FYROM in the context of American policy (1995-2001)

Abstract

During the Yugoslav war (1991-1995) the American policy supported
FYROM’s territorial integrity and called upon the Tirana government to
harness the Albanians in FYROM. The objective of the Americans was to avert
the spill-over of the crisis from Kosovo into FYROM. But after the Dayton
agreement and NATO’s military intervention in Yugoslavia the Albanian
Question in Kosovo entered into a new dynamic phase. The new situation had
its repercussions on FYROM where the Albanians demanded the status of
equal nation. With the American support they succeeded in gaining a large
autonomy (the agreement of Ohrid, 2001), but their aim is the secession from
FYROM. Probably the Americans want to control the Balkan region due to the
importance of Corridor 8 and so this fact upgrades the position of the Albanians in the Balkans as a counterbalance to the Balkan states.