[NYC-L] protest

[Besnik Pula]

To the Foreign News Editor

Dear editor:

I was very much apalled to see your news agency help spread grossly
unsubstantiated and utterly racist claims made by Macedonian former
communists regarding the alleged "explosion" of organized crime rings in
Kosova ("Concern In Macedonia At Explosion Of Crime In Kosovo", Sep. 17).

The supposed "experts" that your news agency quotes are three former
officials of the Macedonian state, whom are now out of office and whose
political party is vying for power in this election year in FYROM. By
helping these politically bankrupt officials spread their anti-Albanian
racism, your news agency turned into a mouthpiece of Macedonia's former
communists' electioneering with their nationalist agenda.

Macedonia's record in its treatment of its Albanian population is quite
poor, and was especially disastrous during Mr. Gligorov's rule. His tacit
support of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's repressive policies in
neighboring Kosova during the last decade was obvious to most observers of
Balkan politics. It is no surprise that Mr. Gligorov and his former cronies
speak in this grossly overgeneralizing and defaming manner about Albanians,
what is surprising is Agence France Presse's treatments of these comments as
staments of fact and representative of expert opinion in Macedonia.

I urge your news agency to retract the news report in its present format and
issue an apology to those offended by it.

Attached below is a copy of the news report in question.

Sincerely,

Besnik Pula
Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
 


> Concern In Macedonia At Explosion Of Crime In Kosovo
> 
> SKOPJE, Sep 17, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Women, immigrants, drugs,
> weapons, cigarettes, alcohol: trafficking is exploding in Kosovo, warn
> experts in neighboring Macedonia, wary of the impact on regional
> stability and very critical of the international response.
> "Criminal activities like arms and drugs smuggling develop,
> connections are being made with well known foreign mafia figures, for
> example with the Italian Mafia, and they increasingly penetrate into
> some (western) European countries," Macedonia's former president Kiro
> Gligorov has warned.
> "That is maybe the biggest danger, that the wider region could be
> criminalized," he added.
> "The European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
> in Europe (OSCE) and all the other international organizations are
> partly responsible for the situation since they support leaders, for
> instance in Macedonia, Montenegro or Kosovo, who are involved in these
> criminal activities," said Pavle Trajanov, former interior minister.
> "I can see their motives, since those leaders' policies are against
> (Yugoslav President) Milosevic," Trajanov added.
> Ljubomir Frchkoski, another former interior minister, said he
> failed to understand what he called the EU's reluctance to act more
> decisively.
> "They are the main victims of the Balkans narcotics route," he
> said.
> Since June, more than 1,300 trucks with smuggled cigarettes have
> crossed the border between Kosovo and Macedonia, Trajanov said.
> "Everything is organized by the Macedonian government, (Albanian
> leader) Hashim Thaci in Kosovo and (President Milo) Djukanovic in
> Montenegro," Trajanov added.
> The cigarettes enter without being taxed via Kosovo into Montenegro
> and Western Europe, Trajanov said, adding that the smugglers were
> bribing ruling parties in Skopje with DEM 20,000 to 30,000 (USD 8,800 to
> 13,200, EUR 10,200 to 15,300) for each truck.
> Those parties had received more than DEM 130 millions (USD 57
> millions, EUR 66 millions) since June 1999 -- the end of Serbian control
> of Kosovo -- from tobacco, alcohol, coffee and fuel smuggling alone,
> Trajanov said.
> "Albanians are the main ones responsible. The Albanian mafias could
> not infiltrate into Macedonia for years and were not even present in
> Kosovo. But now they are spreading very fast," he emphasized.
> Trajanov warned that some criminal groups launched drug trafficking
> business and prostitution, especially with girls from east European
> countries. "The current chaos in Kosovo is now spilling over in
> Macedonia," he said.
> According to Trajanov, the mafias involved in drug business are
> concentrated in Kosovo.
> "Drugs are re-packed and shipped to Western Europe. Heroin comes
> from Turkey, across Albania or Macedonia, but currently mainly through
> Kosovo. Also a lot of marijuana is coming from Albania. It goes mainly
> to Greece and west European markets by trucks," Trajanov explains.
> Many criminal groups have made a lot of money since 1999 and "we
> have information that they are starting to buy new dangerous weapons,
> very sophisticated logistical and communication systems, and to hire
> instructors in weapons and explosives," Trajanov added, anticipating an
> increase of terrorist activities in the region.
> Meanwhile Frchkoski stressed that the main issue was to reduce
> organized crime in Kosovo, warning that the EU should share the concern
> since it faces the severest consequences.
> In Kosovo, between its UN civil administration and NATO troops,
> "there is a gap regarding the most important issue: tackling organized
> crime."
> "There is lack of special units with a police capacity. That is the
> most important issue now. That is why international structures there are
> not so efficient," Frchkoski concluded.
> 
> ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)