In a speech on the Bosnian situation, given at Stanford University in California, the US Secretary of Defense William Perry said 'Should the UN decide to withdraw troops from Bosnia for whatever reason and should it ask for NATO support, we will take part in the withdrawal. We have troops in Macedonia as part of the UN peacekeeping mission there. If UN troops are withdrawn from Bosnia, there is a danger that the war will spread in the north to Croatia and in the south to Macedonia. In such a case there would be only two alternatives - either to withdraw UN troops from Macedonia or to reinforce the base with new forces.'
Henrik Sokalski, newly appointed Chief of the UNPREDEP Mission in Macedonia, had separate meetings yesterday with President Gligorov, Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski and Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski. Exchanging ideas on the situation in Macedonia and the region, they agreed that the new UNPREDEP mandate in Macedonia is useful and proof of the importance of preventive diplomacy. Following the meeting with Handziski, Sokalski said the rank of UNPREDEP in Macedonia has been elevated to a higher level, not due to aspects of protocol but because its assignments have been increased. "As UNPREDEP will be cooperating most closely with the Macedonian Defense Ministry, I am more than pleased with the Minister of Defense and the plans we have made", he said. Sokalski said the situation in Macedonia is satisfactory, adding that a great deal has been achieved over the past years in maintaining stability. The UN will also consider issues in the social sphere, he concluded. Handziski said the UN mission in Macedonia has been one of the most successful so far, pointing out the importance of the Macedonian authorities' willingness to cooperate. A special joint group will be formed, he told reporters, and contacts will be intensified.
Yesterday Macedonia President Kiro Gligorov left for Paris where he is to participate in the 40th session of the West European Union's Parliamentary Assembly. He will address European parliamentarians and will meet his counterpart Jacque Chirac, as well as the French Foreign Minister, the head of the French Chamber of Trade and Industry and executives of news agencies and accredited correspondents from Paris. The president will be accompanied by a delegation of the Macedonian Parliament, consisting of Nano Ruzhin and Panche Nasev.
The Macedonian Foreign Ministry issued a statement to inform that Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski has arrived in New York at the invitation of the UN mediator in the Greek- Macedonian dispute. The meeting will take place on June 21.
Yesterday Colonel-General Dragoljub Botsinov, General Chief- of-Staff of the Macedonian Army, began an official visit to the Czech Republic. He met with his counterpart Colonel- General Yirzhi Nekvasil to discuss possible forms of military cooperation.
A delegation of Italian businessmen led by Mr. Franco Fanali, secretary of the Institute Italia-Macedonia, is currently visiting Skopje. Mr. Piero Celsi, an architect, Mr. Carlo Ventura, representing Pirreli Tires, and Mr. Enrico Saquella, producer of espresso coffee and coffee machines, said the contacts with government representatives and local businessmen have been useful which will contribute toward the improvement of the economic relations between the two countries.
A1 Television reports of a visit yesterday to Skopje by a Greek delegation which met officials of the Macedonia Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance. The visit is interpreted as an attempt to thaw economic relations even before the political ones are normalized.
Due to a failure to meet legal criteria pertaining to the working of banks with mixed ownership, the Macedonian- Australian City-West Bank of Bitola was liquidated yesterday. The duties and obligations of the bank will be taken over by the National Bank of Macedonia, the same institution which approved the registration of City-West two years ago. All Denar deposits of citizens will be paid out by the end of the month, while foreign currency savings will be paid back to clients over the next year or two, until the liquidation process is finished.
At a meeting last week with Danish Foreign Minister Neil Petersen, NDP leader Iliaz Halimi said that the Government's decision to constitute a unitary Macedonian state has only worsened ethnic relations in the country and endangered the security of the region, Radio Tirana reported yesterday. In an interview with A1 Television he explained his view with the fact that foreign aid for Macedonia is probably due to a lack of knowledge of the situation in the country, particularly regarding the ethnic relations.
VMRO-DPMNE leader Ljupco Georgievski yesterday paid a visit to the township hall of Tetovo to meet separately with township president Shakir Aliti, vice-president Dragche Kuzmanovski, VMRO-DPMNE township members and officials of the local party branch. He announced that his party will enter into a coalition with PDP local branches in Skopje and Tetovo, as agreed at the meeting in Kicevo. Georgievski said the coalition is aimed at alleviating the tension and providing joint efforts to find solution for problems in Macedonia. He also said VMRO-DPMNE may enter into an election coalition with any party - including PDP - that will proclaim policy on a stronger and more stable Macedonia. Leaders of the Tetovo branch of VMRO-DPMNE bitterly opposed the idea.
