Proto Thema: Question land borders with Greece raises Albania!
With a "Note Protest", Tirana requested modifications to research programs for hydrocarbons in the Ionian Sea -with the claim that the Albanian territorial sea, and demanded to take the maps of land surveys in Epirus
To attempt to challenge the boundaries in terms of the Albanian government, speak diplomatic and legal sources. As mentioned in a publication of "Kathimerini", Tirana bring land borders on Greece - Albania as well, with a "Note Protest" to Athens last week -with which demanded modification in the survey for hydrocarbons in the Ionian Sea, on the grounds that violated Albanian territorial waters; requested maps of land surveys in Epirus. As stated in the publication, politically it is risky practice for Albania and bilateral relations. "But it does concern the same sources that the Greek government monitors awkward sharpeners in Greek-Albanian relations and the general strengthening of destabilizing trends in the Western Balkans.
According to estimates of own resources, all of them part of a wider context in which moves the Albanian political system, to display the vision of "Greater Albania" "refers on. Note that seems to dominate the suspicion that behind the Albanian movement is Turkey. The new element that generates suspicions that Ankara seeks to create front against Greece is the meeting of Erdogan's party of Chams, of PDIU, during his visit to Tirana.
Current
developments in Macedonia go along with "regime change" scenarios that
have been used in Serbia and other European states and are currently
being seen in Latin America, Zivadin Jovanovic, a Serbian diplomat and
former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia told Sputnik.
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — The Serbian diplomat, who is also current president of the
Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, a non-profit association, noted
that even though some details of the "regime change" scenario differ
from country to country, the main processes and methods remain the same."The current events in Macedonia are a blueprint of 'regime change'
patterns in Serbia (Yugoslavia), and elsewhere in Europe, Northern
Africa, or current attempts to destabilize Brazil, Venezuela, and
Argentina," Jovanovic said.
The process includes "propaganda machinery
generating popular discontent, organizing massive protests and even
armed incidents, advancing demands for 'changes' and, finally,
overthrowing legally elected governments."
He added that the idea of "Greater Albania" is not new, but it was
"propped up" by NATO aggression of 1999 and reinforced by 2008 secession
of Kosovo and Metohija, which was supported and recognized by the
United States and most of NATO and the European Union members.
"There could hardly be any doubt that current
destabilization of Macedonia could happen without the will and even
support of the same western factors. Statements from various western
capitals, participation of some western ambassadors at the opposition
rallies in Skopje, slogans and western propaganda, in general, is more
than revealing."
Serbia is one of the countries in the region most interested in a stable Macedonia, he added.Late in April, a group of some 40 Albanian-speaking gunmen briefly
seized a police station in the northern Macedonian village of Gosince
calling for the establishment of an Albanian state. Less than three
weeks after the incident, on May 9, Macedonia witnessed deadly clashes
between police and an armed group of Albanians in Kumanovo, a city
bordering Serbia and Kosovo. The tragedy was followed by a wave of protests staged by the Social
Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) that accused the country's
government of corruption and demanded its resignation. Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski believes that the
opposition is trying to exploit the tragedy in Kumanovo to gain power.
"Caution needed in Skopje. Whatever faults Gruevski Hiss Was Fairly elected. The last thing the region Needs is Violence in Macedonia", noted Pettifer
The British analyst, friend of "Greater Albania" James Pettifer, analyzes the latest developments in Macedonia, saying that "violence in Macedonia, it is necessary". In the post on Twiter, Jame Pettifer, also known as lobbying for Chameria Community of Albania, he thinks that "the disintegration of Macedonia, will create a precedent of The Greater Albania".
Θέμα χερσαίων συνόρων Ελλάδας - Αλβανίας θέτουν τα Τίρανα, καθώς, με το έντονο διάβημα προς την Αθήνα την περασμένη εβδομάδα –με το οποίο ζητούσαν τροποποίηση του προγράμματος ερευνών για υδρογονάνθρακες στο Ιόνιο, με τον ισχυρισμό ότι παραβιάζονται αλβανικά χωρικά ύδατα– ζήτησαν και τους χάρτες των χερσαίων ερευνών στην Ηπειρο! Πρόκειται για προσπάθεια αμφισβήτησης των συνόρων, εκτιμούν διπλωματικές και έγκριτες νομικές πηγές, ενώ από πολιτική άποψη είναι πράξη υψηλού ρίσκου για την Αλβανία και τις διμερείς σχέσεις. Προκαλεί ωστόσο προβληματισμό στις ίδιες πηγές το γεγονός ότι η ελληνική κυβέρνηση παρακολουθεί αμήχανη και την όξυνση στις ελληνοαλβανικές σχέσεις και τη γενικότερη ενίσχυση των αποσταθεροποιητικών τάσεων στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια. Σύμφωνα με εκτιμήσεις των ιδίων πηγών, όλα αυτά εντάσσονται σε ένα ευρύτερο πλαίσιο στο οποίο κινείται το αλβανικό πολιτικό σύστημα, για να προβληθεί το όραμα της «Μεγάλης Αλβανίας». Σύμφωνα με τους χάρτες που έδωσε στη δημοσιότητα το 2011 ο τότε υπουργός Ενέργειας Γ. Μανιάτης, οι έρευνες θα γίνουν σε μεγάλη έκταση πάνω από τα Γιάννενα, ενώ τότε δεν ετέθη κανένα θέμα. Η υποψία ότι πίσω από τις κινήσεις των Τιράνων βρίσκεται η Τουρκία κυριαρχεί. Το νέο στοιχείο που δημιουργεί υποψίες ότι η Αγκυρα επιδιώκει τη δημιουργία μετώπου κατά της Ελλάδας είναι η συνάντηση του Ερντογάν με το κόμμα των Τσάμηδων, το PDIU, κατά την επίσκεψή του στα Τίρανα. Η συνάντηση με το PDIU καμία άλλη ερμηνεία δεν έχει παρά την υποδαύλιση του «ζητήματος» των Τσάμηδων, επισημαίνουν διπλωματικές πηγές.
