Muslims makeup 40 percent of the population of Macedonia. They complain that they are the most ignored people. Due to government s biased polices poverty is rampant in their areas. Their youth are denied better education and the only means of subsistence are left with is farming. Likewise, they are facing strict religious persecution.
Macedonian government is bent on eliminating their values, religion and language.
They have no representation in government and the administrative machinery. It is under these repressive measures by the government that the Muslims of Macedonia finally decided to take up arms to fight for their rights. On 22 February 2001 a meeting of all countries of the region, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Romania was held. In this meeting the steps to contain the movement were discussed. The participants decided to put pressure on the UN and NATO to deploy peacekeeping troops in the area to restrict the movement of Muslim fighters.