Skopje, 22 November 2022 (MIA) – Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi congratulated Tuesday the Albanian Alphabet Day to members of the ethnic Albanian community in North Macedonia. “On behalf of the MPs of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia and on my own behalf, I express heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of one of the most important Albanian holidays, November 22 - the Day of the Alphabet, with sincere wishes for wellbeing and prosperity of Albanians,” said Speaker Xhaferi in the note. “The unified alphabet with which we write, read and spread our language, culture, customs and folklore traditions was created in the Bitola Congress held 114 years ago and more importantly, the alphabet with which the national struggle for cultural independence at the world level and strong support for the national identity and political independence of the Albanian people was born and began its journey,” reads the note. On 22 November 1908, renowned Albanian intellectuals from all over the Balkans had convened in Bitola at a conference to standardize the Albanian alphabet. Prior to the Congress, the Albanian language was represented by a combination of six or more distinct alphabets, plus a number of sub-variants.