CIVIL Media spoke with Zizo Ljamkovski, representative of the Resen Association “Izida” that represents the rights of the Egyptian community, about the social and political situation of the Egyptians in Macedonia, and about the challenges they face in a small municipality such as Resen.

“Today the community of Balkan Egyptians does not have its own political party that will represent them in the public and that will fight for their rights, both at the local and central level. The civil society organizations are the only organized form, unfortunately, with a low capacity, without many possibilities for improving the social status of the Balkan Egyptians”, stated Ljamkovski.

The process of publically presenting the Egyptian identity began in 1970, with the first attempts for there to be a separate category for “Egyptians” in the census in Former Yugoslavia. Since 1991, the community of Balkan Egyptians are led under the category “other” in the Constitution of sovereign Republic of Macedonia, and to this day are fighting for recognition, as one of the many ethnic communities in Macedonia and in the Balkans.

Biljana Jordanovska

Camera: Dehran Muratov

Editing: Маjа Ivanovska

The interview is part of the project “Society Without Borders”, which CIVIL – Center for Freedom is implementing with the support of the German Heinrich Bὅll Foundation.

The goal of the project is to promote and educate the citizens of Macedonia about the “Citizen’s Charter”  – a global document for promoting civil rights and active participation of citizens in decision-making processes.