SKOPJE, Macedonia - A hand grenade exploded early Friday in a mostly ethnic Albanian neighborhood of the Macedonian capital, injuring a teenager and heightening tensions ahead of general elections, police said.

 

The grenade was hurled around 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) at a restaurant in the suburb of Cair, severely damaging the premises and shattering the windows of surrounding homes, police spokesman Voislav Zafirovski said.

 

Thirteen-year-old Bilent Sever, an ethnic Turk, was injured as broken glass fell inside his bedroom, said his father, Camuran Sever. The boy was hospitalized but was expected to recover.

 

Zafirovski declined immediate comment on possible motives for the attack, saying only that an investigation was under way. The restaurant was closed at the time of the attack.

 

Tensions have soared recently in Macedonia, still recovering from last year's six-month war between government forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents. A Western-brokered peace deal is being implemented, giving the restive ethnic Albanian community nearly a third of Macedonia's 2 million people broader rights in exchange for peace.

 

Sept. 15 parliamentary elections are part of the peace process. After a period of relative calm, scattered violence over the past two weeks has left at least six people dead and several others injured.

 

(ms/bk)

 

 

By Irina Gelevska

 

NATO's Task Force Fox soldiers spotted a false TFF vehicle in Tetovo. It aroused suspicion because it has no markings of the national contingents. The colour was "appropriate," but the registration tables were false too.

 

TFF Command expressed worry about this and ordered an investigation. It might be possible that this vehicle is used for smuggling weapons, drugs and money from Kosovo to Macedonia and vice versa. It is not known yet weather is only one vehicle or several and if actual members of TFF are involved.

 

 

By IWPR staff in London

 

A leading Macedonian magazine editor today, September 6, revealed that he is likely to be arrested in a government round-up of independent journalists.

 

The interior minister, Ljube Boskovski, announced yesterday, September 5, that his ministry is considering the detention of some newspaper and magazine editors for "spreading western scenarios in order to destroy the government of [prime minister] Ljupco Georgievski".

 

Saso Ordanoski, editor-in-chief of the fortnightly magazine Forum and project editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, believes he is one of Boskovski's targets for arrest.

 

"Today, I was informed by a very reliable source that Boskovski is finalising the list of those who will be arrested, and apparently I am at the top of it," he told IWPR.

 

Ordanoski said he was currently under "the highest form of surveillance".

 

Boskovski's announcement comes just days before the September 15 general elections in Macedonia and amid increasing pressure on local journalists, opposition politicians and representatives of international organisations in Macedonia, all of whom have been accused in pro-government media of conspiring to bring down the government.

 

Local journalists, foreign NGO workers and western diplomats have faced increasing pressure in the weeks leading up to the general elections.

 

In the public statement yesterday in which he announced the possible arrests, Boskovski also said the police have information some foreign diplomats are involved in a plot to undermine the reputation of the government domestically and internationally. It is believed that some of the former may be expelled as a result of Boskovski's offensive.

 

Ordanoski believes the interior ministry is about to announce a list of foreigners considered persona non grata - and that it will include American citizen Agim Fetahaj, IWPR's project director in Skopje.

 

The Macedonian daily Dnevnik wrote, quoting unnamed police sources, that Boskovski's intention is "to prevent some foreign organisations in Macedonia which are using well-exercised scenarios to destroy the international reputation of Macedonia and the reputation of the current government in Skopje".

 

The state-owned dailies Nova Makedonija and Vecer this week serialised a long article accusing international organisations - including IWPR and the International Crisis Group, ICG, NATO, the OSCE and others - of interfering in the internal affairs of Macedonia and conspiring to bring about electoral defeat for Boskovski and Georgievski's party, VMRO-DPMNE, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity.

 

Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule also accused journalists and opposition leaders of being involved in a conspiracy against the government in Nova Makedonija on September 6, repeating allegations he made in Vecer earlier in the week.

