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MILS NEWS 96-10-09Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 09 October, 1996[01] GREEK PROPOSAL FOR A TRIPLE NAME PRESENTED IN NEW YORKAccording to A-1 Television, Greek representative Zaharakis had presented concrete proposals for the name issue solutions during the Macedonian-Greek talks in New York the day before yesterday. The several variants proposed included the term 'Macedonia', such as 'New Macedonia', 'Republic of Macedonia - Skopje', etc. As alleged, Macedonian representative Toshevski had not commented on this, and he would probably report the reactions of Macedonian party at the next meeting scheduled for Monday in Geneva.Pro-governmental Greek daily 'Ta Nea' thus concluded that this New York meeting had again been of a formal character. Underlying that Toshevski had not presented any proposals of Macedonian government, 'Ta Nea' added that Zaharakis had asked for the process to be speeded up, since 'the conditions were good for a solution to be found, which would bring to a further improvement of bilateral relations'. The left wing paper 'Elefterotipia' also stressed that no essential improvement had been made with the talks, but that they had been speeded up, which was supported with the short period of time between that one and the next round of talks. Conservative 'Katimerini' described the development of negotiations as entering a crucial phase, while Cyrus Vance 'had not seemed determined to return his mandate and ask for help from the UN Security Council, in case the two parties did not manage to agree on a triple name'. [02] EU GREETED THE ABOLISHING OF CUSTOMS DUTIES BETWEEN MACEDONIA AND FRYMacedonian media reported that EU had greeted the abolishing of customs duties between Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia. Estimating the Agreement as a positive one, the European Commissioners had underlined that it was in accordance with efforts of the EU for the relations between South-Eastern European countries to be normalized, as defined in the so-called 'regional approach'.A-1 Television reported that those estimations were harmonized with an internal document made by the Commissioners these days, referring to the EU policy regarding this region. The document reads, allegedly, that efforts of Macedonia to normalize and further develop the relations with its neighbouring countries were a significant factor for the development of its relations with the Union. It also refers to Macedonia and Albania as two countries in the region which had much contributed to the stability in the region with their foreign policies, bilateral relations and treatment of the rights of minorities. Thus, the document further read that the evolution of EU relations with Macedonia and Albania should not depend on the relations with those former Yugoslav republics that participated in the war. A-1 Television also reminded that the cooperation with countries in the region had been anticipated in the Macedonian-EU Cooperation Agreement, which should come in force on 2 January, 1997. [03] 'DNEVNIK': MACEDONIA AND FRY HAD NEGOTIATED ABOUT YUGOSLAV WEAPONS PREVIOUSLYRepresentatives of Macedonian and Yugoslav Defense Ministries, after the meeting in Nish, had announced nothing about the alleged proposal of the Yugoslav party to give part of its military equipment to Macedonia.Today's issue of 'Dnevnik' daily reads that this was not the first time for Macedonian military authorities to discuss this issue with the Yugoslav ones. According to this paper, former General of the Macedonian Army Headquarters Mitre Arsovski had talked about the same subject with his Serbian counterparts, which had been one of the reasons, if not the only, for his dismissal. 'Dnevnik' also claims that Macedonian Army had examined the characteristics of the Yugoslav version of the Russian tank T-72 on the military polygon 'Krivolak'. As alleged, Macedonian party was interested in the Yugoslav guns, artillery, infantry arms, etc. [04] PRIORITIES OF THE MACEDONIAN DEFENSE SYSTEMMacedonian Minister of Defense Blagoj Handziski met with the Executive Secretary of NATO Leo Verbrugen yesterday in Skopje and informed him on the essential characteristics of the Macedonian defense system and on the priority programmes for incorporating the Alliance systems. Macedonian Radio reported that NATO official had praised the efforts of Macedonian Defense Ministry to fulfill at least minimum standards of the Alliance and Macedonian contribution to 'Partnership for Peace' programmes.Executive Secretary of NATO was received yesterday by Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski also, who informed him of the intensive activities of Macedonia in the cooperation with NATO within the framework of 'Partnership for Peace', and of the contribution of the country to the peace-making process in South-Eastern Europe. [05] MACEDONIAN-GERMAN AGREEMENT ON ROAD TRANSPORT COOPERATIONAn Agreement on Road Transport Cooperation was signed between Macedonia and Germany in Bonn yesterday, by which the conditions for using the German aid DM 30 million worth, given for the road infrastructure in Macedonia, were better specified. Minister for Transport and Connectoins Dimitar Buzleski said that this Agreement was important because the cooperation between the two countries was expected to be intensified and also because of the fact that with it the activities between Macedonia and the EU member countries would begin with series of bilateral agreements for cooperation in more areas.