Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

44
Turkey, although it was our destiny
to stay in Skopje, I hoped forever
that the same thing would happen to
me. I have never felt different from
my friends. Turkish Schools existed
even then, but my father enrolled
me in Kole Nedelkovski, because it
was considered to be the best
school, and Natalija Gruevska was
considered to be the best
teacher. The same happened
in the male high
school Cvetan Dimov,
and later on at the faculty.
Much later I found
out that the same things
had happened in all
towns in Macedonia.
Where did then all
that suspicion, distrust
and intolerance come
from? All those feelings
are turning into hatred
after the latest events,
and nobody knows how
this tragic war and this horrible
clash will end.
All arguments, tradition and our
entire experience over the past couple
of centuries show us that people
were living together here without
any obstacles, and that farmers
from Slupchane and Lojane are no
different from those in Bogdanci
and Strumica. Both Albanians and
Macedonians look into the sky
every morning wondering whether
there will be rain or drought this
year. They do not know what is
written in the Constitution, what the
word preamble means or who has
more rights to rule the country,
Albanians or Macedonians. They
have been building the same houses,
ploughing the same fields and
waiting for their sons to come back
from abroad with the same anxiety
for twenty years. They look forward
to weddings and cry in the same
way when someone they love dies.
That means that it is at academies
and universities, among the
political elite and intellectuals
where suspicion and distrust are
born, where hatred and theses come
from that declare a common life is
impossible, that cultural and religious
differences are huge, and that
Albanians and Macedonians cannot
live together like Turks and
Macedonians,. Where did they live
all those years? Didn't they live
together? Isn't it true that they had
never fought before?
Macedonia's chance of survival
lies in its traditional laws and experience.
The political elite should go
back to their tradition, to listen to
older people and do what their
fathers and grandfathers used to do.
Respect, honesty and modesty are
characteristic of the people from
this region. Neither Muslim nor
Christian religion advocates hatred
and killing. If this precious experience
finds its place again in everyday
lives of influential and learned
people and of political leaders, who
find strength to visit each other and
listen to each other's problems, as
our ancestors, good hosts and
craftsmen used to do, I think it will,
enriched with 21st-century hopes
for a better life, greatly help to
establish necessary communication,
until wounds left by this absurd war
heal, no matter how Utopian and at
first glance unreal it may seem.
Nobody can move his house or
his field, and nobody wants to do so
in Macedonia. Recently-dug graves
and mothers wrapped in black
scarves should serve as a warning to
those who are asking for their rights
with guns in their hands not to do it
again. They should ask their fathers
how it was possible live in friendship
with their neighbours, belonging
to different nationalities and
religions. That will be Macedonia's
secret of success. But first the war
must stop, and reasons
for this "ordered" clash
must be found.
Talking about
money, we will come to
the source of instability.
Who buys the weapons,
from where, and who
supplies the money? It
will become clear that
someone is trying to
create a new flashpoint
in the Balkans.
Macedonia and its
neighbouring countries
(Greece, Albania,
Bulgaria, Serbia, or even more
broadly, Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia
and Kosovo) are going to spend
millions of dollars to buy arms and
defend themselves from the threatening
danger. I deeply believe that
the source of the crisis can be found
there. That is why I cannot find anything
positive in the whole situation,
although I have always been
optimistic. It seems that the crisis
will last for a long time, and that
Macedonia will be turned into
Beirut. There will be no "frontal"
war, but we will have a lot of funerals.
As long as dialogues, discussions,
round tables and negotiations
last, the war will continue.
This war has been imposed
upon Macedonia, and it is not
strong enough to deal with it. The
authorities are incapable of solving
the problems and people are poor
and dissatisfied. While I was writing
about the danger of the division
of Macedonia almost three years
ago, even my friends kindly warned
me that I was exaggerating. Now
we can all see that danger, and we
What now, June 2001