right-wing ideological political orientation.
Kamberi says that the creation of the Self-Determination alliance with these Albanian parties shows that Prime Minister Kurti's party chose the national aspect of action rather than the ideological one. In this context, says Kamberi, it can create paradoxical effects on the political scene of North Macedonia, where Albanian and Macedonian nationalist parties will cooperate in the struggle for power.
According to him, the eventual involvement of members of Self-Determination in the elections in North Macedonia could affect interstate relations.
"It doesn't matter if he is registered or not. When an official of the Self-Determination Movement directly participates in the elections, the reaction will not be the same as if an autonomous candidate participated. Therefore, a candidate of the ruling party (in Kosovo) in another country is participating. This would mean, therefore, that (this party) legitimizes the same methods for other countries," Kamberi told RSE.
But Petar Arsovski, an expert on political issues in North Macedonia, thinks otherwise.
According to him, the cooperation of parties in North Macedonia with parties or organizations abroad is not new, nor should we be afraid of it.
"That shouldn't worry us too much... We have to look at the legal provisions and the rule of law about who can run for office and whether any cooperation with outside parties affects or constitutes interference in our internal politics. If those two conditions are fulfilled, then everyone can freely compete in elections, which is actually a right guaranteed by the Constitution," Arsovski told RSE.
For Xhelal Neziri, an analyst from Skopje, the partnership of the Albanian political parties of North Macedonia with parties from Kosovo and Albania is usual in terms of receiving logistical and media support.
However, according to him, so far it has not happened that parties from abroad are directly involved in any election game in North Macedonia. He expresses doubt that in the future this situation could go one step further - according to the registration of this party in North Macedonia.
"If it happens that Self-Determination is founded in North Macedonia and competes as such here, and is actually controlled and directed by Mr. Kurti, who is currently the Prime Minister of Kosovo, in that case we would have a dangerous precedent in the region. That would open path, especially for Serbian politics, to formalize and make official its influence in the politics of Montenegro, in the politics of Kosovo, in the politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in the politics of North Macedonia," says Neziri.
Success in the Presevo Valley and failure in Albania
For the parliamentary elections in Serbia, which were held on December 17, 2023, the Self-Determination Movement and its leader Kurti supported Shaip Kamberi from the Party for Democratic Action. He is the only Albanian politician from the Preševo Valley, in the south of Serbia, who won the mandate of the People's Deputy.
Belgzim Kamberi believes that Kurti and his party have extended their influence on Shaip Kamberi's party.
The former mayor of Preševo, Ardita Sinani, from the Party for Democratic Action, is currently Kurti's adviser. Meanwhile, the vice-president of this party, Ragmi Mustafi, is a political adviser to Kurti's deputy, Besnik Bislimi.
Belgzim Kamberi says that neither in the Presevo Valley nor in North Macedonia, the partners chosen by the Self-Determination Movement, i.e. its leader, do not have too much compatibility of ideological and political concepts. According to him, the "appetites" of Self-Determination have more to do with the "comprehensive national concept at the regional level".
"We are here, first of all, in such a pan-Albanian logic. So here it goes beyond the national state and tries to spread the idea of Albanianness in the region," says Kamberi.
"It seems that he is first trying to influence certain Albanian political actors in the region. So, be it in the Presevo Valley, to have his own people who take power there, be it tomorrow in the Republic of North Macedonia, where he seems to want to have his close people in to the Government of North Macedonia," he adds.
However, in Albania, the Self-Determination Movement entered the political scene in 2019, when it was registered in the court in Tirana not as a political party, but as a center. At the time it was said that "the Self-Determination Movement Center was established to increase awareness and commitment to the Albanian national question".
In 2021, Self-Determination went to local elections on April 25, but not as a political entity. Its candidates contested as independents in three municipalities in Albania: Tirana, Leža and Djirokastra.
Prime Minister of Kosovo Aljbin Kurti also became part of the pre-election campaign. In his speeches in these three cities, he asked for support for "new alternatives", pointing out that numbers, practices and ideas consumed for 30 years cannot produce anything new for the citizens of Albania.
Kurti was accompanied to the meetings by other Albanian politicians from North Macedonia, the Presevo Valley or Montenegro.
However, in the elections, Self-Determination received only 3.541 votes out of about 1.660.000 that entered the ballot boxes in Albania.
Political affairs expert from Tirana Ben Andoni tells RFE/RL that this move was not well received in the Socialist Party of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. According to him, the "map" of patriotism did not create support for the Self-Determination Movement in the elections.
