[Prishtina-E] [AMCC-News] 1) Comment: Macedonians Turn Away From Ethnic Divisions; 2) Macedonia: Farewell To FYROM

[Albanians in Macedonia Crisis Center News & Information]

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1. Comment: Macedonians Turn Away From Ethnic Divisions
2. Macedonia: Farewell To FYROM

### 1 ###

Comment: Macedonians Turn Away From Ethnic Divisions
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200411_525_2_eng.txt

Referendum result shows public have no appetite for reopening old disputes.

By Ana Petruseva in Skopje (BCR No 525, 12-Nov-04)

There seems little doubt that America's decision to recognise Macedonia
under its constitutional name played a major role in the failure of Sunday's
referendum, which would have seen the reversal of a law that would result in
more power for the Albanian minority at regional level.

Macedonians largely ignored the nationalist-inspired plebiscite, as only 26
per cent of eligible voters showed up at the November 7 polls, well short of
the 50 per cent threshold needed.

The outcome was a defeat for nationalist attempts to derail the reforms
instituted since the ethnic conflict of 2001.   But it was not just the US
decision, announced three days beforehand, that killed off the referendum.

Even without this diplomatic intervention, it was apparent that most voters
planned to signal their approval of the multi-ethnic formula introduced
under the Ohrid agreement that ended the fighting in August 2001, and their
opposition to reviving old ethnic disputes.

The referendum about a law redrawing administrative boundaries within
Macedonia, part of decentralisation package which see more power devolved to
local government. Ethnic Albanians would become the majority in some merged
municipalities.

The legislation was passed in August 2004 at the Social Democrat-led
government's prompting, and is seen both as a crucial chapter in fulfilling
the terms of the Ohrid peace deal, and a pre-condition for Macedonia's
application for European Union and NATO membership.

The referendum has been a burning issue for months, jeopardising the fragile
relations between ethnic communities, and raising the dual spectres of
Macedonian partition and a "greater Albania".

The vote was backed by the main opposition force, the nationalist
VMRO-DPMNE, in company with several marginal parties. VMRO-DPME upped the
stakes with dire warnings that the new law would effectively split the
country in two by according the Albanians majority status in some regions.

However, the vote showed that most people rejected that argument, as well as
the idea that Macedonians will be forced to flee areas that come under the
control of Albanian-led local authorities.

It also demonstrated that the majority did not wish to see the nationalists
using the referendum to derail a deal which had already been approved by
parliament.

While the terms reached at Ohrid are not greatly loved by many Macedonians,
there is a growing acceptance that the peace deal has introduced a new, more
positive dynamic to inter-ethnic relations.

Nationalism may not have disappeared, but people on both sides have accepted
there is no alternative to a multi-ethnic society. The fact that the
conflict in 2001 was relatively brief and casualties were limited helped
this process.

The referendum campaign itself created more ethnic tension, and raised
suspicions among the Albanian minority that Macedonians did not endorse a
multi-ethnic society. Yet the low turnout showed that the majority among all
communities do back Ohrid plan.

That result should now prod the Albanians into proffering a hand of
friendship, and showing Macedonians that they have no hidden agenda of
secession.

Although the bulk of the electorate recognised - and rejected - that the
vote amounted to a power struggle in which certain politicians were seeking
to ride back into power on a wave of nationalist sentiment, that does not
mean that they were prepared to let the government off the hook entirely.

In the run-up to the plebiscite, opinion polls indicated that up to 60 per
cent of the electorate intended to exercise their right to vote. This high
figure suggests that people wanted to signal their anger to the ruling
coalition that it had failed to communicate its proposals for local
government restructuring to them properly.

The government urged voters to boycott the referendum, warning that a yes
vote would be a serious setback to Macedonia's efforts to join the EU and
NATO.

The international community reinforced this line. High-profile officials
including US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, European Commission
president Romano Prodi and Britain's Minister for Europe, Denis MacShane
flew to Skopje bearing hard-hitting messages that rejecting decentralisation
would turn back the clock.

Many local journalists and politicians condemned this as an unwarranted
intrusion - but some analysts believe the result justified intervention by
the international community, which has played a similar role in ensuring
that earlier decisions linked to the Ohrid accord were pushed through.

Over the past year, Macedonia has faced numerous challenges. In late
February, it lost its president, Boris Trajkovski, in a tragic accident. Two
weeks later, neighbouring Kosovo exploded in violence. A month after that, a
presidential election in Macedonia led to the government resigning as the
prime minister took over as head of state.

Throughout these tumultuous events, including the latest referendum, the
Macedonian people have displayed considerable maturity and an ambition to
move forward towards the goals of political normality and economic
prosperity.

Getting there is the next big challenge facing this small country. As
Macedonia moves into a new phase, shedding at last its fundamental dilemmas
about ethnic and political stability, and looking for a place in the EU
membership queue, the government confronts the crucial task of economic and
systemic reform.

Only when it reforms its judiciary, public sector, and impoverished economy
will Macedonia finally be able to rid itself of the stereotypical image of a
Balkan state permanently wracked by pointless tribal feuding, and so develop
into a stable, prosperous democracy.

