Macedonia News - Aco Talevski

I have been a regular subscriber to the Age for many years as I considered it to be a progressive and moderate paper. Unfortunately in the last few years my opinion has changed drastically to the point that I have now lost faith in the credibility of the news you present to your readers. I would be grateful if you would extend me the courtesy of reading my letter.

My doubts started during the Balkan conflict and the quality of your reports and some of your reporters at that time. I felt that many of the reports were one-sided and biased and did not present a balanced view of what was actually happening over there.

With the current situation in Macedonia I feel my doubts have been justified. Most of the articles published in the western media, including your paper, have constantly portrayed the Albanians as some sort of victims and "fighters for equal rights" and those who oppose them or are in conflict with them are portrayed as perpetrators. When Albanians have complained that they are not treated equally none of the reporters have bothered to investigate exactly what rights they have or have not. Had they taken the time to investigate they would have found that Albanians:

have primary and secondary schools where classes are conducted in their own language have tertiary courses to produce Albanian language teachers, where the entry score to get into University courses is lowered to 60% for Albanians and 80% for Macedonians, so-called positive discrimination have their own radio and television programs have their own newspapers have mosques to practice their Muslim religion own their own homes, farms, land and businesses have two (2) ethnically based political parties (PDP and NDP) (something unheard of in so-called "democratic" countries have 25 out of 120 members of parliament (it must be remembered that there are other ethnic groups in Macedonia who also have parliamentary representation) have been in two coalition governments since the independence of Macedonia and are now in the Government for National Unity and also are currently equal partners in the current peace negotiations under the mediation of NATO & EU have five (5) ministers with portfolios have six (6) deputy ministers have representation in the army and police (all ranks) have mayors in towns with a predominantly Albanian majority have diplomats (ambassadors, consuls, etc) an Albanian is deputy premier an Albanian is deputy parliamentary speaker.

By participating in the top institution of the land, i.e. the parliament, and with all the above listed rights, I fail to understand what more rights can they possibly want. They are not denied their ethnical, human, religious or cultural rights. Why don't the reporters over there (whichever media agency they belong to) find out how much human rights Macedonians have in the neighbouring countries of Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and to some degree in Serbia. They would have found, had they bothered, that Macedonians in these countries are denied their ethnicity, language, religion, culture and human rights. Their names have been changed as has the topographical names of their regions. This fact can be verified by contacting the Rainbow Party of Europe, Helsinki Watch, the European Council of Ministers incorporating the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the US State Department (Section for Human Rights) and other human rights organization. Helsinki Watch also published a book in 1994 titles "Denying Ethnic Identity ñ The Macedonians in Greece".

And yet the media and the superpowers constantly harp on that the Albanians should be given their rights. Which ethnic group worldwide enjoys more rights? Do people of ethnic origin in Australia? Italians, I believe, are Australia's largest ethnic group. Do they have ethnically based parties in our parliament? How well are ethnic groups represented in our parliament, army, police, diplomatic service, and etc. etc. etc? Do any of them have Australia-wide schools where all classes are conducted in their own language rather than in English? Are there special entry scores for Australian children of ethnic origin? The Albanians in Macedonia have more rights as an ethnic group than do the indigenous Kooris in Australia.

With all these rights you may well ask yourself "what are they fighting for". The best way I can put it is "land grab", the more the better. They have achieved their goal in Kosovo and have now turned their attention to Western Macedonia. Milosevic wanted a 'Greater Serbia' and proceeded to cause havoc all over the Balkans. The Albanians want a 'Greater Albania' and are now causing havoc in the guise of fighting for their rights. They have openly stated that when they finish in Macedonia they will turn their attentions to Greece. Analyze the progression of events since 1989 and look at what is happening now in Macedonia. Remember what the complaints were back then - no human rights, no equality, no freedom, etc., and look what the complaints are now. Look at what events were taking place back then ñ civil disobedience, killing of police, lawlessness, and look at what is happening now. The tactics are familiar.

The terrorists have so far killed more than 40 police and army personnel, most between the ages of 20-30 and their parents' only sons. Most of the killings have not been in combat situations and by 'killing' read ambushed, murdered and then mutilated the bodies to the horror of the dead men's families who had to identify the bodies. These killings have hardly rated a mention in the western media. It is as if these young men's lives were worthless.

Last month they held the town of Kumanovo, north of Skopje, to ransom by taking control of the main dam from which the town's water supply is obtained. The town of 100,000 had to bring in drinking water by lorry loads until this problem was resolved.

They are now in the process of ethnically cleansing whole villages that they have overtaken, thanks to NATO not disarming them when they removed them from Aracinovo.

All these incidents have either been ignored by the press or have been watered down and only rated a small mention, like something of no importance, just to fill in time.

Please tell me, would Australia or any other country on this globe tolerate this sort of behavior from its citizens without taking drastic measures. And yet, Macedonia is constantly being told by NATO to talk and negotiate with these people. Did England negotiate with the IRA (who happen to be fighting for their own country) or Israel with the PLO (which again is a completely different matter to what is happening in Macedonia)? Each time these countries have stated that they will not talk with terrorists. Why should Macedonia? It is not enough that these terrorists are holding Macedonia and its peoples to ransom by violence, NATO & EU are applying tremendous pressure in the form of financial blackmail and membership to the EU, to make Macedonia change its constitution without a referendum or consultation with its citizens. Where is the respect for the Democratic Process here or doesn't it matter when it's somebody else's country.

