MAK-NEWS 16/05/95 (M.I.L.S.)
CONTENTS
[01] MACEDONIA IMPORTANT FOR BALKAN SECURITY, CRUESEL SAYS
[02] MINORITIES IN GREECE DISSATISFIED
[03] PARLIAMENTARIAN BRIEFS
[04] AUSTRIAN VISAS TO BE OBTAINED IN TIRANA, BELGRADE OR SOFIA
[05] SLOVENIAN EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION VISITS MACEDONIA
[06] NOVA MAKEDONIJA ATTACKED FOR ANTI-BULGARIAN VIEWS
[07] SEMINAR ON TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
[08] MACEDONIA'S FIRST MINI HYDRO ELECTRIC PLANT OPENS
[09] HALILI ON TRIAL
[10] BOOK ON "MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIAN NATION"
[11] OAK FORESTS ATTACKED BY CATERPILLARS
[12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: CRUCIAL DECISION TIME FOR CLINTON (The Washington Times, 12 May 1995)
M I L S N E W S
Skopje, 16 May 1995
[01] MACEDONIA IMPORTANT FOR BALKAN SECURITY, CRUESEL SAYS
In an interview with Macedonian Television, US Assistant
Secretary of Defense Joseph Cruesel said "Macedonia is very
important to security and stability in the entire Balkan
region." Although it is a small state, he added, Macedonia
is highly placed in Washington's strategic calculations.
There is mutual satisfaction with the cooperation so far,
Cruesel pointed out, saying that productive talks are
expected.
Yesterday Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski met
his US counterpart William Perry and several other senior
military officers. Expressing thanks for the cordial
welcome, Handziski stated his satisfaction with the results
of the bilateral cooperation so far. Describing Macedonia's
readiness to develop the relations further, he underlined
his firm belief that the optimal solutions for the region
will be found soon.
To a reporters' question 'why is the US Defense Ministry
pushing its relations with Macedonia even faster than
Washington does', Perry answered, "Security in the Balkan
region is very important to the United States. This is
particularly so with the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia as it is in a critical position, placed between
ongoing wars in Bosnia and the southern parts of the
Balkans."
[02] MINORITIES IN GREECE DISSATISFIED
Macedonian Television cites France Press as reporting that
minorities living in Greece, including the Macedonians, have
condemned the discrimination implemented by the highest
Greek authorities. Greece was recently visited by an
international delegation of the Helsinki Federation which
met with representatives of the minorities and officials of
the Macedonian Movement for Balkan Prosperity and the party
"Rainbow".
The Macedonians expressed dissatisfaction with the daily
discrimination from the authorities, attacking the
government for refusing to recognize them as a minority. The
government, they told the Helsinki delegation, speaks of a
linguistic Slav-Macedonian minority of about 30-40,000
people; the truth, they claim, is that there are over
100,000 Macedonians living in Greece.
[03] PARLIAMENTARIAN BRIEFS
Tomorrow the Macedonian Parliament will hold a session.
Prior to the session MPs will discuss the information
submitted on the current situation in the tobacco industry
and the purchase of tobacco in 1994, the only point left
uncovered at the 17th session. Immediately following this
debate, they will begin with the 19th session, the agenda of
which will include several legal projects such as the Law on
Public Enterprises, the Law on Forming a Center for
Education and Training of Security Forces, the Law on Profit
Tax and the Law on National Defense. The session is also
expected to ratify agreements on cooperation between the
Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the governments
of Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria and Malaysia.
[04] AUSTRIAN VISAS TO BE OBTAINED IN TIRANA, BELGRADE OR SOFIA
Starting from yesterday, Macedonian citizens will require an
entry visa for going to Austria. Kurt Spallinger, ambassador
of Austria in Tirana, said Macedonians will be able to
obtain visas in Austria's diplomatic offices in Tirana,
Belgrade or Sofia. Applications for working or educational
visas are to be submitted exclusively in Austria's embassy
in Tirana. Applicants will be required to fill in forms,
present a photograph and pay 400 Austrian shillings.
