1 How much brain power does it take to both condemn and justify the desecration of the Macedonian national flag during the celebration of Albanian Flag Day? The opposition DUI condemned the incident, but said it was provoked by the inadequate response from the police. The ruling VLEN explained that “after the celebration like no other on November 28, when Albanian songs and dances echoed throughout the country, certain groups emerged at the end of the day with the intention of destabilising the country.”
It almost seems as though the people at DUI were so annoyed that the government organised “a celebration like no other” that they decided to spoil it with the destabilisation that Mickoski has been announcing since the first day he became prime minister. But then again, if the term “celebration like no other” means blocking streets, damaging vehicles, revving engines, driving on car hoods, and shooting, even without setting the national flag on fire as the culmination of the euphoria, I’m not sure by what standards VLEN would classify any other celebration.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski called it an isolated incident, so I wouldn’t be surprised if, while coming up with excuses for why the national flag was trampled and set on fire, the coalition partners from VLEN claim that the incident was blown out of proportion by the Macedonian media.
I’m fed up with the narrative from the Albanian political parties, the kind that goes: “The teacher hates me.” They just can’t resist presenting themselves as victims. Especially when they’re not in power. Their stories of coexistence are reserved for foreigners. They talk about European values in Brussels, yet back home, they promote stupidity.
Let them set the Greek flag on fire in Athens and see what proper police intervention looks like. There are plenty of Albanians there too. Or in Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark… Unlike back home, where the sun bothers them, they don’t seem to be bothered by the crosses on flags abroad.
Desecrating a flag and inciting racial, national, or religious hatred is punishable by imprisonment. Even if it’s a suspended sentence. It’s food for thought, in case anyone else dares go rampaging when the music takes over them during the celebration. To make sure the rampaging doesn’t happen again. And not to downplay it. But over here, the “you can’t touch me” rule still reigns supreme. We suffer from impunity and selective justice. So what if the police caught the ones who overdid the celebrating? The court will release them in no time. If it doesn’t, the parties will organise protest for their release. Protests at which they’ll set the national flag on fire once more.
I don’t know how Albanians celebrated Albanian Flag Day in Tirana and Prishtina. I believe our fellow citizens of Albanian descent would prefer a more dignified celebration than what we saw on the streets of Skopje. I truly want to believe that they’re bothered by the violence against the country where they were born and live.
But the problem is that some of them will perceive any condemnation of the rampaging as an attack. Or, simply, when it comes to “their” people – they’ll remain silent.
2 Hristijan Mickoski insists on defending the new director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Bojan Hristovski, so I can’t help but wonder, what has he done to deserve his support? Doesn’t VMRO-DPMNE have another member who could lead the secret service, someone whose work experience, diploma, or English language certificate cannot be disputed? Why is Mickoski defending a man who holds a TOEFL certificate from a language studio in Bulgaria that issues forged diplomas? There’ve already been several court rulings in this country regarding fraud involving certificates from the same studio. If Hristovski has made this clear to him, why is the Prime Minister still waiting for the Anti-Corruption Commission to check his certificate? He’s now waiting for a report from the State Education Inspectorate to check his university diploma.
Bloody hell, the position of director of the NSA is so sensitive that there shouldn’t even be the slightest doubt about the person who holding it. The simplest thing to do now would be for Mickoski to admit Hristovski wasn’t the best choice, find someone else – and forget about all of this. That way, he would save Hritovski’s reputation, as people will stop digging into his CV, and it wouldn’t undermine the credibility of the NSA, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Anti-Corruption Commission, or even the Education Inspectorate. All state institutions have been mobilised to defend the Prime Minister’s personnel choice. After all, Mickoski is a university professor. If nothing else, at least on a personal level, he should care about what expertise means, what an exam means, what knowledge means.
But, no. Stubbornness is the strongest argument. That was the typical behaviour for VMRO-DPMNE from 2006 to 2017. They have to flex their power. To go straight for the jugular. We’ll change black to white, just to have things our way.
3 A few days ago, during the parliamentary questions session, Prime Minister Mickoski addressed the SDSM MPs with: “Do you remember the project ‘The Truth about Macedonia?’ Very soon, you’ll see the untruth of what was done regarding the wiretapping, and you’ll be ashamed and come out to apologise, because even under fascist regimes, opposition party leaders were not monitored and wiretapped.”
Sometimes, I feel like Mickoski is new to politics. And not just politics. It’s as though he’s just moved to this country. It’s like his party, VMRO-DPMNE, has just found out about the wiretapping and now wants to reveal what the secret services were up to.
Hey you, Prime Minister, when your party was in power, it wiretapped 25,000 people. At that time, you yourself held a high position. You tapped into my communications for two and a half years. You even continued to monitor me three months after Zaev started releasing the information bombs. So, I read the transcripts of my private conversations and the conversations with people from your party. You never showed any remorse or shame. So, ease up on throwing around heavy words like “fascism” and “fascist regime.” At the very least, you should apologise on behalf of your party first, and then we could potentially talk about the topic of wiretapping.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
