[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 6880-6881]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         ALBANIANS IN MACEDONIA

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR.

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 2, 2001

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, having monitored the egregious human 
rights violations against Albanians in Macedonia under the former 
communist regime of Kiro Gligorov, I am pleased to support the current 
coalition government of Arben Xhaferi, Chairman of the Democratic Party 
of Albanians in Macedonia, and Boris Trajkovski, Chairman of the ethic 
Macedonian party VMRO. In this regard, I submit for the Congressional 
Record a report entitled ``Resolving the Crisis in Macedonia'', by 
Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, Balkan Affairs Advisor to the Albanian-
American Civic League. This analysis is the finest analysis dealing 
with the subject matter at hand. Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi is truly an 
expert on these matters. In addition, the Albanian-American Civic 
League represents the policies and positions that are in the best 
interests of both America and Macedonia, and also for hope for a 
lasting peace in the Balkans.

                   Resolving the Crisis in Macedonia

                     (By Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi)

       The Albanian American Civic League has been working 
     extensively with the Bush administration, the U.S. Congress, 
     and the Albanian American community since our delegation 
     returned from Macedonia, Kosova, and Presheva at the 
     beginning of March. Our goal is to ensure that the crisis in 
     Macedonia is resolved through diplomacy, not weapons, and 
     that a commitment is made to eradicating the roots of the 
     conflict--namely, the racism, repression, and 
     institutionalized discrimination that Albanians have been 
     subjected to for close to a century.
       The international community has long described Macedonia as 
     a multiethnic democracy. But, as Democratic Party chairman 
     Arben Zhaferi observed in an interview with the New York 
     Times on March 27, while the reality of Macedonia is 
     multiethnic, ``the concept of the state is ethnocentric.'' 
     ``Which do we change?'' he asked. ``We can only change the 
     reality by ethnic cleansing, and so we must change the 
     concept of the state.''


                            RECOMMENDATIONS

       In order to bring genuine democracy and peace to Macedonia, 
     it is necessary to:
       Change the concept of the state by changing the 
     Constitution to give equal status to Albanians and ethnic 
     Macedonians.
       Change the citizenship law, or rather its application, so 
     that all people born in Macedonia or who have longstanding 
     residency are counted as citizens.
       Since the 1994 census, more than 120,000 ethnic Albanians, 
     whose families in many cases have been living in Macedonia 
     for centuries have been classified as ``illegal immigrants,'' 
     because the head of the household is working abroad to ensure 
     the family's survival. Those whose work abroad has prevented 
     them from living in Macedonia for fifteen years without 
     interruption, as the current law requires, have lost the 
     citizenship rights they had before Macedonia declared its 
     independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
       A huge part of the problem here is that the OSCE, of which 
     Macedonia is a member, has established international norms 
     for determining citizenship that do not account for a 
     situation in which high unemployment has forced large numbers 
     of adults to work abroad in order to support their families. 
     Therefore, OSCE standards must be modified to accommodate the 
     Macedonian reality.
       In the villages bordering Kosova, such as Tanusha, 
     disenfranchisement has taken another form. After NATO, 
     entered Kosova in June 1999, Macedonian border guards began 
     to try to push the Macedonia border back into Kosova. When 
     ethnic Albanian farmers in Tanusha and other border towns 
     would cross the border into Vitina, Kosova (only eight 
     Kilometers away to buy supplies, rather than make the journey 
     to Skhup (25 kilometers away), they were blocked from 
     returning to Macedonia, where their families have been 
     farming for hundreds of years on the same land. It is no 
     accident that the NLA established a stronghold here.
       Ensure that the new census is conducted according to 
     international standards and monitored by recognized 
     nongovernmental institutions and officials from several 
     countries.
       Macedonia and the international community must finally have 
     an accurate count of ethnic Macedonians, Albanians, and other 
     nationalities in Macedonia. Xhevdet Nasufi, an ethnic 
     Albanian who is Minister of Justice in Macedonia, has been 
     put in charge of the census. It is essential that a large 
     number of the census takers are ethnic Albanians, while other 
     ethnic groups in Macedonia, such as Roma, Vlachs, Bulgarians, 
     and Serbs, should also be included in the census personnel. 
     If the government is anxious about increasing the number of 
     minority representatives conducting the census, then they can 
     ask that international monitors accompany all census takers, 
     regardless of their ethnicity. The spring 2001 census should 
     be postponed until the immediate crisis subsides and 
     international assistance is provided.
       Make Albanian a second official language.
       Transform the voting system in the parliament so that 
     ethnic Macedonian members, who are in the majority, do not 
     overrule every initiative made by Albanian MPs and those of 
     other ethnic groups.
       Increase the number of Albanians in the police force and 
     other state institutions, consistent with their numbers in 
     the population.
       Decentralize the government and give municipalities a 
     greater share of the power and tax revenues in order to 
     implement decisions at the local level. (The Macedonian 
     parliament has been in the process of considering a revision 
     of legislation that would strengthen local government.)
       End police brutality by reforming the old Communist 
     structure of the police and military through professional 
     training by Western experts that includes human rights 
     education.
       Investigate abuses by the Macedonian police against 
     Albanians and Roma, as
       Resolve once and for all Albanians' lack of access to 
     higher education in Macedonia by constructing the new 
     Albanian language university.
       Other problems related to this university, including 
     expanding the number of faculties, integrating the previous 
     University of Tetova, ensuring enough placements for 
     qualified applicants, etc., must be resolved by the Albanian 
     community in dialogue with the funders from the European 
     Union and the United States.
       Begin an anti-racism campaign by ending ethnic stereotyping 
     in the media.