Σε αυτό το κλίμα, ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών Ν. Κοτζιάς προβληματίζεται αν θα παραστεί στη Σύνοδο των ΥΠΕΞ των χωρών-μελών της Διαδικασίας Συνεργασίας Νοτιοανατολικής Ευρώπης (SEECP), που διοργανώνεται στα Τίρανα στις 22/5. Διπλωματικές πηγές τονίζουν ότι ενδεχόμενη απουσία της Ελλάδας από τη συνάντηση αυτή θα προσφέρει άλλοθι στα Τίρανα να συνεχίσουν να προκαλούν χωρίς να παίρνουν απαντήσεις και θα οδηγήσει σε περαιτέρω απομόνωση της Αθήνας στην περιοχή. Αντίθετα, σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, ο πρωθυπουργός εξετάζει το ενδεχόμενο να μεταβεί στα Τίρανα στις 26/5 για τη Σύνοδο Κορυφής της SEECP.
Επιστολή «γαλάζιων» βουλευτών
Τη σύγκληση της Επιτροπής Εθν. Αμυνας και Εξωτερικών Υποθέσεων της Βουλής ζητούν με επιστολή τους προς τον πρόεδρο της επιτροπής Γ. Βαρεμένο οι βουλευτές της Ν.Δ. με επικεφαλής τον Γ. Κουμουτσάκο. Η εκλογή Ακιντζί στα Κατεχόμενα, η κρίση στην ΠΓΔΜ, η απαίτηση της Αλβανίας για αλλαγή του προγράμματος ερευνών της Ελλάδας στο Ιόνιο που αποκάλυψε η «Κ» και η πορεία των συζητήσεων Ελλάδας - Τουρκίας για τα ΜΟΕ καθιστούν αναγκαία τη συνεδρίαση με τη συμμετοχή του κ. Κοτζιά, αναφέρεται στην επιστολή. Έντυπη
Like most terrorists, he was young. He had been born in the
days just before bitter hatred engulfed his country; not long after his
birth, his father had been seized by authorities and killed, along with
scores of other Sunni Muslims. Two weeks ago, the 24-year-old son
marched into a police station reportedly shouting the jihadist war cry “Allahu Akbar!” and then opened fire, killing one officer and wounding two others, before he was killed in a firefight with police.
Over
the weekend, 350 miles to the south, eight more policemen were killed
along with 14 suspected terrorists in a raging gunbattle near an
international border created in the aftermath of World War I that
radicals no longer recognize.
Another day in Syria or Iraq? No,
this happened in Europe, an easy day’s drive from Vienna. The first
attack, in Zvornik, a town in Bosnia’s Serb entity, was a shocking
reminder of the potential influence of radical Islam in the region,
especially in the wake of the rise of the Islamic State (also called
ISIS). Only a small number of Bosnians have been radicalized, and even
fewer have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq. But in the still-fractured
Balkans, it doesn’t take many radicals to destabilize a country.
Nor
is radical Islam the only threat to years of work and billions in
investment in the region by Washington and its European partners. In the
wake of the standoff with the West over Ukraine, Russia has stepped up
its own role there, with incendiary appeals to Orthodox Slav solidarity.
Indeed, Moscow has voiced staunch support for the embattled government
in Macedonia, where the second shocking incident occurred. The weekend’s
firefight, replete with grenades, snipers, and automatic weapons, took
place in the town of Kumanovo near the border of Macedonia, Serbia, and
Kosovo. The government described the fight as a battle between the
police and “one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the Balkans,”
presumably meaning Albanian radicals. The real circumstances of the
shoot-out are murky and the timing suspicious, coming as the government
contends with growing waves of protests over revelations of alleged
massive government abuse. As the Macedonian president rushed back from
Moscow, his hosts there sharply criticized demonstrators and warned
against another “color revolution.”
With Macedonia facing
potential implosion, with Bosnian unity at its most tenuous since the
war, and with Kosovo witnessing a mass exodus of citizens who have given
up on its corrupt, divisive government, the three most vulnerable
countries of the region stand on a precipice. A slide toward radicalism
and inter- or even intraethnic strife, abetted by Russian or Islamist
opportunism, is fully plausible. And if it happens, U.S. and European
diplomats will be forced to finally answer a question: Who lost the
Balkans?
A
group of Kosovars walk along a road after they crossed the
Hungarian-Serbian border near the village of Asotthalom February 6,
2015. The EU is experiencing a steep rise in the number of Kosovo
citizens smuggling themselves into the bloc, with 10,000 filing for
asylum in Hungary in just one month this year compared to 6,000 for the
whole of 2013. Just
as at the height of the wars in former Yugoslavia, Washington and
Brussels will likely point fingers at each other. In fact, the blame
will be shared. Neither the crises in Ukraine nor those in the Middle
East are alibis for the West’s timid policies and sporadic attention in
recent years. The truth is that although destabilization in the Balkans
poses far less of a threat to Western interests than Putin’s aggression
or ISIS’ barbarism, it is a far less difficult challenge to overcome.
