Academic and public intellectual Ali Aliu has argued that repression against Albanians in Macedonia served as a kind of “testing ground” where Belgrade experimented with various forms of violence and torture before later applying similar methods in Kosovo.
Speaking with publicist Veton Surroi on the podcast PIKË, Aliu was asked why repression against Albanians in Macedonia is often perceived as having been particularly severe compared with other Albanian-populated areas, especially Kosovo.
“At first, speaking for myself, I did not understand it. Later it became clear that for many projects involving violence and torture, Belgrade first tested them on a kind of testing ground, such as Macedonia, and then applied them in Kosovo,” Aliu said.
Asked by Surroi to provide specific examples, Aliu cited what he described as a range of measures targeting Albanians in Macedonia.
He said authorities built walls around homes and courtyards, restricted certain songs, limited naming practices and changed or Slavicized place names.
“For example, it built walls, surrounded, for example, the walls of houses and courtyards, restricted certain songs; restricted names; Slavicized toponyms — we would say Skopje, not Shkup,” Aliu said.
Surroi cited the use of Macedonian place names instead of Albanian ones as another example.
He recalled what he described as an especially controversial decision from 1983–1984 requiring Albanian speakers to use “Tetovo” rather than “Tetovë.”
“That was the nonsense of that time, in 1983–1984: the decision that in Albanian you could not say Tetovë, but had to say Tetovo,” Surroi said.
During the discussion, Surroi asked whether such measures had also existed before 1981.
Aliu said they had, pointing to restrictions affecting Albanian cultural life. He recalled his own work on cultural pages and described the limited space available for Albanian cultural expression, mentioning the Jehona magazine and the Theatre of Nationalities, whose programming was divided between Turkish- and Albanian-language productions.
The discussion placed the treatment of Albanians in Macedonia within a broader historical context of state policies toward Albanian language, culture and identity in the former Yugoslavia, while Aliu characterized Macedonia as an environment in which he believed coercive policies were tested before being applied more extensively in Kosovo.
