Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in 2015 that there is information of a western backed plan that Bulgaria and Albania would have a common border. And that means that Macedonia should be divided into two parts – Bulgarian and Albanian, “said Aleksandar Mitovski, an analyst from Skopje for Moscow based Sputnik News.
A map of Macedonia split into four parts, split among the states surrounding it, appeared just two days after Government organized protests in Solun over the name of Macedonia, particularly when the President of Macedonia, Gjorgje Ivanov, refused to sign the law on bilingualism with which the Albanian language is put on equal footing with Macedonian.
The reaction of several hundred Macedonians to all this was the burning of the European Union and NATO flag in front of the Macedonian Parliament.
In the words of Aleksandar Mitovski, an analyst from Skopje, the map with split Macedonia is not part of any political joke – but an attack on the sovereignty of the state of Macedonia. He recalls that the Bulgarians from the moment Macedonia became an independent state claim Ohrid as theirs, as well as part of Eastern Macedonia to Strumica. This, he says, was not a claim of ordinary citizens but Bulgarian government officials.
For the Bulgarians particularly in the last 20 years, the population has been indoctrinated that Macedonia is just a breakaway part of their homeland and that it will return sooner rather than later. Albania, on the other hand, says the interlocutor for Sputnik, is looking for the western part of Macedonia, the Skopje-Veles-Struga axis. He also recalls that the former state leadership of Serbia at one time called the northern part of Macedonia as belonging to southern Serbia. We already know much of what Greece wants, despite north Greece being defacto Macedonian until the late 1960’s, and these are historical facts.
“So this map that appeared in Greek media is definitely an expression of someone’s aspirations that have existed for years. Just to remind that the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in 2015 that there is information circulating of a western backed plan that Bulgaria and Albania would have a common border. And that means that Macedonia should be divided into two parts – Bulgarian and Albanian, “says Mitovski.
Greek weekly “Elefteri ORA”, close to the Greek Orthodox Church and right-wing extremists, announced in the most recent issue of the January 21 map of divided Macedonia between Albania, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, reports the albanian based Antipress portal. According to the published map, the Republic of Macedonia is divided into four parts, as, as noted by the Albanian portal, the smallest part of the territory will belong to Albania, and the largest to Greece. A slightly smaller part of Greece is envisaged to belong to Serbia, and small eastern part to Bulgaria.
“The appearance of such a map is pretty clear move to put pressure and divide the already divided Macedonian public as talks are being held for Macedonia’s new name, a requirement for NATO membership, while waiting for the meeting of Zaev and Tsipras, is a serious provocation for peace in the Balkans. We hope this is a bad joke on the back of the cold and difficult economy of Greece, “the Albanian portal said.
Mitovski says that in spite of this analysis, Albanians are held and operated on a button to cause any conflict that would lead to a territorial change. Can the trigger for Albanians be the refusal of Ivanov to sign the law on bilingualism, which, as a rule, must now be again voted in Parliament?
DPMNE continues to sell out and act as SDSM
“The opposition has several possibilities to block this law, so it will, for example, submit thousands of amendments and thus block it, but they did not, and has made no announcements that they will do it. On the other hand, what we hear from the DPMNE is that the talks between Greece and Macedonia are seen as a positive step towards a solution to the name dispute? It seems the DPMNE have embraced the path of Western diplomacy to rename Macedonia, which leads the people of Macedonia to conclude that they have no representative in their own country. That’s why we see Macedonian are slowly, but surely radicalizing, “explains Mitovski.
Mitovski warns that the burning of the EU flag in front of the Macedonian Parliament was a spontaneous reaction by citizens who have obviously had enough. He also reminds that Macedonians were radicalized in 1999 when in protest of the bombing of Serbia they burned the EU and NATO flags, as well as the US embassy.
The most influential opposition party DPMNE condemned the publication of the map dividing the country into four parts. The party said that such actions do not help to improve neighborly relations and create a climate of distrust between Macedonia and Greece. The party, the honorary president of which is former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, asked the relevant ministry to respond to the inappropriate moves of individuals and groups in Greece, as well as to ask for concrete action from the Greek side against such occurrences, the portal in the Albanian language “Journal” reported.
