MAK-NEWS 04/04/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>

CONTENTS

  • [01] AMERICAN-MACEDONIAN MILITARY COOPERATION

  • [02] HOLBROOKE IN ATHENS

  • [03] FINAL NEGOTIATIONS ON CREDIT FROM IDA

  • [04] BELGRADE CONDITIONS RECOGNITION OF MACEDONIA

  • [05] YUGOSLAVIA WILL NOT RECOGNIZE CROATIA

  • [06] PRESS-CONFERENCE ON MADRID SUMMIT

  • [07] NORWAY APPOINTS AMBASSADOR TO MACEDONIA

  • [08] CRITERIA FOR THE MACEDONIAN STOCK MARKET

  • [09] MACEDONIAN-BULGARIAN COOPERATION

  • [10] BOTH SIDES MADE MISTAKES IN TETOVO, IDRIZI SAYS

  • [11] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: NEW DEMANDS FOR CHANGES IN THE MACEDONIAN CONSTITUTION (Vecher, 1-2 April, 1995)

    •

    M I L S N E W S

    Skopje, 4 April 1995

    [01] AMERICAN-MACEDONIAN MILITARY COOPERATION

    The Macedonian Defense Ministry informs that a delegation of the Chief-of-staff of the Macedonian Army is in a visit to the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of the 1995 cooperation program with the U.S. Defense Secretariat. The program includes exchange of information, cooperation in commanding with army units, training of officers and cooperation in the field of medicine. About 30 activities are to take place throughout the year. The cooperation is aimed at reorganizing the Macedonian Army in accordance with NATO standards. Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski will pay a visit to the U.S. sometime in May, for talks with his American counterpart William Perry and high-ranking U.S. officials.

    [02] HOLBROOKE IN ATHENS

    U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke is to visit Greece in the next few days to meet the Greek Prime Minister Papandreou and discuss relations of Athens with Tirana and Skopje and the Cyprus question. The media in Greece say Washington will impose new pressure on Greece. The opposition paper Elefteros Thipos writes that Holbrooke is bringing along a new package of obligations for Greece regarding the Greek-Turkish relations and will press Athens to lift its embargo on Macedonia so that President Gligorov would sit on the negotiating table.

    [03] FINAL NEGOTIATIONS ON CREDIT FROM IDA

    Macedonia and the World bank started final negotiations concerning in Washington yesterday, concerning a $85 million credit for Macedonia approved by the International Development Agency (IDA). The credit is interest-free and is to be paid back within 35 years, after a grace period of 10 years.

    [04] BELGRADE CONDITIONS RECOGNITION OF MACEDONIA

    In an interview with the magazine Zbor, the Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic said Belgrade is against a mutual recognition between Macedonia and Yugoslavia, but added that Serbs have undertaken an obligation to do so in a 1992 Declaration. Underlining that Yugoslavia is interested in normalizing its relations with Macedonia, he stated this depends on whether Macedonia resolves its dispute with Greece and acknowledges rump Yugoslavia's right as a sole legal successor of the former Yugoslavia. Jovanovic said there are also some open questions in the mutual relations - such as rights of Serbs living in Macedonia and preservation of memorial cemetery of Serb soldiers - but Belgrade will not impose this as a precondition. As for Miloshevic's idea for a confederation between Macedonia, Serbia and Greece, he said this was a sign of Yugoslavia's openness to cooperation and integration with other countries in the region. The idea, he said, was suggested to Macedonia and Greece due to the fact that Serbia has had no problems with these two countries. Voicing optimism Macedonia and Greece will soon resolve the differences, he said he hopes the two nations "will set an example not only for a bilateral, but for trilateral cooperation and neighborly relations."

    [05] YUGOSLAVIA WILL NOT RECOGNIZE CROATIA

    Macedonian Radio says the Yugoslav Parliament vice-president Radmilo Bogdanovic stated Yugoslavia has not and will never recognize Croatia and the other seceded Yugoslav republics prior to a final solutions for the ongoing crisis in the former Yugoslavia. "Foreign troops can be deployed and redeployed at some boundaries only after the war is over and we all sit down and clear up why has this or that country has left Yugoslavia," he said.

    [06] PRESS-CONFERENCE ON MADRID SUMMIT

    Upon returning from the Madrid Inter parliamentary Conference, the Macedonian delegation held a press- conference to inform reporters two of their suggestions had been accepted at the conference. The first one suggested preventive diplomacy as a way to avoid conflicts and the second one regarded a possibility of establishing an international tribunal court. The delegation had informally met with the Greek delegates on a request of the latter. Tito Petkovski, head of the Macedonian delegation said the Greek delegation even stated disagreement with its own Government's standpoints on the Macedonian question.

    [07] NORWAY APPOINTS AMBASSADOR TO MACEDONIA

    Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski received Dion Garder, the newly appointed Norwegian ambassador to Macedonia, who handed over his credentials. They exchanged ideas on the current economic and political situation in the region, Macedonia's international activities and the role of UNPREDEP in the country.

    [08] CRITERIA FOR THE MACEDONIAN STOCK MARKET

    The Macedonian Securities Commission invited experts from Great Britain to help determine the criteria for the work of the future stock market in Macedonia. At a presentation yesterday, Endy Willson stated the following criteria: non- profit stock market (in terms of using all the profit for development of the market), open membership (no limits on the number of members of the stock market), 51 per cent of the stock market management to be elected from companies not included in operations at the stock market, obligation to trade with long-term securities on the stock market only, exclusive authority of the Securities Commission to approve membership and a minimum capital of 150,000 German marks for all members. The stock market is expected to start working toward the end of the year, while an automatic trading system is to be established commencing from June 1996.