 

According to current polls, VMRO-DPMNE has little prospect of re-election, and some see this new wave of intimidation as a desperate attempt to cling to power, in the knowledge that defeat will mean more than just loss of office.

 

As exhaustively detailed in a recent ICG report, corruption allegations implicate political figures at the highest level of the Macedonian government.

 

Huge sums have been siphoned off into political coffers and officials' pockets, not only from local trade but also directly from international assistance. Loss of office could mean loss of control of such channels, and possible investigation on corruption charges.

 

The run-up to the election has seen increasing violence generally: two Macedonian policemen were shot dead on August 26; an ethnic Albanian gunmen took five Macedonian civilians hostage for one day at the end of August; and two ethnic Albanians were killed on September 4. Small explosions and shootings are commonplace. Local analysts suggest the intention is either to create tension that would reduce the election-day turnout (which could benefit the incumbents) or even to provoke such instability that the ballot itself would be undermined.

 

A statement released Wednesday by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia said that in the current situation, it is difficult to distinguish whether some police activity falls under their legal remit or is politically-motivated.

 

 

Serbian ultranationalist Vojislav Sesel canceled his pre-election speech in Bosilegrad enraged by the way the locals met him. In downtown some hundred people met him carrying the flag of the IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) and posters reading: This is the land of Asparukh, Boris and Kaloyan. Sesel's guards were embarrassed and the speech was canceled.

 

 

 

I support the idea that General Boyko Borissov should be made a State Secretary, Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov said yesterday. To him, the statute of the Chief Secretary doesn't correspond to the serious responsibilities shouldered by Gen. Borissov.

 

 

 

from next year on, Defence Minister Nikolay Svinarov said for 'Standart'. This is the last wave of downsizing the Bulgarian army, he said further. The means to be allotted by US for destroying the missiles amount to million dollars though the exact amount is kept in closely guarded secret.

 

Reuters
By Zoran Milosavljevic

 

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of celebrating Yugoslavs took to the streets of Belgrade on Friday after their country beat the United States 81-78 in the quarter-finals of the World Basketball Championships.

 

Streets around the central Republic Square were filled with frenzied fans minutes after the defending world champions rallied from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the "Dream Team" in Indianapolis.

 

The result meant that Yugoslavia play New Zealand in the semi-finals while the hosts go into classification games with fifth place the best possible showing for their efforts.

 

"This is a dream come true and nothing else matters from now on," said Dejan, a 23-year old student who watched the game on a giant video-screen in the city center.

 

A noisy but well-behaved 20,000 strong crowd turned up in the early hours of the morning to see the match and never gave up hope even when the game appeared to be lost.

 

Fans hugged each other and whooped as Yugoslavia's shooting guards Milan Gurovic and Marko Jaric buried the Americans with deadly accuracy from three-point range in the final few minutes.

 

Many paraded their cars and motorcycles around the city center while others let off fireworks and waved Serbian and Yugoslav flags.

 

"We've waited so long for this and it happened at last. Let them know that they've lost to the defending world champions," said Marko, a 35-year old graphic designer.

 

The crowd swelled as people heading for work joined the festivities and brought traffic to a halt in central Belgrade.

 

"I couldn't care less if my car doesn't move an inch further," said Bogdan, a delighted taxi driver with 12 people in and on top of the vehicle.

 

"This is the best day of my life and it will never be forgotten as long as I live," he added.

 

 

haaretzdaily.com
By Zvi Barel

 

 

Hilmi Ozkuk's appointment as the new Turkish chief of staff was confirmed in early August and he formally assumed the post last week. He is replacing Hussein Kivrikoglu, who is retiring.

 

Ozkuk, 62, is a career officer who has made the army his life. He began at a military high school in Iskilar, and proceeded to the ground forces military academy before attending artillery school. The new chief-of-staff engaged in military research along with field assignments, and was the military aide to the secretary-general of Turkey's National Security Council.