There are no nuclear weapons in the region. Suicide terrorism, so far,
is extremely rare. And most of all, unlike either Ukraine or the
countries of the Middle East, even the most divided countries of
southeast Europe still share a common strategic orientation, with
generally high rates of support for joining NATO and the EU.
But
instead of seizing on this strong foundation to overcome remaining
obstacles to Euro-Atlantic integration, the West has allowed the
fledgling countries of the region to backslide. Washington prematurely
handed over lead responsibility for the Balkans to the EU, which
prematurely handed over lead responsibility to the region’s leaders.
With no meaningful EU carrots or sticks to restrain their behavior,
politicians have largely consolidated their corrupt patronage networks,
co-opted or intimidated the media, and resisted meaningful reform.
MELEE IN MACEDONIA
Macedonia
is a prime example of the consequences of sporadic attention. With
intensive international help following the outbreak of hostilities
between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians in 2001, the country made
steady progress in building joint democratic institutions. In 2006,
current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski took office. After four
increasingly dubious elections, he has managed to consolidate power by
debilitating the judiciary, marginalizing the opposition, and
eviscerating independent media. In 2007, Macedonia ranked number 36,
ahead of the United States, in Freedom House’s Press Freedom Index. Last
year, Macedonia sunk to 123, languishing with the likes of Venezuela.
The country’s economy, meanwhile, remains afloat through a sharp and
unsustainable rise in borrowing.
A
girl shouts anti-government slogans in front of the Archaeological
Museum in Skopje, Macedonia May 7, 2015. Several hundred people demanded
the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
Still among the region’s youngest leaders, Gruevski would be sitting
pretty with years left in power were it not for a wiretapping scandal
that has revealed the breathtaking extent of government abuse. Released
periodically by the opposition, recorded phone calls allegedly describe
the government’s direct orchestration of financial and electoral fraud,
mass electronic surveillance, framing of political opponents for crimes,
and even murder. In the most shocking revelation, released last week,
senior government officials are allegedly heard scheming to cover up a
dubious car accident that took the life of a noted government critic.
Another recording seems to implicate the government in sweeping under
the rug a case in which police had beaten a young reveler to death.
Gruevski and other government officials have denied the allegations,
claiming that the wiretaps are the work of unspecified “foreign agents”
who aim to destabilize the country.
In response, this month,
thousands of young Macedonians have braved truncheon-bearing riot police
to protest. They and the opposition demand that the prime minister and
his associates hand power over to a caretaker government that will
organize fresh elections while independent investigations into the
revelations proceed. With tensions mounting, the opposition has called
for a massive demonstration next week. Facing severe legal and personal
consequences if he and his cohorts resign, Gruevski appears poised to
fight it out to the end, leaving Macedonia’s stability in the breach.
The
ramifications of the weekend’s shocking violence in Kumanovo are as
unpredictable as the circumstances of the clash are mysterious. There is
precedent in Macedonia for dubious shoot-outs with purported
terrorists, including in 2002 when seven migrants from Pakistan and
India were shot dead by police in a highly suspicious incident. A
Macedonian court eventually cleared the former interior minister of
charges of responsibility for the killings. Last month, a Macedonian
police spokesman claimed that 40 Albanian radicals attacked a police
outpost on the border with Kosovo, yet neither NATO nor the Kosovo
police could confirm any such activity.
Rather
than let Gruevski—who claims that the wiretaps are part of an
international conspiracy to get him to change the country’s name—exploit
the issue, the United States should take the initiative.
Ironically, the shoot out between Macedonian police and purported
Albanian radicals comes as inter-ethnic relations in the country have
made impressive strides. For the first time in its 24-year history as a
modern independent state, ethnic Albanians and Macedonians seem largely
united in the struggle against perceived dictatorship. With nearly all
television stations under the government’s grip, it is Alsat, an
Albanian-owned station, that is airing the wiretaps and offering
extensive airtime to opposition voices, a remarkable gesture of
solidarity. Albanian web-sites have published sharp anti-government
commentary by ethnic Macedonians, something that was largely unheard of
in the traditionally ethnically segregated media sector. The broadcasts
have become increasingly awkward for both the ruling and opposition
Albanian political parties, which have been curiously silent in the face
of the massive scandal.
The international community could play a
decisive role in bringing things to a peaceful resolution, but so far
its reaction has been tentative. Only the German ambassador has openly
called for the government to resign. In the wake of the recent violence,
the U.S. embassy joined the EU, NATO, and the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe to call, improbably, for “the country’s
leaders to pull together and engage in dialogue on all issues facing the
country.”
It is typical of the West to seek to avoid a
confrontation with Gruevski, allowing him and other figures to keep the
region’s open questions simmering. But the one over-arching lesson since
the violent collapse of Yugoslavia 25 years ago is that the failure to
deal with core problems head-on has only made them harder to resolve in
the end. This is especially true in Macdonia’s case, where Greece’s
longstanding objections to the country’s name, which Athens sees as
theft of Greek heritage, have kept Macedonia out of both NATO (where its
membership is on offer) and the EU (with which it is poised to open
negotiations). The country’s current instability could have been avoided
had Skopje been allowed to proceed towards NATO and EU membership.
