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{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Unrest in Gostivar and Tetovo (1997)
| subtitle = 
| partof = 
| image = 
| image_size = 
| caption = 
| date = 9 July 1997
| place = [[Gostivar]] and [[Tetovo]], [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]]
| coordinates = 
| causes = 
| goals = 
| methods = [[Protests]] and [[civil unrest]]
| status = 
| result = 
| side1 = {{tree list}}
* {{flag|Macedonia}}
** {{Coat of arms|Law enforcement in the Republic of Macedonia|text=[[Law enforcement in the Republic of Macedonia|Macedonian Police]]}}
{{tree list/end}}
| side2 = {{flagicon image|Partia Demokratike Shqiptare.svg}} [[Democratic Party of Albanians]]<br>{{flagicon image|PDP logo.png}} [[Party for Democratic Prosperity]]<br>{{flagicon|Albania}} [[Albanians in North Macedonia|Local Albanians]]
| side3 = 
| side4 = 
| leadfigures1 = {{Coat of arms|Law enforcement in the Republic of Macedonia|text=none}} [[Tomislav Čokrevski]]
| leadfigures2 = {{flagicon image|Partia Demokratike Shqiptare.svg}} [[Rufi Osmani]]<br/>{{flagicon image|PDP logo.png}} [[Alajdin Demiri]]
| leadfigures3 = 
| leadfigures4 = 
| howmany1 = 
| howmany2 = 
| howmany3 = 
| howmany4 = 
| casualties1 = {{Coat of arms|Law enforcement in the Republic of Macedonia|text=none}} 9 policemen injured
| casualties2 = {{flagicon|Albania}} 3 protesters killed<br>{{flagicon|Albania}} 200+ protesters injured<br>{{flagicon|Albania}} 320 protesters detained
| casualties3 = 
| casualties4 = 
| fatalities = 
| injuries = 
| arrests = 
| detentions = 
| charged = 
| fined = 
| effect = 
| effect_label = 
| casualties_label = 
| notes = 
| sidebox = 
}}
An unrest occurred in the cities of [[Gostivar]] and [[Tetovo]], [[North Macedonia|Macedonia]], after the police removed the Albanian and Turkish flags from municipal buildings, on 9 July 1997.

== Background ==
During the mid-1990s, two municipalities in western Macedonia elected Albanian mayors: Rufi Osmani in Gostivar, and Alajdin Demiri in Tetovo. After their election, the [[flag of Albania]] and the [[flag of Turkey]] were featured alongside the [[Flag of North Macedonia|flag of Macedonia]] on municipal buildings. Both mayors regarded the Albanian flag as the flag of Albanians in general. On 21 May 1997,<ref name="hrw">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/reports98/macedonia/ |title=Macedonia: Police Violence in Macedonia |website=Human Rights Watch |date=April 1998}}</ref> the Constitutional Court ruled that the display of foreign flags in public was a violation of Macedonian state sovereignty.<ref>{{cite book |author=Vasiliki P. Neofotistos |title=The Risk of War: Everyday Sociality in the Republic of Macedonia |date=2012 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812243994 |page=34}}</ref> Osmani told people not to accept the decision and that Gostivar would become an Albanian town.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Clare Ovey |editor2=Francis Geoffrey Jacobs |editor3=Robin C. A. White |title=Jacobs, White, and Ovey: The European Convention on Human Rights |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198767749 |page=473}}</ref> On 21 May, some people removed both flags. 20,000 Albanians demonstrated against the removal and the flags were restored on 27 May, and guards were put by the local government to protect them.<ref name="pk">{{cite book |author=Pål Kolstø |title=Strategies of Symbolic Nation-building in South Eastern Europe |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317049364 |pages=179-180}}</ref> On 8 July, the Macedonian parliament passed the Law on the Use of Flags, which permitted the display of international flags on private property at any given time and in front of city halls during public holidays.<ref name="jc">{{cite book |editor=Jane K. Cowan |title=Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference |date=2000 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=9780745315898 |pages=131–132}}</ref>

