MAK-NEWS 16/05/95 (M.I.L.S.)

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

CONTENTS

  • [01] MACEDONIA IMPORTANT FOR BALKAN SECURITY, CRUESEL SAYS

  • [02] MINORITIES IN GREECE DISSATISFIED

  • [03] PARLIAMENTARIAN BRIEFS

  • [04] AUSTRIAN VISAS TO BE OBTAINED IN TIRANA, BELGRADE OR SOFIA

  • [05] SLOVENIAN EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION VISITS MACEDONIA

  • [06] NOVA MAKEDONIJA ATTACKED FOR ANTI-BULGARIAN VIEWS

  • [07] SEMINAR ON TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

  • [08] MACEDONIA'S FIRST MINI HYDRO ELECTRIC PLANT OPENS

  • [09] HALILI ON TRIAL

  • [10] BOOK ON "MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIAN NATION"

  • [11] OAK FORESTS ATTACKED BY CATERPILLARS

  • [12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: CRUCIAL DECISION TIME FOR CLINTON (The Washington Times, 12 May 1995)

    •

    M I L S N E W S

    Skopje, 16 May 1995

    [01] MACEDONIA IMPORTANT FOR BALKAN SECURITY, CRUESEL SAYS

    In an interview with Macedonian Television, US Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Cruesel said "Macedonia is very important to security and stability in the entire Balkan region." Although it is a small state, he added, Macedonia is highly placed in Washington's strategic calculations. There is mutual satisfaction with the cooperation so far, Cruesel pointed out, saying that productive talks are expected. Yesterday Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski met his US counterpart William Perry and several other senior military officers. Expressing thanks for the cordial welcome, Handziski stated his satisfaction with the results of the bilateral cooperation so far. Describing Macedonia's readiness to develop the relations further, he underlined his firm belief that the optimal solutions for the region will be found soon. To a reporters' question 'why is the US Defense Ministry pushing its relations with Macedonia even faster than Washington does', Perry answered, "Security in the Balkan region is very important to the United States. This is particularly so with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as it is in a critical position, placed between ongoing wars in Bosnia and the southern parts of the Balkans."

    [02] MINORITIES IN GREECE DISSATISFIED

    Macedonian Television cites France Press as reporting that minorities living in Greece, including the Macedonians, have condemned the discrimination implemented by the highest Greek authorities. Greece was recently visited by an international delegation of the Helsinki Federation which met with representatives of the minorities and officials of the Macedonian Movement for Balkan Prosperity and the party "Rainbow". The Macedonians expressed dissatisfaction with the daily discrimination from the authorities, attacking the government for refusing to recognize them as a minority. The government, they told the Helsinki delegation, speaks of a linguistic Slav-Macedonian minority of about 30-40,000 people; the truth, they claim, is that there are over 100,000 Macedonians living in Greece.

    [03] PARLIAMENTARIAN BRIEFS

    Tomorrow the Macedonian Parliament will hold a session. Prior to the session MPs will discuss the information submitted on the current situation in the tobacco industry and the purchase of tobacco in 1994, the only point left uncovered at the 17th session. Immediately following this debate, they will begin with the 19th session, the agenda of which will include several legal projects such as the Law on Public Enterprises, the Law on Forming a Center for Education and Training of Security Forces, the Law on Profit Tax and the Law on National Defense. The session is also expected to ratify agreements on cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the governments of Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria and Malaysia.

    [04] AUSTRIAN VISAS TO BE OBTAINED IN TIRANA, BELGRADE OR SOFIA

    Starting from yesterday, Macedonian citizens will require an entry visa for going to Austria. Kurt Spallinger, ambassador of Austria in Tirana, said Macedonians will be able to obtain visas in Austria's diplomatic offices in Tirana, Belgrade or Sofia. Applications for working or educational visas are to be submitted exclusively in Austria's embassy in Tirana. Applicants will be required to fill in forms, present a photograph and pay 400 Austrian shillings.

    [05] SLOVENIAN EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION VISITS MACEDONIA

    A delegation of the Slovenian Institute for Education arrived in Macedonia on May 14 and will be staying in the country until tomorrow as guests of the Pedagogical Academy in Skopje. The aim of the visit is to exchange information on the work of the two institutions, particularly on activities regarding the coming reforms in the elementary and high-school education in both countries. The two institutions will also sign agreements on mutual cooperation.

    [06] NOVA MAKEDONIJA ATTACKED FOR ANTI-BULGARIAN VIEWS

    In its edition yesterday, the Bulgarian daily Standard severely attacked the Macedonian newspaper Nova Makedonija and its correspondent in Sofia, Branko Trichkovski, for "creating an anti-Bulgarian spirit, in an attempt to preserve the Serbian influence in Macedonia." The author of the column in Standard says that Nova Makedonija publishes pages full of hatred toward anything Bulgarian, explaining this with the fact that reporters have been brought up with a pro-Serbian spirit. Trichkovski refuted the entire article in Standard, saying that it is completely unreasonable and groundless.

    [07] SEMINAR ON TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

    A five-day seminar under the official title "Advancement in Managing Trade Associations" started in Ohrid yesterday. The participating organizations are the Lawyers' Association of Macedonia and the Rome Institute of International Development of Law. Several dozen lawyers from companies undergoing privatization will attend lectures presented by the renowned Italian lawyers Gianfranco Macconi, Antonello Corrado and Alexandro Cordahi.

