1 I was really happy that the Macedonian national football team beat Italy. I’m still in a good mood. When I saw the photo of the spectators stands and noticed the Minister of Justice Nikola Tupanchevski in the box, in the company of the president of the court in Kavadarci Lazar Nanev and the senior public prosecutor Fatime Fetai, I thought nothing of it. Although, this is the first more notable public appearance of the Minister of Justice since the election of Kovachevski’s Government.
Then it occurred to me. I found it weird that a Minister of Justice, a Senior Public Prosecutor and a President of a Court attended a football match together and even stranger that they were in Palermo, Italy. It’s not like they can’t afford a football ticket and a trip to Italy, but I can’t help but wonder whether those three were in the same box by chance, if they hang out after work, if there was some workshop in Palermo by the EU on the rule of law, on the fight against corruption and reforms in the judiciary, on accountability and good governance…Or, they simply pulled some strings in the Football Federation of Macedonia. And all three of them are influential people. Since, nothing in life is ever free.
Even if they were away for a couple of days, did they take their paid leave, were they on sick leave, were they granted unpaid leave of absence, did they delegate their responsibilities to others while not at work… Imagine if they now wanted to go to Portugal, but have already spent their paid holiday.
The day the Minister of Justice flew the Macedonian flag in Palermo, there was an International Judicial Conference at which US Ambassador Kate Byrnes, citing research by “Eurothink”, said that “only 8 percent of the citizens of North Macedonia trust the judiciary and the prosecution”. Tupanchevski couldn’t attend the conference but it’s not like he missed anything important. The US Ambassador didn’t reveal anything new that he didn’t know before.
Although, truth be told, it seems a bit confusing that 8 percent of citizens believe in the judiciary. They haven’t made a mistake with the survey sample, have they? Where did they find so many of them?
2 We rejoice, but what really upsets me is when I see teenagers on the street celebrating Macedonia’s sport victory by chanting: “Pure Macedonia” and “Only a dead Shiptar is a good Shiptar”. Some of them were even wearing jerseys and hoodies bearing the names of Xhani Alijoski and Arian Ademi.
What sort of mentality do these young people have that in moments of exaltation they wish for the ones who brought them happiness to drop dead? The happiness that makes you wear a jersey with their name. Even if they had grown up on the streets, they wouldn’t have rejoiced in the success of their country this way.
3 The Theodosian Palace at the Stobi archeological site will be preserved with a $300,000 grant from an American philanthropic organization. Some people who lived here managed to build the Roman emperor Theodosius a palace in the fourth century. And we, seventeen centuries later, can’t protect what our ancestors built. So the Americans will fund it.
To be fair, Americans are supposed to finish what they’ve started. In 2003, the archeological excavations of the Roman forum in Stobi began with money from the US budget. Now, let them continue where they left off.
The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation has so far invested $1, 4 million in 15 projects. With the money of American taxpayers we’ve restored the frescoes and the building of the monastery complex “Holy Mother of God Peribleptos” in Ohrid, we’ve protected the early Christian frescoes and the baptistery of the Episcopal Basilica in Stobi, as well as the Slavic and Greek manuscripts from the 9th and 10th century in Ohrid, we’ve adapted the Turkish bathhouse in Tetovo into a National Gallery, we’ve conserved the façade of the Decorated Mosque in Tetovo, we’ve protected the archeological excavations in Heraclea, we’ve conserved the 11th century monastery “Holy Mother of God” in Veljusa and the Cifte hammam in the Old Bazaar in Skopje…
And why are they doing it? Well, everyone knows. Because they are imperialists who want to dominate the world. Because they want to disfigure us. To take away our glorious Macedonian name and identity. They went so far as to renovate the roof and the wall of “St.Spas” in Skopje in 2004, the church in whose yard is the grave of Goce Delchev. Since the Macedonian Orthodox Church couldn’t afford 30,000 dollars. They were saving money so they could build skyscrapers.
To hell with that. We’ll worship Putin, since he’s the protector of the Orthodoxy. Although the Russian Church doesn’t recognize the Macedonian one. The same way they don’t recognize the Ukrainian church, because they cut Ukrainians dead.
It’s more or less the same mindset as the children who chant “pure Macedonia”, while wearing a jersey with Ademi’s name. Ukraine is to blame that Russia invaded it.
To dream of life in the West, and to worship Russia. To play the lottery to move to America, to register on the waiting lists for a work visa in Germany, to pretend you have Bulgarian origin in order to obtain a Bulgarian passport so you could live in democracies such as the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and at the same time to admire Putin and his firm hand. To present Russia as a left-wing shield against Western imperialism, and to admire Russian oligarchs who trade the national treasures of oil and gas only for the luxury of their children, who live in the West.
It’s a complex diagnosis.
4 At a debate organized by the German Embassy in Skopje, Susanne Schütz, Director for the Western Balkans at the German Federal Foreign Office, said that in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine “this is a moment for the Western Balkans countries to continue the reforms, and to choose which side they are on”.
“Are you for the EU, or are you for Russia, against the EU?” asked Director Schütz.
That question doesn’t apply to us Macedonians. We’ve already decided. We’re a NATO member state and we know where we belong. We’ve wanted to join the EU for thirty years.
The question is whether the EU has decided. Are you in favour of Macedonia and the Western Balkans joining the EU? Or will you let Russia take us?
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
