-Caveat Lector-
Ethnic relations in Macedonia at crossroads after
Kosovo
2.21 a.m. ET (629 GMT) October 30, 1999
By Jovana Gec, Associated Press
TETOVO, Macedonia (AP) — It may be banned, but for Nexhmedin Lika,
the
Albanian-language university in this western Macedonian town is very
much a
reality.
"We study here in our own language,'' the 22-year-old Albanian student
said. "The
Macedonian state will have to accept that.''
The clandestine university is one of many signs of the ethnic divisions
in this
impoverished country of 2 million, where voters will choose a new,
largely
ceremonial president on Sunday from among six candidates, including
two ethnic
Albanians.
Ethnic divisions in Macedonia, the only former Yugoslav republic to
have been
spared war, have widened after the conflict in neighboring Kosovo,
where 78 days
of NATO bombing forced Serb troops and police to withdraw and turn the
province
over to NATO and the United Nations in June.
The end of Serbian rule over Kosovo's ethnic Albanians has
encouraged
Macedonia's ethnic Albanians — estimated at 25 percent of the
population — to
push for more rights from the Slavic majority, including the right to use
Albanian
flags, symbols and language in western Macedonia where they form a
majority.
"A crisis like the one in Kosovo always revives existing problems,''
Arben Xhaferi,
an ethnic Albanian leader, warned in an interview with The Associated
Press. "An
ethnic uneasiness can reach monstrous dimensions. So far, we have
managed to
avoid any clashes.''
Macedonia's government, however, is reluctant to meet the ethnic
Albanians'
demands. The country's Slavic majority fears that concessions would
lead to a
division of the country.
Outgoing President Kiro Gligorov expressed fear for his country's
experiment in
ethnic tolerance amid the Balkans' ethnic polarization.
"I have, maybe naively, believed that a peaceful policy, without
participation in any
war, and creation of an independent Macedonia, can change
something,'' Gligorov
said this week. "But I was proven wrong.''
In Tetovo, a Slav resident, Tomislav Stojanoski, grumbled that ethnic
Albanians
have virtually taken over the town and others in the region. "Ethnic
relations are
being preserved artificially,'' he said.
Stojanoski claims the Macedonian government already wields little
authority over
the west of the country, which borders Kosovo and Albania.
Like many Slavs, he expressed fears that Albanians, with their higher
birthrate,
would over time dominate Macedonia. "We will become a minority in
our own
country,'' he complained.
In Tetovo, the Albanian-language university operates freely despite a
formal ban.
Red and black Albanian national flags are a feature of campaign rallies
by the two
ethnic Albanian presidential candidates — Muarem Nexhipi and
Muhamed Halili—
whose speeches are replete with support for an independent Kosovo.
Graffiti with the letters "UCK,'' the Albanian language initials of the
Kosovo
Liberation Army, can be seen scrawled on walls here and elsewhere in
western
Macedonia.
The Orthodox Christian Slavs and Muslim Albanians appear to live
separate lives,
mingling as little as possible. In the capital Skopje, the communities
live on separate
sides of the Vardar river and do not mix.
With profound differences in language, religion and culture between the
two
communities, ethnic Albanian leaders say their people identify more
and more with
Kosovo and Albania rather than the Macedonian state.
Still, political analyst Ljubomir Frckovski believes the divisions are not
yet so great
that they cannot be overcome through tolerance and dialogue — so long
as the
government does not overreact with a crackdown.
"The situation is weird but tolerant,'' he said. "It is important to survive
this period
when Kosovo is still an open wound.''
Despite the tensions, there have been relatively few serious ethnic
incidents since
independence in 1991. One of them occurred more than two years ago
when ethnic
Albanians clashed with the police trying to prevent them from putting up
Albanian
flags on municipal buildings in Tetovo and Gostivar.
The Albanian mayors of the two towns were arrested. They were
recently granted
amnesty by the new center-rightist government, despite objections from
Gligorov, a
sign that Macedonian leaders themselves are divided over how to deal
with the
ethnic Albanians.
Xhaferi said Macedonian Albanians do not want independence like their
ethnic
kinsmen in Kosovo, only greater rights. He said the government — which
includes
his Democratic Party of Albanians — must promote justice for the
Albanians,
rather than try to suppress them.
"We are here,'' he said. "An idyllic situation that Macedonians wake up
one day and
there are no Albanians cannot happen.''
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