A Little Something from the Albanian Pandora's Box

AIM Tirana, March 24, 2001

The Foreign Minister of Albania and Chairman-in-office of the South-East European Cooperation Process, Pascal Milo did not succeed in convincing his colleagues to sign a joint declaration regarding the Macedonian crisis. Macedonia and Bulgaria have opposed the declaration which condemned the activities of the Albanian extremists, supported the Macedonian sovereignty, but also asked for the use of force in putting a stop to armed operations - a terminology apparently relating to both the Albanian fighters, as well as Macedonian Government forces.

At the same time, in Skoplje, during the Conference of the Presidents of Parliaments of the Balkan countries, Vice-President of the Albanian Parliament Namik Dokle at last moment blocked the Final Declaration and agreed to sign it only after references to the threat of Greater Albanian were deleted from it.

Although the Albanian stand was moderate and cautious, the Macedonian crisis has caused a deep rift in Tirana's relations with its Balkan neighbours. Although both Tirana and its neighbours have the same stand regarding Macedonia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the differences in the way individual sides view the Macedonian crisis and ways for settling it are becoming increasingly evident.

In all likelihood, Macedonia will not be the same after this crisis, nor will the fundamentally shaken relations between the Albanians and Macedonians irrespective of solutions that will be chosen. The Balkans will neither be the same, as it seems that the old traits have resurfaced and new paternalisms emerged. It is clear that this is crossroads of not only the Balkan corridors, but also interests. Actually, the Balkan Pandora's box has slightly cracked, but has luckily not been opened yet.

Actually, even before the Albanian neighbours had problems with the youngest Balkan state, Greece raised objections regarding its name which was a cause for the break out of the Name's War. Bulgaria had problems concerning the language. Serbia's problem were the borders and Albania's related to the Albanians in Macedonia, which account for one third of the population.

Nine years ago, when Macedonia proclaimed its independence, after Bulgaria, Albania was the second country to recognise this small Republic and in 1994, when Greece introduced a blockade against this youngest Balkan state, Tirana offered Skoplje the use of the Albanian port Durrese as a replacement for Thessaloniki.

The shots fired in Tanusevac, and then in Tetovo, could not but throw a shadow on the relations between these two countries. Albania openly condemned the use of firearms by the NLA guerrilla fighters, labelling them extremists but, in any case, avoided using the term "terrorists" which Skoplje prefers. Tirana wants neither the "Yugoslavisation" nor "Libanisation" of Macedonia.

On the other hand, while Skoplje (and other Balkan neighbours) claims that this conflict has been imported from Kosovo, for Tirana the crux of the conflict is the dissatisfaction of Albanians that has accumulated over the decade of Macedonia's existence. The theory of "Kosovo aggression" can serve as a provisional alibi, but ultimately it rather resembles the behaviour of an ostrich burying his head in the sand.

And while Skoplje and its Balkan neighbours live in fear of a phantasm of the Greater Albania, Tirana considers this a closed chapter. The Serbian nationalism was prepared in Belgrade, the Croatian one in Zagreb, on the other hand, the Albanian nationalism did not come from Tirana, but from the periphery or diaspora.

When Foreign Ministers of two countries Milo and Kerim met in the first days of the crisis in the Albanian town of Peshkopia, it was hard to observe any differences between Tirana and Skoplje. "Albania rendered full support to the Macedonian Government in undertaking measures in Tanusevac and other places where extremists have been provoking incidents. The message is that nothing will harm the relations between Albania and Macedonia, noteven extremists", said Kerim. But, by the transfer of crisis t o Tetovo and exacerbation of armed conflicts, the Albanian stand became more reserved. While Skoplje sees the solution in arms, Tirana is in favour of a dialogue.

