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MILS NEWS 08/07/96Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 08 July 1996[01] MEETING IN SOFIA WITHOUT MACEDONIAMeeting of Balkan countries foreign ministers in Sofia was ended yesterday with a Declaration on stability, cooperation and security in the Balkans. The Declaration stresses the need for continuation of cooperation and strengthening of confidence in the region. Dayton Accord on Bosnia and planned reconstruction of this country were also supported.Two ideas were emphasized: to create a Consultative Council of Parliaments of countries in the region and to organize a Balkan conference on the highest level. The Republic of Macedonia did not send its representative at the meeting due to the pressure of Greece the country to be represented with the reference FYROM, and not with its Constitutional name. According to Macedonian media, another shadow to the meeting was the rejection of Albanian request to include Kosovo issue in the Declaration. Macedonian Radio reported a statement of the host, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Gjorgji Pirinski, that although Macedonia did not attend the meeting, participation of its representatives in the preparations was significant, and some of their suggestions were included in the Declaration. Delegates expressed their hope for Macedonia to agree to participate at the next Balkan conference next year in Athens. Aside from increasing of security in the region, border cooperation; connecting the energetic and telecommunication infrastructures; cooperation in the fight against crime, etc were also discussed. Macedonian media reported that certain concrete conclusions had been made. At the conference, FR Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania were represented by their Foreign Ministers, while Turkey, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina by their deputy foreign ministers. High UN representative Carl Bildt also attended the meeting, as well as representatives of the Council of Europe, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, World Bank and of countries of Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Hungary and Switzerland. Wishes for a successful meeting were sent by: UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, Council of Europe President Jacques Santer, CEI President Wolfgang Schusel, US President Bill Clinton, Russian President Boris Jeltzin, French President Alain Juppe and Russian Foreign Minister Evgenij Primakov. [02] THEODOROS PANGALOS: 'MISUNDERSTANDING OF A GEOGRAPHIC NATURE''It is unusual for the name problem to appear as an obstacle for such a meeting, as this country had been presented in all organisations and forums so far as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,' said Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, as daily 'Vecer' reported, after the conference in Sofia, expressing his regrets for the fact that Macedonia did not attend the meeting. Saying that Macedonia and Greece had improved the relations, Pangalos underlined that the bilateral trade and tourist exchange had increased, as well as perspectives for investments.'That is not a policy of dividing, and the misunderstanding was of a geographic nature. We are trying to find a solution for a name which will not provoke misunderstanding and which will refer only to the newly created country in the international life, but which will differ from the Greek and Bulgarian Macedonias. We did not impose the name FYROM, it was suggested and adopted by the UN. We are sorry about that and we hope that this country will attend the next meeting with an already solved name problem and an acceptable for everyone solution reached,' said Pangalos. [03] INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY IN OCTOBERIn organisation of Norwegian Institute of International Relations, UNPREDEP and OSCE Mission in Skopje, and Macedonian Foreign Ministry, an international meeting on theoretical and practical aspects of the preventive diplomacy will take place in mid October in Skopje.President's Cabinet announced that Chief of UNPREDEP Mission to Macedonia Henryk Sokalski had invited Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov to open the meeting. [04] 1,259 HEADS OF CATTLE DESTROYED SO FARThe latest information of Macedonian Veterinary Administration was that 1,259 heads of cattle, infected by foot-and-mouth disease, had been destroyed so far in Macedonia. The outburst spread these days to the villages of Vinche, Grushino, Dolno Konjare, Sushica and Trnika, all of them in Skopje municipality. Besides the infected heads, the rest of the same herds are also destroyed, although they are not infected. Infected areas are being controlled, and infected stalls, yards and meadows are being disinfected. To date, the disease had not been noticed among sheep, pigs or other animals, nor among people.According to the local media, vaccination plan had been made, and it will be done in three rounds. It might be corrected or changed in accordance with the situation and EU experts instructions. 