MAK-NEWS 21/04/95 (M.I.L.S.)
From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>
CONTENTS
[01] WORLD BANK BOARD APPROVES CREDIT FOR MACEDONIA
[02] NEGOTIATIONS ALREADY FINISHED, GREEK MEDIA CLAIM
[03] ANDOV RECEIVED NOYAN
[04] MACEDONIAN DELEGATES' ACTIVITIES IN AUSTRALIA
[05] CEI MINISTERS' MEETING STARTS TOMORROW
[06] INITIATIVE FOR COLLECTIVE DEMAND BY BALKAN COUNTRIES
[07] CHINESE AMBASSADOR VISITS TETOVO
[08] ALBANIA REACTS TO TORN DOWN ILLEGALLY BUILT OBJECTS
[09] SAME EVENT CELEBRATED BY TWO PARALLEL MANIFESTATIONS
[10] VMRO-DPMNE SUPPORTS GENERAL STRIKE INITIATIVE
[11] SDSM TO HOLD CONGRESS
[12] EASTER HOLIDAYS
[13] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: WHAT FRIGHTENED THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE - PART I (Puls, 21 April, 1995)
M I L S N E W S
Skopje, 21 April 1995
[01] WORLD BANK BOARD APPROVES CREDIT FOR MACEDONIA
The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved
on April 18 a $24 million credit for Macedonia, to be used
for the project of improving the transport through the
country. The Macedonian Government already prepared a draft-
law to propose guarantees for the loan, which is to be
passed byt he parliament.
[02] NEGOTIATIONS ALREADY FINISHED, GREEK MEDIA CLAIM
"Athens and Skopje have already finished their talks
concerning the so-called 'small package' and UN mediator
Cyrus Vance is only waiting for President Kiro Gligorov to
announce this to the Macedonian public," wrote yesterday the
conservative Greek paper Kathimerini, citing an anonymous
American diplomat. The pro-government Ta Nea also published
an identical article on the issue.
As agreed, the Greek press writes, Vance will firstly summon
representatives of both sides to separate meetings and
demand that they informally promise him to make the retreats
stated in the "small package". This means that the
Macedonian side will have to change its flag and
constitution, while Greece will be obliged to lift its
embargo and re-establish economic cooperation with its
northern neighbor, Athens papers comment.
Reacting to such news in the Greek press, Macedonian
Government spokesman Djuner Ismail told Makpress that
Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski has so far had no
contacts or talks with any Greek representatives in New
York. All these rumors are nothing but sheer speculations
and fabrications, Ismail assured.
[03] ANDOV RECEIVED NOYAN
Before leaving for Turkey to take part in the celebration of
the 75th anniversary of the Grand People's Assembly of
Turkey, Macedonian Parliament Andov met Suha Noyan,
ambassador of Turkey in Macedonia. Andov expressed
satisfaction with the fact he has been invited to the
ceremony in Istanbul.
[04] MACEDONIAN DELEGATES' ACTIVITIES IN AUSTRALIA
Macedonian Minister of Education Emilija Simoska and foreign
under-secretary Victor Gaber, currently in a several-day
official visit to Australia, met yesterday in Perth with
Paul Omodey, Minister of Multiculture and Ethnic Issues. The
talks focused on the issue of education of ethnic groups in
Western Australia. Gaber met with officials of the
Government, exchanging ideas on possible cooperation between
Western Australia and Macedonia in the fields of economy and
culture.
[05] CEI MINISTERS' MEETING STARTS TOMORROW
The regular meeting of ministers of the Central European
Initiative will begin tomorrow, April 22, in Krakow, Poland.
A Macedonian delegation, led by Dimitar Belcev, under-
secretary in the Foreign Ministry, will also take part in
the conference.
[06] INITIATIVE FOR COLLECTIVE DEMAND BY BALKAN COUNTRIES
Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski met in New
York yesterday with Stanimir Aleksandrov, Bulgaria's Deputy
Foreign Minister. They discussed an initiative by countries
in the Balkans affected by the UN sanctions on Yugoslavia to
demand loss compensation.
[07] CHINESE AMBASSADOR VISITS TETOVO
Li Shuyuan, ambassador of China to Macedonia, yesterday paid
a visit to Tetovo. He discussed the situation in Tetovo,
Gostivar and other cities in western Macedonia, with
Tomislav Stojanovski, leader of the Democratic Party
Macedonia. Stojanovski said that, along with extremely high
birth-rate among Albanian newcomers to the region, there is
an enormous mechanical inflow of Albanians from Kosovo and
Albania, which is drastically changing the demographic
structure of the population. Despite all this, he said, the
Macedonian Government is making retreats to ethnic Albanians
beyond any legal frameworks, introducing anxiety among
Macedonians there, who feel deprived of rights and second-
rate citizens in their own state.
[08] ALBANIA REACTS TO TORN DOWN ILLEGALLY BUILT OBJECTS
Citing Makpress sources in Tirana, A1 Television reports the
Albanian national television and radio yesterday commented
the recent acts of tearing down illegally built mosques in
Kumanovo and Titov Veles and closing down the illegal
Albanian-language high-school near Struga. The actions were
described as "acts aimed against ethnic Albanians in the
country by the Macedonian Government, likely to have strong
impact on ethnic relations there."
