MAK-NEWS 18/08/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: MILS - Skopje <mils@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 18 August 1995

[01] ARMY DAY CELEBRATED

On the occasion of the Macedonian Army Day, a central celebration yesterday took place at the Army Center in Skopje. Kiro Gligorov, president of the state and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said, 'We are aware that each nation must be prepared to defend itself by its own forces, but we are also aware that no true and complete defense is possible unless we join the collective security system in Europe.' He underlined that Macedonia is ready to be included into the Partnership for Peace initiative and, once conditions are fulfilled, to join the North Atlantic Alliance as well.

Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski pointed out Macedonia's right and obligation to organize its own national defense. Yet, he added, the unjust embargo on arms against Macedonia has largely lowered the capacity of the country's producers of military equipment, depriving the Army from its right to be equipped with modern military technique and weapons. He expressed hope the UN will soon return this right to Macedonia, stressing however that Macedonia is only preparing to defend its borders without having any territorial ambitions toward any other country whatsoever.

[02] 'IF I COULD, I WOULD KILL MILOSEVIC'

Citing Makpress, today's Vecer writes, 'It is truly sad to witness a situation in which a tragic and primarily humanitarian question is being turned into a political one, so that later on be used as a basis for realization of various scenarios for spreading the war in Bosnia- Herzegovina to the south of the Balkans. One of the last episodes of the game with ethnic maps in former Yugoslavia, besides newly-drawn borders and 'sovereign' rights of some leaders over certain territories, also resulted in over 150,000 refugees from Kraina. Fortunately, the majority of the latter finally became aware of the true game played with them and their patriotic feelings. 'If I could, I would kill Milosevic. This communism must fall. We did not lose the battle for Kraina. We left the region upon directive from above. This was a high treason of the Serbian people,' says Nikola Boroevic, a Kraina refugee, currently accommodated at a student dorm in Gnjilane, Kosovo.

Mehmet Hajrazi, member of the presidency of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, says all this is a old plan of the Serbian authorities for ethnic restructuring of Kosovo, promoted as far back as in 1977-78, to be later continued with a project by Vasa Cubrilovic and a Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art.

Serbian Government Officials claim that the settlement of Serbian refugees in Kosovo is only aimed at improving the region's population structure. Citing their own sources, they remind that nearly 400,000 Serbs have been forced out of Kosovo over the last 25 years.

Yet, what is now going on is an unprecedented exodus of refugees from Kraina. Part of them did not even know where they were going until the last moment. Realizing their direction at railroad stations in Kraguevac, Smederevo and Smederevska Palanka, they stood up against such a decision of the authorities. Yet, for some of them, like Nikola Boroevic for instance, the decision is not a problem. 'If they decided so, let them have it that way. If I am to die, I will at least die on holy Serbian land,' is how he states his readiness for any potential outcome in Kosovo. Thousands of such and similar individual stories only serve to the manipulations carried out at negotiating tables.

Meantime, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said about 162,000 Kraina refugees have reached Serbia by now.

[03] BELGRADE HEADED FOR GREATER TRAGEDY, BERISA SAYS

Following a meeting with Greek Justice Minister Anastasios Paponis, Albanian President Sali Berisa stated, 'Albania is against any kind of ethnic cleansing, but Belgrade confirmed by its last decision that it is determined to turn the Balkan conflict into yet greater tragedy.' At the same time, he welcomed the Greek reaction against the Serbian decision to settle refugees in Kosovo.

Identical viewpoints on the situation in the region were presented yesterday by General William Coach, Commanding Officer of US Land Forces in Europe.

[04] NDP DEMANDS A STOP FOR COLONIZATION OF KOSOVO

In a public statement yesterday, the People's Democratic Party of Albanians in Macedonia (NDP) said that the lack of engagement of the international community to put a stop to the ongoing colonization of Kosovo with Kraina Serbs only helps the Bosnian war to escalate and lead to heavy consequences for all states in the Balkans and wider. NDP welcomes the American-German initiative for a global solution to the crisis in former Yugoslavia, demanding that the question of Albanians in Macedonia is included in the open question of Kosovo.

Arben Dzaferi, leader of PDPA and member of parliament, stated similar views at a television appearance last night.

[05] BOSNIA A RECIPE FOR MACEDONIA

'Macedonia must categorically stand against the offered concept of partition of Bosnia, as it is only a part of a strategy to destroy an internationally recognized state and a full member of the UN,' VMRO-DP leader Vladimir Golubovski said yesterday. He warned that Macedonia could easily become a target of the same recipe during the process of a search for a global solution for the Balkan region.

[06] FALSE STATISTIC FIGURES?

The Association of Ethnologists of Macedonia expressed bitter disagreement with the government project for the Local Self-government Act, in terms of introducing minority languages as parallel to the official Macedonian language in some municipalities. The Association believes that statistic data on the population structure in Makedonski Brod and Dolna Zhupa near Debar, officially presented by the State Statistics Bureau, are false. These are not Muslims, but Muslim Macedonians, whose mother tongue is the Macedonian, the Association says.

The Association of Cultural and Scientific Manifestations of Muslim Macedonians expressed similar standpoints.

MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT:

[07] HOW WE SURVIVE - PART VI

Young Kiro Simonovski wonders how to change his life. This philosophy student says he won't leave his homeland for any price. But neither will he stay in Macedonia for any price. He has an aunt in Milan and says his friends think he is crazy not to emigrate immediately. But he thinks about setting up a business with her to import women's clothes from Italy - perhaps lingerie.

'I would like to try to make a life here despite the dirty streets, the smelly trash containers, and the low cultural level of life,' Kiro says.

Kiro's dream is already a reality for 26-year-old Kokan Sofroniev, an architecture technician who co-owns the popular Jet's Bar in the Skopje shopping area called Leptokaria. Kokan spent several years in the United States, soaking up the lifestyle. On a visit back to Skopje to visit his parents, Kokan looked around and concluded a person could make a lot of money in Macedonia today in a short period of time if he had some capital.

So he rented a space in Leptokaria for five years at a monthly rate of about 1,100 Dm and sunk 80,000 into putting a bar, buying chairs and liquor and designin a fountain outside. The money was borrowed from friends and family.

Today, Kokan puts in 15-hour days and says he is satisfied with his profits, although he still wants to return to America. He is worried that war may come to Macedonia and says, 'If it was possible in Sarajevo, why nothere?'

At 26, Kokan has a world-weary air of someone three times his age and is disillusioned about life in Macedonia, where he says most young people either get money from their parents or on the black market.

'There's no prosperity if a person hasn't gotten financial aid from his parent or if he isn't dealing with illegal business. What is most tragic is that those who don't play that game can't survive and live a normal life,' he says. As a bar owner, he sees what goes on in a bar each night and believes that people his age drink too much.

'That's the way of night life here; maybe under the influence of drink they can make themselves feel happy. People are bored but they don't realize it. They think it's perfection. They don't realize what else they can do.'

One who is well aware and increasingly worried about the rise in drinking and drugs is Dr. Jordan Jovev, director of Bardovci Hospital for Treatment of Addictive Diseases. Jovev says drug addiction and alcoholism among young people in Macedonia are reaching epidemic proportions. He is especially concerned about heroin, a highly addictive drug that can create severe physical dependency in users within days.

He worries that this will lead to destructive behavior, break-up of families, increased crime and a danger and risk of mass spreading of AIDS in Macedonia.

'In the hospital and in clinics we treat 150 drug addicts daily, compared to past years when we had 10 such patients a day,' Dr. Jovev says.

Twenty-five years ago the country had only 11 registered drug addicts. The number began rising in the early 90's, after the political and economic crisis that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia and the start of the war. With borders closed to the West, heroin smuggled from Turkey stayed in Macedonia instead of just passing through on its way to markets in Western Europe.

By 1991, there were 50 drug addicts registered. By 1994 there were 1,400. The latest information shows 2,000 registered drug addicts, but Dr. Jovev believes the figure could rise to 20,000 since each addict can introduce up to 10 friends or relatives to heroin.

Additionally, Jovev says 90% of the addicts start with hard and dangerous drugs today instead of softer drugs like marijuana, which is less available. Hospital statistics show that drug abusers are evenly divided among Macedonians and Albanians. Additionally, Albanians who formerly dealt heroin but didn't use it are now becoming addicts, as are young Albanian girls with junkie boyfriends, while not so for Macedonian girls. Young people start experimenting at 15 or 16.

'This year we have been treating even 12-year-olds,' says professor Dr. Jovev.

But because it is so difficult to kick heroin addiction, the recovery rate is low. Jovev strongly believes that Macedonia must spend money on primary prevention and education programs and to help rehabilitate and re-socialize addicts once they are clean, such as the 'halfway houses' in the West.

'A great number of young people who have stopped have no one to help them integrate back into society,' Jovev complains. One organization trying to help children before they turn to drugs or delinquency is the German humanitarian organization Caritas. Two years ago, Caritas opened the first children's playground and recreation center in the country in the Skopje settlement Shutka. Under the leadership of three sociologists and one social worker, hundreds of children play, learn crafts, do sports and study. They are 95% Roma and 5% Albanian.

Klara Michel Ilieva, a sociologists who works with the children of Shutka, says early intervention tries to show students the importance of schooling and prevent them from turning to a life of begging or delinquency.

'They are not bad-minded people,' Klara says. 'But the parents are illiterate, and they say, what's wrong with being illiterate? I'm illiterate. And so the children, especially the girls, drop out, get married and have children while they are still children themselves.'

Who knows what the future holds for 11-year-old M.A. from Dukandzik, who every day sells napkins at the Skopje Bit Pazar. His mother, laid off from a factory, now works as a sales clerk for a very low salary. Their electricity was cut off and they have no money. M.A. sells napkins for 20 denars a package on the market to make extra money. In one day he sells up to 30 packages.

'I'm a very good pupil, first I study and then go out to sell,' M.A. says, his childish blue eyes full of joy. 'My mother doesn't like me going to the market, but she must buy macaroni, tomatoes, potatoes. I want to help her.'

Gulfidan Pandur from the village Konce, Radovis area, is only 19. Youth is in front of her but she will probably spend it in the tobacco fields. She has finished high school in Radovis and writes poetry that has been published in newspapers in Turkish. She wanted to continue her studies but her parents have no money to pay for her further education at the university.

'I already spent one year in the tobacco fields and at home. I wake up at 4 a.m., go to the tobacco fields and work all day together with my parents. I cannot study although that was my dream. In high school I was a very good student and I would have been even better if I had more time to study. I had to wake up at 5 a.m. and was driving on the bus to Radovis until 6 a.m. every day. Then I was waiting alone until 7:30 a.m. for the school doors to open. The lessons finished at 1 p.m. but I had to wait for a bus until 3:30 p.m. I was at home one hour later. I would eat and immediately go to the field because the tobacco was waiting for one more pair of hands. I was doing that until nightfall, and then I would start studying. But I wanted and I still want to study.'

Who knows what the youth of beautiful Gulfidan will look like? Will she stay in the field? Will there maybe be someone who might support her education or will she, as many of her friends, find a Turkish husband who will take her back to Turkey with him?

'I was on a holiday in Gradishte. We were sitting on the beach and my friend told me, would you like a hit? Try it! I think it was marijuana. I was 16. I was fighting a lot and they expelled me from school. After that I was working at the cafe 'Little Havana'; I drank a lot, I took a hit. I got strung out. One friend from my class suggested, 'hey, buddy, this is too weak. Try horse. He didn't put much. I remember first it was nice. Then the room would spin, I had holes in my head. The first 20 or 30 hits were free. Then I had to start buying it myself. A dose of heroin (half a gram) - 35 DM. I started stealing. I was selling a gram of stolen gold on the Old Market for 11 DM. Then I would buy drugs from a dealer near Jahja Pasha Mosque in the Old Market. He was giving me pure heroin, and there are dealers - Macedonians - who would give you dirty drugs - heroin mixed with cocoa, and you can die from that. My parents never caught on - I would chase the dragon, and then I would drink two vodkas and it looked as if I was merely drunk.

I was smoking one gram of heroin per day. There was not enough money. I started with the needle and was doing it for seven-eight months before my parents got wise. I went for treatment, for quite a long time I was clean... I came to 00, no alcohol, no drugs.

...I went with a friend on Vodno. He also wanted to get high. He had a crisis and he asked me to sit a little bit to have a rest. He got out the works and it started all over again. It's difficult to escape drugs. Among my clique of 17 friends, only two were not drug addicts. There are no chances to get out of it. The whole clique is 'killing you', they are persuading you to take again, they are offering you to become a dealer, and when you go for treatment, they'll start a rumour that you are squealing.

It's chaos with drugs in Skopje. In the near future you'll be able to buy it at every single corner... I heard that there are about 7,000 drug addicts, but I think it's double. They are all over - in coffee bars, discos. Go in [a popular cafe] at closing time. There are syringes in the toilets. At some bars you can smell heroin [fumes are often inhaled here as an alternative to shooting up] from the door. In the Old Market, there is a parked police van and two meters away drugs are being sold. Everything is corrupted, the big dealers are caught by the police and 15 minutes later they are out.

They deal again.

Now I'm in treatment, it's hard, but I must get rid of it. I remember when I was working with my father fixing cars and helping him, I never thought about drugs. Not when I was working.

(Macedonian youth, 21, being treated at the Hospital for Disease of Addiction in Skopje.)

'The first time was free. A friend of mine gave it to me. He was scoring from a Turk who was bringing heroin to Macedonia. They met in the buffet Bit Pazar across [the coffeehouse] Sloga.

I had seen films and I wanted to try what it felt like to smoke drugs. I was 22. And six years passed. I was taking heroin every day, I had friends, both Albanian and Macedonian. We were all smoking drugs, everywhere, at work, in apartments, in teashops, in coffee bars... I always had money, my father was Chief f Maintenance for a firm, we have a nice house, one brother is in Norway, one in Germany. But, I started getting low on funds. I had to forge checks for 150 DM to buy heroin. They caught me and now I've been convicted. I'm also here for treatment.

You have drugs all over Skopje! You can find it easier than flour. In Serava, there are entire houses that are selling heroin but they are also smoking it. There are even rich families, for example the husband died of drugs but the wife and children continue to sell and smoke. You can find drugs in Gazi Baba, in Topansko Pole, in Singelic, in the Old Town. Both among Macedonians and Albanians. It's terrible! Drug dealers bribe the police...

Two of my friends died of heroin overdose. My brother-in-law also died of drugs. He was 22. He took heroin in foil. After that I got scared, I wanted to be cured. I had withdrawal, I was slitting my wrists. You can hang yourself, you can throw yourself against a wall, you are asking for medicine because you can't stand it without drugs. I am sorry about the family, about my daughter, my wife... I'm thinking of stopping. If someone offers me heroin I'll kill him.'

(Albanian youth, 29, in treatment for one year at the same hospital.)

(end)

mils-news 18 August '95