Rather than move toward autocracy, Gruevski would have been constrained
by strict requirements that have proved to empower democratic
institutions elsewhere.
Rather than forge a trans-Atlantic
consensus on the urgency for a compromise on the name—for which many
possibilities exist—Washington has focused on the matter only when
pressed to do so. In 1995, on the eve of the talks in Dayton, Ohio aimed
at ending the war in Bosnia, Richard Holbrooke achieved a modus vivendi
between Athens and Skopje. In 2004, crisis in Macedonia prompted the
Bush administration to finally recognize Macedonia by its constitutional
name. Feared blowback from Greece over this move never materialized.
Despite that fact, Washington dropped the issue until the run-up to
NATO’s 2008 summit, when it was too late to push the parties into
compromise. Underscoring the West’s impotence on the issue, the
International Court of Justice ruled in 2011 that Athens had no right to
deny Macedonia entry into NATO. Nonetheless, the alliance continues to
leave Skopje, which has fulfilled all requirements for membership, in
the waiting room.
Grueski has seized on international paralysis
over the name issue to provoke Greece with tacky appeals to Macedonian
nationalism. Most recently, he claimed that the wiretaps are part of an
international conspiracy designed to force him to jettison the country’s
name. For its part, Athens has recently emerged as a key player in
trans-Atlantic attempts to thwart a planned Russian-Turkish gas
pipeline, which boosts the ability of the nearly bankrupt country to
stand up to Western pressure on the name issue. In short, as in other
cases from the region, Western inattention has only made the question of
Macedonia’s name more acute and more fraught.
BROKEN BOSNIA
If
Macedonia is in acute pain, Bosnia is facing deeper and nearly
irreparable injury. Radical Islam and Russian influence are exacerbating
ever-present ethnic suspicions. Meanwhile, some of the country’s
politicians are taking concrete steps to split the country. Ruling Serb
and Croat parties recently announced their commitment to thinly veiled
separatist agendas. The Republika Srpska parliament even passed a
resolution for a separatist referendum that, for the first time,
included a concrete date, 2018, for the incendiary plebiscite. If held,
the Serb referendum is guaranteed to reopen hostilities.
Bosnia
will face near-term tests of its cohesion this summer. In June,
long-delayed census results are set to be released, potentially fueling
anger among Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats, and Serbs alike, each of
whom can spin figures to claim advantage or complain of systematic
disadvantage. Then, in July, Bosnia will mark the emotional 20th
anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica, where more than 7,000 Bosniak
men and boys were killed at the hands of Serb forces.
Bosnian
Muslims speak with census surveyer Elvis Spijudic near Srebrenica,
October 1, 2013. This was Bosnia's first census as an independent state.
U.S. and EU leaders have given up on the priority of getting Bosnia to
change its outmoded constitution that is responsible for most of the
gridlock that keeps the country mired. EU leaders have now coalesced
around a new policy of seemingly easier-to-achieve economic and social
measures. Next month, the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
are to announce a ballyhooed “reform action plan” meant to spur long
overdue cuts to the bloated bureaucracy and other reforms needed for EU
accession. Unfortunately, the public is adamantly against cutting public
sector jobs, and many politicians rightly fear that reform will force
them to privatize public companies they currently manipulate for
patronage and graft. Sensing this resistance, and congenitally afraid of
confronting local officials, international players are likely to temper
their demands for reform. Brussels already fudged its own requirements
for the formal association agreement between Bosnia and the EU enacted
this year, and officials have made it clear that according Bosnia
candidate status is the crux of their latest strategy for the troubled
country.
Emphasizing form over substance, the EU is no more
likely to achieve desperately needed progress now than it has been over
the past nine years. As in Macedonia, it was in 2006 that the
democratization process, which had seen fledgling joint institutions
take shape under vigorous international stewardship, began to unravel.
Prematurely applying a rigid form of local ownership over institutions,
recalcitrant officials (particularly in the Serb entity) began to unwind
progress and openly challenge the country’s unity. As Washington
periodically attempted to goad the EU into action and local officials
into compromise, Bosnian leaders shrugged off the efforts and the
country slumped more deeply into stagnation. With 14 separate
governments, the country’s institutions today are a dysfunctional relic
of the war years, inhibiting investment and interethnic cooperation. There is no need to squander, through neglect and timidity, a principled effort begun with courage and vision.
The only positive from the terrorist attack in Zvornik is that it may
finally shock international officials into action. An EU-IMF package
that links ambitious standards with generous financial incentives and
credible penalties—such as visa bans and exposure of financial chicanery
for recalcitrant leaders—can finally concentrate minds in Bosnia.
THE KOSOVO EXAMPLE
Concerted
effort can also achieve results in Kosovo, the site of the EU’s most
significant breakthrough. Under Brussels’ leadership, and with strong
U.S. support, Serbia and Kosovo agreed to normalize their relations two
years ago. But bickering between Belgrade and Pristina, abetted by the
refusal of five EU countries to recognize independent Kosovo, along with
endemic corruption, has left Kosovo in miserable shape. Tens of
thousands of Kosovars have left the country for the EU, expressing their
abject lack of confidence in the future with their feet.
