The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Stevo Crvenkovski held a meeting in New York, two days ago, with Cyrus Vance, UN mediator in the dispute between Athens and Skopje. The Athens news agency reported this news from New York, adding that the meeting Vance-Crvenkovski, was not planned beforehand.
Calling upon diplomatic circles in New York, the Athens news agency claims that this meeting will not contribute to any progress in the dispute, as Skopje is still insisting that it will not start negotiations until the embargo remains in effect.
Today's "Nova Makedonija" informs that minister Crvenkovski, who is staying in New York as part of the Conference for the non-spreading of nuclear arms, had a meeting yesterday with the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Holbruk and Kofi Annan, Under Secretary for UN peacekeeping operations.
Crvenkovski confirmed that he had held a meeting with Vance, however, denied that the meeting had an essential or official character.
The Albanian authorities yesterday officially protested over the killing of Bashkim Tavchiu (19), upon attempting to illegally cross into the territory of the Republic of Macedonia on April 14.
According to Makpress, the Macedonian ambassador in Tirana Nikola Todorchevski was summoned to the Albanian Foreign Ministry yesterday, where he was submitted a note of protest over this incident.
The Albanian ministry, according to the announcement on Radio Tirana, warns in the note, that such events could have an effect on the relations between the two countries, as well as the increase in the tension in the border region.
"An eventual outbreak of a conflict in Kosovo does not mean that it would automatically spill over in Macedonia," the Macedonian Minister of the Interior Ljubomir Frckovski stated in the interview for the Prishtina weekly "Zeri."
A conflict on Kosovo could affect Macedonia's stability, but not threaten it, Frckovski explains, adding that Kosovo is outside Macedonia, which, as a state, is building its stability in such a way that it is dependent on the internal factors.
Speaking of the opening of the so-called University in Tetovo, minister Frckovski stressed that the laws in Macedonia do not sanction the opening of universities with all faculties, in the languages of the nationalities. According to Frckovski, it would not even be possible to open such a university on a private basis. Such an university could function in Macedonian language, or in some foreign language, but not in the language of the nationalities.
As to Macedonia's security, Frckovski emphasizes that the main problem is Serbia, foremost due to its non-recognition of Macedonia, which is connected with the relations with Greece. The controversial issues with Greece, according to Frckovski, will be resolved within the framework of the international mechanisms, which will actually also apply to the other controversial questions, including the problem with the border with FR Yugoslavia.
"The presidency of the Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) has asked the Minister of Culture in the Macedonian Government Eshtref Aliu to hand in his resignation from the function of member of the highest party leadership."
This was stated for the newspaper "Flaka e vellazerimit" yesterday by the president of PDP Abdurahman Aliti, emphasizing that the resignation was also requested due to misunderstandings between the party leadership and the stances of minister Aliu regarding the Albanian University in Tetovo.
President Aliti, as Makfaks reports, denied the assertions of the Albanian TV that Eshtref Aliu has already been removed from the PDP presidency. "The news on the Albanian television," Aliti added, "presents a case of deliberate misinformation aimed at splitting up the PDP leadership."
In the recent interview for the newspaper "Rilindija," minister Aliu expressed views on the higher education in Albanian language, which are contrary to the PDP stances.
The Bitola region was hit by a series of earthquakes two days ago, which frightened the population, however, luckily, they did not cause any material damage. The first quake was felt in 18.30 P.M. on Sunday, while the earthquake at 9.55 A.M., forced a number of citizens to come out of their homes.
According to the seismological report, the first earthquake had a magnitude of 4 degrees according to the Mercal scale, and the second one, at 5.00 A.M. had a magnitude of 3 degrees strong. The epicenter of the earthquakes was some 100 km south of Skopje, or more exactly, in the Bitola-Pelagonija region.
INCIDENT DURING DAYS OF MACEDONIAN CULTURE IN TURKEY "LANGUAGE CLASHES IN ISTANBUL"
In Ankara yesterday, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Turkey Erdzan Karkas opened the international exhibition of children's books, which will be on till April 24, and which will note the appearance of representatives from the Republic of Macedonia, South Africa, Great Britain, Cuba, Hungary, Sudan, Syria, Chile, Tunisia, Jordan and Cyprus, "Vecer" reports. This year, Macedonia was represented at this traditional manifestation through the editorial office of "Birlik," as exhibitor and with a selection of children's literature from the publishers "Detska radost" and "Flaka e vellazerimit."
On this occasion, the Turkish minister underlined the satisfactory cooperation between Macedonia and Turkey on the field of culture, expressing hope that it would steadily continue to develop.
During the evening of contemporary Macedonian poetry in Istanbul, two days ago, as part of the "days of the Macedonian culture in Turkey," the writer Fahri Kaja, who expounded on the book "Anthology of the Macedonian poetic creation," decided not to allow the translator to translate in the two languages, and spoke only in Turkish, so the participants from the Macedonian side were not able to understand anything. "But, if Kaja decided to do that because of the length of his paper, the auto- translation would be even longer," "Vecer" comments, "regardless of whether an appropriate solution could be found."
