30/09/2009
SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Ali Ahmeti, leader of the junior ruling coalition partner Democratic Union for Integration, agreed on Tuesday (September 29th) that the newly published Macedonian encyclopaedia should not affect interethnic relations. The coalition partners stressed that they will not allow anyone to profit from the situation or to harm multiethnic co-existence. They concluded that problems should be resolved through dialogue and recommended that the Macedonian Academy of Science and Art (MANU) find a solution to controversial sections in the book. Earlier, Ahmeti urged Gruevski and President Gjorge Ivanov to distance themselves from the encyclopaedia, due to the way the Albanian community is portrayed. After a wave of criticism, the MANU decided to amend some controversial texts. (MIA, Makfax, Sitel - 29/09/09)