MAK-NEWS 14/02/95 (M.I.L.S.) [**]

Ta nea ths hmeras, opws ta eide to MILS:

  1. * BORDER SITUATION CONTINUES STABLE
  2. * UNPROFOR COMMAND HAND-OVER CEREMONY
  3. * JAPANESE TO AID MACEDONIA IN THE NEAR FUTURE
  4. * COUNCIL OF EUROPE DELEGATION IN MACEDONIA
  5. . MACEDONIAN BUSINESSMEN TO GO TO SERBIA
  6. . SLOVENIA TO PAY ITS DEBT TO MACEDONIAN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
  7. ** SALONIKA TO BECOME CENTER OF BALKAN COOPERATION
  8. . GOVERNMENT BRIEFS
  9. * TETOVO UNIVERSITY TO START WORKING FEBRUARY 15
  10. * RAMADANI INSISTS ON ALBANIAN AS SECOND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
  11. * DEMOCRATIC PARTY VOWS TO FIGHT ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY
  12. . POWER PLANT WORKING NORMALLY AFTER CRANE COLLAPSE
  13. . ZLETOVO MINERS' STRIKE CONTINUES
  14. . IRONWORKERS TAKE REDUNDANCY PACKAGE
  15. . SEMINAR ON ELECTRICITY
  16. . MACEDONIAN LITERARY AWARDS
  17. . JANUARY INFLATION UP BY 3.2 PER CENT
  18. . SENATOR WILLIAM FULLBRIGHT DIES
  19. . CULTURE BRIEFS
  20. * MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: HARMFUL VERBAL DUELS
    (Nova Makedonija, 14 February 1995)

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 14 February, 1995

  1. BORDER SITUATION CONTINUES STABLE
    Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handzhiski yesterday received General Mati Kopra, Chief-of-staff of the Finnish Army, in the presence of Dragoljub Bocinov, Macedonian Chief-of-staff. Handzhiski reported the security situation at borders as stable, adding the UN peacekeeping mission has considerably contributed to the present relaxed situation. General Kopra expressed satisfaction with the cooperation between Macedonian authorities and UNPROFOR troops.

  2. UNPROFOR COMMAND HAND-OVER CEREMONY
    The commanding officer of UNPROFOR Command for Macedonia, Brigadier-General Tryggve Tellefsen, will tomorrow hand over command to Brigadier-General Juha Engstrom. The ceremony will be conducted at Camp Able Sentry, close to Petrovec airport, at 2 p.m. The program includes a review of the troops and an honor ceremony to the commanders.

  3. JAPANESE TO AID MACEDONIA IN THE NEAR FUTURE
    The Japanese government's mission, on a visit to Macedonia to determine the priority needs of the Macedonian health service, yesterday had a final meeting with Health Minister Ilija Filipce and Minister of Science Sofia Todorova. The Japanese expressed readiness to start sending medical equipment as soon as possible.

  4. COUNCIL OF EUROPE DELEGATION IN MACEDONIA
    A delegation of the Council of Europe, led by Sir John Freeland of the European Court of Justice, yesterday met with Macedonian Justice Minister Vlado Popovski and Victor Gaber, under-secretary in the foreign ministry. Popovski and the delegation discussed reforms in the judiciary, transformation of the Ministry of Justice, and preparations for new laws in local self-government. With under-secretary Gaber, the delegation talked about coordination of Macedonian judiciary with international norms, which is the main condition for admitting Macedonia to the Council.

  5. MACEDONIAN BUSINESSMEN TO GO TO SERBIA
    Government spokesman Gjuner Ismail said a group of 15 influential Macedonian businessmen will go to Belgrade this week. The group will be led by Dushan Petrevski, president of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce. The goal of the visit is to find ways to overcome problems in the greatly reduced bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields of agriculture and production of tobacco and food, due to international sanctions on Yugoslavia. Ismail denied reports that Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski will meet with his Serbian counterpart Mirko Marjanovic in Belgrade.

