Political Prisoners Released

The Released Dangerous for Those Who Released Him!?

AIM Skopje, 15 February, 1999

After about eight months in jail instead of seven years he was sentenced to, former mayor of Gostivar (town in western Macedonia with majority ethnic Albanian population), Rufi Osmani is finally free. At the same time, thanks to the law on amnesty which has managed to pass the parliamentary procedure the second time (Gligorov had refused to sign the law after the first vote and returned it to the parliament for reconsideration), on 4 February, his colleague from Tetovo, Alajdin Demiri and chairmen of municipal councils of these two towns were also released. Their release marked the end of a black chapter in the history of interethnic relations in Macedonia which at the time when it had started - on 9 July 1997 - threatened to develop into a real ethnic conflict with unforeseeable consequences. In early morning on that day, Macedonian police set out to take off Albanian flags from poles in front of seats of two municipalities in which almost the entire power of the Albanians in Macedonia is concentrated and in which the "radical" Democratic Party of the Albanians (DPA) was in power.

The operation was especially severe in Gostivar where mayor Rufi Osmani in just a short period of rule (about six months) managed to create for himself the image of an unquestioned leader and even jeopardised his party leader in Tetovo, Arben Xhaferi. His charisma was an obvious (sufficient) reason for several ten thousand Albanians in Gostivar and other parts of the country to defend the flag and the arrested mayor who was under armed police control while the flag was taken down. An illustration that speaks in favour of this is that at the time everything was peaceful in Tetovo although the situation was identical and the stand of both mayors and both municipal councils had derived from the same party principles. As a consequence of the expressed people's discontent, three Albanians were killed in Gostivar on 9 July, hundreds were simply beaten up and just as many arrested, passers-by inclusive.

It should be mentioned that this was all happening while the Social Democratic League of Macedonia (SDSM) was still in power and that it has lost power in the meantime. When the coalition "For Changes" (VMRO-DOMNE and the Democratic Alternative and the Democratic Party of the Albanians) came to power, Rufi Osmani and Alajdin Demiri, the bearers of the idea of using of the Albanian flag, were released. However, release of the two mayors does not mean strengthening of their party!

In the first moments after release, just after he had come out of Skopje jail Idrizovo, Rufi Osmani declared to media that he did not feel as a member of the Democratic Party of the Albanians, and he proclaimed his, by now obviously his former chief, a sick man for whom politics was more important than health, alluding to rumours about a serious sickness of the leader of the DPA (which were confirmed by him). On the other hand, daily journal in Albanian, Flaka, which is after parliamentary elections fully controlled by DPA, except for a piece of news, did not report at all about release of Osmani, although at the time of his arrest and trial, he had incessantly been a face from the front page of this journal. It was very indicative that the mayor of Tetovo, Alajdin Demiri (who has remained loyal to his party) stated that after release he had not contacted his colleague Osmani. Leaders of this party have not done it either, although after his release, Osmani's house has become a kind of a place of "pilgrimage" (Osmani was even forced to inform via newspapers his possible visitors that he was postponing receptions in his home because of medical treatment). As it was possible to learn, he has actually gone to Ohrid for medical treatment because of problems with his leg.

Demiri's statement and the fact that Osmani was not visited by the men from the Tetovo headquarters of DPA was the immediate cause of speculations that Rufi Osmani had persistently refused to see the head of his party, Arben Xhaferi, while he was in jail. About two months before release of Rufi Osmani, Xhaferi proclaimed these rumours a fabrication and even accused one of the domestic journalists for imputations concerning this story. The conflict which had for a long time been swept under the carpet and which had broken out earlier has finally been confirmed at the initiative of the main protagonist who obviously bears a grudge on his party. To what extent Osmani's openness has contributed to the fact that his release was timed so that he he did not have even the theoretical possibility to announce his candidacy for the mayor of Gostivar, since the ultimate deadline for putting up candidacies coincided with the day of his release from jail, is subject to guesses although it seems that he was not keen any more on having this post.

The germ of the conflict between Rufi Osmani and DPA reaches back to the time when DPA was formed, since it emerged from the union of PDPA (Party of Democratic Prosperity of the Albanians) and NDP (National Democratic Party) in 1996. Discord between Osmani and his party arose because of his opposition to mecahnical union of the two parties instead of opening of the process for creation of a new party through high-quality selection. As a result of this discord Rufi Osmani remained without a post in the new party - DPA! In his interview for AIM last year (while he was waiting for the final decision in connection with the use of the Albanian flag), Osmani declared that "since my vision (of the union of two parties) was not taken into account, I assumed that it was not appropriate for me to be in the leadership of DPA". Despite this conflict, his relations with this party were at first correct. The mentioned interview for AIM can be used as an illustration of this, because he considered that the responsibility for the sentence of 13.8, i.e. seven years after the decision of the appelate court, lies primarily with the SDSM and the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) which were at the time of the interview still in power. To the question what he expected from the appelate court, Osmani declared at the time: "SDSM and PDP will estimate whether as a released public figure, I am pernicious for their election calculations". The mentioned coincidence of the day of his release with the deadline for putting up candidates for the repeated local elections, imposed a dilemma in the public "has not DPA become alarmed by its 'enfant terrible'" who had obviously denied obedience to his party!?

Although at the moment out of reach of the public because of medical treatment, Rufi Osmani is a name which is increasingly linked to creation of a new party of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. These speculations are also encouraged by the fact that after the "radical" DPA had joined the coalition government, political space for a "rightist" party has remained free in Macedonia, which cannot be filled by the left oriented PDP. Immediately after release from prison Osmani declared that he was not thinking of going in for politics again but hardly anybody believes that he will manage to resist the new challenge. Especially because he enjoys support of a part of the public for which he is very attractive, but especially because in Macedonia a critical mass of people has been created who are discontented with the policy of PDP and DPA after their agreement on cooperation in the elections which proved to be a failure.

There are almost four years until the next parliamentary elections, but since until the next local elections there are less than two years, the possibility should not be eliminated that Rufi Osmani will make a decisive move within this period which can lead to a change of political climate in the country. The key question for the Macedonian public at this moment is the one about the political direction which Rufi Osmani might take. Fear of radicalism which has subsided after VMRO-DPMNE and DPA had formed a coalition is rising again. It is very interesting that this fear is almost equally present in the ranks of DPA, but for different reasons. Leaders of this party are well aware that Rufi Osmani, with his charisma, can seriously threaten the space of "radicalism" which they had taken after the split in PDP in 1994. If Rufi Osmani should occupy this space, it will be difficult for DPA to return there because of its current participation in power, and it will also be especially difficult for it to remain on "moderate" ground where PDP is much more "at home". In brief, release of Rufi Osmani, which was one of the pre-election moves of the DPA, although also a "necessary evil", is turning out to be a much more difficult problem for DPA than it had been assumed while he had been behind bars.

AIM Skopje

IBRAHIM MEHMETI