Nonviolent Change Newsletter, Spring 2001

Protest Against BBC Coverage on Macedonia-Kosovo

letter from Dr. Biljana Vankovska

In respect to the BBC's coverage of events on the Macedonia- Kosovo border, I am signing the following protest: The continuing misrepresentation of the events in Macedonia by the BBC is giving significant support to the Albanian extremists' terrorist attacks on Macedonia. The frequently repeated BBC report in which an Albanian woman living in the border area to the Kosovo is quoted as saying, "The Macedonians are even worse than the Serbs" is an example of propagandist and populist quasijournalism in which the stability and future of one whole nation (Macedonia) is put at risk. The BBC is constantly (intentionally!?) failing to give a complete, fair picture of events in Macedonia, and especially on the issue of the extent of human rights that the Albanian population in Macedonia already enjoys. The BBC has not bothered a single time to mention the already achieved human/ minority rights of the Albanians in Macedonia. During the last 10 years of Macedonian independence it has become an inevitable practice that every government will have a coalition with the Albanian minority political parties. In the current coalition government, the political party of the Macedonian Albanians holds four key minister offices and several deputy positions. There are 28 Albanian MPs in the 120 seat Macedonian Parliament. Minority rights are extended to the maximum where education is concerned. The Albanian minority in the country has education in its mother tongue up to and including university level (a brand new Albanian language university is under construction at the moment). Many TV and radio stations in Macedonia broadcast full programming in Albanian. Macedonia had Albanian language TV programs much before even Albania had a TV station. There are numerous Albanian daily newspapers, magazines, and literature printed in Macedonia. Albanians in Macedonia hold high-ranking executive positions in public enterprises, army, police, local government etc. The Macedonian Army and Police have Albanian Generals and other high-ranking officers. In the municipalities where Albanians are more than 20% of the

 population the Albanian language is an official language of communication. This is just a small fragment of the list of rights that the Albanians in Macedonia have under the Macedonian constitution. Minority rights in Macedonia have been uplifted to a level much higher than what European conventions and juridical practice in EU countries prescribe. While there was war in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo due to basic minority rights violations, Macedonian minority rights democracy was flourishing. Dear staff of the BBC, is this what makes the Macedonians "worse than the Serbs"?!! Were Macedonians really "worse than Serbs" when they were the only ones who welcomed 400.000 Albanian refugees from Kosovo into Macedonia during the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia!?? Macedonia's stability in 1999 was sacrificed in the name of humanity and the readiness to accept 400.000 Albanian Kosovar refugees in the country while none of the NATO countries was willing to take no more than few hundreds of refugees. Is this the way you are saying THANK YOU for the political, strategic and logistic help which Macedonia gave to NATO during the Kosovo crisis!? Furthermore, your portrayal of ethnic Macedonians as "slavs", and not Macedonians, is insulting. When you report about Poles, Czechs, Serbs, Russians, Croats, etc., BBC does not certainly label them as "slavs". This letter appeals to your sense of responsibility, fairness and logic reasoning to prevail in the BBC reporter's coverage on the events in Macedonia. Macedonia and its 10 years of successful democratic practice are endangered by the radical, unreasonable, barbaric acts of Albanian guerrillas. Macedonia is the last country in Europe that deserves this type of irresponsible treatment by BBC! STOP the quasi-reporting from Macedonia! Give Macedonia fair treatment!

Excerpt from an interview with Dr. Biljana Vankovska in the Belgrade paper, Politika

Q: It seems that Macedonia is rapidly transforming from 'oasis of peace' into a 'powder keg'. How do you see the future of the Macedonian state?

A: The 'oasis of peace' has always been more a metaphor than reality, which brought good image to Macedonian state in the international community especially during the period of struggle for international recognition. On the other hand, it is also true that for ten years there has been a process of building a multiethnic society, a slow but persistent one. Regardless the fact that the achievements were maybe modest, they deserved whole praise because of the opposite developments in the other parts of the former Yugoslavia. In my view, Macedonia is losing its 'virginity' and is again transforming into a powder keg (i.e. re-gains its old historical attribute). However, today this powder keg is not related to the rivalry of the neighboring Balkan states over the Macedonian population and territory. The danger of implosion of Macedonian society is far bigger. The Macedonian state can have a future only under peaceful framework. Therefore the crucial question is whether the society has enough internal strength to resolve problems by peaceful means. Certainly, this approach calls for prevention of the negative external influences. It means that the violence should be stopped where it has its origins (i.e. in Kosovo), but also to stop wrong moves of the so-called international community.

