Commenting on the Celopek case, that is, the performance at 7 Mart (7 March) Primary School during which students were wearing emblems of the former KLA and holding toy rifles, Education Minister Vesna Janevska said on Monday the authorities had received reports also over four schools, two in Tetovo and one each in Struga and Cair.
“Regarding all schools over which we have evidence, with photos and reports that an unpleasant event took place, the State Education Inspectorate is on the ground. We expect it to get initial information. Drawing up minutes will require a little longer period of time,” she noted.
The School’s Head-teacher, Jasin Reka, however, doesn’t see anything problematic with the performance.
“That was just an event for children to mark historic dates of Albanians,” he said, adding that there was no tendency of division or instigation of interethnic tensions.
When it comes to DUI’s accusations, Janevska said the country should be built jointly. The Minister also criticised Ali Ahmeti’s party’s decision to put an equals sign between the Celopek case and the performance during which ethnic Macedonian students, in a school in Aerodrom Municipality, were wearing comitadji uniforms. The comitadji, she stressed, are part of the country’s history and curriculum.
“Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, and members of other ethnic groups were comitadji. We should celebrate those people. They were fighting for freedom, their own country, and prosperity of their own country,” the Minister underlined.
As she stressed, the KLA doesn’t mean anything to the country. In response, DUI said that saying that the KLA didn’t mean anything was unacceptable.
“The KLA is a symbol of sacrifice for equality, justice, and dignity. To Albanians, the KLA represents a struggle for a more just society and for building a state where every citizen will be equal. Every attempt to deny this historical truth is an act of discrimination that is deepening interethnic divisions and seriously violating societal harmony,” Ahmeti’s party stressed.