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
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