The current activity of the Self-Determination Movement, along with the engagement of its representatives in the elections in North Macedonia, says Andoni, shows that the interest of this party is to expand in Albanian areas.
"The protagonism of Kurti and the people who want to follow him, it seems that not only Kosovo can hold them, but they want the political scene of Albania and North Macedonia. a little," says Andoni.
After a poor result in local elections in 2021, the Self-Determination Movement in Albania has all but died down, although the leaders who resigned have spoken of reorganizing it.
Kurti's attempt at "vertical influence"
However, there are already opinions in North Macedonia that the two neighboring capitals - Tirana and Pristina - are acting paternalistically towards Albanian politics.
Petar Arsovski from Skopje says that official Tirana has tried to influence Albanian parties before.
"On this line was what is known as the 'Tyran Platform'. This is one example," Arsovski said.
In 2017, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, invited the Albanian political parties of North Macedonia to Tirana to discuss the current developments in that country and the possible coordination of the activities of the Albanian parties.
At that time, the Albanian parties issued a statement in which, among other things, they said that they "advocate for raising the status of Albanians in (Northern) Macedonia as a state-forming nation - with an official language, which would have the same status as Macedonian - and for the resolution of many other ethnic issues".
This statement is known in Macedonian public opinion as the "Tyran's Platform". Macedonian President Đorđe Ivanov at the time described it as a "threat to the security and stability" of the country.
In January 2023, Rama again invited the Albanian political parties of North Macedonia to Tirana.
The SDSM, which holds the power in North Macedonia, did not react negatively to this meeting, but the opposition VMRO-DPMNE said that the meeting in Tirana was held "so that the Albanian parties could save the power of the SDSM".
Dzheljalj Neziri, an analyst from Skopje, says that the Albanian parties in North Macedonia must maintain cooperation with Tirana and Pristina, but also their autonomous activities.
"Each party must take care to preserve the autonomy of action and decision-making, regardless of the intensity of cooperation with political parties, whether in Albania or Kosovo," he says.
Also, in January 2020, the then Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Gent Cakaj, invited to Tirana the Albanian political parties of the Preševo Valley, with whom he agreed on their joint list for the then parliamentary elections in Serbia.
Belgzim Kamberi told RSE that both parties in power - the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama in Albania and the Self-Determination Movement of Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Kosovo - have paternalistic pretensions towards Albanian parties outside their countries.
However, according to Kamberi, the methodology of influence of the two prime ministers, Rama and Kurti, is different.
He assesses that Prime Minister Rama tries to coordinate actions with the Albanian parties in the region on a horizontal line. It is the opposite, he says, with Prime Minister Kurti, who tries to influence the vertical line, which means that the decision-making center of the Albanian parties in the region should be Pristina.
"The government of Kosovo - Self-determination as a government in Kosovo - is trying to make a certain policy in coordination with the Albanian partners in the region. Here we have verticalization, because it is trying to make the center of politics in the Albanian regions to be Pristina, and especially a certain party and a certain man," says Kamberi.
According to him, one of the goals of the Self-Determination Movement in North Macedonia is to overthrow the Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, led by Ali Ahmeti, and to bring to power the opposition parties it cooperates with.
Ali Ahmeti himself, in an interview for the Albanian television Top Channel in January of this year, referring to the relations of the two prime ministers, Edi Rama and Albin Kurti, with the Albanian political parties in North Macedonia, said:
"Edi Rama never interfered in the internal affairs of the political organization in (Northern) Macedonia. He always tried to bring the political parties in (Northern) Macedonia closer and I am certainly grateful to him... But there was a case for the presidential elections, when Mr. Kurti kept aside".
Ahmeti referred to the support that Kurti's party gave to the candidate for the president of North Macedonia, Blerim Reka (Blerim Reka), in the presidential elections in this country in 2019, in which, however, Stevo Pendarovski, then the candidate of DUI and SDSM, won .
What did Self-Determination focus on?
The Self-Determination Movement writes on its website that it is a political movement that aims to involve people in making political decisions through their organization and mobilization.
He says that he advocates radical social and political changes, relying on the principle of equality, democracy, political freedom and social justice for every citizen.
He also states that his goal is a sovereign Kosovo, that is, a Kosovo that has control over its natural resources and that enjoys the right to its own independent army, as well as the right to unite with Albania.
Collaboration on the text: Isuf Kadriu from Skopje and Jetmira Delia Kaci from Tirana
Bonus video:
