MAK-NEWS 02/10/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 2 October 1995

[01] NAME "NOVA MAKEDONIJA'' AGAIN PROPOSED

The Athens magazine Ethnos referring to diplomatic sources from the UN, writes that the negotiations between Athens and Skopje regarding the name issue will begin in New York, October 23. It is planned that the respective attitudes, according to the Macedonian media, will be outlined at the first meeting. It is reported that the White House will give unqualified support to the efforts of mediator Cyrus Vance in resolving this dispute, while the US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, is unofficially rumoured to replace Matthew Nimitz. The State Department, as well as UN Secretary General, Boutros Ghali agree with the position of Cyrus Vance that the name "Nova Makedonija" is a good compromise. This proposal has already been rejected by both sides, but nevertheless, it will be again a relevant issue in the negotiations.

[02] MACEDONIAN DELEGATION TO VISIT GREECE

A delegation of the Macedonian Foreign Ministry left Skopje today on a working visit to Greece, reported Macedonian media. The delegation is led by the Assistant Foreign Minister Ljupco Arsovski. At the meeting with his Greek counterparts, Arsovski will hold preliminary discussions at a senior level with respect to the implementation of the recently signed accord between both countries in New York.

[03] GREECE MAINTAINS THE ACCORD

Macedonian Parliamentary President, Stojan Andov, voiced satisfaction that during the voting for the admittance of Macedonia into the Council of Europe, the Greek delegation demonstrated it's support by voting in favour of the admittance. In this manner, Greece showed that it is respecting the provisions of the Interim Accord signed recently in New York, said Andov at a press conference held following his return from Strasbourg. In relation to the proposed amendment moved by the five Euro-parliamentarians to admit Macedonia under its constitutional name, Andov stated that it was refused in order to prevent the possible stalling of the admittance of Macedonia into the Council of Ministers' meeting to be held this month.

[04] EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS ON MACEDONIA

According to ANA, the question of the 'Former Yugoslav' Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey's customs union with the EU are expected to be discussed over lunch at Monday's Council of Ministers' meeting on general affairs to be held in Luxembourg, diplomatic sources said today.

The sources said the 'FYROM issue' would be discussed at the request of Germany, while the discussion of EU-Turkey customs union would be a follow-up to talks at the informal Council meeting at Santander.

[05] ECONOMIC INTEGRATION - POLITICALLY UNREALISTIC

In the interview given for the Yugoslav weekly NIN, to the question "Is it possible soon to realize a meeting between Gligorov and Milosevic?" , Macedonian President Gligorov replied: "Mutual recognition between Macedonia and Serbia would be something quite natural and in interests of peace and stability in the region. Moreover, the New York Accord between Greece and Macedonia has eliminated the reason for postponing mutual recognition. The Yugoslav Army left Macedonia peacefully, we do not have territorial disputes, and thus there is now no reason to postpone mutual recognition, which so far has caused only grievances on both sides", added Gligorov. Answering the question, 'would it be possible after the war concludes to establish economic integration of the former Yugoslav republics', the Macedonian President would not be drawn on any global plans for economic integration. "That would be quite unreal and unacceptable. The major issue at present is the opening of the borders. I will not speculate on future Balkan integration, or the integration of the former Yugoslav republics in particular".

[06] DIPLOMATIC BRIEFS

-Macedonian Foreign Minister, Stevo Crvenkovski, met in New York with his counterpart from Mexico, Hoze Anhel Guria.

They talked about the situation in the Balkans and Macedonia's relations with its neighbours.

-The President of the Swiss Parliament, Mr. Klod Fray, received the Macedonian Ambassador to Switzerland, Srgjan Kjerim, during a brief courtesy visit in Berne. They mutually concluded that good neighbourly relations should be the foundation for initiating economic cooperation between the two countries. Ambassador Kjerim invited Mr.Fray to visit Macedonia on behalf of the Macedonian Parliamentary President, Stojan Andov -In response to an invitation from the Major of Malme, the Macedonian Ambassador to Sweden, Mr.Tihomir Ilievski, spoke about the possibilities and needs of Macedonian business to cooperate with its Swedish partners, before political and business, . An initiative was launched for a visit of a group of business persons of the Malme region to Macedonia in order to facilitate the establishment of direct contacts.

[07] BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION IN MACEDONIA

A British Parliamentary Delegation has arrived for an official visit to Macedonia. The delegation was received by the President of the Macedonian Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Policy, Ilinka Mitreva. At the meeting the guests were introduced to the main policy directions of Macedonian foreign policy and related political concepts regarding European and world integration. They also talked about mutual parliamentary cooperation.

[08] AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY CALLS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

The opposition Labor Party in the state of Western Australia, has adopted a resolution which calls upon its Federal Government to initiate the process of establishing diplomatic relations with the Republic of Macedonia. The resolution also demands that in communications with Macedonia, its constitutional name be used, instead of the temporary name 'FYROM'. The proposal was moved by members of the Western Australian Parliament, the Federal Senate, members of the Federal House of Representatives, as well as by Union representatives.

Western Australia is the largest geographical unit in the Australian federation, and the only one which has refused to carry out the decision of the Federal Government to re-name Macedonians into 'Slav-Macedonians'.

[09] CONSENSUS ON OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

"Sofija is ready to eliminate the tensions in its relations with Macedonia", stated , a number of Bulgarian parliamentarians for the Sofija newspaper 'Kontinent'.

Amongst the political forces in Bulgaria there is now consensus regarding the proposal that Agreements between the two countries be signed in the "official languages", but that does not imply recognition of the Macedonian language, since in Skopje "a Bulgarian dialect is used". Deputy President of the Bulgarian Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Policy, in a statement for the newspaper, stresses that for Bulgaria the recognition of the Macedonian language "means erasing part of our own history".

[10] TEACHING THE MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE IN TAMPA

At the State University in Tampa, Arizona, students will commence studies of Macedonian language and culture during the school year 1995/6 . The courses will be taken by academic staff from the Law, and Philology Faculties, as well as the Institute of National History in Skopje.

[11] REDZEPI - NEW REIS UL ULEMA

Hadzi Sulejman efendi Redzepi is the new Head of the Islamic religious community in Macedonia. He will have the title Reis Ul Ulema which means "the head of the clergy".

[12] ZMEJKOVSKI - SECRETARY-GENERAL OF VMRO-DPMNE

Boris Zmejkovski was re-elected Secretary-General of the Party VMRO-DPMNE. Pursuant to a secret ballot two vice- presidents of the party, Dosta Dimovska and Boris Stojmenov, were elected. This was resolved at the session of the Central Committee of VMRO-DMPNE held in Skopje, two days ago.

[13] REALIZATION OF OUR RIGHTS BY USING BLOCKADES

The Party for Democratic Prosperity - Party of National Unity held its Third Assembly in Tetovo recently. This party, which has a central office in Skopje, and which is led by Nevzad Halili, has already formed six township organizations (three of them in Skopje, one in Tetovo, Kumanovo, and Prilep) as well as 33 branches. At the assembly, in the presence of the 'Rector' of the 'Tetovo' University Fadil Sulejmani and President of the 'Senate', Miljaim Fejzi, particular attention was paid to the University's Albanian-language programs in Tetovo. During the discussions, it was emphasized that the Party is against blockades of the Republic of Macedonia, "except when realization of the rights of Albanians in Macedonia is demanded". The party suggests that Albanians in Macedonia should not to be identified with Turks or others, but rather that the Republic should be defined as "a state of Macedonians and Albanians and others living there".

Furthermore, at the forthcoming Congress, it will be recommended that the words 'Party for Democratic Prosperity' be erased.

[14] TEACHING IN THE VLACH LANGUAGE

Yesterday in Bitola with a celebration the beginning of the facultative teaching in Vlach language after 80 years severance was marked. It will be conducted in one of the Bitola's schools and so far there are 40 pupils interested for this teaching.

[15] ELECTRICITY SHOCK FOR THE CITIZENS

The winter rate for electrical power will begin in October 1. That means 50% more, than the price used during the summer period. "Electrical enterprise" on the other hand submit a demand for increasing the price of the electrical power for another 15%, as "leveling" or "accordance" with the winter price. The decision should be reached by the Macedonian Government.

MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT:

[16] AUSSIES BREAK DOWN THE LANGUAGE BARRIER by Charles Miranda

(Adelaide Advertiser, 19 September '95) Australia has one of the most multicultural communities in the world with more than 100 languages. More than one- seventh of our 18 million people speak a language other than English with Italian and Greek the most common.

But according to the Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and population research's latest report released yesterday, too much emphasis is placed on the Asian languages by the business sector.

It claims that in the scramble to cash in on investment in the Asia-Pacific region, they have forgotten about potential business links with the rest of the world. "While Australia has regarded Asian languages as extremely important because of its position in the region, it should not ignore other language groups," the report says. "Rapid changes in the world political and economic situations mean it is difficult to predict which languages will be demand in the future.

Australia's linguistic base could be extremely valuable. In purely economic terms. Australia cannot afford to ignore the languages of Europe, the Middle East and South America, even less so considering that these are the first languages of a large and growing proportion of its population". The report says as a multicultural society, Australia should be able to reap huge economic benefits from its range of linguistic resources. Business should invest more in ethnic workers through "thoughtful recruiting" and broaden business opportunities. In recent years, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people speaking Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Arabic and Macedonian. Apart from the 100 languages spoken in the community, there are also 150 Aboriginal languages. NSW and Victoria have the highest number of people who speak another language, with Sydney best representing the emergence of Chinese and Arabic. More than half of the nation's Spanish community live in NSW.

South Australia recorded the largest increase in the use of the Chinese, although it was still below that of Italian, Greek and German. The use of Filipino languages increased by 108 per cent in the five years to 1991, reflecting large numbers of Filipino - speaking spouses in mixed marriages.

The highest qualified language groups - with more than 40 per cent of speakers holding a formal qualification - are Tamil (southern India, Sri Lanka), Filipino, Urdu (Pakistan) and Hindi speakers. the least qualified were Khmer (Cambodia), Vietnamese and Maltese speakers

(end)

mils-news 2 October '95