| Summary: | The Republic of Macedonia gained its independence peacefully in November 1991 and was the only one ofthe former Yugoslav republic that got its independence peacefully. The peacefully transformation of Macedonia was preceded by an uneasy period of democratic consolidation. Among the different factors that negatively influenced succesful consolidation were - the struggle for the international recognition of the country, the Greek diplomatic and economic pressure for the republic to change its name, the disruption of the economy due to the UN sanctions on Macedonia's main trade partner Serbia, and the Kosovo refugee crisis. None of these factors hadn't a such strong importance for the consolidation of Macedonia as the disputing of character of the state by Macedonian Albanians. Ethnic Albanians were according to Constitution relegated to the category of a minority, just like Turks, Vlachs, Roma and others. Ethnic Albanians disagreed with these status of minority. Their activities were directed towards the achievement of a different constitutional status for their ethnic group - redefinition of the Republic of Macedonia as a bi-national state, affirmation of the Albanian language as a second official language, education in the mother tongue on all levels, proportionate representation of Albanians in all public...
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