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ΟΥΡΑΝΙΟ ΤΟΞΟ - RAINBOW- VINOZHITO
Στεφάνου Δραγούμη 11, Τ. Κ. 53100 Τ.Θ. 51 Φλώρινα - Lerin
Τηλ. - Φαξ. : 0385 46548
http://www.florina.org E-mail: rainbow@florina.org vinozito@otenet.gr


POSITIONS PRESENTED AT SKOPJE PRESS CONFERENCE

On 26/3/01 Rainbow held a press conference in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia, concerning the events that have been taking place in the neighboring country.
Rainbow believes that it is unacceptble in the name of human rights today for any minority or portion thereof to employ terrorist methods or armed violence in a country such as the Republic of Macedonia. This country is a functioning constitutional democracy, whose institutions enable the presentation of issues and the advocacy of all rights.
In general, in the Republic of Macedonia, as far as the minorities are concerned, it must be stressed that their ethnic and cultural identity is not disputed. On the contrary, despite the fact that problems do exist, as they do, of course, everywhere, according to international standards and reports by international organizations for the protection of minorities, the Rep. of Macedonia is a paragon among the Balkan states.
Rainbow has repeatedly asserted that, in the process of advocating for their rights, minorities must reassure the majority population that they do not have secessionist tendencies or intentions to change borders. This is especially true in the Balkans where history has bequeathed us a mosaic of ethnic groups and cultures, which have coexisted in the same geographical regions for centuries.
Ideas that lead to national integration via territorial expansion through the use of national minorities inevitably also lead to ethnic cleansing procedures and violent population displacements.
As far as the issue of the Albanian minority, in particular, in the Rep. of Macedonia is concerned, there is an internal (within the minority) dimension that has to do with its need for internal democratization. What, for example, is the position and role of Albanian women within the Albanian minority?
We believe that within the Rep. of Macedonia the parallel coexistence between minority Albanians and the state's other citizens must end. There also must be active participation of all citizens in all of the nation's sociopolitical activities.
At this press conference Rainbow invited all democratic citizens in the Rep. of Macedonia to form a democratic front against armed violence and in defense of the country's European prospects.
The problem in the Balkans lies in the Balkan "great ideas". The hypocrisy of the Balkan leaderships during the last decade is epitomized by events in the former Yugoslavia.
Serbia refers to Kosovo as an indivisible part of the united Yugoslavia and justly supports not changing the borders. In previous years it carried out ethnic cleansing operations in Bosnia in efforts to realize the vision of a great Serbia. It is now proceeding with a "special ties" agreement with the Serbian Republic of Bosnia, which in essence supports the changing of borders within Bosnia-Herzegovina - in other words, its partitioning. At the same time the Croatian community of Bosnia is signing a similar agreement with Croatia.
On the first day of the crisis in the Rep. of Macedonia, Bulgaria sonorously declared that it would send its troops into that country to defend its territorial integrity, as though it were one of its provinces, thus reviving visions of early 20th century Bulgarian nationalism.
The Albanian government has stated that it respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Rep. of Macedonia. However, it refused to sign a statement condemning the armed Albanian terrorists -at the meeting of Balkan state leaders- following the events in Tanusevci, because the joint declaration contained a reference to Albanian terrorists. At the same time, the Albanian parliament condemned all Balkan states and NATO because it supported the Macedonian government in the measures it took to defend the nation's territorial integrity.
For the past ten years, Greece, while at the declaration level it has supported the territorial integrity of its neighbor, through political embargoes and economic pressure it has been trying to compel its neighbor to change its constitutional name by systematically impeding its incorporation into European institutions. In this way, Greece is contributing to its destabilization - rather than its stabilization. In addition, a proposal by Greek Foreign Ministry advisors was recently made public. According to this, the framework of proposals to expand the rights of the Albanian minority includes the proposal for the creation of "Local Governments" - in other words, the "cantonization" of the state and the parity of the Albanian language throughout the Republic of Macedonia. It would be particularly interesting to hear similar proposals from the Greek Foreign Ministry for regions in Greece that are inhabited by minorities, such as those of Northern Greece (Macedonia and Thrace) where there are Macedonian and Turkish minorities, respectively.
Rainbow believes that national minorities must refuse to become the objects of interstate rivalry and intervention in the internal affairs of the country where they live. Moreover, they should create relations based on friendship, cooperation and solidarity with all the citizens of the country where they live.
Of course, the necessary preconditions for this are the condemnation of all political oppression of national minorities, the safeguarding by state authorities of their minority rights, and the respect for their ethno-cultural identity.
On this basis, democratic Albanians in the Rep. of Macedonia should direct their political actions toward creating alliances with the state's other democratic citizens in order to solve the problems they face - rather than toward secession. At the same time, Macedonians and the country's other citizens should denounce incidents of oppression not only of the Albanian minority but also of all other minorities.
These are the principles upon which every democratic Balkan citizen in his or her nation should base his or her actions, so that we may have relations based on sincere friendship, solidarity and cooperation, and peace in the Balkans.

THE POLITICAL SECRETARIAT