Demonstrations of the Albanians in Macedonia

Can Rating be Saved in the Street?

AIM Skopje, 21 April, 1998

Exactly nine months after the bloody events in Gostivar, on 9 April this year, by now the already former mayor Rufi Osmani started serving the sentence in prison which he earned because of these events. His latest attempt to convince the Constitutional Court of Macedonia to protect his "right to free thought and to public expression of opinions" ended unsuccessfully. The Constitutional Court assessed that Osmani's role during disorders in Gostivar had exceeded the limits of the mentioned freedoms, that is, that it included elements of stirring up ethnic, racial and religious hatred and intolerance.

The Constitutional Court practically confirmed allegations of the court of the first instance which sentenced Osmani for the mentioned deeds to thirteen years and eight months in prison. Later on the Court of Appeal in Skopje reduced the sentence to seven years, and this is the one Osmani has just begun serving. When the Court of Appeal passed the "alleviating" sentence, the Macedonian public shivered with trepidation in expectation of the day when the mayor of Gostivar would begin serving his sentence. The fear was the result of the assumption that this case could further raise the already high political temperature in the country due to the escalation of the latest crisis in Kosovo and its, although in a more moderate form, reflection on Macedonia. That fear was not unfounded was shown by statements of the leaders of the Democratic Party of the Albanians (DPA) who announced mass demonstrations of the Albanians if the Constitutional Court confirmed the allegations of the court of the first instance. Some observers of the developments in Macedonia even forecast that the arrest of the mayor of Gostivar could lead to open ethnic conflicts in the country.

Immediately after Rufi Osmani by his own free will went to serve his sentence in Skopje prison, the DPA made it public that it would activate the previously postponed decision that it would withdraw its representatives from the state parliament, as well as all the advisors and mayors in municipalities. This party, one of the prominent members of which is Rufi Osmani, at the same time announced that it would initiate organization of demonstrations in all the cities where the Albanians are the majority population or at least where a great number of them live.

Activities of the DPA in the beginning caused sharp reactions among the Macedonians, but were very soon alleviated, for two reasons mostly. One of them is certainly in the fact that the beginning of a series of demonstrations as a sign of support to Rufi Osmani conicide with the latest political love affair the main protagonist of which is the president of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov. The second, and probably the more important one, is the fact that the decision of the DPA was condemned by Abdurrahman Aliti, leader of the Party of Democratic prosperity (PDP), which represents the political will of the majority of the Albanians living in Macedonia and at the same time participates in the Macedonian government. Concerning the demonstrations of the DPA, Aliti declared that "considering internal and external circumstances, the situation is not convenient for taking such steps. On the contrary, I believe that such action would be detrimental for the Republic of Macedonia, for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, the Albanians inclusive". By qualifying the call to protests as wrong, Aliti announced that his party would demand from its members and sympathizers not to participate in them.

While the "Macedonian" part of the public assesses demonstrations which started on 14 April in Gostivar as the attempt of "Kosovoization" of western Macedonia, its "Albanian" part, largely, believes that they are primarily an expression of incapability of the DPA to act through the institutions of the system. More precisely, the DPA is indirectly accused of being incapable of fulfilling promises given in the campaign before the local elections in 1996. Although this party won power in two most important cities with Albanian majority, Tetovo and Gostivar, its representatives to this moment have not managed to meet pre-election promises, especially not as fast as they had announced and because of which they constantly attacked the PDP. There is no doubt that in it, it was unwillingly "helped" by the central authorities with its numerous obstacles, but this cannot be a sufficient consolation for voters who had expected express resolution of numerous problems. Leader of the PDP, Abdurrahman Aliti was more than explicit when he declarred that for his rival, the leader of the DPA, Arben Xhaferi, radicalism was necessary as a condition for his political existence.

This thesis, although indirectly, was best confirmed by the stand of the imprisoned mayor of Gostivar Rufi Osmani who, before going to prison, demanded from his fellow-members of the party that they would not use his case for any manifestations. Such attitude of Osmani is no surprise if one knows that he and the vice president of the party Menduh Thachi, who is also the co-founder of this party which was formed out of the radical faction of the PDP in 1994, recently had a big conflict, and afterwards there were speculations about formation of a new party with Rufi Osmani at its head. Although the split did not occur, this conflict had certain consequences which were added on to the already growing discontent among sympathizers.

The drop of rating which could be fatal for this party in the election year (parliamentary elections are scheduled for October this year) was certainly one of the main motives which induced the leadership to make up its mind in favour of street demonstrations to demand freedom for the mayor of Gostivar. Judging by the first reactions of the Albanians, it seems that the attempt of the Albanian opposition party to raise its own rating by organizing demonstrations in the street was not received as expected. Failure of the DPA to convince the PDP to take part in these demonstrations was, with no doubt about it, the decisive moment for further course of the demonstrations duration of which had not been set.

This split between the two greatest Albanian parties in Macedonia, which just a month ago organized together protests in support of the Albanians in Kosovo, at the same time marks the beginning of the election campaign. Therefore, each one of them chose its field of action. The DPA feels by far more comfortable among the masses of people, while the PDP uses this means only when it has no alternative. To what extent this move will improve the rating of the DPA, it is really impossible to predict, but it is hard to believe in a favourable outcome, moreover because of the impression among the majority of the Albanian public that the DPA is organizing these demonstrations in order to save its reputation because during the bloodshed in Gostivar it had betrayed Osmani. During the disorders on 9 July last year, not a single leader form the neighbouring Tetovo appeared in Gostivar where, by the way, no demonstrations had been organized "in protection of the Albanian flag", as it was the case with Gostivar.

In any case, it is necessary to wait for the say of the public until October when the parliamentary elections will take place. In the meantime, uneasy days lie ahead for the Macedonian government, because it is impossible to know what the next day would bring. Fear will most certainly continue to grow if tensions in Kosovo, which is just on the other side of mount Sara, continue to escalate.

AIM Skopje

IBRAHIM MEHMETI