SKOPJE, SEPTEMBER 26, 1995 (MIC)
The fall session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, at which Macedonia is expected to be accepted as a full member, started in Strasbourg yesterday afternoon.
Before the beginning of the plenary session, the Committee on legal issues and human rights had a meeting, at which Peter Freigh submitted a report in which he positively assessed Macedonia's accession.
In his address, Freigh stated he was impressed by his visit to Macedonia in May, this year, and by the "changes that have been made there," especially the reforms in the legal system. He also made a positive assessment of the human rights situation in the country, and underlined the problems appearing with the nationalities, in the sphere of education. At the end, Freigh stated his opinion that Macedonia should be accepted to the Council of Europe, under its constitutional name.
A high-ranking delegation of the Macedonian Defence Ministry, led by minister Blagoy Handziski is on an official visit to the Defence Ministry of the Kingdom of Great Britain from yesterday. At the meeting with the press, organized directly before leaving for London, minister Handziski explained that the visit came as a result of the overall relations and cooperation between the two countries, established immediately after Macedonia's proclamation of independence, and intensified after the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1993.
The primary goal of the visit is signing a Memorandum on understanding, defence contacts and cooperation, which, in effect, will be the first such document signed with a member- state of the EU. According to Handziski, the document will be based on a couple of basic principles in order to stimulate and encourage the cooperation and spirit of partnership between the two countries, to expand the mutual defence contacts and to agree on concrete forms of cooperation in the future two-year period. This way, conditions for Macedonia's imminent membership in the "Partnership for peace" initiative are created, i.e. Macedonia can become a full member of this initiative in two to three weeks. Also, according to Handziski, the New York agreement gives guarantees that Macedonia will become a member of the OSCE very soon, as well.
The readiness of Sofia to sign over 20 inter-state agreements with Skopje, both in Bulgarian and Macedonia, is "a late and coerced act," the Sofia newspaper "Continent" says in its Sunday issue. The newspaper adds that now, Macedonia has to show greater understanding for the Bulgarian stances.
"Bulgaria," the newspaper says, "should have made its concessions to Macedonia while the Greek embargo was still in force, since now, Skopje's orientation could easily turn to the direction opposite Sofia's interests."
As part of that, the Sofia newspaper says that "Skopje is refusing to recognize some truths," stating as an example "the Bulgarian origins of the fundamental part of the population" in Macedonia, as well as its "attempts to adopt whole chapters in the history of Bulgaria."
Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou stated yesterday that the agreement signed in New York between Athens and Skopje is a good start.
In the interview for the pro-government newspaper "Ta nea," Papandreou points out that there are great differences in terms of the name, expressing hope that somehow, a solution to this important issue would be found.
Papandreou repeated that Greece's stances on the name Macedonia were well-known. The normalization of the relations with "the North" has strengthened Greece's position as the leading power in the Balkans, Papandreou assessed, adding that workers in norther Greece would benefit the most from this normalization.
Papandreou dismissed accusations from the opposition that he was "totally incompetent and unprepared" to convince the European partners not to recognize Skopje under the name Macedonia at the EU summit in Mallorca last weekend.
Rejecting the criticism of the oppositional New Democracy and the party Political Spring, Papandreou accused their leaders of creating false scenarios.
Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias stated that there were no plans to meet with the Macedonian minister Crvenkovski in New York, during the celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the UN. He explained that experts were already working on the definition of the implementation of the New York accord.
The all-Greek association of "Makedonomasi" is calling the citizens of Salonika and Macedonia, as well as all association of Macedonians in Greece to a "third and largest meeting" for the realization of the "holy rights."
In the press release of the "Makedonomasses," who claim to be the successors of the fighters for Macedonia from the start of this century, which was published only by the oppositional newspaper "Elefteros tipos" yesterday, they call for the joining of forces against the "planned sale of Macedonia to the Skopje Slavs, who came to this region 1,000 years after Alexander the Great and Aristotle."
The all-Greek association of "Makedonomasses" is accusing Skopje of already announcing its intention to expel the Greeks from Macedonia.
Yesterday, the European Union adopted the list of countries whose citizens will need visas in order to enter one of the 15 member-states of the EU. It also accepted the fact that it will have to accept a larger number of refugees from former Yugoslavia.
The EU interior ministers finally adopted the list of 100 countries, including the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, which are regarded as security or immigration threats.