There are no significant changes in the Government or opposition stand regarding the Macedonian crisis. Foreign Minister Milo stated that "Albania thinks that problems inherited from the past cannot be settled by arms, but only through a constructive dialogue of both sides". On the other hand, former President Berisha, who requested NATO's involvement in the settlement of conflicts, said that he would like "to remind Mr.Trajkovski that the Albanians have voted for him and Mr.Georgievski who is running the country together with the Albanians".

In contrast to the Kosovo crisis, when the Albanian territory served as a background for the KLA and when a kind of Ho-Shi-Min-transportation-trail for arms functioned on the Albanian border with Kosovo, there is no single information proving that this is the case now with the Macedonian crisis. While leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army came to Tirana to meet with its Prime Minister and NATO generals, no one in the Albanian capital knows leaders of the Albanian guerrilla in Macedonia.

President Trajkovski surely remembers how he was forced last November to phone the President, Prime Minister and even leaders of the opposition parties in Tirana to ask them to exert their influence on the Albanian delegates in the Macedonian Parliament to give their support to Georgievski's Cabinet who was fearing a fall after Tupurkovski had left him. But, if Albania has limited influence on Albanian leaders in Macedonia (the Socialists in power have good connections with Xhaferi and ADP, the opposition Democrats with Imari and PPD), then it can never influence the guerrilla.

Actually, all sides in Tirana fear the satanisation of Albanians, or more precisely the irreparable harm that this could make to the Albanian image and the hostility of the West this might entail. There is a fear that the armed operations of the Albanian guerrilla fighters might prove counter-productive and endanger the future of Kosovo. But, on the other hand, the press is more frequently featuring stories on the first success scored by the guerrilla: they have served as a catalyst in attracting the attention of the international community to the need for improving the status of Albanians in Macedonia.

Tirana currently has very little opportunity of influencing the events. In effect, it has started counting first refugees who, for the time being, do not ask anything except for transportation from Qafa e Thanes to Morina, along 300 kms long transit road leading to Kosovo. The fear of the escalation of conflicts, which could result in a great wave of refugees, is increasing in Tirana by the day.

The Macedonian test was more than enough to see the reaction of other Balkan neighbours. At the beginning of the Macedonian crisis, as if by magic, neighbours left behind them all misunderstandings and showed readiness to offer Macedonia troops, arms, helicopters, etc.

The offer of the Bulgarian President Stojanov to send troops to Macedonia undoubtedly signifies something that has never existed in relations between these two countries: the Balkan solidarity. To Tirana this sounded either as the Slovene solidarity or Bulgarian paternalism. Irrespective of the fact that the Bulgarian Socialist Government stated that it was against the proposal of its head of state on sending troops, the contents of the Military Agreement between Georgievski and Kostov signed on March 7 are still unknown. The Albanian President, Meidani refused to meet the Bulgarian Defence Minister during his visit to Tirana which was a clear signal that Tirana did not look kindly on the interference of the Bulgarian neighbour in the Macedonian crisis.

Also, the Greek offer to give Skoplje three helicopters was received in Tirana with much concern. Athens has asked permission to transport the helicopters over the Albanian air space, apparently with the intention of taking the pulse of the local officials. After Tirana's sharp refusal, it seems that the Greeks have given up the helicopter scandal so that Ukraine sent three or four helicopters to Skoplje.

At the time of the Macedonian crisis, Albanian Foreign Minister Milo and Serbian Foreign Minister Svilanovic met for the first time in Vienna. Only a declaration with general terms that mentioned "peaceful resolution of the conflict in Macedonia" and welcomed "the cessation of hostilities in the Presevo Valley" was issued after the meeting. Albania and Yugoslavia have just re-established diplomatic relations. Tirana observed with suspicion the Agreement on the Delineation of Borders between Macedonia and Yugoslavia and there were many who thought that this Agreement was yet another reason for heightened tensions.

It seems that the Macedonian test was rather bitter for the Albanians. According to the articles the daily "Shekulli" carried these days "instead of serving as a model for the future Balkans, Macedonia is proving to be a bone of contention for the Balkans of today".

AIM Tirana

Remzi LANI