Albanian municipalities donate Albanian language literature to ethnic Albanians in Serbia

About 200 books in the Albanian language have been collected by local residents in the town of Pogradec in Albania, to be sent to ethnic Albanians living in Serbia, who have expressed difficulties in accessing such literature in local libraries and schools, EURACTIV reports .

During his recent visit to Pogradec, Nagip Arifi, mayor of Bujanovic, a region with an ethnic Albanian majority, explained that his constituents "suffered" from a lack of access to Albanian literature. In response, the deputy mayor of the Municipality of Pogradec, Entela Gusho announced that more than 200 books have been collected and will be distributed.

"This idea started at the end of March, when in Pogradec were all the mayors of the municipalities of Macedonia, Kosovo, but also of the Serbian Albanian municipalities. The mayor of the municipality of Bujanovci expressed with pain that the library of this city lacks Albanian books and authors and the residents of this municipality are looking for these books ," said Gusho.

Many of the donated books came from young people and students.

"I heard about the call made by the municipality of Pogradec for the donation of books for the library of Bujanovac in the valley of Preševo, my relationship with the book is sacred and I am inspired to participate in this initiative... I think that the book is the strongest weapon for connected people, especially our compatriots" , said student Fjona Danglili to Euronews.

The other donor, Loridela Beqari, said: "I decided to donate a book and many others that I have at home because I became part of this initiative to enrich the library of Bujanoci. The passion I have for books and knowing that others do not have the same opportunity as we do to read Albanian, I will donate a part of my books."

In 2020, the Albanian government donated Albanian language books to students in the same region to help them with their studies. About 4,052 students benefited from the program, which cost about €140,000.

Ethnic Albanians living in Serbia's Preševo ​​Valley not only struggle to access Albanian-language books in local libraries and schools, but they are experiencing illegal removal from the civil registry.

In 2022, EURACTIV reported that around 6,000 ethnic Albanians had been removed from voter registers and lists, meaning they could not vote, buy property, access the health system or enroll students in schools.

Sipas një kërkimi prej vitesh nga një akademike dhe ish-banore e zonës, Flora Ferati Sachsenmaier, shqiptarët etnikë janë fshirë sistematikisht nga regjistrat zyrtarë të shtetit.

“Në vitin 2015, unë po hulumtoja në këtë zonë dhe disa nga familjet, aktivistët dhe politikanët që hasa, vazhdonin të thoshin, ‘po na fshijnë, po na fshijnë’. Kjo erdhi në mendjen time dhe vinte gjithmonë në lidhje me Ministrinë e Brendshme në Serbi,” tha Sachsenmaier për Exit, partneri mediatik i EURACTIV, i cili ishte i pari që dha alarmin për situatën.

Të dhënat e mbledhura dhe të përpunuara nga Sachsenmaier, bazuar në listat historike të votuesve, sugjerojnë se 4,200 në komunën e Medvegjës janë hequr, dhe 2,000 të tjera në Bujanoc raportojnë se janë çregjistruar.

Further data collected by Sachsenmaier suggests that some Medvegja villages have seen their Albanian population decline between 41-71%, even though they never left the area. For example, the village of Sfrice has seen the number of ethnic Albanian voters decrease by 71.25% between 2012 and 2019. In Sijarina it is 70.64%.

The alleged practice was called "ethnic cleansing by administrative means" by the Helsinki Committee in Belgrade.

At the time, the European Commission told EURACTIV that it was aware of reports of mass deletion of ethnic Albanians from official databases.

"We are monitoring the situation in the light of the commitments made in the framework of the accession negotiations, especially those related to the rights of persons belonging to national minorities," said a spokesman for the Commission.