Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

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tain events that have announced the fall
of the Council. The dangerous events
in Rechica (five dead, of whom four
were former members of the NLA), as
well as the attack on the restaurant
owned by Menduh Tachi, which was
considered as the alternative center of
the DPA, have ruined the idyllic picture
of relations and cooperation among
Albanian subjects. As it is already
known, the call of the DPA to the other
members of this Council to distance
themselves from some the statements
given by Dzhevat Ademi and Mersel
Biljali about, according to
them, "fighting as a result of
criminal motives", left the
PDP and NDP without words.
That has made the DPA
temporarily "freeze" their participation
in the work of the
Council. Soon after that, the
DPA started to break from
some of the things determined
by Ali Ahmeti. This party
started to work seriously on
the next elections and to create
a new election technique.
They gave preference to the
cooperation with VMRO-
DPMNE over other subjects,
even blaming some of them for an
attempt to break that union. Besides
that, the DPA included in their lines
many former and very popular commanders
and fighters of the NLA -
which has constantly weakened
Ahmeti's position.
WHO IS A BIGGER
RADICAL?
As a result of this flow of events,
before becoming a "general without an
army", Ali Ahmeti had to draw a red
line under which he could not allow the
loss of more of his people. He could
not have played the role of an "English
queen", a symbol of the unity among
Albanians (which has proven false),
and allow others to have the real influence.
The old-new leader of the PDP,
even before Ahmeti founded the party
named "Democratic Unity for
Integration" offered him the leadership
of the PDP, while the DPA was also
hoping for his cooperation. The
unpleasant situation that has arisen
among these parties now has a different
nature, which raised the following
question. Is Ahmeti going to be used as
an instrument by some party against
the others? As a result of that, the mystery
of how the former leader of NLA
will cooperate with other Albanian parties
is still not revealed because, in that
case, he would be given the leading
role and all the others would become
simple props.
From what was being stated during
the founding of the new political party,
the main goal was to implement the
Ohrid agreement. Without "mouth-filling"
statements, Ahmeti left the
impression of a person that has dealt
with war methods and is supporting the
democratic processes, integration, and
the gaining of rights in an institutional
way. This approach of Ali Ahmeti has
made the DPA "wake up" its "innate
radicalism".
"We expected more from the new
political party; we are the real radicals,"
commented the leader of DPA,
Dzhaferi. His political party, with the
transfer of some former commanders
and fighters of the NLA, is trying to
prove that the gains from the war
belong to them, because the commanders
were DPA activists even before the
war crisis; i.e., they went to the mountains
to fight as the party's activists.
The silent rivalry between the DPA
and the party of Ali Ahmeti could
increase the rate of pluralism among
Albanians; but, at the same time, it
could present a hidden danger if it
reaches the point of "to be or not to be".
While the DPA is fighting using the
attraction of former commanders of the
NLA and through a very famous person
- Daut Redzhepi, known as commander
Leka (who was the leader of
the branch of this political party in
Tetovo) - Ali Ahmeti is quiet. The role
of "falcon" in the fight with Dzhaferi's
people was taken over by Dzhezair
Shakiri, one of the most famous commanders
of the NLA, known by the
nickname, Hodzha. He has not joined
the new party yet, though he is very
close to Ahmeti. His verbal war against
Dzhaferi's party has its ideological, as
well as personal, motives; his accusations
in the media can have a positive
or a negative influence on
either one of these two political
parties.
The DPA started its preparations
for elections very early,
while Ahmeti's party needs
first to expand its branches,
and then join the election campaign.
The DEI is still a party
in development, as can also be
seen from the work on the
building near Sauk Cheshma,
which is going to be their seat.
I started this text with the
Macedonian feeling of revolt
and I would like to finish this
text with that also. No matter,
whether they like their new neighbor or
not, weather the Macedonian political
parties like Ahmeti's profile or not, they
should accept the reality of his presence
here - especially if he wins the
bigger number of Albanian votes. Then
his relevance could not be neglected.
The leaders of the political parties
should not rush with statements that
they will not cooperate with "former
terrorists", because the situation imposes
cooperation between them and the
Macedonian political parties. SDSM
is cooperating with the party whose
secretary was prosecuted for organizing
the "paramilitary forces", and many
of its activists participated in the NLA;
VMRO-DPMNE is in coalition with
the DPA, whose member is commander
Leka, etc. Therefore, I am sure that
for the Macedonians, a lot more
acceptable option is Ahmeti's presence
in Skopje, rather than somewhere up
there in Shipkovica.
(The author is a writer and a journalist
for the newspaper "Fljaka")
Elections for peace, July 2002