[06] ROBERT BADENTEUR: 'CONDITION IN MACEDONIA IS SATISFACTORY'Robert Badenteur, a French lawyer and President of the European Arbitrage Court, who was given the tittle of an Honorary Ph.D. of Law by the Faculty of Law in Skopje, had meetings with Ministers for Justice and Foreign Affairs, Vlado Popovski and Ljubomir Frchkovski yesterday. At the press conference, according to Macedonian Television, Badenteur concluded that the condition in Macedonia satisfied and that the most difficult period for Macedonia had already passed. In the context of the ethnic relations in Macedonia, Badenteur said that the rights of every individual were guaranteed by the Constitution, but he also concluded that the problem with the minorities was essential for the Balkans and added that countries from central and eastern Europe should deal with this problem globally.He also said the succession of former Yugoslavia was carried out according to international conventions and that it was a subject of diplomatic activities and agreements between the countries-successors, but if an agreement was not reached it would be submitted to an international arbitrage. [07] REALIZATION OF GREEK INVESTMENTS IN MACEDONIAN TOBACCO INDUSTRYGreek company 'Michalidis' has invested DM 3 million in the construction of a new factory section of the share- holding company 'Strumica Tabak', which is the first Greek investment in Macedonian tobacco production. In that way, the Greek company has become an owner of 57% of factory shares, while the managing will remain to be carried out by the General Manager of 'Strumica Tabak'. At the formal meeting, which was held on that occasion in Strumica yesterday and was attended by Prime Minister of Macedonia Branko Crvenkovski, it was notified that tobacco growing should be spread to 5,000 hectares, which would offer employment for 200 new workers. Greek party said the next investment phase would be about $6.6 million worth.Prime Minister Crvenkovski yesterday also attended the beginning of the reconstruction of Novo Selo-Zlatarevo crossing at Macedonian-Bulgarian border line. The reconstruction is a part of the East-West Corridor project, by which the control zone should be modernized with four entering lines and five exit ones. About DM 2 million will be spent on the reconstruction, of which DM 400,000 will be provided by the US Development Department, and the rest by the Macedonian Public Enterprise for Housing. [08] FIGHT BETWEEN A BULGARIAN POLICEMAN AND A MACEDONIAN CITIZENA Bulgarian policeman and a Macedonian citizen had a fight at the border crossing Delchevo-Lisichkovo on Macedonian- Bulgarian border last Saturday, which disturbed the normal functioning of the crossing. The reason for the incident, that had taken place on Bulgarian side, had been the violent attempts of Bulgarian police to 'calm down' a group of Macedonian citizens who began to protest against the several hours waiting for entering Bulgaria. According to 'Nova Makedonija', after the verbal duel with one of the Macedonian citizens, a Bulgarian policeman had tried to hit him, which brought to a fight. After that, the Macedonian citizen had been brought inside the building of the Bulgarian customs administration, from where he had run away towards Macedonian territory. The Bulgarian policeman had fired at him and run after him to the border line. Macedonian police had also come at the border line, after which competent organs of both countries were informed about the event.'Nova Makedonija' quoted the witnesses who said that the incident was a result of the 'usual crowds' created at the Bulgarian border crossings, due to the slow work of the Bulgarian police officers and to their violent acting. According to Macedonian citizens, Bulgarian policemen had been doing that in order to extort a bribe from the citizens (of DM 10), who would like to avoid the several hours waiting and allowed to cross the border before the others. [09] NEW CASES OF POISONED PUPILS IN TETOVO AREAMacedonian Television reported yesterday that new cases of pupils being poisoned under unclear circumstances had been registered at the primary school 'Fan Noli' in the village of Trebosh near Tetovo. About 170 pupils had been hospitalized at the Tetovo Medical Centre, but most of them had been released very soon, since the examinations had not shown any serious problems with their health. However, some of them had returned to the hospital complaining about health problems.Later on, about 3 p.m. yesterday, pupils of the secondary school 'Goce Stojchevski - Ambarche' in Tetovo had also complained about symptoms of poisoning, due to which the classes had been canceled. About 50 pupils of this school had asked for a medical aid at the Medical Centre in Tetovo. According to Macedonian Television, teams of Macedonian Health Care Institute had already been examining the water and other possible sources of poisoning, and Internal Affairs Ministry had been investigating the situation. Meanwhile, Party for Democratic Prosperity announced yesterday that Macedonian Internal Affairs Ministry had known the names of poisoners, responsible for the recent cases in several primary schools in Tetovo area. According to 'Dnevnik', PDP members were wondering why the police had still not announced those names, since current situation had provoked a revolt in the public and reduced the possibility for these cases to be fully revealed. [10] 32 TELEPHONE COANNECTIONS ON 100 INHABITANTS OF MACEDONIA TILL THE YEAR OF 2000Plans for investments in telecommunication till the year of 2000 of PTT Macedonia are to have about 340,000 telephone communications installed in the