ISTANBUL

Turkiye on Thursday expressed regret that North Macedonia "ignored" calls by the Turkish community for the "fairly and transparent" conduct of a census in the Balkan country.

"The representatives of the Turkish community in the country had made various calls during the process that the census should be conducted fairly, transparent, and without causing any doubt.

"The results of the census demonstrated that those calls, unfortunately, had been ignored," Tanju Bilgic, the spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said in a written statement.

He also said it is important that North Macedonian authorities consider the statement made by the Macedonian Turks National Census Coordination Committee following the release of the census results.

"We support the legitimate demands of the Turkish community, who have taken root in this geography for centuries and who are among the equal and constituent people of North Macedonia striving for the welfare and development of the country, to protect their rights and interests," it added.

On Wednesday, North Macedonia announced the results of the census conducted in September 2021.

The Balkan country's population has shrunk by nearly 9.2 % since 2002 when the last census was conducted. The country’s total population is now around 1.8 million.

According to the results, 58.4% of the population are ethnic Macedonians, 24.3% are ethnic Albanians, and 3.8% are ethnic Turks plus some Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, and Vlachs.