Ana Petruseva is IWPR's project manager in Macedonia


### 2 ###

Macedonia: Farewell To FYROM
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200411_525_1_eng.txt

US recognition of Macedonia as the country's official title is welcomed
locally, but meets hostility from Greece.

By Boris Georgievski in Skopje (BCR No 525, 12-Nov-04)

Jubilant crowds gathered in the streets of Skopje on November 6 to celebrate
the decision of the United States to call their country Macedonia by that
name.

The Americans will now officially refer to the state by its chosen title,
the "Republic of Macedonia", in spite of bitter opposition from neighboring
Greece.

The Greeks have blocked international recognition of the "Macedonia" title
ever since the republic declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. They
claimed its application to a sovereign state signified territorial
pretensions towards the region of northern Greece bearing the same name.

The US move, announced on November 4, came only three days before a
referendum in Macedonia held to oppose new municipal boundaries - part of a
decentralisation package that forms a crucial part of the Ohrid peace deal
which ended a bout of ethnic fighting in the republic in 2001.

The decision was interpreted as a bid to strengthen the Macedonian
government's hand ahead of the November 7 referendum, in which a "yes" vote
would have upset plans to implement the municipal reorganisation law passed
in August this year. The plebiscite failed when only a quarter of the
electorate showed up at the polls.

Macedonia has proved an ally in the United States-led campaigns in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

"We have now decided to refer to Macedonia officially as the Republic of
Macedonia," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher announced in
Washington, heralding the diplomatic about-turn.

"By recognising Macedonia's chosen constitutional name, we wish to
underscore the US commitment to a permanent, multi-ethnic, democratic
Macedonian state within its existing borders."

Local politicians and analysts said the US move gave a major boost to the
country in its diplomatic struggle with Greece, which at times has
threatened to spiral out of control.

In 1994, Greece imposed a trade embargo on Macedonia and closed the border.
The embargo was lifted the following year, only after Macedonia amended its
constitution and changed the design of its flag, which the Greeks felt to be
too closely associated with their national hero Alexander the Great.

Under Greek pressure, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations
recognised the state as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" - and
for the sake of convenience the acronym FYROM entered common currency.

Most Macedonians strongly resented the clumsy terminology imposed on them.

"Goodbye FYROM, Hello Macedonia!" cheered the crowds in Skopje, where
President Branko Crvenkovski addressed several thousand people on November
6. After 13 years Macedonia had won "what it deserved", he said.

Macedonian jubilation has been matched by disappointment in Athens. In
Brussels, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis attacked the move as
"misguided and wrong".

Greece has threatened to veto Macedonia's membership of NATO and the EU
unless a solution to the name dispute can be found that is acceptable to
everyone.

"The European Union position remains clear that if FYROM wants to have any
hopes of joining the EU, they must find a commonly acceptable solution,"
said Karamanlis.

Athens said it would initiate more intensive talks with Skopje over the name
issue before the end of November. Skopje has said it too is ready to resume
the dialogue.

"We are prepared to continue to talks at the UN to resolve differences over
the name," said Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva. "We will repeat our stance
on the use of our constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia - in
international communications, and the need to find a mutually acceptable
formula that will be used only in our bilateral relations."

Matthew Niemitz, the UN envoy mediating negotiations on the name dispute
that have been ongoing since 1993, told Macedonian media that the US move
would undoubtedly have political ramifications, but that he too expected
talks to continue.

In Washington, Boucher stressed that the name-change should not be seen as
an attempt to prejudice the outcome to the UN-led negotiations. "We hope
those talks will reach a speedy and mutually agreeable conclusion," he said.


However, analysts in Macedonia agree that the US move, following so closely
on George Bush's re-election, has greatly bolstered the country's
negotiating position.

"With this recognition, the name dispute is practically closed," Denko
Maleski, a former foreign minister and previous ambassador to the UN, told
IWPR.

"Justice has always been on our side, as there is no previous case of a
country having a name imposed on it when it joined the UN. Now that both
justice and power are on one side, it is ridiculous to talk about
compromise. The time for compromise is long gone."

Maleski added that US decisions in the Balkans had historically proved
decisive. "The US stopped the war in Bosnia, ended the war in Kosovo, and
now they have recognised our name. When they decide to do something, they
stick to it," he said.

Former foreign minister Ljubomir Frckoski agreed that the UN-led talks now
had little to offer Macedonia, "The Americans have de facto confirmed our
own formula."

He suggested that Macedonia should avoid taking part in further discussions
in case they devalued the US decision.

"If we enter negotiations now, we'll be sending a message to the US that we
may reach a different deal with Greece and that their recognition was not
valuable," said Frckoski. "If we continue with talks, no European country
will follow the US example."

Kiro Gligorov, the elder statesman who led Macedonia to independence and was
its first president, said he expected the EU to follow the US move in time.

"I hope that Greece, which imposed this problem, will reconsider its
stance," he said. "I would like to assure the Greek authorities and people
that the name Republic of Macedonia does not present any danger to Greece."

Boris Georgievski is a journalist with the daily Utrinski Vesnik.
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