    [08] MACEDONIA'S FIRST MINI HYDRO ELECTRIC PLANT OPENS

    The first Macedonian mini hydro electric plant "Babuna" was ceremonially opened yesterday near the Titov Veles village of Bogomila. The plant was designed by Macedonian experts and the equipment is made mostly by domestic companies. The plant has two aggregates of a 400 kilovolt Amperes and will be producing 2.5 million kilowatts of electricity per year. The investor is the public enterprise "Elektrostopanstvo".

    [09] HALILI ON TRIAL

    The trial of Nevzat Halili, professor from the village of Poroy and president of PDP-Party for National Unity, began yesterday at the District Court in Tetovo. Halili is accused of leading a crowd of about 5,000 ethnic Albanians on February 17, 1995, and preventing police officers from exercising their duty and implementing the law and the government's conclusions on the need to prevent the opening of the Albanian-language university in Tetovo. The defense warns that the entire procedure is illegal and has requested that the judges presiding in the court be replaced. The court rejected the request as groundless. Halili stated that he was too tired to go on with the hearing and a new court session was scheduled for May 17.

    [10] BOOK ON "MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIAN NATION"

    The Macedonian publishing house "Detska Radost" has published a book by Dr. Blazhe Ristovski which is titled "Macedonia and the Macedonian Nation". The book is the result of 40 years of research on the emergence, development and affirmation of Macedonian national and cultural heritage.

    [11] OAK FORESTS ATTACKED BY CATERPILLARS

    The Macedonian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Industry informed that oak forests surrounding Demir Hisar, Kichevo, Gostivar, Bitola, Resen, Kumanovo and Delchevo have been attacked by harmful caterpillars which, if not destroyed quickly, are likely to devastate some 30,000 acres of oak forests and then continue to harm fruit trees in the area. This type of caterpillar can also cause allergies and difficulties in the respiratory and digestive systems of both people and cattle. In association with the Faculty of Forestry the Ministry has formed an operation headquarters for destroying the insect by aerial spraying of the endangered areas.

    [12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: CRUCIAL DECISION TIME FOR CLINTON

    (The Washington Times, 12 May 1995)

    Now that President Clinton has completed his ceremonial duties in Moscow, it is time for him to concentrate on a few issues that only the president can decide and which threaten to become major disasters if not effectively and promptly dealt with. One such foreign policy problem ticking like a time bomb in the Southern Balkans is the plight of the small nation of Macedonia, with its 2 million people living in a country the size of Vermont. As former Secretary of State James Baker pointed out in the commentary pages of the April 30 edition of The Washington Times, Macedonia's geographic position and 23 per cent Albanian minority place it in a critical position to determine whether the peace can be kept in this strategic area. To help stabilize the situation, the Clinton administration has committed 550 US troops to the UN force keeping watch on Macedonia's border with Serbia, but the most serious threat to stability comes not from the Serbs but from the aggressive policy toward Macedonia being pursued by our NATO ally, Greece. Claiming Macedonia has misappropriated a Greek name and flag, Greece is demanding a change of name and of symbols, and Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou has imposed a complete a blockade on all trade with Macedonia through northern Greece to the sea in order to compel compliance. At the same time, the powerful Greek lobby in the United States has succeeded in persuading the Clinton administration not to appoint an American ambassador to Macedonia, and it has blocked a formal exchange of diplomatic relations. Meanwhile, the pressures on the able and moderate Macedonian president, Kiro Gligorov, are increasing with the deteriorating economic situation brought about by the Greek blockade. Macedonia has lost about 50 per cent of its yearly export earnings. With Macedonia's gross domestic product reduced to half of what it was in 1990, unemployment is running about 35 per cent. These increasing economic pressures have made it more difficult to deal with the ethnic tensions between the Slavic majority and the Albanian minority. A recent attempt by the Albanian minority to build a university for those speaking the Albanian language was blocked by the government, but efforts have since been made to improve the teaching in the Albanian language at the college level. A more equitable treatment of the Albanian minority is recognized as a priority by Mr. Gligorov, who has maintained cooperative relations with the president of Albania. As Mr. Baker points out in his column, any attempt to move decisively on the Macedonian question will compel Mr. Clinton to "stand up to the Greek-American community that strongly supports Athens' stance against Macedonia." Conceding that the Bush administration delayed full recognition of Macedonia because of political pressures during the 1992 campaign, Mr. Baker admits his past mistake and calls for "unambiguous condemnation" now by the Clinton administration of the blockade, which only helps to de stabilize a friendly and democratic country. Only the American president is in a position to make the decision whether to oppose the powerful Greek lobby, and only he can weigh the possible political losses against the national interest at stake. Given the danger that a de stabilized Macedonia might light the fires of a broader war in Kosovo, there is a clear need for a presidential decision. A failure to act could have disastrous consequences. In addition to persuading the Greek government to lift the blockade, Mr. Clinton needs to move quickly to open formal diplomatic relations with Macedonia and to appoint an able American ambassador. The failure to appoint an ambassador was again the result of intervention by the Greek lobby, and Mr. Gligorov needs and deserves the ambassadorial support of one of our best Foreign Office officers. NATO diplomats in Washington have been quick to warn that the best way of containing conflict in the Balkans is first to stabilize the prospective points of spillover, and they agree that "one such very important point is Macedonia." They call for diplomatic relations between the United States and Macedonia to be instituted without delay, and they warn that "Greece should be made to lift the embargo." Pointing out that the European Union provides $5 billion each year to Greece, they advise that "Greece would lift the embargo tomorrow" if these funds were cut. In a recent favorable development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 5 granted a $55 million loan to Macedonia. IMF officials said the loan was granted after a marked stabilization of the Macedonian state finances.

    (end)

    mils-news 16 May '95

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