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Muslim Macedonians Struggling for Equality
By Omer Bin Abdullah
23/03/2001
Muslims in Slav-dominated Macedonia make up more than 40% of the population although official figures put the overall number at about 23%. In fact, they are not even classified as Muslims but as "ethnic Albanians."
These Muslims are seeking equality and justice but, instead, they have been declared "terrorists" and "rebels" and made a target of government atrocities. The Slav-dominated government alleges that the Muslims want to carve out northern Macedonia, team up with their brethren in Kosova and declare independence, and even join Albania. And the Slav Macedonian majority fears that, within a couple of generations, the Muslims might outnumber them.
As the potential emergence of a Muslim identity in Europe is an anathema, Muslims in the area are facing all out Western opposition. Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski has said, "There will be no negotiations." And the European Union's security affairs chief, Javier Solana, has backed that stance. NATO charges that Macedonian Muslims are destabilizing the country, which could lead to a wider Balkan conflict. Consequently, NATO peacekeepers in control of Kosovo have pledged to "starve" the Muslims by cutting supply lines across the border.
In response to government claims that they are a cross-border force, these Muslims have stated that they are a homegrown movement only - merely fighting for greater rights within Macedonia. They are urging the international community to recognize their demands, which, they say, are for peace and not for war. Insisting that they are linked to fighters across the border in Kosova, the Trajkovski regime has launched an all out war against them. Government tanks have moved into Tetovo - a largely Muslim city at the center of recent fighting. Also, German troops attached to the NATO-led force in Kosovo (K-for) have moved into Tetovo with tanks and armored vehicles. However, K-for has stressed that they are there only to protect a local K-for supply base and would not become engaged in the local conflict.
In addition to stepping up border patrols, NATO troops have improved liaison and intelligence exchanges between their front-line units and their Macedonian counterparts. NATO has also allowed Yugoslav troops to deploy into a small part of the buffer zone between Serbia and Kosovo in an effort to close the door - as NATO puts it - on an "ethnic Albanian supply route" into Macedonia.
Economically, Macedonia's Muslims are generally self-reliant, with many being self-employed. They want to be equal with Macedonians - the Slavs, but they say that, for decades, they have been insulted, discriminated against, and banned from all civic life in Macedonia. Analysts have pointed out that whenever the Muslims have a grievance to address, they must face an administration that is so disproportionately Macedonian that they of course feel alien, and they must communicate in a foreign language.
In May 2000, the Macedonian Parliamentary Commission on International Relations released a report on the breakdown of the work force by ethnicity in the country. Their figures indicated that the country's workforce at the time were 84.5% ethnic Macedonian and 9.4% "ethnic Albanian" (Muslim); the potential ethnic Albanian work force comprised 18.5% of the total Albanian population.
In the police force and the military, Muslims made up only 3.1% of the employees while ethnic Macedonians made up 93.9%. A similar situation existed in other sectors of public life as well, including the judiciary and the health system.
The government argues that these disparities are a reflection of generally lower education levels among Macedonia's Muslims than among ethnic Macedonians. The Muslims argue that they are deprived of being educated in their own tongue.
There are varying camps among the Muslims. Some see that they need to cooperate with the government. Among them is Arben Xhafari, leader of the Democratic Party of Albania (DPA), a member of the Slav-dominated governing coalition. While Xhafari has complained that the DPA was not consulted before Macedonian forces began their offensve, his party has not pulled out of the government over the military operation. And the elitist-led DPA has hardly any influence given that their Macedonian counterparts comfortably enjoy a parliamentary majority.
The second largest Muslim party, the Democratic Prosperity Party, also feels that the Macedonian Muslims should not wage an armed struggle against the government, arguing that a united Muslim front would help influence political change within Macedonia's institutions.
The struggle in the northwestern part of Macedonia is being led by the National Liberation Army (NLA), which says that they are doing no more than defending their homes and villages and that there is no talk of Greater Albania, or even of Greater Kosovo. Another guerrilla movement is the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) - named after the three municipalities in southern Serbia that have substantial ethnic Albanian populations. The other operating group is called the National Liberation Army (UCK).
A major grievance of the Macedonian Muslims is that they are not being educated in their mother tongue. For the past decade, they have been unanimous in demanding the creation of a university with Albanian as the primary language. Since 1994, after establishing such an institution just outside Tetovo, they have consistently clashed with the authorities who have deemed it "illegal" and taken steps to close it down. The Muslims also argue that the Albanian language should be the country's second official language.
A compromise, brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to set up a private university in lieu of a publicly funded institution appears to have satisfied only that part of the ethnic Albanian elite that participates as a junior partner in the Macedonian government. For most, the fight for the right to a higher education in the Albanian language continues. The government is charging, however, that an Albanian language university would set the country on a path towards separatism.
The Muslims also fiercely oppose Macedonia's fundamental law that defines the republic as a state of Macedonians along with other minorities, saying that it reduces them to second-class citizens and that it must be amended. They want the constitution to state that Macedonia is a state of Macedonians and Albanians along with minorities like the Serbs, the Roma, and others. Macedonia argues that, given the legal right to secede, its Albanian inhabitants would tear the country apart.
The Macedonian government charges that the NLA is an offshoot of an old rebel movement believed to have given birth to the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army and other guerrillas fighting against Serbian forces in southern Serbia. This parent group - the Popular Movement for Kosovo (LPK) - is long known to favor an armed struggle to bring about Kosovo's independence and the unification of Albanians, particularly those of the former Yugoslavia. The Slav government says that the Muslims are working towards creating an "Albanian togetherness" like that that existed in Communist Yugoslavia.
Future Prospects
Western sources allege that the fighting in Macedonia involves the annexation by Kosovo of ethnic Albanian-inhabited areas of southern Serbia and, possibly, of western and northern Macedonia. Although Kosovo is currently under a United Nations-led administration, ethnic Albanians in the region are hoping it will one day become independent of Yugoslavia.
In effect, the rebels are trying to recreate a miniature ethnic Albanian version of the former Yugoslavia by bringing together parts of different entities that, since the break-up of the old Yugoslav federation, have gone their own separate ways. However, the overwhelming support extended so far by President Bush to Israel's General Sharon is an indication of things to come in Europe, where America is expected to persist with its Islamophobic policies. The U.S. is already supporting the drive against the Muslims by sharing vital military data with the Macedonian government, and it is all but expected that Bush will endorse a U.N. action against them as well.
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