Potted
plants are put in place by local Serbs to form a barricade on the main
bridge in the ethnically divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica, June18, 2014. Radical
options for unifying Kosovo with Albania, which would reopen conflict
with Serbs, continue to find favor. Once exemplary moderates have been
hardening their stance against the Brussels-backed compromise. At the
same time, Kosovo has seen disturbing signs of Islamist radicals who
strike fear in the hearts of Serbs and moderate Albanian Muslims alike.
The great worry is that Islamists will find common cause with radical
Albanian nationalists, injecting greater instability into a country
whose security is still overseen by NATO, along with a substantial EU
presence. Brussels and Washington need to press Albanian
leaders to move forward now on key rule of law reforms, while dragging
Belgrade and Pristina to agreement on issues arguably far less onerous
than those they overcame in 2013. Those talks proved that when Brussels
conditions progress toward EU membership on progress in their relations,
then Serbs and Albanians begin to move toward compromise.
Dangers
abound, but the Balkans are by no means hopeless. The irony of today’s
crises in Macedonia, Bosnia, and Kosovo is that while some leaders play
the nationalism card, more ordinary citizens than ever before are
willing to move past ethnic differences. Enough time has been frittered
away protracting the region’s outstanding issues with abortive,
inadequate initiatives. There is no need to squander, through neglect
and timidity, a principled (and largely successful) effort begun with
courage and vision. More than anything, resolving the region’s problems
today simply requires that officials once more take them seriously.
The
recent political protests in Macedonia calling for the resignation of
the country's leader have divided opinion across the world, with some
viewing the protests as an example of people power in action, while
others say the uprising is being stoked by the West as part of larger
geopolitical game.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Macedonian
capital of Skopje over the weekend, calling for the resignation of Prime
Minister Nikola Gruevski, with opponents accusing the PM of widespread
corruption, mass spying on the population and engaging in undemocratic
practices. The protest was the largest in a series of recent demonstrations
against Gruevski's government, following the release of covert
recordings that purportedly showed government officials plotting
to engage in vote rigging, and even the covering up of a murder. Opposition political figures have accused Gruevski of being
behind the malpractice, however the prime minister has denied the
allegations, saying that opponents had tampered with the audio in an
attempt to frame his government. Vladimir Pandovski, Skopje-based political analyst told Sputnik that
the wiretapping scandal enveloping the government was fraudulent, and
said the protests in the country were "scripted and staged." "Everything that is happening in Macedonia has been scripted and
staged. We’ve seen this before; it’s a mix of comedy and tragedy. The
so-called wiretapping scandal has been the biggest piece of comedy the
public has ever seen… and honestly, no one is buying it – everyone is
aware that this is an attempt to create a new Maidan, like in Ukraine." An Ethnic Problem or a Political One? Central to recent events in Macedonia has been the debate
over whether the country is suffering from an increase in ethnic based
tension between Macedonians and the country's significant ethnic
Albanian minority, which accounts for about 25 percent of the overall
Macedonian population.
A recent shooting in the Macedonian city of Kumanovo, which claimed
the lives of eight police officers and 14 ethnic Albanian fighters, has
also been the source of much debate. Government figures said the attacks came from ethnic-Albanian
terrorists calling for the creation of an Albanian state
within Macedonia, sparking fears the country may be heading for another
civil war, similar to the one fought between Macedonian forces and
Albanian paramilitary groups in 2001.
However, Gruevski's opponents were highly critical of the timing
of the shooting, accusing the government of staging the attacks
to highlight the apparent ethnic tension and to draw attention away
from the government's current woes. To show solidarity against the claims of ethnic-based violence
within the country, many people carrying both Macedonian and Albanian
flags took part in Sunday's protest in Skopje.
Dr James Ker-Lindsay, researcher in Balkan studies at the London
School of Economics, told Sputnik he doesn't think Macedonia is
suffering from an outburst in tension between Macedonians and Albanians.
"I think we've got to be careful about this
idea that this is necessarily an ethnic problem. What we have
essentially in Macedonia is a political problem at the moment."
Dr Ker-Lindsay believes the accusations of malpractice against the
government have led many people to question whether the recent attacks
were part of a separatist movement, as claimed by Gruevski. "At first, public opinion was all a bit skeptical about this, but as
the revelations keep coming out, people are starting to turn against the
government," he said.
"What has happened is that a lot of people
in Macedonia are saying 'this is just all becoming a bit too
convenient'. What Macedonia needs is a transition government to be put
in place and proper democratic elections held."
Outside Intervention: The Global Power Game As the debate over whether Macedonia is experiencing an ethnic or
political problem continues, attention has turned to the cause of the
recent uprisings, and whether western interests had a role to play
in sparking the turn against Gruevski's government. While Macedonia's main opposition leader Zoran Zaev, whose party
organised Sunday's mass demonstration in Skopje, claimed the protest was
an example of the Macedonian people taking a stand against the
government, others have suggested that the flames for the recent
uprising were stirred from outside the country as part of a strategic
power game.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, reacting to media reports of the arrest
of a Montenegrin, who assisted ethnic Albanian extremists in Macedonia,
released a statement saying there was:
"Convincing proof of plans, launched from the outside, to destabilize the political situation in the country."
As well as attempts to "push" the country into a "color revolution." The ministry also said that western organizers behind such rallies
against the government were targeting "countries that are attracted
by the NATO bait." Backing up the claim that outside involvement has triggered the
destabilization of Macedonia, Dusan Prorokovic, an expert in Balkan
affairs told Sputnik that the recent trouble and perception of ethnic
tension has been stirred up by western actors.
