The decision of the MANU presidency to stop the sale of the Macedonian Encyclopedia so that it can be corrected is only quenching of the raging fire threatening the interethnic relations, while the crucial steps are yet to be taken, sources from the Academy told Dnevnik.

The paper says that MANU President Gjorgi Stardelov is expected to resign even before the extraordinary assembly of MANU, at which the responsibility of the academicians will be discussed, is held. The same sources say Stardelov’s responsibility is all the more bigger considering that it is revealed on a daily basis that the Encyclopedia bearing the logo of MANU is not problematic only as regards the entries about ethnic Albanians but regarding almost all segments.

The media quote a number of critics of the content of the Encyclopedia, including the former Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski who maintains that the Encyclopedia amnesties the period of the Yugoslav communism. At the same time, the director of the Archive of the Republic of Macedonia, Zoran Todorovski, accuses some of the authors of the Encyclopedia for plagiarism in the entries explaining the events and persons from the Macedonian history, blaming them for copying the information from the Macedonian Historical Dictionary.

Some Macedonia media analyze the demonstrations of the ethnic Albanians against the contested entries of the Encyclopedia. Utrinski vesnik regretfully concludes that ethnic Albanian intellectuals and politician, unlike the Macedonian, said nothing to distance themselves from the insulting messages against the Macedonian people, state and values uttered at the protests. Also, no Albanian politician in Macedonia condemned the burning of the Macedonian flag in Pristina.

Opposition PDSH sent out its most radical message ever, calling the government anti-Albanian and the Albanian coalition partner BDI a traitor of the Albanians. PDSH warns that the country is facing disaster unless the ruling parties are ousted.

The demonstrations Thursday organized by smaller Albanian political parties went peacefully and without any significant attendance. The leaders of these parties accused the Interior Ministry of checking the protests, arguing also that activists of the governing party were dissuading angered citizens from joining the protests.