  6. SLOVENIA TO PAY ITS DEBT TO MACEDONIAN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
    Macedonian Radio reports Slovenia announced it will pay out half of its debt to the two Macedonian entrepreneurs of the companies Pechalbar, of Vevchani, who went on a hunger strike in Maribor, Slovenia, 10 days ago. Officials of the Macedonian embassy in Slovenia were informed yesterday that all 30 employees of Pechalbar will be paid half of the money, and the other half of the debt will be settled shortly. Slovenian President Milan Kuchan intervened in the case. Observers say Slovenian construction firms owe a total of 30.5 million German Marks to Macedonian business partners.

  7. SALONIKA TO BECOME CENTER OF BALKAN COOPERATION
    A two-day conference on trade and economic cooperation in the Balkans began in Salonika, Greece, yesterday. The meeting is aimed at turning Thesalonika into a center of cooperation in the Balkans. It is attended by representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Russia. Representatives from Macedonia were not invited to the conference.

  8. GOVERNMENT BRIEFS
    The Macedonian government held its eleventh session, to discuss several draft laws concerning trade associations, registering and charging for use of home radios, and forming a committee to follow and carry out activities for inclusion of Macedonia in the work of GATT. Government will hold a press-conference today.

  9. TETOVO UNIVERSITY TO START WORKING FEBRUARY 15
    A1 Television reports the self-declared rector of the Tetovo university Fadil Suleimani informed Radio Tirana that the university in Tetovo will begin its work on February 15. Saying they will never give up the initiative, Suleimani stressed a delegation of U.S. politicians will attend the opening ceremony and try to persuade Macedonian authorities in the need of such a university. The delegation will reportedly be led by ex-U.S. senator Joseph Diogardi, vice- president of the U.S.-Albanian Friendship Association and leader of the Albanian lobby in the U.S. Meantime, the Tetovo university already signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation with the George Washington University in Washington, USA. During his visit to the U.S., Suleimani met with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, to inform him of the problem with and pressures against the university in Tetovo. Also, today's edition of Flaka newspaper reports Sulejmani as saying that they will not wait for the Tetovo university to be incorporated into the Macedonian educational system. "Police should not be involved in this affair otherwise they would bare the responsibility of some possible incidents that might occur", he added. Flaka also quotes Murtezan Ismaili, the second men in the university administration, saying so far 520 students were registered at the university. They expect this number to increase.

  10. RAMADANI INSISTS ON ALBANIAN AS SECOND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
    In his telephone interview with Radio Tirana, Macedonian Parliament member Sali Ramadani of the PDP faction, stated "we will resolutely and uncompromisingly insists on recognition of the Albanian language as the second official language in Macedonia at all administrative levels, including the army." Ramadani said no progress in the struggle for a better status for Albanians in Macedonia is possible without changes in the constitution. The current constitution is discriminatory, he said, announcing he will continue to speak in Albanian at parliament sessions.

  11. DEMOCRATIC PARTY VOWS TO FIGHT ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY
    The Democratic Party of Tetovo yesterday held a press- conference. Party president Tomislav Stojanovski emphasized that Parliament is inefficient, fails to begin sessions on time and passes laws in a hasty fashion. He also criticized methods of pressure, blackmailing and arrogance by Albanian deputies. He said personal identification is a document of an essential importance and data in it should be written only in Macedonian. The Democratic Party said they will initiate a procedure against the new Law on Personal Identification with the Constitutional Court. The party said it will make use of all democratic means to prevent the functioning of the university in Tetovo, as it is unconstitutional and illegal. It also criticized the Helsinki Parliament of Macedonia, saying its members are not familiar with the situation in western Macedonia, as it consists of no members from Tetovo and Gostivar.

  12. POWER PLANT WORKING NORMALLY AFTER CRANE COLLAPSE
    Despite the collapse of the crane at the Suvodol mine, the production of electricity at one of the largest power plants in Macedonia, REK Bitola, continues as usual.

