Serbs in Macedonia

IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY

AIM Skopje, October 06, 1999

The last week's press conference went practically unnoticed by the public although the Social-Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party, used it to announce its intention, in the middle of the presidential campaign, to join the ranks with its one-time coalition partner the Socialist Party and, what is more interesting, it declared its support of some smaller parties, including the Democratic Party of Serbs and the nomination of Tito Petkovski for the President of the Republic. Reacting to the attempt of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE to isolate it by developing more or less successful alliances with other parliamentary parties, this largest opposition party rallied non-parliamentary parties which have unsuccessfully tried for years to attract the attention of voters. One of such parties is the Democratic Party of Serbs which, after years of internal upheavals (at least judging by the media in the Macedonian language), has won the reputation of the best articulated political representative of its compatriots.

True, some political analysts think that the Democratic Party of Serbs speaks only for the rural part of the Serbian population in Macedonia and, moreover, that its activity is almost exclusively centered around the area to the north of the capital which is called the Skopje Montenegro populated by Serbs living in either ethnically homogenous communities or in settlement in which they represent the majority population. Other politically active Serbs who live in cities are rallied around stronger Macedonian parties. In any case, such as it is, the Democratic Party of Serbs can count on limited influence in view of the statistically small number of members of this nation in Macedonia. Namely, according to the last official population census carried out in 1994, the Serbs represented only 2 percent of the total population (39,000), although same as other nationalities, they claimed to be more numerous. But, in contrast to others, the Serbs are not mentioned in the preamble of the first and, for the time being, only Constitution of independent Macedonia, either as a national minority or as an ethnic group. On one occasion, in its contacts with the official Belgrade, the state authorities promised to rectify this, but that has to be taken with reserve as no one can tell with certainty when will this highest act of the country be reconstructed.

The Democratic Party of Serbs had its "moment of glory" in the first days of the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Press agencies from all over the world sent the news that this party had organized massive anti-NATO protests in the streets of Skopje when several Western embassies were demolished. This information was only partly true because some other smaller non-parliamentary parties have joined in the organisation of protests. Criminal charges were brought against the DPS leaders. As one commentator, favourably inclined to the policy of official Belgrade, concluded with much satisfaction: "a small, non-parliamentary party managed to get tens of thousands of demonstrators into the streets". The following four rallies organized on the main Skopje square during NATO aggression against Yugoslavia went rather peacefully and did not attract much media attention.

Several bomb attacks on members and facilities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation at the height of the Kosovo crisis were carried out by persons of Serb nationality (as the media zealously pointed out) from the mentioned areas of the Skopje Montenegro. The media also insisted on the fact that the perpetrators were connected with the members of military-security services of the neighbouring FR Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, Pavle Trajanov, Minister of the Interior found it necessary to point out at one of his press conferences that political structures of Serbs in Macedonia were not involved in the bomb attacks. This remark came in handy in view of the rather rapid rise of political temperature in some villages around Skopje inhabited by Serbs. The papers wrote with much concern about armed night patrols in the villages of Kuceviste, Mrsevci, Mirkovci so that the reporters concluded that the situation resembled the one in Kninska Krajina, Slavonija and Bosnia at the beginning of Serbian revolt. The police was alarmed by these events the more so because the neighbouring villages are populated by the Albanian so that even a smallest sparkle could start a fire.

Conviction of fours young men for participating, as the Court had established, in the planting of explosive under a NATO truck in the organisation's headquarters in Skopje in June did not attract much attention of the media. The "four" were sentenced to 16 months in prison. One of the defence attorneys used the same argument as the media that one of the accused kept arms only to defend himself as he lived in the village of Mrsevci which is surrounded by the Albanians.

At its first press conference after summer vacations, leaders of the Democratic Party of the Serbs have condemned the activities of KFOR in Kosovo accusing it of ethnic cleansing of the Serbian population in the Province and of assisting the Liberation Army of Kosovo in this. Some reporters even pointed out that the vocabulary used at that press conference did not differ from the rhetoric of the regime-controlled media in Belgrade. Their impressions were confirmed by responses of the DPS leaders to embarrassing questions. Concerning opposition protests in Belgrade and demands for the resignation the FRY President Slobodan Milosevic the comment was that "it was up to the people to decide about their President at elections". About the activities of the opposition opinion of the representatives of the Democratic Party of Serbs was similar to that of the officials of the Socialist Party of Serbia who accused opposition leaders of maintaining contacts wit their Western mentors. The recent visit of Zoran Djindjic, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, did not attract much interest of the local political Serbian factors which was yet another proof that the Democratic Party of Serbs and Serbian opposition are on the opposite sides of the same street.

After last year's change of power the media, on whose reporting the Government has some influence, have stopped calling about the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia a branch office of the Belgrade regime. Incidentally, the DPS leaders themselves frequently gave reason for the same conclusion. Lately, there have been many articles suggesting that the Democratic Party of Serbs doesn't have a fully developed concept of activity and that it is still in search of answers to all questions which are of interest for the position and future of this nation in Macedonia. Apart from the mentioned constitutionally unregulated position in Macedonia, this nation still has problems in exercising its national, educational, religious, informational and other rights.

In their reports international human rights organisations have regularly pointed to rather modest possibilities for the use of the Serbian language in the media, impossibility to profess their religion, problems in the educational system as a result of the lack of manpower, etc. The Democratic Party of Serbs was well remembered for its reaction to the discovery of an illegal university in the Albanian language in the village of Mala Recica, near Tetovo, and the announcement of the authorities' intentions to legalize it. This party stated that that would provide an opportunity for all other national communities in the country to establish their own universities. In view of the number of Serbs in Macedonia, the media treated this as a good joke. True, some rather renown journalists tried to elaborate further on this thesis claiming that the legalization of the Tetovo University would create preconditions for political rather than educational activities of neighbours.

Electoral coalition of the Social-Democratic Alliance with the Democratic Party of Serbs might have come as a surprise, but it should not be expected to produce any long-term connections. For, while it was in power, the Social-Democratic Alliance shrank from speaking harshly about the situation in Macedonia, which is standard practice of the Democratic Party of Serbs. In any case, neither the Social-Democratic Alliance nor any other parliamentary party gave support to the DPS at rallies although some of their members might have participated in the spring anti-NATO protests. In their meeting with the press, representatives of the Social-Democratic Alliance did not disclose any details about the arrangement they have concluded, although some things sound quite logical: it is quite natural that this party's candidate at the presidential elections on October 31 will need the valuable ballot of every single voter, but what could have the SDSM offered the Serbs in return.

The shortcoming of the Macedonian electoral system lies in the fact that small parties like the DPS are not represented in Parliament. At all parliamentary elections held to date, the DPS did not have much luck with its strategic partners and was not able to make its voice be heard from the parliamentary rostrum. However, election of the chief of state cannot change much in this respect. Even assuming that the candidate of the Social-Democratic Alliance wins the elections he will find it difficult to co-exist with the opposing government coalition. In other words, it is highly unlikely that the Serbs will improve their position in this way. But, be it as it may, it is an important fact that for the first time since Macedonia won its independence that the Democratic Party of Serbs has decided to make a pact with a relevant political factor such as the Social-Democratic Alliance and thereby finally join in the political life of the country.

AIM Skopje

ZELJKO BAJIC