May 1997 Monitoring.

(This summary is based on the May reports only from Greece and the FRY. Unfortunately, by the end of July 1997, no one of the other national reports was available in the form agreed upon by the project coordinators in their April 1997 meeting).

Mariana Lenkova

The usual images of chaos and poverty dominated ALBANIA’s coverage, while there were Albanophobe references following some violent incidents involving Albanians in Greece. "But let us take into account the fact that the Albanians are not doing something new. This has been their official [sic] work since bygone times. They have always lived that way - by plundering and killing. Illyrians were not either farmers or stock-breeders. They were professional plunderers (…) I don’t know where things will go with these katsapliades [thieves] who have now become even more insolent, they jump into speedboats in Corfu, Preveza and Igoumenitsa, and shoot in cold blood. That is why I cannot understand why we have sent an army inside Albania and not in Epirus, so that we shoot at these killers" (A.T. 7/5); "Albanians may be notorious for their (…) lack of patriotism from the period of the Turkish occupation and during the Italian occupation; nevertheless, the Muslim element exists strongly, especially in the North. If the acts of violence between Christian and Muslim ‘gangs’ climax, very quickly we will have a new Lebanon or a new Bosnia near our borders!" (A.T. 9). The most pessimistic forecasts placed the issue in a wider context with references to the state of Kosovo, as well as to a possible internal upheaval in Macedonia. "The two small Balkan countries and the historical Serbian province give the impression of a real devil’s triangle" (El. 18).

The Turkish minority in BULGARIA again attracted the interest of the Greek media, whose aim was limited to mere scare-mongering. "In Sofia and all over Bulgaria, the situation is tragically terrible for the people; inflation runs at vertiginous speed while the leva was devalued by 500% since last year. Another threat that lies in wait for Bulgaria is that of the … ‘Muslim’ minority of Bulgaria which here is also manipulated by Ankara" (Ad.T. 9). The neighboring country’s attitude towards Macedonia and the alleged related motives were also covered. "The situation takes dangerous dimensions as a sudden involvement of Sofia has been noticed. The new Bulgarian government seems prepared to adopt the statelet of Skopje (as well as its irredentist claims), recognizing a ‘Macedonian’ nation! Speaking to the BBC, the Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, B. Dobrev, forewarned that his government is prepared to recognize the existence of a ‘Macedonian’ language and a ‘Macedonian’ nation if the Skopjans admit their Bulgarian roots!" (E.T. 15)

Theodorakis’ music concert in Skopje in April continued to provoke predominantly negative comments on and criticism of MACEDONIA especially in the conservative press. "A propagandistic scene was put on, with Athens trying to put forward the line of diplomatic surrender and Skopje arguing in favor of friendship among the peoples, regardless of the policies applied. When the well-staged exercises to impress ended, Mr. Gligorov repeated very officially his intransigent anti-Hellenic positions …We reached such a point of national decay that we feel ‘relieved’ or even vindicated because we entertained the elite of a state which finds itself at the edge of ethnic disintegration and economic collapse and which uses the claims against Greece as the smallest common denominator among the political forces and the various ethnic groups…" E.T.(17/5); "Private International Law protects even Benetton’s underwear. But Public International Law leaves Greeks unprotected against the name ‘Macedonia’ and the usurpers and falsifiers of History unpunished" (N. 27/5) Still, there were also encouraging comments on the bilateral relations and the prospects of cooperation, which is a recent phenomenon in the erstwhile unanimously hostile towards "Skopje" Greek press. "The Skopjans are nice and polite. And they love us, as much as this may sound strange to the ears of some Greeks…They look up to Greece and the Greeks for help. They are afraid of the Bulgarians. They don’t have good relations at all with the Albanians, while the Turks have been excluded from the economic life. But you shouldn’t tell them anything about the name. In their discussions with the Greeks they avoid to pronounce the word ‘Macedonia’ in order not to offend them. They discuss politely and show that they have friendly feelings for our country…" (Eth. 15/5, quoting the Greek businessman Veropolous who opened a supermarket in Skopje).

The usual mention of poverty in ROMANIA (as well as in Bulgaria) continued this month. "They did not have money for a funeral and put 47 dead infants into formalin." (El.8/5) However, the Greek press emphasized the friendly relations between Greece and Romania, stressing on the benefit which Greece may seek from it (with regard to property rights of Greeks who fled Romania in the past). That is why Mr. Constantinescou’s declaration that "friends in need are friends indeed", as well as his call upon the "close friendly relations that bind the two countries together" got a wide coverage (Eth.25/5).

