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Skopje - History |
An ancient, strategically important and much-contested territory, the historical region known as Macedonia was variously controlled by the Greeks, Romans, Bulgarians, Byzantines, Serbs and Ottoman Turks, who conquered the area in 1371, and kept it until the 19th century. Then, as Turkish power declined, Macedonia once again became a bone of contention between its various neighbours and their respective superpower allies. In 1893, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) was founded to promote independence. In 1912/13, the Balkan Wars drove the Turks out of the area, and it was carved up between Serbia and Greece, with Bulgaria retaining only a small part. Vardar Macedonia became part of the new 'Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' in 1918 ('Yugoslavia' from 1929). This caused much anti-Serbian resentment locally during the inter-war period, when the IMRO was also used as a terrorist organisation against Belgrade by Bulgaria, which again occupied the area under German direction during the Second World War. In 1945, the area became a constituent republic of the new communist Yugoslav federation, which the Serbs opposed. Thereafter a new 'Macedonian' nation was created, but this was never accepted as legitimate by any of the republic's neighbours. In December 1990, following the collapse of communism in Yugoslavia, Macedonia held its first multi-party elections for the 120-seat national assembly, the Sobranje. The results, from a very low turn-out, were inconclusive. A new version of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) took the most seats (37), followed by the former communist Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDAM), which evolved from the former Communist Party), the ethnic Albanian Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP), and the Liberal Party of Macedonia (LPM). With the SDAM's Kiro Gligorov as President, a number of unstable coalition governments followed. In October 1991, IMRO joined the opposition leaving its smaller allies to run a minority administration. Concomitantly, Yugoslavia dissolved into civil war, thereby forcing all the ethnic Macedonian political parties (except the PDP which wants to reunify the Albanian-dominated areas of western Macedonia with Albania), to
speak out for an independent Macedonia. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's quest for international recognition and membership of the EU (Slovenia and Croatia have been granted a slot in the queue for EU membership) ran up against fierce objections from Greece, which feels that Skopje's use of the title 'Macedonia' implies a territorial claim against Aegean Macedonia in Greece, given that it corresponds with the northern Greek province of the same name. (The ancient name 'Paeonia' is preferred in Athens.) During 1993, the Greek government took a more conciliatory line, and Macedonia was admitted to the UN on April 3, 1993 under the temporary name 'The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'. In October 1995, an accord was reached between the two countries – and accepted by the two parliaments – which resolved all outstanding disputes between them, including the flag, but not the name, which continues as the unprepossessing 'FYROM' for official purposes. The settlement of this dispute was vital to the Macedonians not only for their status as a sovereign state but also economically, since the Greeks had instituted a trade embargo to pressure Skopje into a settlement. Elections for both the presidency and the Sobranje were held in October 1994. Kiro Gligorov was re-elected to the presidency with almost 80% of the vote, defeating a candidate from IMRO convincingly. An alliance of three parties, spearheaded the SDAM and supported by Gligorov, won a majority of seats in the Sobranje. Political stability in the region was threatened when Gligorov was the target of a bomb attack in October 1995; he had just returned from talks with the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, and all FYRM parties condemned the assassination attempt. Gligorov resumed presidential office in early January 1996, but divisions were beginning to show within the SDAM, and his calls for unity were not enough to halt the collapse of the same alliance which had brought him to power. Following a reallocation of portfolios in February the LP was excluded from government. Andov – leader of the LP and President of the Sobranje – tendered his resignation in March, claiming that his party's expulsion was unconstitutional; a subsequent LP motion, proposing the dissolution of parliament was defeated by 58 votes to 24. A parallel motion by an IMRO-DPMNU-DP alliance, appealed for a referendum on early elections. The Government rode out this wave of unpopularity, rejecting the referendum proposal as itself unconstitutional. In July 1996 there were a series of protests by ethnic Albanians, calling, amongst other things, for improved representation in the FYRM. Inter-ethnic tensions deepened in the run-up to November's local elections. Despite claims that electoral lists had been falsified by the Government (which claims were later dismissed by neutral observers) the local elections went ahead, with the SDAM pooling the largest number of votes, followed by the IMRO-DPMNU alliance and the PDP. Significantly, despite wining a clear majority of seats, the SDAM lost three important cities; and the PDPAM and the NDP won a significant percentage of the ethnic Albanian vote – a sign of a widening split in that community between radical and moderate tendencies. Unrest amongst ethnic Albanian students and deputies within the Sobranje saw pressure build within the PDP for the party to withdraw from the governing coalition. In February 1997, the recontested seat of Tetovo (which had been the focus of Albanian student protests) was won by the PDPAM: a victory which only served to highlight – and exacerbate – tensions between ethnic Albanian and Macedonian student groups. This combustible situation was further stoked by the outbreak of civil conflict in Albania in March 1997; Macedonian troops in the west were placed on alert, and the UN Preventive Force reinforced troop deployments along the FYRM-Albanian border. Around this time a domestic financial scandal broke; what began as a local hiccup involving the collapse of a 'pyramid' savings scheme in Bitola, soon led to rumours of government corruption and organised crime involvement at the highest levels of public life. In May 1997 there were violent clashes between ethnic Albanian protesters and security forces over new and disputed legislation concerning the use of the Albanian flag outside municipal buildings. The violence increased in October, after further student demonstrations protesting the closure of Albanian language schools in two Yugoslav provinces. More threatening were clashes in neighbouring Kosovo between Serbian security forces and a paramilitary force established by ethnic Albanians called the Kosovo Liberation Army. Fears deepened that a widespread military conflict would take hold in the province. The KLA claimed responsibility for a number of bomb attacks over the New Year, and in March 1998, ethnic Albanians demonstrated in Skopje over the killing of Albanians by Serb security forces in Kosovo. The UN was forced to increase its presence along the FYR-Albanian border, along with FYRM army units, following reports that the Yugoslav government had an agreement with the FYRM authorities allowing Serb forces to enter Macedonia to pursue KLA members. But the speed with which the Kosovo conflict escalated between January and July 1998 seems to have taken all sides by surprise; and by October 1998 there was a serious refugee crisis, with large numbers of ethnic Albanians forced to flee Kosovo. Macedonia has been fairly lucky in this respect, but the commencement of elections on 18 October 1998 took place under the shadow of the continued and escalating ethnic violence in Kosovo and political instability in Albania. Under the new electoral system introduced in July 1998, a more significant number of 'minority' parties will have access to government; although there have been claims from ethnic Albanian sources that the redrawing of certain electoral boundaries has been biased, designed to dilute their parties' chances of success. As things stand at the moment, the likely outcome of the current elections is a coalition involving a pick and mix of the VMRO-DPMNE, the SDSM, the PDP and various former Communists. No single party is presently strong enough to hold together the tensions and divided loyalties of the FYRM. Fears during the 1998 summer that the fighting in Kosovo would spill over into Macedonia are as yet unrealised; but the situation remains volatile. |
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