IS THE "OASIS" JUST A MIRAGE?

AIM Skopje, June 24, 1996

Recently, a case of apartheid was revealed in a recreation centre in Skopje, where membership cards seem to be issued only based on national or religious affiliation. This is in fact just the "tip of the iceberg" underneath which are problems accumulated over the years, which threaten to disperse the image of Macedonia as the "oasis of peace".

At the time when in a few of the former Yugoslav republics the war was either waged or they were in one way or the other (directly or indirectly) involved in it, by a miracle Macedonia managed to avoid this horror. Then and now, this "miracle" was attributed to good interethnic relations, and primarily to tolerance among the Macedonians and the Albanians who are the two largest ethnic communities in the country. Satisfied with such course of development, at the time, the President of Macedonia described his country as the "oasis of peace" (in the tumultous Balkans) and soon this syntagm was broadly used.

This image adopted also by the international community was the main trump card of Macedonia in the process of its acquision its international sovereignty. Good marks that it got for "good behavior" in the sphere of human rights with the stress on the rights of ethnic groups, gave Macedonia much better chance to become a member of various European or international organizations and institutions than the other newly founded states after collapse of communism in eastern and central Europe, although Macedonia was in fact in a much more difficult situation. One should just mention the endless problems it had with Greece, which have not been resolved to this day.

It is true, however, that the ethnic groups themselves, whose status was assessed with such high marks, manifested clear signs of discontent all this time, especially the Albanians as the largest non-Macedonian community (according to official data, 23 per cent of the population). However, this discontent was considered as a normal reflex of the aspiration towards an even better status. External factors have, nevertheless, been highly attentive all this time to see to it that the authorities do not ever "forget" their obligations towards the non-Macedonians, aware that a mistake in this sense would lead to tearing down of the position of the country in the region and in the world built with so much effort.

When everybody started to believe that the interethnic relations in Macedonia were just a question of routine, the public was simply shocked with the news that in a recreation centre in the midst of Skopje, at the popular Olympic Swimming Pool, methods of classical apartheid were applied! Responsible officials at the entrance of the recreation centre applied a simple method of selection. For anyone to buy a ticket it was necessary to have a membership card, and the membership card could be obtained only if that someone was a Macedonian, or at least a non-Muslim. If someone wished to enter the swimming pool and happened to be an Albanian, a Turk or a member of any other ethnic group of the Muslim religion (non-Macedonians who are not Muslims are excluded), he was simply told that "there are no membership cards for this year". This story was verified by a journalist who is an Albanian and who experienced the same destiny as the citizens who had alarmed the media. The story was corroborated by a journalist of Macedonian origin who just an hour after his colleague had been refused, got a membership card and the right to buy a ticket for the swimming pool!?

This case which, being quite unbelievable, caused quite a shock among those who thought that Macedonia now more than ever deserved the epithet of "the oasis of peace", or at least of being close to it, immediately got its (inevitable) political dimension, but at the same time opened a few dilemmas. The main and unavoidable dilemma, especially among the Albanians was: had we all been dilluding ourselves all this time? The feeling of being cheated among the Albanians without doubt is originated in the fact that they had been promised certain things, but always with a note that they had to be patient "until things settled down", and now when things seem to have settled down, they are presented with nothing but apartheid itself!?

Macedonian opposition, the one which is usually called nationalistic, hurried to remind the Albanians that they themselves were to blame for this, because they had contributed to such an outcome by participation in the government coalition. It is interesting that this assessment coincides with the stances of the opposition parties which gather the Albanians who believe that participation in the government means legalization of discrimination against the Albanians. Who is right and who is wrong in these assessments will remain in the sphere of speculations, but there is no doubt that the Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity which participates in the executive power of the country will not be able to ignore this. Especially because the case of the Olympic Swimming Pool is just the tip of the iceberg underneath which are "thick" layers of accumulated problems which make coexistence in the executive power hardly endurable.

As a reminder in favour of this statement, the case of the University in Tetovo should be mentioned, which simply hovers in the political skies of Macedonia with all its threats and solutions. For the time being this case which caused quite a small war in which a citizen (of Albanian origin) lost his life, is still waiting to be resolved. The issue of the use of language in the parliament is also still waiting to be resolved, and for that reason rules of procedure have not been adopted for five years now. The Albanian party in power explicitly declared that it would leave the government and even the parliament if these issues were resolved in the manner contrary to their demands, and nothing to say about the opposition.

So far the Albanian party PDP which is a coalition member of the Government tried to convince its voters that participation in the power was the best way to improve one's position in the state, but after this case of apartheid, there is no doubt it will be much more difficult to advocate this view. Especially because specific figures about improvement of the position of the Albanians do not speak in favour of this allegation. Participation of the Albanians in the public sector still continues to amount to about three per cent and at the same time some of their rights acquired in the previous period when Macedonia was a part of former Yugoslavia have not been returned to them.

These indicators could be a fire which fuel is added to in the form of the case of the "Olympic Swimming Pool" which is already believed not to be the only one. And this could be concluded on the basis of some publicly uttered allegations that this was just the result of the communist model of integration which was founded on a specific ideology and not on practical, real needs and interests of the people. That this stance is not just the result of extremist contemplations may be illustrated by the fact that on a tv channel or radion station, for instance, it is quite impossible to hear a song or any other cultural contents in the "other" language. Even if an excuse could be found for the Albanians in the fact that they have just a few hours of program in which they are doing their best to preserve their national culture, it remains puzzling how come the Macedonians have no opportunity to hear anything about the life and culture of their compatriots of different ethnic origin. If this is an expression of true needs or interests of the people, it simply turns out that people do not need each other. And then, the question arises what is there to keep these people together?

IBRAHIM MEHMETI