Prorokovic told Sputnik that the support for action
against Gruevski's government was part of a geopolitical game to try and
increase western influence in the region and prevent the creation
of the proposed Turkish stream project, which plans to transport Russian
gas to Europe via Turkey and the Balkans. "The concept of Greater Albania is once again relevant but it won't
see any progress without the help of the North Atlantic bloc.
"I think why all of that happened is more
linked to Turkish stream and the defeat of the US in Ukraine, than to
local Albanian interests."
Is the Russian-French deal on Mistral ships deadlocked?
On May 11, the ongoing Mistral saga took a new turn. Several media outlets reported that France may sell two helicopter carriers to China instead of delivering the ships to Russia. However, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said last week
that France could not sell the Mistral helicopter carriers
without Moscow's permission, as Russia had the end-user certificate
for the stern parts of the ships which were built in St. Petersburg
before being transported to France for further assembly. In its turn, France has declined to comment on Dmitry Rogozin’s statement. What's next?
NATO
and the EU should cooperate at a political level to limit extremism,
fundamentalism and nationalistic ideology in the Balkans, Greek National Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said at a meeting of EU’s foreign and defence ministers in Brussels on Monday. Jihadi
terrorism which already exists within the European Union, human
trafficking originating from regions of North Africa and the Middle East
and destined for Europe and the exploitation of real or imaginary
minority issues constitute “nightmare risks” for Europe, he added in his
address. Commenting on Greece’s participation in NATO missions,
the minister said that “because of the diversity of operations under the
Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), we managed to gain valuable
experience”, adding that one of the most successful missions was
combatting piracy at the Horn of Africa. Kammenos said that in spite of the successes achieved on the issue, these operations should continue. ANA-MPA
Macedonia's
ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party is set to hold a pro-government
rally in the country's capital Skopje on Monday evening after tens of
thousands of people had taken to the streets to call for the resignation
of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, local media reported.
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — On Sunday, crowds of people took part in an anti-government
rally organized by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM).SDSM head Zoran Zaev accuses the prime minister of covering up the
murder of a young man, and claims to possess a recording of Gruevski
discussing the cover-up with Minister of Internal Affairs Gordana
Jankulovska. The opposition leader urged the protesters not to leave the streets
until Gruevski steps down. A group of protesters has set up a tent camp
outside government buildings in central Skopje.
"At this gathering, held in support
of Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE will show that this country has people who walk
proudly, and who will not allow the country to be destabilized and a
legitimately elected government to be brought down for the benefit
of someone else's interests," Gruevski said, as quoted by MIA news
agency.
Gruevski asserted that the gathering would be peaceful, but "powerful."
"I am sure of this because our citizens have recognized the cowardly way in which Zaev is damaging the country," Gruevski added.
The recent rallies come at a time of political instability in Macedonia. At least 40 people, mostly police officers, were injured during anti-government protests in Skopje on May 6.
BELGRADE – Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Veljko Odalovic has stated that it is important for Serbia and Albania
to devote their effort to the recent events in Kumanovo, Macedonia, and
he stressed that those two countries could be a pillar of stability in
the region.
In comment to the news of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic having
talked to his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama on the phone, Odalovic has
reminded that during Rama’s visit to Serbia it was agreed in general to
have Vucic visit Tirana. Odalovic has told the RTS that the visit takes
place at a delicate moment and it is important that Serbia and Albania
deal primarily with the events in Kumanovo.
The actions of certain isolated extremist groups in this fragile
region have the potential of spilling over to the Serbian territory and
endangering the stability in the Balkans. It is therefore important that
the two prime ministers discuss the issue, take some kind of joint
stance and send adequate message, Odalovic explained.
Albanian Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri speaks at a press conference in Tirana. (Photo: Cihan)
May 18, 2015, Monday/ 19:05:27/
TODAYSZAMAN.COM
/ ISTANBUL
Albanian Interior
Minister Saimir Tahiri has said his country's relevant authorities gave
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan necessary responses for his
recent request for closure of Turkish schools in the country.
Tahiri said at a press conference on Monday that Erdoğan's requests
on the closure of the schools established by the Gülen movement, which
is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and the
movement's activities in Albania are “political” rather than aiming to
ensure security in the region. The minister said counterterrorism
efforts should not be tied to simple political gains.
Once a champion at promoting more Turkish schools abroad, personally
inaugurating some, including in Albania, Erdoğan has now become an
avowed enemy of these schools established by non-governmental
organizations and volunteers from Turkey.
While in tirana
as part of an official visit to the small Balkan country last week,
Erdoğan called on Albanian authorities to close Turkish schools there,
some of which were opened during the 1990s at a time of political
turbulence and instability in the country that barely avoided a civil
war. Erdoğan's current unyielding war against Turkish schools in Albania
contradicts his previous attitude. It was Erdoğan who inaugurated one
of the schools, Turgut Özal College's elementary school, on Feb. 17,
2005, during an official trip when he was prime minister of Turkey.
Erdoğan accuses sympathizers of the Gülen movement -- inspired by the
views of prominent Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen --
especially those in the state bureaucracy, of being behind a major
corruption investigation that went public in 2013, implicating members
of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and
Erdoğan's inner circles.