== Unrest ==
On 9 July 1997, around 3 a.m., special police forces entered [[Gostivar]] and [[Tetovo]], removing the Albanian and Turkish flags from the city halls.<ref name="hrw" /> Afterwards, an Albanian crowd protested against the removal of their flag. They responded to the appeal by Osmani "to protect the flag with their blood." In the ensuing riot, 3 Albanians got killed,<ref name="unhcr">{{cite web|title=Human Rights Watch World Report 2000 - Macedonia |work=Human Rights Watch |publisher=UNHCR |date=1 December 1999 |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,HRW,,MKD,3ae6a8c9c,0.html |access-date=2009-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008134319/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher%2CHRW%2C%2CMKD%2C3ae6a8c9c%2C0.html |archive-date=8 October 2012}}</ref> around 200 people were injured (including 9 police officers) and 320 people were detained. Police seized control of city entrances and reinforced their presence on squares and streets in the city. The police also beat detainees in public and broke into private homes without a warrant, beating and detaining individuals who had not been involved.<ref name="hrw" /> Osmani and the president of the city council were detained and later arrested.<ref name="pk" /> Charges were also filed against Demiri and the president of Tetovo's city council.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ridvan Peshkopia |title=Conditioning Democratization Institutional Reforms and EU Membership Conditionality in Albania and Macedonia |date=2014 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=9780857283252 |page=63}}</ref> 

== Aftermath ==
On 10 July, the police beat a number of people, either on the street or in detention. On the same day, Prime Minister [[Branko Crvenkovski]] visited the police in Gostivar and praised their work on national television. Interior Minister Čokrevski also praised the work of the police.<ref name="hrw" /> Macedonian president [[Kiro Gligorov]] expressed condolences for the victims but said that a state could (and should) protect its national symbols.<ref name="jc" /> On 17 September 1997, Osmani was sentenced to thirteen years and eight months in prison for violating Articles 319 ("inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance") and 377 ("neglect to exercise a court ruling") of the Macedonian Penal Code, while Demiri was sentenced to two years and six months on 14 October for disobeying a decision of the constitutional court.<ref name="hrw" /><ref name="vo">{{cite journal |author=Vladimir Ortakovski |title=Interethnic Relations and Minorities in the Republic of Macedonia |journal=Southeast European Politics |date=2001 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=34–35}}</ref> VMRO-DPMNE condemned the verdict against Osmani.<ref name="hrw" /> The [[European Parliament]] on 17 December 1998 adopted a resolution that called for their release.<ref>{{cite web |title=Macedonia: “New Faces in Skopje” |url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/balkans/macedonia/macedonia-new-faces-skopje |website=International Crisis Group |date=8 January 1999}}</ref> Under the new coalition government of [[VMRO-DPMNE]] and [[Democratic Party of Albanians]], an amnesty law was passed in January 1999.<ref name="vo" /> After initially refusing, Gligorov signed the law on 6 February.<ref name="unhcr" /> The mayors were freed in March 1999.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Robert Bideleux |author2=Ian Jeffries |title=The Balkans: A Post-Communist History |date=2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781134583287 |page=421}}</ref> 

In reaction to the Law on the Use of Flags, [[VMRO-DPMNE]] and [[World Macedonian Congress]] filed an initiative to the Macedonian Constitutional Court, to scrutinize its legality and constitutionality. On 9 December 1998, the Constitutional Court repealed the law. The Court decided that it was not possible for members of nationalities living on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia and whose home countries are elsewhere to express their sovereignty with state symbols (flags) of other countries, thus the use of the state flags of the Republic of Albania or the Republic of Turkey as national or ethnic flags of the communities in Macedonia was not permitted. The ruling was passed with a majority, while two Albanian judges dissented, who said that ethnic Albanians have the right to believe that the Albanian flag is also the national flag and symbol of all Albanians.<ref name="pk" /> Osmani filed an application against the state at the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR), complaining of violations of Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 11 (freedom of assembly) of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]]. The ECHR determined that there had been an interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly, but found it as justified and rejected the application.<ref>{{cite book |author=James A. Sweeney |title=The European Court of Human Rights in the Post-Cold War Era: Universality in Transition |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781136159428 |pages=179–180}}</ref> The unrest was a prelude to the [[2001 insurgency in Macedonia|2001 conflict]] between Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces, which ended the same year with the [[Ohrid Agreement (2001)|Ohrid Agreement]], granting more rights to Albanians.<ref>{{cite web |title=Albanian Mayor Suggests Bi-National Macedonia |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2009/04/21/albanian-mayor-suggests-bi-national-macedonia/ |website=BIRN |date=21 April 2009}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[1996-1997 Macedonian protests]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7lnLgUFPkE#t=270 Youtube video of the unrest] ''Retrieved 13.05.2015''
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP32vFne638 Youtube video of the unrest (2)] ''Retrieved 13.05.2015''

{{Inter-ethnic clashes in the Republic of Macedonia}}

[[Category:1997 in the Republic of Macedonia]]
[[Category:Tetovo Municipality]]
[[Category:Gostivar Municipality]]
[[Category:Albanian separatism]]
[[Category:1997 controversies]]
[[Category:1997 in politics]]

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