[09] SAME EVENT CELEBRATED BY TWO PARALLEL MANIFESTATIONS
A1 Television cites the Bulgarian Public Prosecutor Ivan
Tatarcev as saying the mayor of the Bulgarian city Sandanski
has made an "unhappy" decision to officially mark the 80th
death anniversary of Jane Sandanski on the same day (22
April) and at the same place where it is traditionally
celebrated by OMO Ilinden, Macedonian organization in
Bulgaria. In other words, the occasion will be celebrated by
two parallel manifestations. The one organized by OMO
Ilinden - which considers Jane Sandanski a Macedonian - is
regarded as illegal by the authorities. The initiative to
officially mark the event, however, divided the position
(Bulgarian Socialist Party) and the opposition (Right-wing
Alliance of Democratic Forces, which includes VMRO-SMD).
Tatarcev, formerly member of VMRO-SMD, told a A1 Television
reporter the Bulgarian Government is making a wrong move, as
Sandanski is no part of the Bulgarian history. Therefore, he
said, he will not undertake steps to prevent the
manifestation of OMO Ilinden, adding the Ministry of the
Interior would be responsible for any potential negative
consequences.
OMO Ilinden plans to put up a memorial bust of Jane
Sandanski at the place called Papaz Cair and has already
published the paper Pirin Macedonia, as part of the
celebration. Ilinden activists say they will do all in their
power to avoid conflicts with the Bulgarian police, but
cannot give up the celebration.
[10] VMRO-DPMNE SUPPORTS GENERAL STRIKE INITIATIVE
VMRO-DPMNE fully supports the initiative for a general
strike by workers in Macedonia, brought by the Union of
Independent Trade Unions, scheduled to start on April 27. At
yesterday's press conference, the party announced its
political demands as follows: resignation of the current and
forming a new government, scheduling new elections and self-
dismissal of Parliament. The party expects a dozen more out-
of-parliament opposition parties to support the strike
initiative.
Party leader Ljupco Georgievski said the recent buy-out of
the companies Skopska Pivara, Makedonijaturist and Fershped
upon an agreement with the Privatization Agency, is a peak
of the economic criminal in the country.
[11] SDSM TO HOLD CONGRESS
The Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) will hold
its Second Congress today and tomorrow. Branko Crvenkovski
is again running for president of the party, and the
following are candidates for vice-presidents: Jane
Miljovski, Ilinka Mitreva, Erol Hajretin and Blagoj
Handziski. Eftim Ancev and Ljubomir Popovski are nominees
for a party secretary. SDSM has invited only representatives
of parliamentarian parties and no foreign delegates to
attend the congress.
[12] EASTER HOLIDAYS
Orthodox Christian believers in Macedonia will be
celebrating the major religious holiday Easter in the next
few days. Solemn liturgies in churches throughout Macedonia
were held yesterday to start the celebration. The main
ceremony will take place tomorrow, one hour before the
traditional midnight mass in all churches. The central
manifestation will occur at the "St. Clement of Ohrid"
church in Skopje.
[13] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT:
WHAT FRIGHTENED THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE - PART I
(Puls, 21 April, 1995)
The following is an interview of Ljupco Georgievski, leader
of the largest opposition party in Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE,
with a Puls reporter.
Question: Would you please tell us something about the
political activities of VMRO-DPMNE during the past period of
its being an out-of-parliament opposition party?
Answer: It is obvious to all that, following the elections,
VMRO-DPMNE has been leading a calm and quite politics which
has in a certain way contributed to revealing all weak
points, mistakes and failures of the group referring to
itself as the government in this country. We used this
period to establish active cooperation with foreign
diplomats in and out of Macedonia and are now able to boast
that we have played an important role in enabling the UN
Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to present a
truthful report to the Security Council on the situation in
Macedonia. We like to think of this as victory of ours at an
international level.
Question: What is the main loss for the country resulting
from the fact that the opposition is currently mute? Do you
regret that you are not included in the work of Parliament,
after all?
Answer: The basic loss is that the people cannot hear our
voice in the parliament and our standpoints on many quite
relevant issues in and about Macedonia. Normally, every
political party sees parliament as the best opportunity to
state its vies, and we are now deprived of this opportunity.
Still, despite all negative consequences for us, we firmly
remain on our position not to participate in the work of
parliament, as in this way we help fully reveal activities
of the ruling parties. We do regret, of course, that we are
not there, but we have chosen this way fully aware of the
consequences, since we believe it is better to be out of
parliament than to have some 15 to 20 seats to have no
choice but to help the government to build a mask of
democracy. The parliament remains our main goal and that is
exactly why we insist on new elections, which we believe
will be scheduled in the near future.
Question: What major changes in VMRO-DPMNE are expected from
the coming Second Congress?