    [09] MACEDONIAN-BULGARIAN COOPERATION

    The universities of Skopje, Macedonia and Veliko Trnovo, Bulgaria yesterday signed an agreement on cooperation in 1995 and 1996. The plan includes 9 joint projects, exchange of university professors and students in summer semesters, joint symposiums, exchange of scientific information and joint publications. The agreement was signed in Macedonian and Bulgarian. Metal and energy trade unions of Macedonia and Bulgaria also met yesterday to sign an agreement on cooperation and joint appearance during negotiations with employers.

    [10] BOTH SIDES MADE MISTAKES IN TETOVO, IDRIZI SAYS

    At a press-conference yesterday Dzemil Idrizi, president of the Albanian Democratic Alliance - Liberal Party, said both the Macedonian Government and the Albanian political subject in the country made mistakes in regard to events surrounding the university in Tetovo. "The Government showed irresponsibility by neglecting the need and demands for training Albanian-speaking teachers and this was bound to result in exaggerated requests by radical individuals and groups. A large part of political parties of Albanians in Macedonia were also wrong to allow a noble initiative be led irrationally, without taking all implications into consideration," he said. The party also announced that it has changed its name into a Democratic Alliance of Albanians - Liberal Party.

    [11] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT:

    NEW DEMANDS FOR CHANGES IN THE MACEDONIAN CONSTITUTION

    (Vecher, 1-2 April, 1995)

    The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia is again disputed. This time, it is the political parties of Albanians in Macedonia that initiated changes in the Constitution. The fact that the Ethnic relations Council of the Parliament has formed a working group to deal with the initiative shows that this will be a subject of many debates and probably loud arguments. The initiators have already formulated several demands. First of all, they request changes in the introductory part of the Constitution, which, according to them, is "neither civilian nor national in nature." They also demand changes in article 7, which defines the use of minority languages in local self-government municipalities, as well as article 9 regarding rights and liberties of all citizens, because, as they say, it "does not correspond" to article 48 which says that "national minorities have a right to education in their native language at elementary and high-school level, under conditions set by the law." The parties of Albanians also demand correction of article 61, which sets the Parliament as a representative organ of the citizens and a legislative body. They suggest an amendment to say "the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia is to be consisted of two houses - a House of Communes and a House of Nations". They insist that the Constitution also guarantees proportional inclusion of minorities not only at administration, but at a local level as well. At the same time with requests by parties of Albanians, Serbs living in the country have again raised their initiative to be included in the Constitution as a minority in the Republic of Macedonia. Speaking of demands for changes in the Macedonian Constitution, here is also the Greek demand for correction of the part regarding the state's obligation to protect Macedonians living outside their native country. As for Greece's demands, these could not possibly initiate a legal procedure of any kind, especially regarding the name, since Macedonia, as well as many factors in the world, consider this to be an already accomplished act. The demand of Serbs living in Macedonia is not disputable from any aspect and this change will be introduced at the next appropriate moment. To remind, Serbs were not included in the Constitution along with other minorities because official Serbia then insisted on acknowledging Serbs in all former Yugoslav republics as a constitutive nation instead of as a minority. Now Serbia seems to be satisfied with the term national minority. Having all this in mind, at the present moment the request by parties of Albanians in Macedonia appears to be the most urgent, as these regard rights not of a group of citizens but of an entire national minority, in terms of changes in the political status of this minority. This, however, is where the parties fall in the trap of contradiction. On one hand, they claim that the Constitution confuses the national with the civilian, while at the same time insisting that they be included in the introductory part as a constitutive nation, even if the Constitution remains in its present form. The second level would be a binational Macedonia and the final level a federalized state. This request is nothing new and only gains in intensity on occasions, depending on the political situation in the country and in the neighborhood. The binational element, nevertheless, is of a newer date and was launched by the so-called Tacists. The idea for a federation within Macedonian boundaries is also old, dating from times when the "Ilirida" was promoted. Now, with the request of having a two housed-parliament, things are clearing up, particularly because certain groups have been indicating that the radical political element of Albanians in Macedonia demand that the "Ilirida" is established in western Macedonia, as a sign of a protest against the Government's reluctance to deal with requests of Albanians. These demands imply great changes in the Constitution and, consequently, great disturbance. Naturally, the parties of Albanians have all the rights to state their demands. The problem is in something else. The initiators apparently forget some quite relevant aspects. First of all, it would to be decided what to do with the Macedonian majority, to which this state is the only homeland. Debates on binational states can only be initiated in cases when two nations are at least close to equal in number or when one nation has no homeland. These are the universal rules and criteria. But, this is not the case in Macedonia. Secondly, there is the question of what to do with the other minorities, as the Albanian minority seems to intend to ascribe a second-rate role to all other ethnic groups living here. Radical leaders of ethnic Albanians emphasize their power to realize their project, being obviously not concerned at all with the other minorities (probably thinking these have neither the brains nor the power to demand such things). Therefore, it seems that there is not much space for such constitutional changes. Both the Government and the president of the country have publicly stated that they have nothing against granting the minorities in the country all the rights in accordance with the highest world standards (a large part of these rights have already been granted to them, as was concluded by international outstanding experts in this field). The newest suggestion is a too complicated matter to be explained with as simple arguments as those presented by the initiators. For, as we all know, once it starts... demands for everything and anything could lead to a real chaos in the country.

    (end)

    mils-news 4 April '95

    HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute
    news2html v2.05 run on Tuesday, 16 May 1995 - 12:53:49