The recent visit of Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti to North Macedonia, which was marked by the display of the flag of Greater Albania during his reception in Tetovo, has ignited a wave of negative reactions not only from the government in Skopje but also from Belgrade.

During his visit on August 11, Kurti was greeted with Albanian flags, and children adorned in traditional Albanian folk attire sang Albanian songs in absence of North Macedonia's state symbols. The imagery featured at the events incorporated maps illustrating the concept of Greater Albania.

Greater Albania is a contentious notion aiming for the unification of territories inhabited by ethnic Albanians, encompassing Albania and Kosovo, as well as parts of North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece.

Kurti's visit was intended as a show of support for the Albanian opposition parties in North Macedonia, as the ruling coalition comprised of the Social Democrats and the largest ethnic Albanian party, Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), maintains a close relationship with Kurti's adversary, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

During the visit, Kurti also conveyed a distinct message to North Macedonia’s leadership: to align closely with Kosovo, Albania and Bulgaria while distancing themselves from Serbia.

"The closer North Macedonia is to Kosovo, Albania and Bulgaria, and the further away from Serbia – which has not distanced itself from figures like Milosevic or Putin – the more likely it is to join the EU, thereby contributing to regional stability. We must lend our assistance and support to North Macedonia," Kurti said in a speech in Tetovo.

In response to the visit and the negative public reactions, North Macedonia's Ministry of Internal Affairs has initiated criminal proceedings against the mayors of the two municipalities, Cair and Tetovo, visited by Kurti, namely Visar Ganiu and Bilall Kasami, for violations related to the use of the state symbols.

“During the Kosovo delegation's official visit, which was led by PM Kurti, certain events did not conform to North Macedonia's law on the use of the coat of arms, flag, and anthem. This included the absence of the national anthem and flag, constituting a violation of Article 30 of the aforementioned law,” the ministry said in a statement on August 15.

The ministry added that efforts to locate the individual who displayed the Greater Albania flag during one of the events are ongoing, with the intention of pursuing appropriate legal action.

In Skopje, Kurti participated in various activities, including the renaming of Skopje's Second Macedonian Brigade Street to Adem Demaci Street, commemorating an Albanian extremist who spent nearly three decades in Yugoslav prisons advocating for an independent Kosovo.

North Macedonia’s President Stevo Pendarovski condemned the visit's provocative nationalist symbols, stressing that they incite ethnic animosity and intolerance, undermining the core principles and values of the Ohrid Framework Agreement and the country's multi-ethnic identity.

Pendarovski called for sanctions against the organisers of public gatherings in Tetovo and Cair municipality for disregarding legal provisions pertaining to state symbols and for neglecting the importance of these symbols.

First Deputy Prime Minister from the DUI, Artan Grubi, said that the mayors of Cair and Tetovo abused Kurti's visit for their party-political agenda.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also criticised Kurti's visit as a "huge scandal", condemning it as an endorsement of the Greater Albania concept, a move that he argued stirs unrest not only in North Macedonia but also in southern Serbia.

On the international front, the US embassy in Skopje declined to comment on Kurti's visit, deeming the events "unproductive". 

The US ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, affirmed that the US does not support the ideas of Greater Albania or Greater Serbia.

When asked about Kurti's visit to Tetovo, the US ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, refrained from commenting, stating, "I will leave it to your imagination what people can think about the event in Tetovo or ask someone else."