20,000 vaccines are expected to arrive in Macedonia from the EU these days, while a decision of the European Commission to send 250,000 doses is expected to be made on 12 July. Meanwhile, 'Royter' agency reported that a herd of sheep had been destroyed in the Greek province of Trakia recently, because of fear from foot-and-mouth disease. EU ban on Greek export of livestock and meat to Union member countries, due to the danger from this disease to spread, was in force from August 1994 to December 1995. [05] WELL ORGANIZED MACEDONIAN RED CROSS'Organizational and structural establishment of Macedonian Red Cross is at a good level and almost equal to the similar well developed national associations in the world.' As today's issue of 'Vecer' reads, this was the evaluation of the President of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Mario Vilaroel Lender, after his two-days visit to Macedonia. He said the goal of his visit was to pay a credit to this association for the successfully realized activities so far, mostly improving blood donation, readiness to act in case of catastrophes and development of Youth Red Cross.[06] EXHUMATION OF THOSE EXECUTED IN 1945 ENDEDExhumation of the 53 citizens of Veles executed in 1945 officially ended last Friday on the location of Lechishte, near the village of Letevci in Veles municipality. The exhumation was performed by the teams of Forensic Medicine Institute, which experts will make all the necessary analyses these days. It will be impossible for most of the corps to be identified, but it will be precisely said how many people had been executed and in what way.[07] DPM IS ORGANIZING A MEETING OF MACEDONIAN PARTIES'Kosovo scenario with the complete iconography and mottoes, presented shyly in Macedonia for a long time, reached its final on the square of Tetovo with the transparent motto 'We want protection',' announced the Democratic Party of Macedonia. According to it, such events are a pressure on the government, especially on the jurisdiction, which is why the Party appealed to the courts to do their work consciously and independently, without yielding to any kind of pressures.'Ideologists and creators of this extremely provocative meeting will not frighten Macedonian citizens, and especially not those of Tetovo, as they would never allow themselves to become victims of indecent games, and everybody have to understand that Tetovo is a Macedonian town. That is why DPM has intensified its cooperation with all Macedonian political parties and associations to organize a meeting in Tetovo under the motto 'Macedonia is the only one - Tetovo is a Macedonian town,' concluded the announcement. [08] MAAK-CP: QUIET BREAK UP WITH ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTSMAAK-Conservative Party also reacted to the meeting in Tetovo, estimating at a press conference that the meeting was a proof that living together with the Albanian nationality in Macedonia was a utopia. Vice President of the party Ivan Angelov stated that MAAK-CP would continue to intercede for a quiet break up with Albanian immigrants who had not accepted the hospitality, but applied their strategy to form a great Albanian country.This Party representatives also said that the new Law on Local Elections was an attempt of the government to make a legal basis for manipulations and another forging of elections. [09] INTENTIONS TO UNITE THE OPPOSITION BEFORE LOCAL ELECTIONSToday's issue of daily 'Dnevnik' reads that the planned autumn local elections had been a motive for the opposition political parties to consider creation of firmer ties and coalitions. As alleged, there are indications for several non-parliamentarian parties to unite with VMRO-DPMNE.Namely, this party has been negotiating a a possibility for a coalition with VMRO-DP, it is possible to sign a permanent cooperation accord with MAAK-CP, and cooperation is being discussed with VMRO-Motherland Party and with the Liberal Party. According to Ljupcho Georgievski (VMRO-DPMNE) and Vladimir Golubovski (VMRO-DP), the matter is still on the level of initiatives, but it is definite that the possibility to cooperate with the Macedonian Alliance of George Atanasovski and VMRO-MNDS will be rejected. In an interview for 'Nova Makedonija', Ljupcho Georgievski said that VMRO-DPMNE was planning to act in a more radical way. The reason for that is, as he said, that the government had deceived their will for a democratic dialogue and political competition. [10] COUPLES FOR EURO- FUOOTBALL QUALIFICATIONSCouples for pre-qualifications and qualifications in Euro- Cups were chosen in Geneva. Macedonian teams 'Sileks' and 'Vardar' will play against 'Akranes'-Iceland, and 