SERBIA’s leadership got bad publicity in articles critical of its attitude in the war-dominated past. El. (19/5) re-printed an article from the French magazine Nouvel Observateur on the occultation of incriminating evidence "which connects the President of Serbia with the commitment of war crimes." At the same time, there was a comparison of the present and future through literature. "The banner of the ascending new generation of writers is the breach with the abuse of intellectual power that they attribute to the older generation. Some of them criticize the famous Academy of Arts and Sciences that it is full of ‘mythomaniac scholars who pretend to be historians’(…) Strangely enough Greece, in spite of its ties to Serbia, seems to have been waiting for the destruction of old Yugoslavia in order to begin to study systematically its rich literature. A literature which is half-Central European half-Balkan…" (K. 25)

The pattern of negative references to TURKEY continued with emphasis on human rights and the country’s regime. "How many heads did they cut off in 1997? There’s a good question. How many young Kurds did they kill in cold blood? How many Kurd women did they rape?" (Ad.T. 12); "Enchained in its political culture and its torn personality Turkey is not threatened by collapse because that would be to no one’s interest - neither to the great nor to the medium powers. However, it becomes an extremely unstable opportunity for the West" (El.25); "Turkey is a country which is very far from being called a ‘state of law’ …a state which does not remind us of the Ottoman Empire but still dreams of it. A state which does not even deserve to be classified as underdeveloped" (El. 28/5). The concert of a Greek and a Turk in Cyprus triggered many such stories. "The musical solution [sic] is not always a panacea…There used to be music in German concentration camps when they were executing women and children" (Ad.T. 17/5); "The only answer should be contempt and it is sufficient for this annoying, dull, ridiculous, but also provocative action, amidst the ignorance of apolitical constructs of the ‘star-system’" (Ad.T. 17/5); "An entire people is tormented with the…profound nonsense of an unfortunate, innocent and ignorant of history young man, who decided to unite the two peoples of Greece and of Turkey…But, for God’s sake, don’t let the Rouvases make ‘politics.’ The occupation of half of Cyprus by the barbarian Attila is too serious a matter for any ‘wagtail’!" (Ap. 20/5) Nevertheless, there were also some positive comments on citizens’ initiatives to further peace and cooperation between the two countries. "However, I admit that I don’t understand all this noise about the concert that he will be giving in Cyprus, in the neutral zone, together with his Turkish colleague. I don’t understand why it is nationally inadmissible, disloyal and dangerous, and I don’t know what else, for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to meet and sing together whatever they want … How do we talk about and how do we demand the union of Cyprus in one independent state when we refuse what is fundamental - the coexistence in a manifestation? Are we then to believe that a concert undermines the national front? Or that the condition for its realization should have been the condemnation of Turkish barbarism?" (El. 17/5)

The Greek press continued to back the official (intolerant) policy towards minorities denying the existence of both a TURKISH and a MACEDONIAN minority. "Each person has the right to call oneself as they wish. I call myself a Greek. Another person may call himself/herself a Turk. No one, however, has the right to give others a name. We cannot say that the whole minority in Thrace is Turkish. There are Pomaks, Gypsies, as well as citizens of Turkish origin." (Eth. 15); "New provocation by Skopjanophiles! Florina on the alert because of the manifestation organized by Rainbow [the political party of the Macedonian minority in Greece]" (E.T.30/4); "who denies that Skopjans are a distinct Slavic nation and that a small and negligible percentage of the population of Macedonia before the Civil War was made up of this Slavic group? However, they joined fascist Bulgaria and the fascist Communist Party of Greece to throw out the genuine Macedonians" [which implies, of course, the Greek Macedonians] (a letter to the editor, El.5). The only notable exception on the minorities issue came in reference to a public debate on minorities. El (17/5) consecrated an extensive and objective article after the roundtable took place. Therein, the minorities were called by the names they insist on, i.e. Macedonian and Turkish respectively, and the readers were informed on occasions of abuses on the part of the Greek authorities of the rights of minority members.

Guide to newspaper initials: Ad.T. Adesmeftos Typos (center-right); Ap. Apogevmatini; E.T. Eleftheros Typos (center-right); El. Eleftherotypia (center-left); Eth. Ethnos (center-left); K. Kathimerini (center-right); N. Nea (center-left); V. Vima (center-left - Sunday equivalent to Nea)

YUGOSLAVIA

Despite numerous texts on ALBANIA in all FRY media, the interest for this country markedly diminished in May as compared with previous months. Most texts were taken from foreign media and contained "dry news" only. Clear attitudes were spelled out on two issues. The first one was evident mainly in the independent weeklies which heavily attacked the Montenegrin and FRY government for allowing and profiting from smuggling of iron from Albania. "Podgorica unscrupulously uses its neighbor’s tragedy; If one can partially forgive unscrupulous ship owners and other vultures, who earn huge profits trading with human beings, the Montenegrin state can certainly not be forgiven." (NIN, 23). The second issue was covered in the state media which continued their attacks on Albanian President Berisha who was called an "exponent of a failed policy" (DT, 15), as the single most responsible actor for Albania’s troubles.

BULGARIA was covered very modestly during this month in the FRY press. The new authorities were portrayed quite favorably, while the old love towards the Socialists on the part of the state FRY media was completely forgotten.