Erdoğan's current efforts to declare such schools as having been
formed by a terrorist organization -- a reference to the Gülen movement,
which has hundreds of schools around the world to promote education
with the aim of facilitating inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue --
created unease and stirred a backlash from Albanian politicians.
Several Albanian lawmakers dismissed Erdoğan's portrayal of the
schools as being created by a terrorist organization, and have said that
the schools provide a high quality education that is essential for the
development of the country.
TIRANA May 18 (Reuters) - Albania will offer companies
interested in oil and gas exploration seven offshore and onshore
blocks in June in a bidding process, officials said on Monday.
The small Adriatic state began preparing the bids a year ago
after a yet-inconclusive but significant discovery by a venture
between Shell and Petromanas in southern
Albania drew much interest.
Energy minister Damian Gjiknuri wants bids for onshore
blocks Four and Five in southern and southeastern Albania and
Dumre in central Albania to be handed in by June 15.
Bids for the remaining blocks, the offshore Ionian 5 and
Rodoni and the onshore Panaja and C, would be accepted until
June 25, Gjiknuri told the Natural Resources Agency.
Once the bids come in, the Natural Resources Agency will
evaluate the offers and recommend the best one to the ministry
so that it may negotiate a production-sharing agreement.
The companies would be able explore for an initial period of
up to five years which can be extended to seven if needed, and
they can develop and produce in the block for 25 years or more
in accordance with Albanian oil laws.
Offshore oil exploration caused friction last week between
Albania and neighbouring Greece after Tirana asked Athens,
according to press reports, to stop its programme of offshore
oil search until both countries resolve their dispute over the
waters in the Ionian Sea.
Part of the Ionian 5 block offered b Albania overlaps with
the Ionian Sea area in which Greece seeks to search for oil.
The previous Albanian government agreed a deal dividing the
continental shelf with Greece, but was later reversed by the
country's top court after a complaint brought by the ruling
Socialist Party.
Attempting to play down the controversy with Greece, Foreign
Minister Ditmir Bushati said on Monday that the area was subject
to binding international agreements.
(Reporting By Benet Koleka, Editing by Ahmed Aboulenein)
Macedonia could become "a
new arena for the clash between the West and Russia," a Moscow-based
daily writes on Monday.
Source: Beta
Anti-government protesters camp in front of the government HQ in Skopje (Tanjug)
The article stated that Macedonia is "on the verge of the
most serious conflict" since the time of inter-ethnic strife in the
early 2000s.
It adds that the mass opposition protest in Skopje on Sunday "has already been compared to protests in Kiev and referred to as 'the Macedonian Maidan'."
The Macedonian crisis has not erupted without reason, believes the
daily, and notes that a decade ago that country was considered a
regional leader in European integrations, while today it is "at the end
of the queue for Europe, at the risk of losing its membership candidate
status."
According to Kommersant, "the West seems seriously
concerned about the events in Macedonia, while Moscow is monitoring the
events increasingly carefully."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov spoke in Belgrade last week to "effectively accuse the West of
preparing a color revolution in Macedonia" - a country that has not
joined anti-Russia sanctions.
On May 16, the article continued,
the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that "there is compelling evidence
that Macedonia is being pushed from the outside into the ruin of a
colored revolution."
In its statement, the ministry quoted the
Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti that reported about "the arrest of
a citizen of Montenegro who helped Albanian extremists from Kosovo" -
something that "the Montenegrin media have denied."
A new residential shelter for LGBTI people who are
homeless, suffer domestic violence because of their sexual orientation
or gender identity, or live in an unsafe environment, opened on Thursday in Tirana, Albania.
Tirana, Albania
Streha, “the Shelter” in Albanian, is a project founded by two
Albanian gay rights organizations, Alenaca LGBT and ProLGBT, and will
offer temporary (up to six months) housing and services to its users,
including life skills training, vocational training opportunities and
psycho-social support.
It is the first shelter of its kind for LGBTI individuals in the Balkan region and one of the first in Eastern Europe.
Kiristi Pinderi, Executive Director of PRO LGBT and Xheni Karaj, Director of Aleanca LGBT led Streha’s inauguration.
Supporters also attended it, including the Albanian Minister of Social
Welfare and Youth, Erion Veliaj, the British Ambassador, Nicholas
Cannon OBE; Deputy chief of the US Embassy Henry V. Jardine; Program
Director at USAID Albania, Clare Masson and other dignitaries.
Article continues below
Pinderi told LGBTQ Nation that street violence against LGBTI
people and “within [the] family environment, schools and other spaces”
makes Streha a necessary service.
Karaj added that now LGBTI people have “a new solution for whenever they feel in risk.”
Last year, Albania amended its criminal code and put hate crimes
against sexual orientation and gender identity on par with an offense
against gender, race, ethnicity, religious belief, disability and so on.
The Albanian government has also agreed to amend the country’s family
code in order to introduce same sex cohabitation, with a vote expected
shortly and pass without opposition.
Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia
have been calling to take on the streets in a big anti-Gruevski rally.
It is said that the rally is also supported by the governments of Kosovo
and Albania.
Today, for the first time, ethnic Albanians and
Macedonians will take on the streets for the same cause: to overthrow
the authoritarian prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, suspect of many
crimes during his tenure at the helm of the government.
Gazeta
Express has learned that ethnic albanians have taken the instructions
from the governments of Kosovo and Albania to take part in the rally.
