[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 22 (Thursday, February 26, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E257-E258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC 
                     OF MACEDONIA BORIS TRAJKOVASKI

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 26, 2004

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my 
condolences upon hearing the news of the death of Boris Trajkovski,

[[Page E258]]

the President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. President 
Trajkovski lost his life in a plane crash this morning in the 
mountainous region of southern Bosnia. I would like to offer my most 
sincere condolences to the wife, son, and daughter of President 
Trajkovski for their tragic and untimely loss as well as to all of the 
families and friends of the two pilots and six aides on board the 
flight who also perished in the crash. Furthermore, I wish to extend my 
deepest condolences to the people of Macedonia who have today lost a 
truly forward-looking and unifying leader.
  Boris Trajkovski, who served as President of Macedonia since 1999, 
will be remembered in the international community for his role as a 
peacemaker and a moderate in a region troubled by ethnic tensions and 
conflicts. These tensions and conflicts have at times been so severe as 
to threaten the stability and unity of Macedonia. President 
Trajkovski's accomplishments as a peacemaker are many and premised on 
his will to work together with all ethnic groups. Included among his 
accomplishments to this end is his role in a NATO-brokered peace 
agreement in 2001 that ended months of armed clashes between 
Macedonia's Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christians and ethnic Albanian 
minority. This agreement played an integral role in warding off a full-
scale civil war in the country.
  Since gaining its independence, Macedonia has been a member of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Parliamentary 
Assembly of which I am proud to serve as Vice President. Thus I have 
followed closely the developments in Macedonia and have observed first 
hand the efforts made by Macedonia under the leadership of President 
Trajkovski to secure a peaceful nation and to move the country forward 
to a bright future. Just this past Wednesday, President Trajkovski 
signed Macedonia's formal application to join the European Union, a 
move that would further benefit the people of Macedonia in their 
attempts to cement democracy and prosperity in their nation.
  It is my hope that the loss of President Trajkovski does not signify 
a loss in any degree of the strong unifying efforts in which he so 
strongly believed and for which he fought. As well as offering my 
condolences to the people of Macedonia in their time of grief, I also 
want to take this opportunity to wish them every success in overcoming 
this tragedy and continuing on the path of peace and prosperity.
  It is my hope that the greatest legacy left by the loss of President 
Trajkovski is the ongoing effort to see across ethnic divisions and to 
secure a peaceful and unified Macedonia in an equally peaceful and 
unified Europe.

                          ____________________