The FRY press kept writing very favorably about GREECE. During May the signing of the biggest so far foreign economic deal of the FR Yugoslavia with Greece largely contributed to that and was not seen as something that had to do only with economy, but also with friendship with Greece. The Greek Prime Minister was again praised. "Kostas Simitis is simply offering a party in which all actors will open their cards. It is also known from earlier that to insist on the essence is premier’s style of every political game he plays. And this is something absolutely new on the Greek political stage." (P, 23)

MACEDONIA was covered abundantly. A critical approach towards the Macedonian government was over-shadowed by an even more critical stand towards the nationalist Macedonian opposition and particularly towards the Albanians from Western Macedonia. "Here, according to some unwritten rule, each crisis in politics and economy is good for the Albanians. This time they are out of the organized crime and civic disobedience, instead they are intensively working on the realization of their programmatic platforms. In the Western part of Macedonia, where they had an over-sweeping electoral victory, they are already preparing the terrain for the full-fledged autonomy, with which they regularly blackmail the Macedonian partners in the authorities." (D, 6) As always, an increased cooperation with Macedonia was welcomed and the country was called a "peaceful and well-meaning neighbor" (NIN, 16). 

Despite several texts on crime, the presentation of ROMANIA in May was mostly neutral and marginal except in Politika which continued its more or less open criticism of the current government’s economic program. "Struggling for the German NATO blessing, the official Bucharest has unilaterally asked for the ‘forgiveness concerning the disturbed destinies of Romanian Germans during and after WWII’. At the same time Bonn is silent over its own ‘contribution’ to the destruction of destinies of millions of Romanians." (P, 3)

Because of the Islamists and the offensive in Iraq, the general picture of TURKEY during May was naturally quite bad in all FR Yugoslav newspapers. This is, nevertheless, a conclusion that can be drawn more from implicit than from explicit expressions, since the latter traditionally lack. The target of criticism was precisely defined: the Islamist forces led by Prime Minister Erbakan. "Erbakan’s Islamists make concessions to fundamentalists, they want turbans back, they organize religious rallies, they bring religious sects leaders to daylight, they drag Turkey where its place is not - to the remote past. The country’s Army leadership and president Demirel are fighting like lions against the dark past, but it still remains to be seen who will get this war: XXI or XIX century? Vast majority of people says: we don’t want to go back, we want to head towards the time that is coming - towards the future."  (P, 9) One can say that the subsequent victory of the army over Erbakan pleased very much the whole FRY press, and this resulted in a somewhat more optimistic view of the Turkish future than in previous months. Thus the Chief of the Army Headquarters Ismail Haki Karadai was described as a "very popular person here, whose every move has been well-balanced so far..." while the possibility of a coup organized by the high-rank officers was excused in the following way: "They will surely not take tanks to the streets of Ankara unless they are forced to make this unpopular move." (P, 15)

There were again dozens of texts on the ethnic ALBANIANS from Kosovo, which dealt mainly with the new terrorist attacks, with a trial of Albanians accused for terrorism in Kosovo ["We are not terrorists, but fighters for liberation" (DT, 29); "With violence towards secession"  (VN, 19)]  and with the Albanian debate how opportune it is for them to organize their own unofficial elections in Kosovo. "‘The Kosovo republic’ is already in the heads of most members of the Albanian minority. Long tolerance of the lack of respect for the Serbian and the FRY institutions has reached its result. That is why there are not many Albanians who truly believe they live in Serbia and Yugoslavia, as one undivided country. Separatism has evolved into a movement." (P, 10)

The beginning of an offensive of the pro-regime media on the MUSLIM political leaders in Sanjak which occurred in May went hand in hand with the growing demands of the new Muslim local authorities which took power last November in three Sanjak cities. "[The List for Sanjak is] systematically and stubbornly trying to divide and estrange Serbs and muslims and to get political autonomy for communities in Serbia and Montenegro where muslims live" [note that "muslims" was written with a small ‘m’, counter to the grammar rules]. (P, 29); "‘The muslim national council of Sanjak’ decided that the mother country of the ‘Sanjak people’ is Bosnia-Hercegovina, not Serbia, and has gradually created that cult among the muslim population of Sjenica, Novi Pazar and other cities." (VN, 31, quoting Ugljanin’s conversation with B-H President Izetbegovic). Nasa Borba, as usually, offered arguments of the "other" side. Reporting on the trip of the UN rapporteur on human rights to Sanjak (pro-regime media hardly mentioned this trip), this daily put the argument of the "other" side in its headline: "We used to be exposed to aggression, now we are being assimilated" (12/5).

After a long and complete absence of the ROMA from all the FR Yugoslav media, the press finally began to write about their extremely difficult social position. This turn happened to a large degree due to the Roma Congress, held in April.

This is probably the first time in the last several years that the Serbian press has taken the ethnic BULGARIANS topic into serious consideration. One could conclude that public ignorance in relation to the minorities - imposed deliberately by the policy makers and the media - can be equally dangerous and harmful for the minorities as the open anti-minorities attitudes and policy. Though the official media presented an almost idyllic picture of the life of this minority, Nasha Borba wrote that "no other national minority in Yugoslavia is so divided and isolated as the Bulgarians" (16/5).