  13. ZLETOVO MINERS' STRIKE CONTINUES
    Miners at the Zletovo mines of Probishtip continue their strike, begun on February 9, as a protest against the two- month delay in paying salaries to miners. Yesterday they refused the offered 50 per cent of their January salary. The strike, say the miners, will continue until their demands are fully met. The strikers' delegation requested a meeting with government officials.

  14. IRONWORKERS TAKE REDUNDANCY PACKAGE
    Yesterday, 1,100 employees of the Skopje ironworks voluntarily quit their jobs, accepting compensation, as offered by the Law on Loss-Producing Firms. Out of the total number of 8,676 employees, 3,249 are classified as redundant. This is only a first stage of redundancies at the ironworks.

  15. SEMINAR ON ELECTRICITY
    The Macedonian Chamber of Commerce and the public electricity company of Skopje yesterday organized a seminar entitled The Transmission and Distribution of Electricity. Representatives of the Siemens company from Germany spoke at the meeting, promoting modern forms of protection and construction of power plants, along with latest equipment and methods of managing power stations.

  16. MACEDONIAN LITERARY AWARDS
    The Writers' Association of Macedonia yesterday presented its annual awards to the country's outstanding writers. Jovan Kotevski received the Aco Shopov award for his book of poems called Leleka. Dimitar Bashevski was awarded the Vancho Nikolevski tribute for his children's book, Anja's Diary. Georgi Stardelov received the Dimitar Mitrev award for his book of essays, The Kerubin Tribe. Boris Vishinski received the prose award Stale Popov for his novel, Bogomil's Cross.

  17. JANUARY INFLATION UP BY 3.2 PER CENT
    The inflation rate in January was 3.2 per cent higher than in December. Agricultural products, services, industrial products, medicine, textbooks and food were the products most severely hit by the increase.

  18. SENATOR WILLIAM FULLBRIGHT DIES
    U.S. Senator William Fullbright, an outstanding politician, who contributed to world peace and founded the renowned Fullbright Foundation for international exchange of students and professors has died.

  19. CULTURE BRIEFS
    In association with the Youth Culture Center in Skopje, the French Culture Center has organized a cabaret night featuring the French singer Jacques Ivarr. The concert will take place at the Youth Culture Center, beginning at 8 p.m., on Thursday, February 16. Ivarr will also give a concert in Bitola on February 17.

