The Recognition Without a Single Bullet Fired

The recognition of Macedonia that came after 15 full months of knocking on European and world doors, is just another one of the United Nations, as of recently frequent, experiments on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, this experimenting has gone the furthest in the case of Macedonia. For the first time in the history of the UN, a state has become its member without even minimum attributes of sovereignty - a name and a flag, so that the metaphor about Macedonia standing, for the moment, "only on one leg" in the UN doesn't really sound like journalistic exaggeration. This "standing on one leg" practically represents the end of a painstaking procedure which the European Community started dealing with, but which, due to the energetic (sometimes even hysterical) objections by Greece and to the obvious inability of the European twelve to resolve that problem, was transferred to the United Nations.

Over the past 15 months, the Greeks persistently tried to turn Macedonia into the world's "bogeyman", presenting it almost as a super power. A country which, according to official information, has 159,000 soldiers in peace-time, a strong air force, five times more inhabitants and who knows how many times a more powerful economy, disputed the recognition of Macedonia (barely 10,000 soldiers under small arms), because of Skoplje's alleged territorial pretensions. In view of its own interests and the power of the Greek veto in the EC, the world accepted this more or less reluctantly, until it all became too ridiculous, it seems, even for the Greeks themselves. Within the next two months, with the mediation of the cochairmen of the Conference on Yugoslavia, Owen and Vance (Stoltenberg), Athens and Skoplje are to resolve the remaining disputes after which Macedonia would, at least as far international recognition is concerned, firmly stand on both feet.

At first glance it seems that the fuss that has been created over the Macedonian flag could be toned down sooner than that over the state's definite name. Despite numerous differences at the beginning of direct talks on "building mutual trust", official Athens and Skoplje received last week's United Nations decision in almost an identical way. Neither of them were too thrilled by such an outcome and they accepted it as a "lesser evil".

The news about the long awaited admission of Macedonia into the United Nations did not lead to an outburst of national rapture. On the streets of Skoplje there was no shooting from "Kalashnikovs", and no bombs were thrown around in national intoxication, like in similar cases when some other former Yugoslav republics celebrated their admission into the UN. In accordance with the state of affairs in Macedonia, the fireworks were much more modest. After many warm-cold promises and information, this kind of reaction from the citizens was quite understandable. The former leader of the Macedonian League of Communists and, over the past few years, one of the most prominent politicians in the republic, Petar Gosev, disappointed by the acceptance of a "rump recognition" decided to turn his back definitely on the ruling coalition. Djordje Marjanovic, professor at Skoplje university and the president of the civil-oriented League for Democracy has also expressed his dissatisfaction. "The Greek side's unconcealed satisfaction with the outcome of Macedonia's request for becoming a member of the UN (under a humiliatingly "ridiculous formula") raises in every reasonable person in Macedonia the feeling of uneasiness in regard to the proportions of our "historical victory", regardless of all the advantages which the status of a fully-fledged member of the United Nations entails, and which are undoubtable. The months that are to come will answer those very important questions that are the reasons for the uneasiness" - what will be the name of our state (because it is as clear as day that by accepting a compromise we have practically abandoned the constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia), which constitutional provisions will we have to erase and which, under the dictate of big powers, will be have to add to the Constitution, to what extent, under that same dictate will we, without our wish, have to "reorganize our state...", wondered Djordje Marjanovic quite disappointedly.

However, for the ruling coalition, a much more important political fact than these individual or group protests was that the citizens did not respond to the calls for the humiliating decision from New York to be rejected on the streets of Skoplje. The announced avalanche of popular dissatisfaction soon melted away: around 1000 members of the VMRO DPMNE party (right-wing party), a group of students called on to take to the streets by famous film director Ljubisa Georgijevski and about a hundred signatures of dissatisfied intellectuals, did not seriously endanger the current Macedonian authorities. This kind of reaction largely corresponds to the results of the recent public opinion poll conducted by the "Nova Makedonija" newspaper, according to which most of the republic's inhabitants are primarily concerned about how to survive. Judging by this poll, at possible new parliamentary elections only 5.67 percent of the electorate would vote for VMRO-DPMNE. The fact that the leading party of Albanians in Macedonia, (PDP), and most of the "non-Macedonian population" gave their support, at least for the time being, to this kind of policy, came as a big relief in the newly created situation to the Gligorov-Crvenkovski team and their policy oriented towards a peaceful outcome and a step-by-step build-up of Macedonia's international position. When the process of international recognition is completed, PDP will probably, many in Skoplje assume, present the bill for the current support. This party has been getting ready, for quite some time, to launch the procedure in the Macedonian parliament for amending the Constitution in such a way as to transform Macedonia into a binational state. Bills will probably come from other sides as well. The Turkish minority (around five percent of the overall population) is requesting much greater rights, and many pupils of Turkish nationality occasionally boycott classes dissatisfied because there aren't more grades in their mother tongue. Along with an increasingly important role which Turkey has been playing over the past months in helping Macedonia to resist the Greek policy, the Turkish minority's requests are louder and louder. Citizens of Macedonia of Serbian nationality are also expressing their dissatisfaction more and more often, especially after the New Year's incident at the Skoplje Black mountain. At the end of March, Faik Abdi, the leader of 220,000 Gypsies in Macedonia, sent a letter to the UN requesting, among other things, the creation of the national state of Romanistan on the territory of Macedonia. Regardless of the fact that it is criticized for many things on the domestic political scene and that there are many dangers from the outside, the ruling Macedonian team has reason to be satisfied.

After 15 full months of speculations that Macedonia would economically collapse, fall into the arms of Bulgaria, be forced to return to Serbia, or, simply, disappear in the flames of ethnic hatred, this republic, despite all the shortcomings of the World organization's decision, has become a full member of the UN. Macedonia was the only republic (at least it is for now) to leave Yugoslavia without any blood and without a single bullet fired at the former Yugoslav People's Army. There is gasoline in Skoplje, the denar is more stable than the dinar, and inflation, even though it is showing certain threatening trends, is far from this destructive one which is measured by millions of percent annually. Skoplje newspapers do not bring obituaries of young men who die every day in crazy wars which could have and should have been avoided with some more wisdom and will.