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November 3, 2004

By Metodija A. Koloski*

Cutting off dialogue with a person who represents a nation will not help the situation. We must all sit down with the people who represent Macedonia and discuss with them the problems of our country.

Born and raised in New Jersey to one of the oldest founding families of Sts. Kiril and Metodij Macedonian Orthodox Church (of which I am a board member), I would like to clarify the misunderstanding on the two articles published back September in Macedonian daily newspaper Vreme. Specifically this is my opinion of what transpired.

On September 18th, 2004 the Macedonian radio program that airs every Saturday in New Jersey, announced an open forum scheduled for Friday, September 24th with President Crvenkovski to be held at Sts. Kiril and Metodij regarding the issues facing the Republic of Macedonia, as well as those related to the Macedonian Diaspora. The same day our parish board secretary sent an invitation to community leaders informing us that a meeting was scheduled on September 19th to discuss Crvenkovski’s New Jersey visit.

President Crvenkovski’s last met with representatives from the Macedonian-American community in New York City/New Jersey during his November 2003 visit to the States, when he was still Prime Minister. Neither President Crvenkovski nor the community leaders (including myself) were pleased with the outcome. Crvenkovski stressed at this meeting that Macedonian-Americans needed to invest in Macedonia and work together with the Albanian-Americans from Macedonia to lobby the US government to support Macedonia’s bid to enter Euro Atlantic Institutions, such as NATO and the EU.

If Macedonia were internally economically friendly and stable, perhaps Macedonian-Americans would invest. Furthermore, it is too optimistic and idealistic to think that Albanian-Americans from Macedonia would like to invest and work for the good of Macedonia. Generally, Albanian-Americans lobby for Albania, not Macedonia, because often they do not recognize Macedonia or the Macedonian people as sovereign! Little did I know Crvenkovski would meet that same day with the Albanian-American community for a working lunch session. US Ambassador Butler, who has failed to responsibly assert American values in Macedonia, was also present. Thank God he is only appointed for 3 years! Butler said to us “sonceto gree nad makedonskiot narod (the sun shines radiantly upon the Macedonian nation),” which is bizarre since Ambassador Butler has not publicly acknowledged to the world the American position on the abuses and ethnic cleansing of Macedonians.

Nearly 40 prominent Macedonian businessmen and community leaders from Struga and the villages surrounding Struga came to the September 19th meeting in New Jersey. They threatened to boycott Crvenkovski if the church decided to go forth with the September 24th meeting. Upon being asked whether President Crvenkovski should be given the right to a meeting with our community, one of the most influential, respected, active, and well-spoken individuals in our community made his opinion loud and clear, “Crvenkovski ne e pozhelen vo nashata zaednica (Crvenkovski is not wanted in our community),” and that he would not be a party to any delegation meeting with Crvenkovski. His comments set the tone for the remainder of the meeting.

By a unanimous vote, the Macedonian-American community in New Jersey decided Crvenkovski would be boycotted and not allowed to set foot in our community centers. They view Crvenkovski as an enemy to Macedonia’s national interests. How would you feel if your worst enemy entered your home? Representatives of the World Macedonian Congress, present at the September 19th meeting declared Crvenkovski persona non-grata in our community.

Regardless if I agree with their decision, this is something to be proud and happy about: A Macedonian community stood up for what they believed in, and they decided to take action against people who they see as not working in the national interest of Macedonia and the Macedonian people. (On a side note, the attendees at the meeting agreed also that the Macedonian community in New Jersey must stand firm and show our brothers and sisters in Macedonia that we stand a 100% behind them in their actions against the territorial division and rape of Macedonia.).

