Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

The problem is complex, it isn't
just based on ethnicity but also on the
neglecting of the municipality. In the
last two years, interethnic trust has
been undermined, but such problems
did not exist before. By 2001, the reason
given was the authorities' neglect
of the municipality. As an illustration,
I can point out that by 1999, there
was no central heating in the municipality
at all, and a year later the heating
plant in Skopje-Sever came into
use, states Milenkovski.
According to survey information
received from the municipality, the
reason given for the migration
from this part of the city
in 1998 was the feeling that
"Chair is at the end of the
world."
The Macedonians are
selling their apartments and
houses from that side of the
Vardar and they want to buy
new, smaller ones in the area
from Karposh to Novo
Lisiche, in accordance with
their abilities. The real
estate agencies state that
three-bedroom apartments
are sold, and one-bedroom
apartments are bought on
this side of the Vardar. The
apartments in Gjorche
Petrov, Novoselski Pat and
Hrom are mainly in
demand, since they are
cheaper. There is a remarkable
demand for apartments
in Novo Lisiche as well.
Exchanging apartments is very
rare, say the real estate agencies,
because it is very difficult for people
to reach an agreement about the
price, since there is a big difference
in the prices on the left and the right
side of the Vardar. In average, on
"that side" of the Vardar the prices of
the apartments go as high as 500
euros per square meter, whereas the
price on "this side" can reach twice as
high, or 1,000 euros per square meter.
Some of the agencies in Skopje do
not deal with buying and selling of
real estate on the other side of the
Vardar, using the excuse that there
are no interested clients (?!).
GHETTOIZATION,
PROS AND CONS
In Chair, Topansko Pole and
Skopje Sever, sheets of paper are
stuck on the building entryways, on
shops, advertising the sale of some
apartment or house within. It so happens
that in some buildings with 16
apartments total, only a few are
Macedonian, state the citizens of
Chair. So a problem arises in the
schools, especially in the primary
schools Vasil Glavinov and Cvetan
Dimov, where the number of
Macedonian children is diminishing
and classes can't be formed.
"Parents are taking their children
to school that tend to be towards
Center or in the settlements where
they go to work," say the people from
Chair. The old inhabitants, who have
been living there with generations, do
not want to move but some of them,
feeling pressure as their closest
Macedonian neighbors begin to move
out, are thinking about selling their
own houses. Trajche has a house on
John Kennedy Avenue, where his
family has been living for decades.
Like his neighbors, he is also considering
selling his family house.
"I am one of the first inhabitants
along with my relatives, who for generations,
since 1937 to be more precise,
have lived in this house. I have
two granddaughters from my son,
who go to the primary school Nikola
Vapcarov, where in one class there
are only seven Macedonian children.
Two years ago there weren't enough
children to form a class and in
September the situation is probably
going to worsen, he says, pointing
out that this is the biggest problem
they are facing.
"The neighbors are selling their
houses; Albanians are going to move
in here. The time will come when,
whether we like it or not, we will
have to move. "Right now there is
some kind of harmony," says Trajche,
who lives in a neighborhood in Chair
with fifteen Macedonian houses. His
neighbors have not sold their houses
yet, but are being constantly visited
by Albanian buyers. They can't reach
an agreement about the price, but
sooner or later, someone is going to
pay the price they are asking and the
houses are going to be sold," says
Trajche.
While some of the citizens from
that part of the city across the Vardar
prove the ghettoization that has been
going on for a decade, others think
that it is nonsense to divide the city
into a left and right side, into this or
that side of the Vardar. Precisely on
that side of Vardar are the vital buildings
in the city, like MANU, The university
and its library, the courts, the
TV-radio building, which means that
that part of the city is not neglected.
"Those buildings are on this side
of the Vardar, but consider their location,
all in the center, alongside the
Vardar. In Chair there are no state or
government institutions. On the other
side, Chair feels very urban unlike
the other part," says Milenkovski.
According to him, the part of Skopje
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Meetings, not divisions, June 2003