Inter-Ethnic Relations after Kosovo Events

"ONLY SLOBA KNOWS HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM"

While messages from the top of the state pyramid are sent abroad about the inter-ethnic idyll being finally achieved in the country, dramatic national polarisation is at the same time going on at its foot.

AIM Skopje, 25 March, 1998

In its latest article on possible repercussions of the Kosovo crisis, a Skopje magazine, which could never be suspected of being inclined to the authorities, suggests that it is not Kosovo that is in question, but rather Macedonia. It is indicative that a similar thesis is present in a large number of titles in papers with completely different ideological orientation. Admittedly, editorials with "question marks", "exclamation marks" and all sorts of punctuation combinations imply different degrees to which the Macedonian state is threatened, but at the same time speak about coordination in that part of the Macedonian public which defines and expresses its private and official reasoning in the official language and all that in connection with the possible "spilling over of the Kosovo problem" to this side of the border. With such an interpretation of the situation, the other part of Macedonia, which privately (hoping that it will become official one day) uses the Albanian language, is mostly seen as a part which by its daily moves only proves that the original thesis is grounded.

Well-versed observers will easily notice that the Kosovo danger, if it can be called that, hanging over Macedonia, has two different forms. Thus, there is an objective fear that the Kosovo contradictions will escalate into broader-scale armed conflicts and that the war might spread onto the entire region where, considering its geo-political position, Macedonia would be the first in the line of fire. Although some journalists are boasting about possible participation of Macedonia in this context, the official authorities are well aware of the facts and are trying, and will most probably succeed, to draw water to their own mill.

Officially, Skopje has accepted all moves of the international community aimed at pacifying Kosovo, acknowledging the leading (and the most important) role of its "first" ally - the USA. In return it received guarantees that this state will not be left in a "security vacuum", which translated into practical diplomatic language means that, if nothing else, it will not be denied the preventive armed mission of the United Nations it had so far. Reminding that Macedonia secured the last extension of the Peace Forces mandate only after a crisis that ensued after the last year's fall of the Berisha's regime in Tirana, some of the local opposition circles warn that the current authorities are taking advantage of other people's troubles to their own benefit on the internal plane. Allegedly, the current authorities will abuse the continued presence of the UN Peace Forces and the possible arrival of American or multinational NATO troops, as a propaganda trump card at the parliamentary elections this fall. But, this only confirms that every policy, the internal and foreign alike, is essentially a personnel policy.

The other form of the danger from escalation of the Kosovo problem, because of which the "Macedonian" part of Macedonian media favour the mentioned titles, comes directly from within this state. Unrest and violence on the other side of the northern border have only introduced new unknowns into the squaring of the Macedonian ethnic circle. Here, the Albanian ethnos (approximately one fourth of the total population, according to the last census), whose collective political ambitions is to delete the attribute "minority" characterizing its constitutional rights, has the greatest possible understanding for the demands of its Kosovo compatriots, including those most radical ones. Judging by some declarations, citizens of the Albanian nationality would gladly personally take part in the struggle for the attainment of these goals, if need be.

The official Skopje, but also the entire "Macedonian bloc", have declared their reservations in this respect, contemplating in advance how the level to which the Kosovo Albanians will succeed to realize their ambitions, might later be reflected on the extent of demands of local Albanians in some future negotiations, sincerely desired by the official authorities. Although no one said so, the impression is that an average Macedonian, including his political representatives, would be favourably inclined to the form of autonomy guaranteed by the 1974 Constitution, rather than to some higher forms of independence. Especially not to the full independence, outside FRY.

The Macedonian officials have so far stated that the Kosovo problem has to be resolved within the existing borders, but some local circles are especially enthusiastic about such a solution after Stroub Talbot has forwarded an intriguing thesis in Skopje that the existence of one state depends of the extent to which all its citizens regard it as their own. This obvious relativization of some of the hitherto principles of the international community in whose preservation, incidentally, billions of dollars have been invested, was totally ignored by the local media. But, on the face of it, it did not go unnoticed. Unfortunately, Macedonia cannot hide the fact that a large share of local Albanians do not feel at home in their own state and even do not try to hide their frustrations.

Namely, there is an apparent discrepancy between the everyday attempts of the Macedonian parties in power and their coalition partners from the pragmatic wing of the Albanian political bloc, to maintain at least a minimum of tolerance and constructive political dialogue on the one hand, and disappointing distancing of these two ethnoses in everyday life, on the other. It is therefore possible for the top of the social pyramid to send abroad messages on the definite achievement of interethnic idyll at the time when dramatic national polarization is going on at its foot.

At their rallies of support to Kosovo held in Tetovo, Skopje and Debar, the local Albanians have shown that they do not care in the least what the official authorities think about all this, and according to some, even more than that. In return, they have been totally ignored by their Macedonian fellow citizens as regards solidarity with the terrorized Kosovo people, but also exposed to numerous, more or less, explicit accusations regarding their loyalty to their own country. Willy-nilly, one must admit that an even deeper gap has been created between two parallel worlds in which two biggest local ethnoses live, and those observers inclined to extremes who call the collective emotions existing between Macedonians and Albanians hatred, have won additional arguments.

It is hard to determine how much, for example, the broadcasting of the Albanian national anthem in the middle of Skopje contributed to this, but there is an impression that the reputation of the northern neighbour has suddenly grown in the eyes of an ordinary local citizen of Macedonian nationality. Those who always thought that "only Sloba knows how to deal with them" have been joined by an increased number of the like-minded. This does not necessarily mean that there is a real danger of institutional linking of Skopje and Belgrade on some "Slav" or orthodox basis, in other words of an inter-state anti-Albanian coalition. Recently, the Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov himself harshly criticized those forwarding such thesis. However, a realistic danger of non-institutional polarization on religious basis should not be totally ruled out as it would take back the wretched Balkan region from the end to the beginning of the century into which it has stepped as a region in which two civilizations, two worlds and two opposite political ideologies, have irreconcilably clashed .

AIM Skopje

BUDO VUKOBRAT