Another Political Party of the Albanians

A Newcomer in an Evil Hour

Although the initiators of a new party in the Albanian political bloc – the National Democratic Party (NDP)- claimed that it was founded at the best moment, the events proved them wrong much earlier than they thought possible.

AIM Skoplje, March 17, 2001

Within the corps of political parties which consider themselves representatives of Albanians' political interests in Macedonia, a new political party has been formed on March 10. No one from the two parliamentary parties of Albanians - Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP)- attended the founding ceremony which is not surprising bearing in mind the fact that a part of top leadership has more or less broke up with the policy of both these parties. Representatives of parties which have some form of Macedonian determinant it their name or programme did not attend either, but that is quite usual in the local political setting.

Namely, for better understanding of the local political situation it should be said that Macedonia has applied the Balkan prescription of political grouping according to solely national criteria. If in other states formed on the territory of former Yugoslavia there are political parties which have equal number of members of different nationalities which would indicate some kind of civil concept, in Macedonia even parties which purport to have civil character did not manage to bring together Macedonians and, let's say, Albanians under the same flag. That is the explanation why no one expected the new party to be an exception; here, its national homogeneity is something that goes without saying.

The new party has found its stronghold in former political prisoners, among women, students, intellectuals. Many have added a prefix "dissatisfied" to each of these groups wanting to emphasise that NDP should represent a "third way". Thanks to the fact that two former delegates from the Albanian parliamentary parties are among its founders, NDP directly got into Parliament.

At first glance to a less informed observer the programme guidelines of the newly established party do not differ much from that of the two established parties: it demands the change of the Macedonian Constitution in order to ensure equitable status of the Macedonian and Albanian nations, equalising of the status of the Macedonian and Albanian language, a possibility for Albanians to be educated in their mother tongue at all levels, legalisation of the Tetovo University, etc. However, what is new is that the new party has reactivated the idea from the 1992 Albanian referendum on the establishment of political and cultural autonomy in Western Macedonia (Ilirida), which should serve as an introduction into the federalisation of the country. Kastriot Haxhirexh, President of the National Democratic Party, explained to the press that 97 percent of the Macedonian Albanians had turned out at the mentioned referendum, out of which 94 percent voted in favour of Ilirida.

The fact is that both the Party of Democratic Prosperity and the Democratic Party of Albanians, each at its own time, have once advocated the same. However, the hitherto practice has shown that the mentioned ideas were very profitable in pre-election campaign as was the case with the Party of Democratic Prosperity at the 1994 elections and the Democratic Party of Albanians four years later. The result of both cases of advocating national interests was first, that the PDP joined a rather dubious coalition with the Social-Democratic Alliance and, second, that DPA joined forces with even more questionable VMRO-DPMNE ("the most-Macedonian party" as it liked to call itself) of Ljupco Georgievski.

However, by becoming a part of the authorities both the current partner in Georgievski's Cabinet, as well as its predecessor in Branko Crvenkovski's Government all lost their cutting edge and could be hardly heard when presenting their programme demands below their breath. And vice versa. That is why there are very few who believe in the rewarmed revolutionary character of PDP, a party which from the time it left coalition with the Social-Democratic Alliance, more precisely since it stepped down from power, is having a hard time. Known for its war cries and rallies at which it was able to gather a thousand of sympathisers in trance, by allying itself with Ljupco Georgievski (a man of a similar pedigree and mind-set), the Democratic Party of Albanians and its leader Arben Xhaferi became soft as a "rabbit's tail"; in contemporary political terminology such behaviour is called "cooperativeness". In other words, although the political objectives of all thinking Albanians in Macedonia have remained the same, but methods for their attainment are different. Or, it is a matter of speed by which someone can (or thinks he can) achieve the proclaimed.

It is this interspace which the National Democratic Party used and announced civil disobedience as a possible method for achieving its political objectives. However, the coalition Democratic Party of Albanians saw the newcomer as a threat much before it actually appeared. Already two months ago, the Government's daily "New Macedonia" had been entrusted with a task of discrediting this party's frontmen on behalf of its coalition partner. The Government's paper went too far in linking the former promising Gostivar Mayor Rufi Osmani (who parted ways with the DPA after abolition in the case of Albanian flags displayed on state buildings) with plans on the foundation of a new party. Osmani immediately denied claims that he intended to form a party.

Also mentioned in the state papers were the DPA delegate Fadil Bajrami, who really became one of the initiators of the National Democratic Party, as well as Xhevad Ademi, President of the Association of Albanian Political Prisoners, who became the NDP Secretary General. The "New Macedonia" took advantage of the political situation to accuse the mentioned politicians of being the sponsors of the National Liberation Army which the media only sporadically mentioned at that time. Nevertheless, in the meantime many others adopted the logic of the "New Macedonia" so that frequent comments appeared on NDP actually being a political wing of the National Liberation Army. Firm denial of the NDP President, Kastriot Haxhirexh did not help much.

On March 14, an unfortunate rally was held in Tetovo under a slogan "Stop to State Terrorism against the Albanians" which both directly and indirectly, voiced its support for the National Liberation Army (NLA)! One of the organisers of this rally was the Association of Albanian Political Prisoners. This was reason enough for some analysts to draw a parallel between that association and the NDP Secretary!? That the new political party carries quite a remarkable political weight from the very start was proven by the fact that the American Envoy for the Balkans, James Pardew who could be hardly considered uniformed on the local political circumstances, met with its leadership. This is a fact that may, but doesn't have to mean something.

On Friday, the Macedonian Parliament (Sobranje) started its session behind closed doors. It is assumed that much was discussed during long breaks, mostly about the formation of the Government of national unity, but reporters got an "interesting hint" that three Albanian parliamentary parties were "cooking" the platform of the Albanian political bloc. The essence of this platform is to demand the halting of military operations of the Macedonian security forces, but also armed Albanians, and creation of space for initiating a dialogue on Albanian demands. Later on, Arben Xhaferi, the DPA leader, relativised this information stating that at this moment any homogenisation on ethnical basis could prove harmful.

From the very beginning of the current crisis, in their statements the prominent representatives of the Albanian political parties showed readiness to find a way for starting a dialogue. Unofficially, it could be heard that all three political parties have tried to establish some connections with the extremists, but it could not be ascertained whether their commanders were ready to trust them with the objectives of their struggle. It could be consequently assumed that the creation of a uniform platform of the Albanian parties should mollify even the most fanatic extremists. It is, however, quite another question whether they have taken up arms precisely because of the inefficiency of leaders who placed their personal interests above the national ones.

AIM Skoplje

ZELJKO BAJIC