Albania warns FYROM: "Ethnic crisis could have serious consequences for everyone"

Albania on Thursday warned FYROM (Macedonia), where Albanians make up around a quarter of the population, not to try and turn a political crisis into an ethnic one, EurActiv.com reports.

Earlier this month, Macedonia's president, Gjorge Ivanov, refused to give Social Democrat Zoran Zaev a mandate to form a coalition government with ethnic Albanian parties.

The Albanian demands, he said, would undermine the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ivanov's move was swiftly denounced by the opposition as a "coup" and condemned by the United States and the European Union, which Macedonia aspires to join. Thousands of Macedonians agree with the president and for the past two weeks have taken to the streets, chanting patriotic slogans and urging unity.

Their main problem is with the demand to make Albanian an official language in this Balkan country of 2...