Answer: The Congress will bring about certain changes in the
party's Statute and Program Resolution, as well as a series
of declarations to clarify certain moments which might have
been unclear to the Macedonian public and even a part of our
membership. I believe the Congress will only reaffirm the
continuity in the work of our party, one of the rare parties
to have organized a second congress in the past formally
democratic years in the country. This speaks by itself of
the serious attitudes of VMRO-DPMNE, which is firmly
determined to remain on the Macedonia political scene as the
most serious factor against the current government.
Question: What are your personal expectations of the
congress?
Answer: First of all, I believe we will demonstrate our
power and prove that we are still a major political factor
which could replace the government and offer a true
alternative for both the Macedonian nation and all citizens
in Macedonia. Then, we will also demonstrate our continuity
and prove that we are a party which has succeeded in
achieving its goals as determined at the first congress of 4
years ago. I expect we will complete the definition of the
party's Program Resolution and the new directions in our
political activity, refreshing and improving the quality of
the leadership. If I am re-elected, I will suggest that the
leadership is divided into a central committee, to base its
work on reports from municipal committees, and an executive
committee, to be completed with qualitative membership and
carry out political decisions.
Question: Why is the congress to be held in Kicevo instead
of, as previously announced, in Salonika, Greece?
Answer: This is just another example of exaggerating
statements of certain VMRO-DPMNE members. Those against us
remember nothing else from our first congress but that a
delegate of ours in Australia had said we would hold the
second congress in Salonika. What they "forget", however, is
that we were the first to have loudly demanded independence
for Macedonia, while the former Yugoslav People's Army was
still here.
Question: Could you recapitulate all changes in the
leadership and loosing members so far, for which you blame
the State Intelligence Agency?
Answer: We all know that VMRO-DPMNE went through quite a
number of changes in structure. We have frequently presented
to the public evidence on involvement of the police in our
matters, but the evidence was unfortunately not presented
fully to the Macedonian public. Besides this, a certain
number of members left the party on grounds of personal
dissatisfaction and disagreement with the party's main
directions or as a result of having unreal ambitions for
progress within VMRO-DPMNE. And, of course, the moment which
must not be forgotten is that we have been under an enormous
pressure ever since the party was formed. The media often
exaggerate the meaning of the fact that some of our former
members left the party. Our main opponent - SDSM - also
underwent some turbulent times (they changed the president
and certain leaders of branches), but this was not paid the
same attention to as our case. I must also point out here
that SDSM is able to "calm down" its members by "rewarding"
them with high positions. For instance, they can now offer
every dissatisfied member of theirs a managerial place in a
factory and thus shut them up.
Question: What do you think were the mistakes made by VMRO-
DPMNE during the election campaign and the elections
themselves?
Answer: We are quite happy with the organization of our
election campaigning meetings and the response of our
followers. Except for in a couple of smaller towns, in which
we did not meet with the expected response either because
people were afraid or for other various reasons, we had
people coming to our meetings in numbers twice or three
times higher than at meetings of our political opponents.
Still, where did we maybe go wrong? Some people were perhaps
somewhat frightened by the uncompromising ways in which we
revealed the true situation in Macedonia and our radical
approach. After these 5 years of my political career, I am
convinced that people in Macedonia are still afraid even of
slogans like "Macedonia is a national state of Macedonians"!
The Macedonian is just not used to something like this. We
might have been able to attract more layers of the
population if we had been more moderate. This is pitiful,
having in mind our vision for Macedonia's future, but this
is the reality.
Question: When will an ethnic Albanian or an ethnic Albanian
intellectual vote for VMRO-DPMNE?
Answer: Why, we already have probably a hundred such
examples and we are even seriously considering this as
potential advantage in future, from the aspect of certain
European processes. Yet, the problem of trust in Macedonia
still has to be analyzed from the aspect of the attitude of
the Albanian minority, as a minority with the most extreme
demands. In the post-war years, and especially over the last
4-5 years, the Macedonian state has made hundreds of
concessions toward the Albanian minority, thus showing that
the Macedonian will live with the Albanian and desires to
see an equal treatment for them. Unfortunately, even a short
glance is enough to see the negative energy coming from the
Albanian side.
Question: How, then, according to you, are Macedonians and
Albanians supposed to live together?
Answer: Recently, there have been hundreds of letters by
Macedonian intellectuals who insisted on co-existence, while
there have been but a few Albanian intellectuals who have
even spoken on the subject or stood behind co-existence.
Regardless of who is in power, the Macedonian state has
proven and will continue to prove that it has no intention
of assimilating its minority groups. This is exactly why
VMRO-DPMNE asks ethnic Albanians, particularly those
included in the government, to show that they consider
Macedonia to be their home state. This would be only fair
from them, having in mind that Albanians in Macedonia live
much better than their fellow co-patriots in Kosovo, Greece,
and even Albania itself. If we only once heard them
declaring as loyal citizens of Macedonia, it would be much
easier to sit down and discuss any problem. However, if we
keep hearing demands for recognizing Albanians here as a
nation or if they continue to present conditions of all
kinds and speak of federalization... this leads to nowhere.
to be continued
(end)
mils-news 21 April '95
MILS SENDS BEST WISHES FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAYS
Note: Due to the Easter holidays, the MILS-NEWS reports will
continue next Tuesday, April 25.
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