country, of which 240,000 will be new, while 100,000 old will be replaced with new ones. It will make the total capacity of 640,000 telephone connections or the average 32 telephone connections on 100 inhabitants. These information were reported at a press conference at PTT Macedonia yesterday.The press representatives were also informed that a contract had been signed with the French company 'Alcatel' $27 million worth for supply of 12 main telephone exchanges and for installing a new system of 'ASBM' connections, which would enable transfer of pictures, data and texts, as well. [11] WINNERS OF '11 OCTOBER' AWARD ANNOUNCEDThe Committee in charge of giving the '11 October' award had decided to give it to 10 individuals from Macedonia this year. For special contribution in culture, the award will be given to: Ane Vasilevski - a caricaturist, d-r Sotir Kolabovski - a composer and musicologist, and Dimitar Malidanov - academic painter and graphic artist.Award winners for special contribution in science and education are: d-r Jusuf Vojnika - a surgeon; Kole Jordanovski - an engineer; d-r Slavko Milosavlevski - a sociologist; Prof. d-r Mitko Panov - geographer and Prof. d-r Todor Stojchevski - hematologist. The Committee had also decided to give the award to Svetozar Janevski - the General Manager of Skopje Brewery and to Shterio Nakov - the General Manager of 'Fershped' for special contributions in the economy. [12] 'NATIONAL CONVENTION' WARNED ABOUT MARGINALIZATION OF INTELLECTUALS IN MACEDONIA'The list of rejected Macedonian intellectuals, who are either dismissed or transferred to other positions because of being disobedient, is increasing', Nikola Kljusev, former Macedonian Prime Minister, an academic and a current President of the 'National Convention' said yesterday on the occasion of the 2nd Anniversary of the 'Convention', which was celebrated at the Macedonian Army Centre yesterday. He said that Macedonian intellectuals were faced with two problems: the first was the transition period marked with a modest creative spirit of the ruling parties, which instead of leading to a democracy was leading to a totalitarian regime, and the second was the surroundings of Macedonia, where changes were taking place under 'the influence of the foreign factors'. Kljusev called on 'a united philosophy of resistance and cooperation with neighbours, and not an equi-distance'.According to 'Vecer', the 'National Convention' members yesterday supported the efforts of the Government to defend the Constitutional name of the country, but criticized the recent agreement reached between Macedonia and Greece, according to which Macedonians born in Greece would be given passports with erased places of birth. They had also warned about the unfavourable consequences of the 'un-constitutional defining of Macedonia as a multi- national country'. MILS SUPPLEMENT[13] 'Is This an Equi-Distance or a Fair?'('Dnevnik', 08 October, 1996)After the Agreement on Cooperation was signed between the Macedonian and Serbian Academies of Sciences and Arts, which took place just before the Agreement on Free Trade started to be applied, the public was informed of another move made as a part of the incredibly fast development of relations between Macedonia and its northern neighbour. Namely, Macedonian Defense Minister Handziski had discussed 'some practical issues of bilateral relations and cooperation in the field of defense' with his Yugoslav counterpart the day before yesterday. Belgrade agency 'Beta' reported that those 'practical issues' were, in fact, the intentions of FR Yugoslavia to sell its weapons to Macedonia. Those are the very same weapons which Belgrade is obliged to destroy according to Dayton Accord. There are guesses that Yugoslav party will try to solve two problems in this way: to 'melt' the weapons (which it should melt in the iron smeltery in Smederevo anyway), and to satisfy one of the countries which is interested in the heritage of the former federation. However, it is not so important what Miloshevic has on his mind. But it is very important to know why has Minister Handziski gone to Serbia to discuss 'bilateral issues' in the field of defense - to the very same country which President Gligorov claimed (till recently) that was threatening our stability. The press was recently briefed that Serbian counterpart of Handziski was in a rush to hold the meeting, just the same as his Russian counterpart. It was then said that Handziski would try to postpone it since the rush was of a suspicious nature. And, all of a sudden, Handziski went to Nish! It seems that he has been following the trend of the quick melting of the 'ice' on the relation Belgrade-Skopje. However, this looks more like a flood! Just take a look at what is broadcast daily by TV stations and what is sold at newsstands, pay attention to the kind of music your children are listening to. Look how pleased our entrepreneurs are, and to tell the truth, the politicians as well. Does this mean that Macedonia is approaching the old Yugoslav flock with the speed of light? We pray someone to deny that, to explain us what has happened with the policy of equi-distance with neighbours, to tell us that we are wrong, that we are being paranoid. Unfortunately, after all these forms of a pro-Yugoslav euphoria, one gets the impression that in the past (in former Yugoslavia) we used to feel our national identity much stronger than today, although those moments of 'enlightment' were rare. (end)mils news 09 October, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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