Even more impermissible is the gesture of the member of the delegation of the "Days of Macedonian culture" in Turkey, Reful Shabani, writer and editor in the newspaper "Flaka e vellazerimit," who used his appearance as a poet to address the guests from the Turkish cultural public in Albanian language. No matter if he spoke affirmatively or not about the contemporary Macedonian poetry, unforeseeably and completely outside the protocol, he took on the right to speak in a language which is not official in the country where he comes from - Macedonia. Shabani's conduct immediately triggered the response of the ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia in Turkey, the official delegation and all the participants in it. As Shabani's gesture was unexpected and put the organization and the delegation in an unpleasant situation, without the possibility of intervening, the question is imposed whether also in future, the delegations should be composed on the basis of reciprocity on a national basis and whether we are not taught by similar incidents that have been happening to us in Parliament from earlier on.
As the organizer told us, one month before the start of the "Days of the Macedonian culture" in Turkey, the Ministry of Culture asked to see the list with the names that will be comprising the official delegation, however, it is not known why that was done only a couple of days before the start of the manifestation. And if the question is put in such a way, why did the Ministry of Culture act so disinterestedly and irresponsibly.
The Managing board of the Public company for airport services "Makedonija" has adopted the program for building and reconstruction of the construction objects, the supply of equipment and maintenance of the airports "Skopje" and "Ohrid" for this and next year. The program also foresees an investment of some DEM 20 million, mainly personal funds of the airport company, which will be used to carry out a number of operations at the two biggest airports in the country.
10.5 million DEM are planned for building and reconstruction of the objects at the airport "Skopje," for expansion of the main building to the south side (the building of new 2,000 m2 with equipment), then, the finishing the construction of the cargo-center, providing water supply to the entire airport complex, as well as double and uninterrupted electric energy supplies to the airport. There are also plans to adapt the main airport building (the entrance hall and the area for passenger departures, erecting a protective fence with an approaching path around the airport, building a service road between the south and central platform and a new parking area).
Furthermore, the plans also include building a platform for airport equipment and a gas station, providing catering areas, that is, adapting the existing objects, as well as reconstructing the protocol area.
As for the equipment, on which 4 million DEM are planned to be spent, electro-vehicles are planned to be purchased, busses for the transport of employees and passengers to the platform, one fire-fighting vehicle, cooling chambers for cargo goods and expansion of the information system.
Some 5.2 million DEM are planned to be invested in the Ohrid airport, namely, for expansion of the main building, for lighting the airport platform, building a cargo warehouse, external pipe line, reservoir and sewerage, finishing up and adaptation of garages and workshops, as well as reconstruction of the managing building with a space for protocol and equipment.
Of the equipment, there are plans to supply X-ray and detector doors, X-ray for cargo goods, a vehicle for measuring slipperiness, fire-fighting vehicles, and push back vehicles for the planes, luggage carts, reservoirs for fuel for internal use, busses for the transport of passengers, as well as information systems.
There are also plans to start the construction work on a transport cargo center, parking for cargo vehicles, delineating the areas and construction, that is, the supply of necessary objects for official needs.
Otherwise, in the past two years, the public company "Makedonija" has invested 14.5 million DEM from its personal means, for construction and reconstruction of the two airports.
Despite the need for building and reconstruction of the operative areas of the airport "Skopje," like the runway, the taxiways and the parking platforms, which are in a critical situation and have to be reconstructed without delay, and which are managed by the Ministry of Traffic and Relations, the program does not foresee activities due to the shortage of funds.
The president of the AMBO corporation Vuko Tashkovich, a Macedonian from New York, spoke in Moscow with representatives of the biggest Russian oil companies "Lukoiv" and "Transnjevt."
The AMBO corporation was established last year in cooperation of the governments of Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria, and the aim was to build an oil pipe line that would pass through these countries. Its length would be 800 km, and a maximum of 800,000 barrels of petrol per day would be transported through it, and it would cost US$ 575 million.
According to Tashkovich, the work for determining the route of the oil pipeline is almost nearing the end - Albania has finished its project, Bulgaria is near the end, and Macedonia is also working on it. Tashkovich has also lead talks with Bulgarian firms, as well as the factory "11 October" from Kumanovo, which can build the oil pipe line according to U.S. standards, which is one of the conditions for financing the project.
Tashkovich claims that EBRD is prepared to cover 30% of the total expenses, while the corporation for private oversea investments from the U.S.A. (OPIC - Oversea Private Investment Corporation) as well as the First Boston Bank, from the U.S.A. might also chip in. Investors from Europe could also get involved, who would work on building the pipe line, and may well become partners. Tashkovich is mainly counting on firms from Germany and Italy. The main consumers of the petrol would be refineries from Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria, but mostly from Italy. Otherwise, the pipe line would be profitable even if it worked with half its maximum capacity.
The Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias, following the holding of the Conference of the Organization for Black Sea cooperation, expressed optimistic statements in relation to the construction of the pipe line, which, according to him, should span from Bulgaria toward Greece, thereby skipping Macedonia, and eventually also Albania.
According to calculations in Greece, the pipe line should cost some US$ 700 million.
The Russian head of diplomacy Kozirjev said about the Greek plan for the pipe line from Burgas to Aleksandropolis, that it was interesting, that it had perspective, however, he would not like to create the impression that something has been decided beforehand, warning, at the same time, that it is one of the "numerous versions" which would have to be examined together with the funding, as a main criteria.
Kozirjev also stated that there was political will for this plan, however, that it did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.
The trilateral meeting, which, beside Kozirjev and Papoulias, was also attended by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Pirinski, lasted 25 minutes. In this meeting, it was announced that a meeting of experts would take place "very soon," however, no date was scheduled.