                                STRATEGY

       Achieving the important objectives outlined above will 
     ensure that Albanians have equal rights with ethnic 
     Macedonians and that they have effective participation in the 
     political process. These objectives cannot be accomplished by 
     force of arms. They can only be accomplished by bringing all 
     political parties from all ethnic groups to the negotiating 
     table with international mediators as soon as possible. In 
     addition, the international community, and especially the 
     United States, the most important friend that Albanians have, 
     will not support the use of gun--either by the State or the 
     NLA fighter--as a tool of change in Macedonia. Because the 
     crisis in Macedonia can only be resolved through negotiation 
     and not military might, this has implications for both ethnic 
     Macedonians and Albanians:
     What ethnic Macedonians should consider and do to end the 
         crisis
       Peace cannot come to Macedonia as long as the Macedonian 
     military offensive continues. It must cease, and the Serb, 
     Bulgarian, Russian, and Greek military and paramilitary 
     forces that are aiding the Macdeonian army in fighting the 
     National Liberation Army must leave the country. Reparations 
     for property damage and personal injury should be made as 
     soon as possible to civilians living in the villages where 
     the NLA has been based. The resort to arms, initially against 
     a few hundred armed guerrilla forces, was a mistake. Military 
     action has only served to swell the ranks of the NLA and 
     their support from the Albanian diaspora and to radicalize 
     the population on both ethnic Albanian and Macedonian sides. 
     The failure to stop the military offensive, the destruction 
     of civilian property, and the arrest of innocent civilians 
     has exacerbated the conflict.
       Up till now, the ethnic Macedonian leadership has been 
     adept at saying all of the right things to the international 
     community but not at moving on the changes that are needed to 
     bring peace and stability to the country. The fear is that 
     granting equal rights to all citizens and the integration of 
     all nationalities will lead to the nation's disintegration. 
     In fact, the opposite is true. As long as human rights are 
     denied in Macedonia, the state is under threat of violence. 
     In its current ethnocentric form. Macedonia also will fail to 
     gain admittance to the Council of Europe, the European Union, 
     and NATO, which is critical to its economic and political 
     growth. Exclusion from European institutions would be 
     especially unfortunate because the VMRO-DPME coalition 
     brought to power Prime Minister Lujco Georgievski and 
     President Boris Trajkovski, who are unquestionably more 
     progressive in their outlook and actions than the previous 
     Slavophile government of Kiro Gligorov.
       Contrary to initial statements by the ethnic Macedonian 
     leadership, Kosovar Albanians did not export violence to 
     Macedonia. The National Liberation Army is homegrown and its 
     emergency is a wake-up call. Ethnic

[[Page 6881]]