On 8th September, 1991 the people of Macedonia voted in a referendum in favour of independence (95%), for the constitution and for the constitutional name of 'Republic of Macedonia'. Where is the right of the people of Macedonia to self-government and self-determination without outside meddling? In 1991 the Badinter Commission on the former Yugoslavia stated that the Macedonian Constitution surpassed the constitutions of the other former Yugoslav republics and many international constitutions and conventions on human rights because of the inclusion of all its ethnic groups in the Preamble to the Constitution guaranteeing them all equal human rights. This constitution followed the example of the constitution of the first republic in the Balkans, the Macedonian 'Krusevska Republic' in 1903, when the then revolutionary organization ñ VMRO ñ put together a constitution guaranteeing equal human rights to all its citizens irrespective of ethnicity or religion, something unheard of in most countries 100 years ago and even today.

And yet, the Albanians are not satisfied. They, as well as NATO, EU and the media agencies, have forgotten that when the Kosovo conflict was on, Macedonia took in close to 370,000 refugees despite being a tiny, poor, newly independent country with 44% unemployment and low resources and not being in a position to sustain such a large influx. England, as an example, took in only about 450 refugees whilst Australia, a wealthy country both in monetary terms and land mass with 7% unemployment, took in 4,000 and panicked as to where these people would be housed, fed etc. Many European countries four times bigger than Macedonia and 100 times richer refused to take in any refugees at all. NATO & EU promised financial assistance but this never eventuated. Many refugees have not returned and are now openly supporting the terrorists - biting the hand that fed them. It seems to me that the world has decided to use Macedonia as its whipping boy and sacrificial lamb.

Where is the loyalty of the Albanians to the country where they live? Some incidents that have happened, apart from this lawlessness, shows that they have no loyalty at all to either Macedonia or to its peoples.

When a financial mission from Taiwan came to the Macedonian city of Tetovo, the Mayor (an Albanian) flew the Albanian flag and played the Albanian anthem at the opening of their meeting with this delegation. The leader of the Taiwanese delegation declined to hold talks until the Macedonian flag was displayed.

The Macedonian Ambassador to Denmark (an Albanian) flew the Albanian flag at an official diplomatic function and caused diplomatic embarrassment amongst the dignitaries attending.

The leaders of the two ethnically based Albanian parties signed agreements with the KLA in Prizren (Kosovo) and then under international pressure had to disassociate themselves from this agreement.

Albanian parliamentarians in the Macedonian Parliament were writing letters internationally for countries NOT to recognize Macedonia at the crucial time when Macedonia was desperately trying to get world recognition and to establish diplomatic and economic partnerships.

The Minister of Justice (an Albanian) refused to sign an Application for Extradition from Germany, at Interpol's request, for a known Albanian criminal and terrorist being held there.

None of these facts have ever been printed in the media here in Australia to allow the Australian public to get a more evenhanded view of what is going on over there.

Another matter which greatly concerns me is how you can justify in calling the Macedonian people over there as the 'Slavic' majority and yet calling the Albanians by their correct ethnic name. Does this 'Slavic' Macedonian majority come from some country called "Slavia" for them to be constantly referred as such? Their ethnicity is Macedonian and that is how they should be referred to.

Why is it that here in Australia we are Australians of Macedonian origin, or Chinese origin, or Arabic origin and yet you do not refer to the Albanians as Macedonians of Albanian origin ñ for that is what they are!

You may ask yourself how is it that I, who am not a journalist by profession, have all these facts and yet you who are in the business of "news" do not. Firstly I am of Macedonian origin and secondly I do my best to obtain a cross-section of information by listening to the Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Slovenian and Croatian news services, I have friends who listed to the Greek and Italian news services, I watch the German television news, I read many varied print media publications and friends tell me about the news on the Internet. I speak to my relatives and friends in Macedonia, as does our whole community so that we get reports from every corner of the country. From all these various sources I am able to get an overview of the situation over there and it is definitely not what is portrayed by the media out here.

When I see the falsehood, misrepresentation and omissions in the news reports from Macedonia, I feel I have completely lost faith in your paper and the media. I have always felt that a free press should represent the news in an informative, fair and balanced manner.

I feel deeply hurt by this one-sided media reporting and that together with the Australian Government renaming us "Slav-Macedonians", something unheard of anywhere else in the world, I believe I am being treated with contempt and that my human rights as an Australian citizens living in a so-called multicultural society are being abused. The Government and the media have a responsibility to represent all its citizens and readers equally and with respect.

For these reasons I do not wish to renew my subscription to the Age. By cancelling my subscription it is not my intention to dictate to your paper what should or should not be printed, but to make a plea for more balanced reporting in the future for the benefit of all Australia's people.

I would appreciate a reply in due course.

Yours sincerely,

A. Talevski

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