Q: In spite of the condemnations that come from the international community and especially NATO, the Albanian terrorists have not ceased armed attacks in southern Serbia and northern Macedonia. The whole region is heavily destabilized. According to your opinion are we facing one more war in the Balkans or can we expect elimination of the tensions?

A: First of all, something like "international community" does not exist. It is euphemism and the real question is who has legitimacy to represent the states and nations in the world. The role of this so-called international community in regard to the current crisis in the Balkans is just declaratory and symbolic. It is quite absurd that the UN Security Council who once authorized the unique mission of UNPREDEP in Macedonia (i.e. deployed its forces BEFORE the outbreak of any violence), now when that violence is reality, it has nothing to say, but looks towards Brussels and waits for a decision to come from there. Your observation that we are coping with a regional problem here is very accurate, I do think that both governments (of former Yugoslavia and Macedonia) should undertake a joint action before the international forums and ask for coordinated measures. During the 1999 NATO intervention in Yugoslavia I was repeatedly speaking that Macedonia had become one of NATO's 'collateral damages'. I was also warning that soon one could expect spilling over effect in Macedonia (known as an 'oasis of peace'). Certainly, the international community is 'surprised' (once again!) with the developments. Macedonia has always had its internal conflict structure and potential, so it was enough something bad to happen and to take a role of a catalyst (in negative sense of the word) of the conflict cycle. I wish I could believe that the situation would be stabilized soon, especially having in mind the newly signed ceasefire agreement in southern Serbia. However, I am not so sure about the developments in Macedonia. The basic preconditions for peaceful solutions are wisdom, knowledge and courage to abstinence violent responses. Unfortunately, at the time being I am simply not able to identify internal actors who would be willing and able to promote the culture of nonviolence. The tensions are growing with incredible speed, and any reluctance to undertake resolute actions just worsens the situation.

Q: Are Macedonian security forces capable to control the conflict points in a long run, or even the predominantly Albanianpopulated areas?

A: The crucial security problem is not the border one, in spite of the whole seriousness of the situation (i.e. swift spreading of the clashes from one village into several others, killed people, etc.). The problem is not of a military nature and cannot be perceived through the prism of human and technical capabilities of the Macedonian security forces. The prolonged crisis on the border has had a strong echo in society, which is splitting from inside and becomes paranoiac in terms of the distrust between the ethnic groups, the loud cries for discrimination, state terror, more rights for Albanian minority etc. Counter-reaction on the Macedonian side is as expected: there are lot of talks about 'granted enormous rights', that there must not be any other steps on expense of the Macedonians, that Macedonians have no other state in reserve etc. In media there is a lot of hate speech, and people are more concerned not about the things that are said but about the things that are not said explicitly. The state apparatus can keep certain control over the situation for some time, but under such conditions there cannot be any talk about human rights, democracy, and peace. I would not like Macedonia to pay such a high price for its existence.

Q: What is really going on within the Albanian ethnic community in Macedonia right now? Some are engaged in military resistance, others stage peace marches, while the rest calls for federalization of Macedonia.

A: It is very true that something is going on within the Albanian community. Therefore the leader of the Albanian party (DPA) that is a partner in the governing coalition, Mr. Arabian Hxaferi has evaluated this current problem as internal problem of the Albanians, which should be resolved among them alone. There is a lot of rivalry, both in political and paramilitary terms, and what makes things very dramatic is that each faction blames the others for copying its own political agenda, which has been promoted since long ago. That agenda includes, certainly, more collective rights for Albanians, change of the constitution and federalization of the state, bi-lingual official communication etc. Unfortunately, none of the political parties claims to be a citizen-based party, because it is probably seen as a political suicide. DPA, the member of the governing coalition, is in an enviable situation between a hammer and an anvil: on one hand, it faces open accusations by the armed rebels that they have not achieved anything in terms of declared Albanian cause (the story that reminds a bit on the rise of Kosovo UCK and Ibrahim Rugova), while on the other side with similar accusations stand their political opposition and the Albanian part of 'civil society'. Because of its weird position DPA staged a peace march with dubious motto "For peace and justice". In other words, it was balancing between promoting peaceful solutions for the problems and keeping the integrity of the Macedonian state (which behaviour the international community expects from them), and from the other hand - it was flirting with the demands for 'justice' (which implied that there were injustices against Albanians in Macedonia). The most absurd aspect of the current situation in misuse of the concepts of human rights, justice and democracy as a mask behind which there are down-to-earth interests and agendas.

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