The representatives of all political parties from the center Zhupa (Debar) have sent a letter to the highest state organs and the Ministry of Education, expressing their indignation at the assimilation of the Macedonians in this region. The letter is also signed by the municipal organization of SDAM, LP, IMRO-DPMNU and SP. The letter says that the citizens are protesting against the "most brutal assimilation in this region, which is being carried out in front of all our eyes, now, at the start of the 21st century."
Regarding the activities of the member of the local assembly Gazmen Ajdaraga, the signatories feel that "through the so-called 'parents' councils,' he, together with the other members of the Democratic party of the Turks in Macedonia, using all mechanisms of pressure, and abusing his position, have turned the Macedonian children into direct political instruments for achieving their only goal - the full loss of the Macedonian identity."
This attempt for assimilation and the loss of the Macedonian identity is being carried out with the permission of the Ministry of Education.
The signatories of the letter have announced that if their requests are not fulfilled, the Macedonian children will boycott their classes.
The villagers from Ognjanci have also sent a request to the Ministry of Education to immediately revoke the decision to move in classes for Albanian children in the school building of the Macedonian and Serbian children.
If we were to chose the proper words to describe what's happening in the village of Ognjanci, in relation to the objections of the Macedonians and Serbs from this village to allow pupils from the Albanian nationality to study in their mother tongue in the same school where their children study in Macedonian, then we would call it discrimination. The strength of this word comes only from the arguments that the Macedonians and Serbs from this Skopje village gave in support of their "justified objection." Namely, the protest meeting which was held on Friday in Ognjanci was opened with the words of the president of the Committee for the protection of the Macedonian language and the Macedonian cultural space Steren Paunovich: "This meeting is not directed against the Albanians who are right in wanting to study in their mother tongue, but against the Ministry of Education whose present decision makes the Macedonians and Serbs from the village Ognjanci feel cheated, because it was previously agreed to hold the classes in Macedonian and Albanian language separately, in two different buildings."
The contradiction here is more than obvious, just like all the other arguments. More precisely, it is said that no one would mind if the Albanian children studied in the same building as the Macedonians and Serbs, under the condition that they attended classes in Macedonian language. Only to go on and say that if they studied in Albanian, then they wouldn't allow it to be in the same building with the Macedonians and Serbs. Logically, this would draw the question how come the "protestors" are not against the right of the Albanian children to study in their mother tongue, but are against it being done in the only school building in the village?
Apparently, this just doesn't go together. Just as it is contradictory that this building doesn't have the conditions to take in all of them. But, that was an argument that was used in case the classes were to be held in Albanian. If different, then this question of room is not even listed as a problem. And, at the same time, when some are not allowed to study in their mother tongue, they are also asking for the optional study in Serbian, which would take place in the same building.
The most dangerous question, which would follow normally in this context would be "wouldn't someone who minds studying in the same building with a certain minority not mind living in the same area with it?" How will this be solved, and won't the children be in the first lines then as well, with the banners "Today us, tomorrow, all of you?" From this, the responsibility of what the villagers from this village are doing is much greater and deeper than what they are trying to present. It's clear that the problem is much more than educational, but it is also becoming clear that the way the Education Ministry goes about solving these problems has a direct effect on the passions and the inter-ethnic intolerance.
Specifically in this case, the Education Ministry has contributed a lot, since the problem has been kept as open for a long time now. In the meantime, the villagers were told that the school building was being renovated again, in order to create conditions for more quality classes in Macedonian. The Albanian children started attending classes outside this building in the start, but after their parents reacted, from the start of this school year, it was decided for them to start attending classes in the only school building in the village.
And now, normally, the Macedonians and Serbians from the village of Ognjanci are saying out loud that they were manipulated by the Ministry of Education, since, according to them, they were promised that no bilingual classes would be held in the elementary school "Kocho Racin." So, instead of locating the problem directly from the start, the Education Ministry is trying to solve the problem using daily methods. The effects from this methodology are already apparent: even greater intolerance, maximum politization of the problem and most brutal manipulation with the children.
The problem in Ognjanci is not the only one. The same one has been existing for several years in Zhupa, from where there are announcements that the same might start all over again, since it has been left open for a couple of years in a row already. There's no question these are acute problems. But, the Education Ministry has to gather up the strength to resolve the same, and not prolong them, thereby leaving room for their politization. Since, immediately following these occurrences in Ognjanci, a number of political parties sent out announcements to the highest state institutions in relation to the situation in Zhupa. In view of this, we shouldn't be surprised if the parties suddenly become more interested in these "educational problems." In that case, the local problem in Ognjanci could take on other dimensions, which none of us need.