Ohrid Agreement (2001)

The Ohrid Framework Agreement (Macedonian: Охридски рамковен договор, romanized: Ohridski ramkoven dogovor, Albanian: Marrëveshja e Ohrit) was the peace deal signed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) and representatives of the Albanian minority on 13 August 2001. The agreement was signed by the country's four political parties after international mediators demanded their commitment to its ratification and implementation within a four-year period.[2]

This article is about 2001 agreement between the government of North Macedonia and its ethnic Albanian minority. For the 2023 agreement between Kosovo and Serbia concluded at Ohrid, see Ohrid Agreement (2023).
Ohrid Framework Agreement
Annex of Ohrid Agreement
TypePeace agreement
Signed13 August 2001 (2001-08-13)
LocationOhrid, Macedonia (now North Macedonia)
Original
signatories		Government of Macedonia
LanguagesEnglish as the only authentic version[1]

Provisions

The Ohrid Agreement created a framework for North Macedonia as a civic state, ending the armed conflict between the National Liberation Army and the security forces of Macedonia.[3] It established basic principles of the state such as cessation of hostilities, voluntary disarmament of ethnic Albanian armed groups, government devolution, and the reform of minority political and cultural rights.[4]

The Agreement also included provisions for altering the official languages of the country, with any language spoken by more than 20% of the population becoming co-official with the Macedonian language at the municipal level.[4] Only the Albanian language, with an approximate 25% of the population being speakers, currently qualifies as a co-official language under this criterion.[5] The Agreement is an example of the adoption of consociationalism.[6]

According to the document, the English-language version is the only authentic version of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. The Government of Macedonia had to adapt the Constitution of Macedonia in order to provide the Albanian minority living in Macedonia with fifteen basic rights. The lead negotiator, on the behalf of the European Union, was François Léotard. James W. Pardew represented the United States.[7]

Notes
  1. Clause 10.2 states that English language version of this Agreement is the only authentic version. Framework Agreement (PDF), OSCE, 2001, p. 4
  2. Dimova, Rozita (2013). Ethno-Baroque: Materiality, Aesthetics and Conflict in Modern-Day Macedonia. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 131. ISBN 9781782380405.
  3. Caspersen, Nina (2017). Peace Agreements: Finding Solutions to Intra-state Conflicts. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. p. 76. ISBN 9780745680262.
  4. Watkins, Clem S. (2003). The Balkans. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. p. 113. ISBN 1590335252.
  5. Brunnbauer, Ulf (2002). "The implementation of the Ohrid Agreement: Ethnic Macedonian resentments" (PDF). Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (1/2002). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  6. Fontana, Giuditta (2016). Education Policy and Power-Sharing in Post-Conflict Societies: Lebanon, Northern Ireland, and Macedonia. Springer. p. 102. ISBN 978-3-319-31426-6.
  7. Laurence Cooley (2018). The European Union's Approach to Conflict Resolution: Transformation Or Regulation in the Western Balkans?. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-138-48719-2.
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