'HIT Gorica'-Slovenia in pre-qualifications, while 'Sloga Jugomagnat' will play against 'Kishest Hinved'-Hungary. All three Macedonian teams will start competing as guests on 17 July. Rematches will take place on 24 July, while the Cup of Cups first competition will take place on 22 August.MILS SUPPLEMENT[11] 'Living with Deeds for Half A Century' (Part 2)('Nova Makedonija', 5 July 1996)Taking into account the rich experience we have got in relations with Greece (while Macedonia was a federal unit of former Yugoslavia and during the last five years), we have to ask if we and our country are really incapable of dealing with the taken away properties issue. It is well known that Greece, besides denying us the right to the name our country, is also denying the existence of the Macedonian nation, which includes the Macedonian minority in Greece. Expelling of Macedonians during the Greek Civil War and afterwards, changing the names of those who stayed in the country into Greek ones, and changing the names of Macedonian places were elements of a long-term and well thought of intention to erase any trace of Macedonian existence on those territories and to prove that the 'plunder' of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) was of Greek origin. Democratic parts of the world call such policies with rather ugly names: ethnic purge, genocide, violation of basic human rights and freedoms of national minorities. That very same world had created a protective mechanism of institutions and norms against such policies, beginning from UN Organisation, Council of Europe and European Parliament, to OSCE and its documents. The Republic of Macedonia is a full member of all those institutions, and President Gligorov used his recent speech at the European Parliament to promote the problem of taken away properties from Macedonian refugees from Greece there and to suggest international participation or mediation in future talks with Greece on this matter. Because of the characteristic question of British envoy Atkinson and the explicit answer of Kiro Gligorov, we are fully presenting them both. ATKINSON: What are the other obstacles and opened issues with Greece, except for the fact that we can not freely and with a full right call your country 'Macedonia'? And what is Macedonian stand about those other opened issues? GLIGOROV: In principle, there are no other obstacles. Yet, there are issues in which citizens who were born in Greece are very much interested. They had run away to other European countries after the Civil War, and afterwards began to come to the Republic of Macedonia and settle there. They had been deprived of their homes and properties in Greece, which is a serious matter for every man in the world. A very similar thing is happening to the Bosnians nowadays. They have lost their properties and have run away all over the world to look for survival. All that had been created by them or by their ancestors had been ruined, or they can not legally return to their homes. So, if we neglect the sensitive name issue, the rest of the problems should, by my opinion, be discussed with arguments and facts presented, and maybe with participation of European Union organs. Solutions should be looked for those issues in order to satisfy the minimum requests of the people who had lost their homes half a century ago and have been living in another country since then, so that they could create new homes and provide decent living for themselves. The parallel made between Macedonian refugees from Greece and the Bosnian ones was adequate not only because of the similar conditions under which they had to leave their birth places, but also because of the current engagement of the international community in calming down Bosnian crisis and its being aware that true peace will not take place until the humanitarian consequences from the war are solved. It is a 'momentum' which should be used until the Balkan crisis is still hot, in order to support the awareness that there will be no peace and stability in the Balkans and Europe unless the human rights are guaranteed to the people (either as individuals or ethnic groups), i.e. unless mechanisms are established to give the refugees the right to return to their countries and to guarantee them security and peace. Actualization of the issue of Macedonian refugees properties at the European Parliament can be considered a part of a well thought of policy, i.e. a contribution of the Republic of Macedonia for peace, which was notified with the recent initiative of Gligorov to make a comparative study about the situation of national minorities in all Balkan countries. This in order to prevent the 'countries' from supporting nationalism and to disable nationalism to de-stabilize the countries. (end)mils news 08 July, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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