Macedonia's parliament speaker on Thursday chaired a session in Albanian in a historic first for a country that recently expanded official use of the minority language. Albanians make up to a quarter of the Balkan state's roughly two million population but say they have long battled discrimination in a mainly Slavic country.

Under the new law, which came into force earlier this month, ethnic Albanians can request to use their native tongue when dealing with health, justice and police. The language can also be used by MPs in parliament, where ethnic Albanian parties have played a kingmaker role in ruling coalitions, including the current one.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019