The Cultural Association of Skopje yesterday held a press- conference to report that the Skopje Summer Festival '95 will begin June 21 and will last until August 8. Musical, theatrical and movie presentations will take place at different localities in Skopje, such as under the Stone Bridge, at Daut Pashin Amam, Kurshumli An and the City Museum. The program will be organized by the Association with financial support from the Ministry of Culture and the Township Assembly.
On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the death of Marko the King, the Institute for Ancient Slav Culture will hold a seminar entitled "Marko the King in History and Tradition" in Prilep on June 23-24. The president of the organizing committee Blazhe Ristovski told reporters that 35 participants from Macedonia and 8 from abroad have announced their attendance. The seminar is expected to present new findings on the Macedonian kings Vukashin and Marko and their role in the history of Macedonia, Yugoslavia and the Balkans.
(Delo, 16 June 1995)
The Macedonian Radio and Television (MRTV) is shaking, not because of its bad financial situation, program gaps and misinformation, but because of political constructions and combinations within the house of the ruling parties. Relieved by the fact that the opposition presents no considerable danger, the Alliance of Macedonia and its members are obviously engaged in intensive preparations for the next parliamentary and presidential elections. When the ongoing third communist robbery of the Macedonian nation, this time called privatization, is added to this, along with the current differences between the Alliance members, the result is a serious row in the most powerful medium in the state, which, by the way, is primarily used as a political instrument of the ruling apparatus before any other purposes.
The main protagonists on this purely political battleground are Mrs. Melpomeni Korneti, General Manager of MRTV, Mr. Sasho Ordanoski, Television Director and Mr. Gjorgi Varoshlija, Director of the Macedonian Radio. All three individuals are direct representatives of certain parties, coalitions or combinations of politicians, on the basis of whose behavior and professional decisions it proves easy to analyze both present and future situations in the Macedonian political scene. Prior to being appointed a general manager, Mrs. Korneti was presented to the public as a politically neutral professional, although a member of the Liberal Party and a protigi of Stojan Andov. Nevertheless, her authority was significantly limited once a new director was appointed to the television department - Sasho Ordanoski, a favorite of Gligorov and, as of late, a man of the youth stream of SDS. Ordanoski seems to be having more trouble with finances instead of with professional personal problems, especially since his political patrons lowered the material support. He is probably the first man on Korneti's black list of people to be sacked should there be further disloyalty. She is even legally authorized to make such decisions. In such a case he could be replaced by Zoran Ivanov (the same man who embraced Ordanoski in the first place) who apparently secretly wishes for the position. This would in fact bring about no political change, as (even Mrs. Korneti is probably not aware of this) he was included in the first campaign team of SKM-PDP and loyalties of this kind rarely die. The only change would be that his position is likely to be under constant control and attack. Ivanov would also have to transfer his 7 or 8 nephews and other relatives to the television department from the radio department, where he had installed them after having chased out a number of professionals whom he forced to seek employment with other TV houses.
Macedonian Radio's Director, Gjorgi Varoshlija, seems to be the most content party of all as he is enriched with the authority of the Radio (painstakingly obtained over past years and going back to when Slobodan Chashule was in charge), as well as with his own 20 years experience in the institution. Although in the midst of the political struggle Varoshlija shows no signs of concern, especially after he let the professionally problematic Ivanov go to television. He replaced Ivanov with a young journalist as director of Radio Skopje (the most powerful element of Macedonian Radio) and left the editorial job completely in the hands of experienced people in the Radio, who have still not succumbed to the political games. This is exactly why they are under pressure from people in Television and politics. All of this has politics as a background. What, in fact, is the entire thing about?
The Liberals are doing all they can to secure for themselves the space that is to be vacated by the 'retirement' of Gligorov (who resembles more a 'super housewife' than the leader of the highest state institution) and they feel self- confident due to the capital owned by executives loyal to the Liberals. An SDS without Gligorov, with the current fractionating trends within it, and with parts of the membership already inclining toward the Liberals (while the latter have strong influence in MRTV and the daily Nova Makedonija) clearly forms the picture of the main protagonists at the next parliamentary and presidential elections. The latter being a position which Stojan Andov has yearned for for a long time now.
This restructuring in politics explains the struggle in MRTV, since people in the highest positions will surely be replaced in this machinery which is used merely for propaganda purposes. In a situation where MRTV announces plans to transform itself by introducing rationalization (that is, removing the so-called 'technological surplus labor'), the political creators of its destiny will easily find employees who will voluntarily place themselves at their disposal, for the simple reason that they are not qualified to do anything else. As for the role and position of MRTV as a national institution, no one seems to be concerned about this at the present time.