by K.B.
The commemorative academy held on this occasion yesterday at the Philology Department of the Pristina University was attended by all political representatives in Kosovo, general of the Kosovo Protection Corps Agim Ceku, the leader of the DPA Arben Xhaferi, and the chief of the Albanian office in Pristina, Vladimir Prela.
The leader of the DPA also attended a part of the thirty-day-long celebration "KLA's Glorious path" which started yesterday in Kosovo in organization of the Kosovo Protection Corps.
Yesterday the deputy president of the DPA, Menduh Thaci, confirmed that Arben Xhaferi was in Pristina, attending the commemoration of Adem Jashari's death.
DPA sources claim that Xhaferi had met the leader of the Democratic Leage of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova and sharply criticized him in the context of current developments on the northern Macedonian border. However, sources in Pristina deny that such a meeting has taken place.
Three Macedonian Army soldiers, who had been killed by Albanian extremists near Tanusevci, were buried on the day Xhaferi left for Pristina to honor the memory of Adem Jashari.
"The people knows who is a smuggler, who was an extended hand of Frckoski. The people knows who spied in the weapons scandal, who split the PDP, who arrested Rufi Osmani, and who wanted to shut down the Tetovo University," claims the PDP statement. The party leadership claims that Thaci accepted to sign an agreement for the division of Albanian territories in favor of Belgrade. In its statement issued to the media, the PDP claims that the party has "recordings of all anti-Albanian talks held by the leaders of the DPA" and will soon publish them.
"We have information that in meetings with foreign diplomats and with Macedonian leaders, including Branko Crvenkovski, the DPA insisted that the UCK be defeated at any cost," claims the PDP leadership.
The DPA statement, which was late last week sent to the Macedonian TV Albanian language editorial board, included a document under the codename 3760, which claimed that Imer Vejsel Imeri from the village of Cegrane, a former teacher and now the president of the PDP, on December 20, 1968, agreed to cooperate with the UDBA. According to that document, after the independence of Macedonia Imeri continued to cooperate with the Macedonian secret intelligence services.
The DPA reaction came after Imeri's statement for the German weekly "Spiegel", in which he claimed that during the Kosovo war Thaci recruited Macedonian citizens for the KLA.
by D.N.
It still hasn't been established when the crime took place and what possible motive could be, but it is suspected that the brutal murder was committed in the second half of the last week and that several criminals were involved.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Police), several knife wounds were found on Ilkovski's neck and back. The host of Kitka died because of bleeding from the inflicted wounds. Details of this horrendous act will be reported after the completed autopsy at the Skopje Institute for Forensic Medicine, and after the actions taken by the Police and judicial bodies, respectively. Murdered Josif Ilkovski was born in 1924 in Veles. He is a WWII veteran. He joined Tito's Partisans early in the war. During his distinguished career he was a journalist, publicist and writer. He published five novels. The last novel, "Ridge" was nominated for the traditional reward for the novel of the year awarded by Utrinski Vesnik.
A note was found in the room in which the murdered journalist, publicist and writer, Josif Ilkovski, lived on Kitka. It seems Ilkovski wrote his own epitaph. "Man-beast, your boundary is good-evil".
With these words the President of the Parliament, Stojan Andov, denied speculations that spread yesterday, late in the afternoon, in Skopje, that in Stockholm a capitulation of Macedonia was being prepared. The news through the state leadership in panic. We found out that Prime Minister Ljupco Georgijevski and Minister Dosta Dimovska were very disturbed. The phone line Skopje-Stockholm was on fire, and president Boris Trajkovski even had to briefly interrupt the meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, in order to explain what was going on. Minister Srgjan Kerim appeared on the 5:30pm news program of the Macedonian TV to deny the speculations.
But, what caused all this nervousness?
Yesterday, a copy of the document identified as a non-paper produced by Minister Kerim, submitted as its own in Brussels by the Greek government, was distributed in some circles in Skopje. That document, dated March 18, essentially outlines a strategy for the solution of the problem in Macedonia and suggests to Javier Solana with what and how to behave in Skopje.
The non-paper is catastrophic for Macedonia. According to it, during the Solana's visit to Macedonia on March 20, the Macedonian authorities should declare unilateral ceasefire that would be accepted by the Albanian terrorists. The ceasefire would be observed by observer missions of the EU and the OSCE. Later, this document states that the EU must name its envoy that would immediately engage the Albanian community in the dialog with the authorities, with the goal of proposing legal and administrative changes for the sake of return to stability, but all of this in the context of a centralized state.
Several things should happen in that context. First the Macedonian authorities must accept the official use of the Albanian language in the media, University and the Parliament; then the controversial reference to Macedonia as a national state of the Macedonian people should be removed from the preamble of the Constitution; next, the authorities should adopt a new law about the local government and decentralization of government, and finally, to promote the Southeastern European University (the so-called Stoel's University). Talks about these issues should take place outside Macedonia, most likely in Brussels, with participation of all political leaders from Macedonia.
Andov, with whom we talked immediately after the copies of the aforementioned documents had been distributed (which was used as basis for speculation in the Greek press and other European media) immediately called Stockholm and issued a forceful denial. He added that in Stockholm there was no discussion about a change in the Constitution, but that there is only mood to reaffirm Macedonian views, to demand a withdrawal of the terrorists, while possible solutions are to be sought later through reforms in the sphere of education and local government, but exclusively within the framework of the current constitution.
According to some well-informed sources in Skopje, the document originated from some circles in the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is one of the versions prepared as a possible Greek non-paper regarding the situation in Macedonia. From there, the document reached Greek journalists and Skopje, where it caused panic and confusion.
Opting for close cooperation that should secure lasting peace, defense ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation of border-control bodies in the countries in the region, above all through the system of quick exchange of information and its processing with contemporary technical means.
States participating in the meeting in Skopje stated that they would increase efforts to collect side arms and light weaponry from its citizens who illegally possess them and that they would improve the control of the spread of sidearms and light weaponry in the region. Similarly, they would intensify the activities on the clearance of landmines.
The ministerial meeting was yesterday opened by president Boris Trajkovski, who said that "it is not difficult to find a military solution for the problem, and we shall deal with it politically as well."
"However, our efforts will be meaningless if the international community does not deal with the root of the crisis in Kosovo," emphasized Trajkovski.
In front of the gathering he stressed that "Macedonia is used as an instrument to resolve the Kosovo problem". The chief of the Macedonian state sent a clear message to both the internal and external factors when he clearly stated that "we shall not respond to those who are suggesting federalization as a mask for an ethnically clean state".
According to the Macedonian president, the root of the crisis is in the attempts to attack the Macedonian model of multiethnic society. He emphasized that "we are all witnesses of ethnicization of criminal strategies and criminalization of politics".
"Is the international community prepared to fight for its principles and defend its allies?" president Trajkovski openly asked.
Ministers from the region one more time confirmed that in this region no one supports Albanian extremists and terrorists. The only dilemma was posed by the Albanian deputy Defense Minister Marko Bello, who demanded that dialog between Macedonian and Albanian political leaders be mediated by the EU and the NATO.
Regarding the possible participation of peacekeeping troops from Balkan countries in the region, according to the Greek Defense Minister, Akis Tsohasopoulos, that proposal will be considered at the next ministerial meeting, to be held on June 5 in Athens.