  20. MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: HARMFUL VERBAL DUELS
    (Nova Makedonija, 14 February 1995) The cheapest goods in Macedonia seems to be the state itself. It is not only disrespected, but is also attacked by everyone and anyone as if people were engaged in a contest of insulting and swearing at the Macedonian state. Macedonia is publicly attacked for even the smallest and most irrelevant things and international and European institutions are immediately informed about all the negative occurrences here. To the state are ascribed all kinds of "isms", beginning with fascism, through to neo-nazism and to totalitarianism. The state is taking its very first steps towards a democratic Europe. Only in the last three weeks has Macedonia been attacked by its own citizens, party officials and politicians in such ways that would make even the most infamous dictators blush. Faik Abdi, president of the Party for Complete Emancipation of Romas, took the "opportunity" of the incident which involved burning down the house of Kerim Demiri, a Rom living near Titov Veles, to attract domestic and international attention in quite a theatrical manner. He disseminated information about the house that was burnt down by Macedonians. He even stated this before Parliament and went to all international associations and foreign embassies in Skopje with the news. He went even further. The same man who only yesterday swore Macedonia's interests were his own, used the incident to prove to the world that "Romas in Macedonia are persecuted" and that "it is nothing else but fascism and neo-nazism." Almost the same situation as when Hitler used to prosecute and burn Romas. Even the German ambassador to Macedonia reportedly agreed with Abdi that this was a clear case of fascism. Later, it turned out that the fire had been started by old and faulty electrical installations in the house. Nevertheless, the claims of the "fascist-like character of Macedonia" remained in the files of foreign embassies and international institutions. Abdi neglected to deny or withdraw them, just as he forgot to retract his statements that he made in Parliament. His contribution to blackening the image of Macedonian will have a lasting effect. Dossiers of dark images of Macedonia reached pitch point with the recent statements by the "most radical" of the leaders of Albanians in Macedonia, Menduh Tachi, in his interview with Slobodna Damacija of Croatia, and then sent on to various newspapers throughout Europe. Showing no sense of political reality, Tachi said, "Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov, for what he is doing to Albanians in Macedonia, is even more radical than Serbian President Milosevic." Stating examples in the education of Albanians in Macedonia, Tachi said, "it is now clear who the radical is - in any case, Menduh Tachi is a lesser radical than Gligorov." Tachi is obviously refusing to look truth in the eyes and conclude that Albanians in Macedonia are included in most arenas of national life, including politics, and they have their own media and education in elementary and high-schools in their native language. It is hard to believe that Tachi does not know how the Milosevic regime is treating Albanians in Kosovo, who are said to be under a real occupation. Tachi must have had his own reasons for making Kiro Gligorov a bigger radical than Milosevic. Just like at the opening of the university in Tetovo, when he also had his reasons for saying that Macedonia "is a state of repression" and that "the current ruling political forces articulate repression". Leaders of other political parties in Macedonia also frequently giving similar statements. Yet, the statement by Gert Arens, who is authorized to monitor ethnic relations in the former Yugoslavia, clearly shows how far these attacks are from reality. He said "Albanians in Macedonia are well aware of the fact that they have good prospects in Macedonia. Nowhere in the entire Balkans have the Albanians lived as they do in Macedonia." The situation with other national and ethnic groups in Macedonia is quite similar. Most of them regard Macedonia as a "totalitarian or unitarian state" which often uses repression. The League of Vlachs recently stated that "Vlachs are used always when Macedonia needs to gain points in the eyes of the international public, and are referred to as 'brothers Vlachs', just like they were referred to during the pre-war periods. How much longer is this hypocrisy to last?" Leaders of the parties of Macedonian Serbs also complain against being "deprived of rights and repressed". The opposition, on the other hand, constantly attacks the state for "betrayal of Macedonia and the Macedonian people", for "informative terror" and "corruption at highest levels". For instance, a group of intellectuals inclined to the opposition but of different persuasion than Tachi, accused Kiro Gligorov of "betrayal of national interests", being "too soft on the Albanian minority at the expense of the Macedonian people". Comparing these statements with those by Tachi, shows that people here quite happily throw mud at the state and the government. The latest proof of this was the recent interview with Dosta Dimovska, vice-president of VMRO-DPMNE, in the Bulgarian newspaper Standard. She informed the Bulgarian public that the "economic collapse in Macedonia, along with social tensions and terror over citizens, will throw those who fabricated the elections out of their ruling position." This will give some solace to the Bulgarians whose economy is really in state of collapse. Having all this in mind, one can ask what is happening to us? Are the state and government really fascists, totalitarian, repressive and unitarian? Or are all of us living within this small space trying to destroy all that which has been built with enormous toil and suffering, which has been carefully fostered especially after gaining independence. Or, are the present democratic times only an opportunity for people to express out loud all the anger they had kept in their hearts, now swearing and attacking their own state? These actions are not punished. And they must not be. But a politician must take moral responsibility for all that he says publicly. This responsibility is outside the legal fact that lawyers can always threaten politicians with the Law on Political Parties, which states the possibility of "sanctions against political subjects who behave contrary to the principles and norms declared in their own programs." The multi-party system and democracy do allow and even urge a struggle of ideas. However, truth and objectiveness must be preserved. Verbal duels and lies undermine democratic rules and standards. They also undermine the collective moral credibility of the nation and all citizens in it.