[05] SLOVENIAN EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION VISITS MACEDONIA
A delegation of the Slovenian Institute for Education
arrived in Macedonia on May 14 and will be staying in the
country until tomorrow as guests of the Pedagogical Academy
in Skopje. The aim of the visit is to exchange information
on the work of the two institutions, particularly on
activities regarding the coming reforms in the elementary
and high-school education in both countries. The two
institutions will also sign agreements on mutual
cooperation.
[06] NOVA MAKEDONIJA ATTACKED FOR ANTI-BULGARIAN VIEWS
In its edition yesterday, the Bulgarian daily Standard
severely attacked the Macedonian newspaper Nova Makedonija
and its correspondent in Sofia, Branko Trichkovski, for
"creating an anti-Bulgarian spirit, in an attempt to
preserve the Serbian influence in Macedonia." The author of
the column in Standard says that Nova Makedonija publishes
pages full of hatred toward anything Bulgarian, explaining
this with the fact that reporters have been brought up with
a pro-Serbian spirit. Trichkovski refuted the entire article
in Standard, saying that it is completely unreasonable and
groundless.
[07] SEMINAR ON TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
A five-day seminar under the official title "Advancement in
Managing Trade Associations" started in Ohrid yesterday.
The participating organizations are the Lawyers'
Association of Macedonia and the Rome Institute of
International Development of Law. Several dozen lawyers from
companies undergoing privatization will attend lectures
presented by the renowned Italian lawyers Gianfranco
Macconi, Antonello Corrado and Alexandro Cordahi.
[08] MACEDONIA'S FIRST MINI HYDRO ELECTRIC PLANT OPENS
The first Macedonian mini hydro electric plant "Babuna" was
ceremonially opened yesterday near the Titov Veles village
of Bogomila. The plant was designed by Macedonian experts
and the equipment is made mostly by domestic companies. The
plant has two aggregates of a 400 kilovolt Amperes and will
be producing 2.5 million kilowatts of electricity per year.
The investor is the public enterprise "Elektrostopanstvo".
[09] HALILI ON TRIAL
The trial of Nevzat Halili, professor from the village of
Poroy and president of PDP-Party for National Unity, began
yesterday at the District Court in Tetovo. Halili is accused
of leading a crowd of about 5,000 ethnic Albanians on
February 17, 1995, and preventing police officers from
exercising their duty and implementing the law and the
government's conclusions on the need to prevent the opening
of the Albanian-language university in Tetovo. The defense
warns that the entire procedure is illegal and has requested
that the judges presiding in the court be replaced. The
court rejected the request as groundless.
Halili stated that he was too tired to go on with the
hearing and a new court session was scheduled for May 17.
[10] BOOK ON "MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIAN NATION"
The Macedonian publishing house "Detska Radost" has
published a book by Dr. Blazhe Ristovski which is titled
"Macedonia and the Macedonian Nation". The book is the
result of 40 years of research on the emergence, development
and affirmation of Macedonian national and cultural
heritage.
[11] OAK FORESTS ATTACKED BY CATERPILLARS
The Macedonian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water
Industry informed that oak forests surrounding Demir Hisar,
Kichevo, Gostivar, Bitola, Resen, Kumanovo and Delchevo have
been attacked by harmful caterpillars which, if not
destroyed quickly, are likely to devastate some 30,000 acres
of oak forests and then continue to harm fruit trees in the
area. This type of caterpillar can also cause allergies and
difficulties in the respiratory and digestive systems of
both people and cattle. In association with the Faculty of
Forestry the Ministry has formed an operation headquarters
for destroying the insect by aerial spraying of the
endangered areas.