     Macedonian leaders need to make a sincere commitment to 
     dialogue with the Albanian parties and to make the necessary 
     constitutional and legal changes to end discrimination. But 
     also, as the International Crisis Group stated in its April 
     2001 report, ``The Macedonian Question: Reform or 
     Rebellion,'' ``the Slavic majority must be ready to challenge 
     the notion that Macedonian state identity is synonymous with 
     the Slavic population.'' If it does this, Macedonia has a 
     chance to become a truly multiethnic, consensual democracy 
     that serves as a model for the rest of the world in the 21st 
     century.
     What ethnic Albanians should consider and do to end the 
         crisis
       The National Liberation Army has succeeded in focusing 
     international attention on the legitimate grievances that 
     Albanians have in Macedonia about anti-Albanian racism and 
     institutionalized discrimination. However, the timing and 
     nature of the NLA's response has endangered human life and 
     compromised the Albanians national cause. There is no support 
     for armed rebellion in Macedonia by the international 
     community, because the situation is not the same as it was in 
     Kosova, where Albanians were routinely imprisoned, tortured, 
     and killed throughout ten years of occupation, culminating in 
     Slobodan Milosevic's campaign of mass extermination and 
     forced deportation in 1998-1999. The NLA picked up the gun--
     which should be the last resort after all nonviolent means 
     have been exhausted--without first engaging in the political 
     process underway in Macedonia by Arben Xhaferi and other 
     Albanian leaders, who were close to making significant 
     changes in the legal, economic, education, and political 
     status of Albanians.
       The NLA picked up the gun without first articulating to the 
     world the plight of Albanians who live in Tanusha and other 
     Macedonian villages on the border of Kosova, with the result 
     that a new round of anti-Albanian press has ensued to the 
     detriment of Albanians throughout the world. Instead of 
     securing rights and freedom for the Albanians who are 
     disenfranchised in Macedonia, it has helphed NATO justify its 
     premature and ill-considered released of the Serbian military 
     into the buffer zone. Picking up the gun at the wrong time 
     has also undermined the resolution of Kosova's status and put 
     the lives of Albanians in Mitrovic and Presheva at 
     considerably greater risk.
       At this critical juncture, when the pursuit of war will 
     lead only to a bloodier and more devastating conflict on all 
     sides, the Albanian community must come to grips with the 
     fact that the National Liberation Army was created not by the 
     majority of Albanians in Macedonia and in the rest of the 
     Balkans, but by members of LPK, a small revolutionary Marxist 
     party. Although some of LPK's leaders, including Ali Ahmeti 
     (head of the NLA), can be credited with helping to form the 
     Kosova Liberation Army in Switzerland in the early 1990s, the 
     KLA ultimately emerged as a democratic force. It is time to 
     demand that LPK cease all military activities and become 
     accountable to the political process. In this connection, it 
     is time for the Albanian community also to acknowledge that 
     the current crisis in Macedonia is as much the result of a 
     power struggle inside the Albanian community as it is the 
     result of years of discrimination and repression by ethnic 
     Macedonians. This internal struggle has been compounded by 
     efforts to exploit the current situation for political 
     advantage, such as the recent vitriolic attack against Arben 
     Xhaferi, replete with falsehoods, by Bardyl Mahmuti.
       While the DPA is not without its faults, and should undergo 
     careful self-examination and change in this period, it is 
     also the case that DPA leader Arben Xhaferi and his 
     colleagues should receive credit and support for their 
     numerous accomplishments in improving the present and future 
     prospects for Albanians in Macedonia. Arben Xhaferi should 
     also receive praise for his superb performance as a statesman 
     on behalf of the Albanian people throughout this crisis. 
     Meanwhile, politicians and parties who feel that they have a 
     better program to offer Albanians in Macedonia should not 
     spend their time attacking other Albanians, but in vigorously 
     offering their programs to the electorate in preparation for 
     the October 2002 national elections, while presenting a 
     unified voice with all Albanian factors when it comes to the 
     legal and institutional changes that must be made in 
     Macedonia. Every Albanian, but especially Albanian 
     politicians, intellectuals, and activists, should be working 
     to make full equality for Albanians in Macedonia a reality.
     What the international community should consider and do to 
         end the crisis
       While the steps taken by Macedonia's coalition government 
     in the next few weeks will be critical to the outcome of the 
     crisis in Macedonia, the steps taken by the international 
     community will be equally decisive. The international 
     community should cease sending ambiguous signals about its 
     commitment to a diplomatic solution to the crisis. To date, 
     much lip service has been given to a peaceful, diplomatic 
     solution, while the major thrust has been swift condemnation 
     of the NLA's actions and support for the Macedonian military 
     offensive. The West has promised to uphold Macedonia as a 
     democratic, multiethnic state, but it has endorsed the 
     actions of ethnic Macedonian leaders without showing enough 
     regard for the position of the Democratic Party of Albanians 
     in Macedonia, which made the VMRO-DPME coalition government 
     possible in the first place.
       Identifying and implementing genuine political solutions to 
     the problems in Macedonia and other parts of Southeast Europe 
     is the only way to avoid more bloodshed and to avert a fifth 
     Balkan war. And as much as the Bush administration would 
     prefer to give Europe the lion's share of responsibility, it 
     has to come to grips with the fact that a negotiated 
     settlement will not happen without active involvement by the 
     United States. Albanians, in particular, view the United 
     States as their only protector and as the only country that 
     can shift the countries of the Former Yugoslavia from the 
     previous Communist model to Western, participatory democracy.
       The international community laments corruption in Macedonia 
     and other countries in Southeast Europe, and yet it has 
     failed to make good on its promises to help Macedonia 
     economically in return for the pivotal role that Macedonia 
     played during the war in Kosova, when it gave refuge to 
     hundreds of thousands of Kosovar Albanians. This breach of 
     trust, which fuels the prevailing anti-Western mood among 
     ethnic Macedonians, must be addressed.
       Finally, there is no question that uncertainty about the 
     future status of Kosova has fueled the current crisis in 
     Macedonia. National elections should be held in Kosova as 
     soon as possible and a process mapped out for final status 
     negotiations. Contrary to the opinion of some European 
     countries, Kosova's independence will contribute the 
     strengthening, not to the demise, of the Macedonian state.

     

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