WILL THE SERBIAN MINORITY ACCEPT MACEDONIA AS ITS STATE

AIM, Skopje, March 15, 1994

Summary: There are several settlements in Macedonia where, as they like to say, native Serbs live. The preamble of the Constitution, in addition to the Macedonian people, lists numerous ethnic groups, but not the Serbs. Serbian demands in Macedonia include schools in Serbian language, TV and radio programmes, proportionalte representation primarily in the police forces in the stations where the Serbs live, and the demand to be mentioned in the Constitution. While their former President, Bora Ristic, pleads for coexistence, Dragisa Miletic, a Radical, is obviously attempting to homogenize the Macedonian Serbs.

Numerous political analysts in the Republic of Macedonia and elsewhere tend to claim that the future of this small state, as a land of of peace and coexistence, is the thinnest when it comes to the issue of relations towards the Serbian minority. There is a considerable amount of radicalism and anti-Macedonian charge among them. The major political factor is the Democratic Party of the Serbs in Macedonia (DPS) which is active for about two years, properly registered with the relevant state authorities. During all this time, the DPS appears to have passed the usual road of its own transformation maturing into a radical political power, after the Radicals led by Dragisa Miletic, at the Party Congress last year, got rid of the "Anti-Serbian" elements such as the past President, University Professor Bora Ristic.

According to the 1991 census, there were little over 40 thousand Serbs among the 2.2 million inhabitants of Macedonia. It would probably be wrong, however, to take this figure as correct nowadays. It is questionable how many Serbs remained after the withdrawal of the Yugoslav People's Army from Macedonia which was an important strategic territory for it and therefore there were always 23 to 28 thousand troops stationed in it, and a large number of members of their families, as well. It is well-known that the withdrawal of the Army was peaceful, without animosities and without a single shot fired. Many families, quite some time after that, when Macedonia finally became independent and sovereign, left Macedonia as regular passengers. But, the DPS claims that there are still about 300 thousand Serbs in Macedonia, exactly as some representatives of the Government of Serbia determined, without providing any proof for their claims.

There are, nevertheless, several locations in Macedonia where, as they like to say, native Serbs live. The major one is a part of the Skopje Montenegro, highlands in the vicinity of the capital, where there are a few villages with Serbian population, and the main political centre is the village Kuceviste with ethnically mixed population, where major political and national events in connection with the Serbs from Macedonia took place. To be more precise, one should perhaps say that Skopje Montenegro is the location with the highest concentration of those Serbs who fully support the policy of Slobodan Milosevic and who accept Serbian leaders - Seselj and Arkan. Right there, in Kuceviste and its surroundings, a few nationalistic outbursts took place, and close contacts with the Macedonian police, all noted by the Macedonian public with considerable concern, but it proved they had not ben deeply rooted, and did not acquire any serious dimensions. But this part of the surroundings of Skopje should, neverthless, be considered as highly susceptible to disturbances.

The preamble of the Macedonian Constitution, besides the Macedonian people, lists numerous ethnic groups. The Serbs are not mentioned, however, because at the time of dissolution of the former YU federatoion, the Serbs in Macedona (and not only in Macedonia) did not wish to accept the status of a national minority. They then initiated the issue of opening schools in Serbian, of TV and radio programmes in a state channel, proportionate representation primarily in police forces in the stations of the communities where the Serbs live, the issue of church services in Serbian to be held by priests who are Serbs, and finally the issue of being mentioned in the constitution. Just like the Albanians in Macedonia, ngotiations with the Macedonian Government began with Gurt Arens (??) as a representative of the international community and as the mediator. The already mentioned former President of the DPS, Bora Ristic, was the negotiators on the Serbian side. Some of the items began to form and signatures were placed on the minutes of the agreement. Mentioning of the Serbs in the Constitution was left for later (the Constitution is adopted by the Parliament), and concerning Serbian churches and services, the Government specifically stated that it was impracticable until the Serbian Orthodox Church recognized that of Macedonia, but that many of the remaining issues deserved consideration. The issue of the schools was, in fact, the choice of the parents and not of the state, and the issue of TV programme was resolved recently - a programmmes titled "View" was initiated.

But, by putting his signature on the minutes, Bora Ristic sealed his carreer in the DPS. The Radicals, supported by the media in the neighboring Serbia, started propagandana against Ristic and dismissed him as the leader, rejecting at the same time the document he had signed with the Macedonian Government. The TV programme was not accepted (noone knows whether because of the choice of the journalists or because of its contents). The Radicals are attempting to open the issue of their alleged threatened position, among other, from the aspect of the presence of American soldiers in Macedonia. In this context, they manifested devotion to Milosevic's Serbia and the "all-Serbian cause" by demanding that Russian soldiers come as members of the UNPROFOR to Macedonia, and they even sent a message that in the case of a NATO intervention agaisnt the Bosnian Serbs, it would be fatal both for Macedonia, but for the Americans too! Is their party leader counting on some armed formations of the Serbs? Are there such forces? There is no answer to this, except for speculations which are occassionally spread that Arkan's instructors are training troops somewhere in the Skopje Montenegro for a long time now!?

While the former President, Bora Ristic, who established a new party in the meantime - the Democratic Alliance of the Serbs - appeals for coexistence nd says that the TV programme in Serbian is "a democratic step forward", and calls on the Serbian Orthodox Church to negotiate with the sisterly Macedonian Church, as stated in the Orthodox terminology, and to recognize it officially, the Radical Dragisa Miletic, is attempting to achieve homogeneity of the Macedonian Serbs. It should be noted that the Serbs in Macedonia outside the Skopje Montenegro are loyal peaceful citizens, and that the intelligentsia "minds its own business" and is not joining any party. The Serbian Orthodox Church acts from the position of power, offering at first negotiations (it was important to include the Serbs in Macedonia), and then starting a new quarrel and interrupting negotiations. The Macedonian Orthodox Church accepts initiatives, but cautiously. "The Devil's Wall" remains, and the connoisseurs of the Orthodox Church claim that the mentioned dispute is one of the reasons why it has been impossible to convene "The Eighth Ecumenical Assembly of Orthodox Churches" for the last 1200 years. Will the offer of the Serbian Orthodox Church of ten days ago solve anything - certainly not. The dispute between the two states will also remain, at least while Milosevic holds all the keys - of both war and peace. Isn't Miletic just a passing figure? Today it is him, and tonmorrow it will be someone else. A Radical or a Democrat? It depends on the need!

PANTA DZAMBAZOSKI