The
rally, organized by the opposition party, followed the publication of
incriminating audio surveillance of Gruevski government. The intercepts
show the monstrous level of crime and corruption in this country.
Today's rally comes one week after the violence in Kumanovo, which left eight policemen and over 10 Albanian insurgents, dead.
Leader of Alliance for the
Future of Kosovo (AAK) and former KLA , Ramush Haradinaj said that the
events in Kumanovo are part of a campaign to create enemies.
"What
happened in Kumanovo is a campaign to create enemies. The government of
Macedonia is suffering from paranoia, always seeking to create enemies,
with the sole objective to install fear and control everything. Since
we in Kosovo have a weak government, ethnic Albanians around us are also
suffering. Today in the Balkans reins a reality of corrupt government,
and it must change", said Haradinaj.
According to Haradinaj,
Kosovo and its citizens, but also all citizens of the region, deserve
good governance by punishing the bad ones.
"In Kosovo we came
victorious for our freedom, and then independence, but now we are facing
another battle with bad governance. We must restore good governance and
return the hope that we know how to be leaders and store our country",
added Haradinaj.
Skopje. Protesters in Skopje are waving
Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish flags. Some demonstrators carry posters
with slogans "Resignation" and "Farewell Nikola". The protest is
involving various civic associations, students and people from different
ethnic communities.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday condemned the death sentence handed out by an Egyptian court to former President Mohammed Morsi, saying it recalled "ancient Egypt." "The
popularly elected president of Egypt, chosen with 52% of the vote, has
unfortunately been sentenced to death," Erdogan said at a rally in
Istanbul, to howls of protest from the crowd. "Egypt is turning
back into ancient Egypt," Erdogan said, referring to the old Pharaonic
rule of the land that ended over two millennia ago. "The West, unfortunately, is still turning a blind eye to Sisi's coup," he added. Morsi was overthrown in 2013 by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is now president after winning elections last year. "While
they (the West) abolished the death penalty in their own countries,
they just look on as spectators at this execution in Egypt," he added. Turkey, like the EU, has itself abolished the death penalty. The
Islamic-rooted government under Erdogan was a strong supporter of the
Islamist Morsi after he won the 2012 elections with just under 52%of the
vote, hoping he would help restore Turkey's Ottoman-era influence in
the region. However, Turkey reacted furiously to the overthrow by
Sisi of Morsi, a move supported by Saudi Arabia. Diplomatic relations
were severely degraded. Erdogan has repeatedly attacked Sisi in
speeches since. However until the death sentence verdict, there had been
tentative signs of a rapprochement as Turkey seeks to improve ties with
Saudi Arabia. Source: AFP
SOME things are clear. What happened this month in Kumanovo,
Macedonia’s second city, was the worst violence in the Balkans since
2004—and indeed the worst in that fissile country since it teetered on
the edge of inter-ethnic war in 2001. Over May 9th and 10th, police made
a full-scale military assault on what they called “Albanian
terrorists”. Eight policemen were killed, as were 14 Albanians. Fear of a
new Balkan conflict rippled across the region.
But for anybody trying to work out what it all means, there are more
questions than answers. According to the authorities, the alleged
terrorists, many of whom came from neighbouring Kosovo, were starting a
battle for a “Greater Albania” comprising Albania, Kosovo and parts of
Macedonia. A quarter of Macedonia’s 2m people are Albanian; since war
was averted 14 years ago, power has been shared uneasily by coalitions
representing both the ethnic majority, who are Orthodox Christian and
speak a Slavic language, and the mainly Muslim Albanians.
So turning on the gunmen seemed like a change of tactics by
Macedonia’s government, headed by Nikola Gruevski since 2006. He is
hard-pressed on other fronts: since February his Social Democratic
opponents have been making hugely embarrassing leaks of information,
based on phone taps of up to 20,000 people which were made by the
security services and somehow reached the opposition.
Plenty of people have an interest in taking the public’s mind off
that mess. The tapes seem to implicate members of the government in
judge-fixing and vote-rigging. The next set of revelations could
embarrass senior ethnic-Albanian figures. Also expected are fresh
insights into the killing of five fishermen in 2012, which the state
blames on Islamists. A big anti-government rally is planned for May
17th.
In what seemed like a sop to public anger, the country’s intelligence
chief and ministers of transport and the interior resigned on May 12th.
This followed stern warnings from Western governments about the need to
preserve stability. In this feverish climate, says Veton Latifi, a
political scientist, few believe the official claim that the recent
burst of killings was just a terrorist plot foiled; most assume that
whoever stoked the fires of violence was interested in a distraction.
The public mood was captured in a viral video in which a Kumanovo
Albanian tells a news crew that “nobody wants war” and exchanges a hug
with a neighbour from the country’s ethnic majority. The Albanian then
declares that he and his friend know they are being manipulated.
The violence is a setback for a country which longs for diplomatic
respectability. Macedonia has been a candidate for European Union
membership since 2005, and every year the European Commission vainly
calls for entry talks to start. One obstacle is posed by Greece, which
objects to its neighbour’s use of the name Macedonia and has also
stopped it joining NATO. In this glum climate, the country has seen a
dip in indicators of political health, such as press and judicial
freedom. Macedonia is small, and few outsiders follow it. But it plays
its part in a wider Balkan pathology of ethnic tension and misrule. “The
EU will learn the hard way, there is no such thing as benign neglect,”
says one veteran Balkan diplomat.
