The Macedonian Association "Ilinden" - Tirana adopted a Declaration in opposition to the census results in Albania, following the census that took place between September 18th and November 16th, 2023. The Declaration states the following:

DECLARATION

in opposition to the preliminary census results in the Republic of Albania

(1) The Macedonian Association "Ilinden" - Tirana rejects the preliminary results from the census in Albania that took place between September 18th and November 16th, 2023, because of forgery of the number of ethnic Macedonians, brutal interference in the internal affairs of Albania on the part of the Bulgarian embassy in Tirana, the government in Sofia and several foundations from Bulgaria before and during the population census in Albania.

(2) There are no "ethnic Bulgarians" in Albania. In any previous census there was not a single "Bulgarian" in the entire territory of Albania.

(3) We strongly condemn the use of the term "North Macedonians" by the Statistics Institute and the use of a country name as substitute for the name of the Macedonian ethnic community, which is already recognized in Albania.

(4) Despite the constant warning of the public and the government institutions in Albania over an entire year, about the obvious preparations to forge the census, we express our regret that the Albanian government remained uninterested about the gross interference of Bulgaria in the internal affairs of Albania, whose goal was to denationalize and assimilate the Macedonians in the areas and the towns where they live. We regret the fact that the Albanian government did not undertake measures to protect the rights and freedoms of Macedonians in Albania.

(5) We propose that the Federal Union of European Nationalities adopt a special resolution to denounce the census in Albania as a blatant forgery with an enormous number of irregularities.

(6) Macedonians and other national minorities in Albania do not recognize the 2023 census and demand a new population census in accordance with the international standards of the UN and the EU, to eliminate the double enumeration of the population in Albania and manipulations with the population numbers of national minorities.

(7) We call on all Macedonian associations and the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration to unite, in order to protect the Macedonian identity against attempts on the part of the Sofia government to denationalize and assimilate us into "Bulgarians".

(8) This Declaration will be delivered to: the Parliament, the Government, the President, the State Statistics Institute, the Ombudsman of Albania, the President, Parliament and Government of Macedonia, as well as to the European Union, the Council of Europe, OSCE, the Federal Union of European Nationalities and the embassies accredited in Albania.

Macedonian Association "Ilinden" - Tirana
President Nikola Gjurgjaj

Macedonian Association "Ilinden" - Golo Brdo branch
President Fatri Fetahu

Macedonian Association "Ilinden" - Tirana for the district of Elbasan
Elsa Dzelili

General coordination of the Macedonian Association "Ilinden" - Tirana for the homeland of Macedonia
Lambe Shatrovski