[12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: CRUCIAL DECISION TIME FOR CLINTON
(The Washington Times, 12 May 1995)
Now that President Clinton has completed his ceremonial
duties in Moscow, it is time for him to concentrate on a few
issues that only the president can decide and which threaten
to become major disasters if not effectively and promptly
dealt with. One such foreign policy problem ticking like a
time bomb in the Southern Balkans is the plight of the small
nation of Macedonia, with its 2 million people living in a
country the size of Vermont.
As former Secretary of State James Baker pointed out in the
commentary pages of the April 30 edition of The Washington
Times, Macedonia's geographic position and 23 per cent
Albanian minority place it in a critical position to
determine whether the peace can be kept in this strategic
area. To help stabilize the situation, the Clinton
administration has committed 550 US troops to the UN force
keeping watch on Macedonia's border with Serbia, but the
most serious threat to stability comes not from the Serbs
but from the aggressive policy toward Macedonia being
pursued by our NATO ally, Greece.
Claiming Macedonia has misappropriated a Greek name and
flag, Greece is demanding a change of name and of symbols,
and Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou has imposed a complete
a blockade on all trade with Macedonia through northern
Greece to the sea in order to compel compliance. At the same
time, the powerful Greek lobby in the United States has
succeeded in persuading the Clinton administration not to
appoint an American ambassador to Macedonia, and it has
blocked a formal exchange of diplomatic relations.
Meanwhile, the pressures on the able and moderate Macedonian
president, Kiro Gligorov, are increasing with the
deteriorating economic situation brought about by the Greek
blockade. Macedonia has lost about 50 per cent of its yearly
export earnings. With Macedonia's gross domestic product
reduced to half of what it was in 1990, unemployment is
running about 35 per cent. These increasing economic
pressures have made it more difficult to deal with the
ethnic tensions between the Slavic majority and the Albanian
minority.
A recent attempt by the Albanian minority to build a
university for those speaking the Albanian language was
blocked by the government, but efforts have since been made
to improve the teaching in the Albanian language at the
college level. A more equitable treatment of the Albanian
minority is recognized as a priority by Mr. Gligorov, who
has maintained cooperative relations with the president of
Albania.
As Mr. Baker points out in his column, any attempt to move
decisively on the Macedonian question will compel Mr.
Clinton to "stand up to the Greek-American community that
strongly supports Athens' stance against Macedonia."
Conceding that the Bush administration delayed full
recognition of Macedonia because of political pressures
during the 1992 campaign, Mr. Baker admits his past mistake
and calls for "unambiguous condemnation" now by the Clinton
administration of the blockade, which only helps to de
stabilize a friendly and democratic country.
Only the American president is in a position to make the
decision whether to oppose the powerful Greek lobby, and
only he can weigh the possible political losses against the
national interest at stake. Given the danger that a de
stabilized Macedonia might light the fires of a broader war
in Kosovo, there is a clear need for a presidential
decision. A failure to act could have disastrous
consequences.
In addition to persuading the Greek government to lift the
blockade, Mr. Clinton needs to move quickly to open formal
diplomatic relations with Macedonia and to appoint an able
American ambassador. The failure to appoint an ambassador
was again the result of intervention by the Greek lobby, and
Mr. Gligorov needs and deserves the ambassadorial support of
one of our best Foreign Office officers.
NATO diplomats in Washington have been quick to warn that
the best way of containing conflict in the Balkans is first
to stabilize the prospective points of spillover, and they
agree that "one such very important point is Macedonia."
They call for diplomatic relations between the United States
and Macedonia to be instituted without delay, and they warn
that "Greece should be made to lift the embargo."
Pointing out that the European Union provides $5 billion
each year to Greece, they advise that "Greece would lift the
embargo tomorrow" if these funds were cut.
In a recent favorable development, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 5 granted a $55 million loan to
Macedonia. IMF officials said the loan was granted after a
marked stabilization of the Macedonian state finances.
(end)
mils-news 16 May '95
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