At the meeting on Friday, September 24th Crvenkovski reiterated, as in his many speeches, he is against the referendum but knows that a referendum is a democratic right of all people. His speech, which brought nothing new to the table from what we read in the newspapers, lasted about 20 minutes. Nonetheless, it is better to hear for yourself what the politicians are saying than reading it in the news. One community leader—attending the meeting as an individual, without representing any organization, asked Crvenkovski a few questions. I thought four were the most crucial to the existence of the Macedonian nation-state: How come Macedonia has not passed a law on the declaration of an anthem, flag, and coat of arms? How come the National Albanian flag is used in Tetovo and Gostivar? Why was the Albanian language given official status? Do you guarantee that once Macedonia joins NATO our borders will not be changed?

Crvenkovski answered “most of us here remember a time when in Tetovo you would find the Macedonian, Albanian, and Yugoslav flags hanging freely over the town without any problem." This is nonsense! Neither Tito, nor Milosevic would have allowed this! I do not know where Crvenkovski was basing his information on.

According to historical sources and the stories my grandparents would tell me, there was a time when Macedonians had to flee their homes in northern Greece or be persecuted by the Greek government who denies permission to these people to come back home to this very day. There was a time for several hundreds of years where the Macedonian people were ethnically cleansed with the sanctioned abduction of young Macedonian boys by a dictatorial Ottoman empire. Macedonia needs a President that is at least one thousand years old if it is to effectively represent it’s people; obviously, my article is sarcastic, but that is exactly what a President should not be.

Crvenkovski went on with “...back in 1974, the law of Macedonia guaranteed all minorities to speak their own languages in Parliament...” The security of the country is in jeopardy when people of a nation cannot communicate; a socialist Tito regime that instituted the 1974 rules does not operate anymore! Today Macedonia is—and should be—a democracy for the Macedonian citizens regardless of ethnicity, race, or religion. Crvenkovski did not address the other important questions.

I asked why the Macedonian government plans to shut down the Agency of Emigration and open a sector under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the Diaspora. Crvenkovski stated that there used to be 21 ministries, now there are 14 and he believes a small country like Macedonia should have no more than 10. He told us that he believes it is the duty of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the Diaspora. I do not know about you, but as a Macedonian, I do not consider myself a matter of foreign affairs. But what do you expect when Macedonians who have left Macedonia for a year cannot even vote in our embassies?

Minister Mitreva stated that when she came to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, they had no plans to deal with the Diaspora. On October 1st, the sector in the Ministry will be opened for the first time. The Agency used to be a “Matica (QueenBee)”, then a Ministry, now is an Agency and soon will be lowered to the status of Sector. I agree there should be a sector, but the Agency should not be shut down. I believe it should go back to the status of Matica. The Matica used to be a very active organization, published a monthly news magazine, and regularly published books on the Diaspora. At present, due to the Macedonian government’s lethargic position toward the Macedonian Diaspora, the Agency’s role has fallen, and they have become very inactive.

Crvenkovski ended with “look how the Jews control what policies are passed in Israel, like them you can do the same with Macedonia.” It is a strong message, but it seems that he only said it to try to win our support. Ironically, what he failed to realize is that there were members of our audience who are Macedonian, but of the Judaic faith; these Jewish Macedonians do not want control of Israel, but instead they want what was taken from them by oppressive regimes many decades ago; they want their national identity back! Parliament may want to consider making Macedonian History a prerequisite to being President!

What are we doing? My fellow Macedonians, we are going to lose our country if we don’t do something! We must work together to solve Macedonia’s problems. Crvenkovski, Buchkovski, Gruevski, or others might not be the right ones for Macedonia at the moment, but we must deal and work with it. Crvenkovski will be president for 5 years; a lot can change in Macedonia in 5 years. Macedonia, hopefully, might be recognized by the world under its constitutional name and it might be all Crvenkovski’s doing. Then we shall praise him for being a true Macedonian. In Macedonia, a person can lose or gain popularity in a matter of hours. Cutting off dialogue with a person who represents a nation will not help the situation. We must all sit down with the people who represent Macedonia and discuss with them the problems of our country.

To this end, I urge all Macedonians to get out on November 7th and vote in favor of the referendum. Do not be scared by the threat tactics of Butler and Sahlin, Macedonia will join NATO and the EU.