NO SERB EMBASSY PROTEST IN SKOPJE

Exclusive:
GRUEVSKI CRITIC RULES OUT SERB EMBASSY PROTEST IN SKOPJE
By Sasha Uzunov

Mr Vladimir Lazarevik, a former Macedonian government minister and staunch critic of his one time leader, ex Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, has told TEAM UZUNOV he will not be calling for a protest outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje, the Macedonian capital over Serbian Prime Minister Alexander Vucic’s long term support of Gruevski.

This despite Croatian Member of the European Parliament Marijana Petir being the subject of a Colour Revolution protest during her brief trip to Macedonia recently and comments in support of the deposed Prime Minister.


Mr Lazarevik was asked if a protest outside the Serbian Embassy in Skopje would be held in order to to avoid a perceived bias against Croatian politician Ms Petir and as Vucic’s involvement with Gruevski was much deeper.

"I may carry a Serbian surname but consider myself to be Macedonian” Mr Lazarevik said.

"I see no purpose in protests outside the Serbian embassy. I think although both leaders have many similarities, Gruevski is much worse and in much more difficult political and legal position. He is facing jail.”

"I also think political problems should be solved within the borders of each country and by its people. International support is welcomed, but change only comes from within. If we do not succeed in changing the political landscape as it is now, than that is what we deserve. The same goes for Serbia,” he said.

However, another critic of ex-PM Gruevski, Mr Borjan Jovanovski has on Twitter in the past called for protests in front of Hungarian embassies across Europe over migrant issues but remained silent on Twitter over last year’s controversial decision by the Serbian High Court, at the instigation of PM Vucic, to rehabilitate World War II leader and ultra Serb nationalist Draza Mihailovic, who was anti-Macedonian, Croat, Muslim Bosnian and Albanian.

Mr Robert “Bob” Spasenoski, is a former Australian Federal Policeman who lives in Macedonia, and is a long time Macedonian activist. He is a member of a dissident faction of VMRO-DPMNE, which is opposed to party leader Gruevski, and supports the Colour Revolution, he has explained to TEAM UZUNOV:

"It is very easy to stir anti-Croat feeling in Macedonia, against Serbia it is almost impossible. Macedonians are, in the large, so close to the Serbs. As to why, indoctrinated over the years. No one thus far, at least officially, has ever spoken or said anything negative about Serbia.

"…How can Macedonians be so pro Serb, and so anti Croat in Macedonia, I dont know and I will never understand...except to say, that the Communist regime had achieved its goal, to make the best Yugoslavs and best Belgrade supporters in the entire of Yugoslavia, that is, the Macedonians...The Macedonians from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, are the best Yugoslavs and more Serb than the Serbs themselves in some cases…”

Mr Vucic began his career as a young ultra Serb nationalist in the early 1990s by associating with hardcore extremists such as Vojislav Seselj. Mr Vucic, in an infamous speech in 1995, once declared that for every one Bosnian Serb killed in the Bosnian war, a hundred Muslim Bosnians would be killed.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, he has imprisoned over 80 opponents and Serb journalists, and condemned for abusing human rights. However, the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, has praised him.

Nikola Gruevski and Alexander Vucic developed a very close working relationship, so much so that both countries agreed to share embassies; hold joint cabinet meetings. Gruevski’s relationship with Vucic is much deeper than the one with Marijana Petir, who has been a strong advocate for Macedonia in the European Parliament against Greek nationalistic politicians from both the left and right over their continued negation of Macedonia and its name.

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Going over to the Belgradists?

NIKOLA DIMITROV - Team Uzunov has contacted former Macedonian Ambassador to the US and one of those leading the opposition to ex-PM Gruevski for a comment on whether he would be calling for a protest outisde the Serbian Embassy in Skopje. As yet Mr Dimitrov has not responded to our request.

Seasoned observers, including fierce opponents of Nikola Gruevski’s authoritarian style, have told TEAM UZUNOV they remain puzzled by Dimitrov’s “erratic behaviour” and his “going over to the Belgradists.”

Mr Nestor Oginar, a dissident VMRO-DPMNE member and a prominent American-Macedonian leader, has told TEAM UZUNOV:

"I have known Dimitrov's parents, Dimitar and Ratka, for many years. They are communists with proclaimed Bulgarian dispositions. It is possible that young Nikola has found it more profitable to posture as a" Belgradist" in public in order to counter balance his parents' exposed identities.This is an old and odd game played out on our soil for generations. The same game, albeit somewhat blurred by Gruevski, Zaev and Ahmeti as agents of the centrifugal Macedonian forces.”

Dimitar Dimitrov (1937-) was a writer and academic in Tito’s Yugoslavia, known for his pro-Bulgarian sympathies. He became a government minister in post 1991 Macedonia. see link

To the uninitiated, Macedonia’s political and cultural elite is notorious for changing sides or for being drawn to where power emanates from. One infamous case is Vlado Kambovski, who was the last Federal Yugoslav Minister of Justice. In 1990 he threatened Slovenia with violence if it seceded. When his home republic of Macedonia broke away from Yugoslavia in September 1991, he remained in Belgrade, despite Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Markovic resigning in December 1991 having lost control to Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Kambovski was virtually kicked out of Belgrade after Yugoslavia ceased to exist. He then repackaged himself as a “Macedonian patriot” serving as Macedonian Justice Minister and later a Gruevski appointee as President of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) where he peddled a bizarre proposal to hold joint-Ilinden commemorations with Bulgaria, which does not recognise the existence of a Macedonian nationality, only a nation-state.

That sums ups Gruevski’s dysfunctional foreign policy to some extent - the bizarre joint Embassies with Serbia whilst rehabilitating controversial pro Bulgarian historical figures such as Todor Alexandrov. see link.

Nikola Dimitrov was seen as a protege of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski (1998-2002), who has since revealed his pro-Bulgarian sympathies. Dimitrov was Georgievski’s man and appointed Macedonia’s Ambassador to the US at a relatively young age in 2002. Before this he was a security advisor to Macedonia’s President Boris Trajkovski (1999-2004) during the 2001 ethnic Albanian uprising / war.

Dimitrov has been praising and eulogising Belgrade nightlife as well as attending an “internationalist” conference in the Serbian capital. That seems completely out of character.

The centre of power in the Balkans has again shifted towards Belgrade as Serbia and the United States have begun to reconcile. Serbian Prime Minister Alexander Vucic has been able to get away with rehabilitating controversial figure from World War II Draza Mihailovic who was anti Macedonian, Croat, Muslim Bosnian and Albanian.

A leading Macedonian “Belgradist” is pundit Borjan Jovanovski, a former media advisor to President Trajkovski. Jovanovski comes from a powerful Yugoslavist political dynasty founded by his father, Meto Jovanovski, writer and head of foreign programming of Radio Televizija Skopje (RTS), the forerunner of Macedonian state broadcaster, during the 1980s. The Jovanovskis, despite recent attempts to whitewash themselves as “dissidents” were loyal Yugoslavists and Belgradists.

Dimitrov in his opposition to Gruevski has linked arms with Jovanovski.