 

Ozkuk was a Turkish military attache to NATO and was commander of the ground forces until his appointment to the new post. In new current position, Hilmi Ozkuk will largely be responsible for making the decision if Turkey can offer or deny its support for an American attack on Iraq.

 

Unlike democratic countries where the army is silent and listens to the politicians, in Turkey the army is weighed down by an important burden - it defends the constitution. In other words, it is charged with ensuring that the politicians continue to run the country in the spirit of Kamal Ataturk. Unlike Israel, the chief of staff and the army do not merely offer advice to the public and to the government - they set policy.

 

"Ozkuk not only knows what his obligations are as a military man, he is also cognizant of the political weight his position carries," wrote Mehmet Ali Birand, a leading political columnist in Turkey, following Ozkuk's appointment.

 

"Turkey is now facing elections, so the army will be able to make things easier or make them more tense," he continued.

 

Turkey's candidacy for membership in the European Union will partly be determined by the positions taken by the army and the National Security Council - in other words, will the army sanction the easing of the restrictive laws imposed on the Kurdish minority.

 

Resolution of the Cyprus crisis is dependent on the goodwill of the army and of course, the Iraq issue will largely be decided on the basis of the army's stand.

 

The Turkish army and the National Security Council are not only the most powerful organs of the state, they also benefit from the public prestige of being untainted by corruption, and of always being in favor of the good of the state - whichever one of the varied interpretations of the concept "good of the state" is considered.

 

Lecturing the pols.

 

For instance, to mark Turkish Victory Day, which was observed on August 30, the chief of staff invited a series of first-ranking politicians to the Ghazi officers club in Ankara and held court, lecturing the politicians on his world view.

 

"There is a threat of Islamic fundamentalism (in Turkey), but a threat cannot threaten when there is no power to back it up. Fundamentalism and isolationism have existed since the days of the Ottoman Empire - they multiply like mushrooms after the rain."

 

Last week, in a customary annual ritual, the army dismissed 46 officers from its ranks for "unbecoming conduct." This label is applied to anyone who exhibits too much enthusiasm for religion during army service. It was the military that threw out the Islamist prime minister, Nejmettin Erbakan in 1997. It renders its opinion on the appointment of the president, and it makes the rules of censorship in the country, above and beyond those that appear in the law.

 

Ozkuk himself initiated a lawsuit against a Turkish woman journalist he claimed had showed a lack of respect for the army. One can only assume that numerous chiefs of staff in democratic countries are jealous of the power wielded by Ozkuk.

 

Just where the new chief of staff stands on whether or not Turkey will join a war on Iraq may be gleaned from his first public statement in his new job, and numerous statements by his predecessor. Turkish considerations will be commensurate with the diplomatic guarantees Turkey receives from the U.S. on the future of Iraq, and especially how it will bear on the status of the Kurds.

 

A hostile dialogue has been waged on this for the past few weeks between Turkey and the Kurds. The Kurds, and especially members of the Masoud Barazani faction, want to know what will be the fate of northern Iraq, in other words if a Kurdish state will be established there or not, before they lend their support to an attack on Iraq.

 

Turkey explains to anyone who has not yet heard, that as far as it is concerned, a Kurdish state is the last thing will come to pass on the face of the earth. Asked his opinion on Barazani's statement at the same officer's club party, Ozkuk responded: "You don't have to take it seriously; the groups in northern Iraq are only tribes."

 

This group of "only tribes" was in Washington recently, telling the Administration it was prepared to place at the disposal of the U.S. Army over 100,000 soldiers who would be willing to "crush Saddam's regime."

 

The American administration listened intently, but did not respond. Perhaps because this spirit of volunteerism came complete with conditions, the most important of which was that a federal state be created within Iraq, in which the Kurds would enjoy autonomy.

 

Turks and Turkmen.

 

To Turkey, a federation of states within Iraq sounds like the establishment of a Kurdish state, and the trampling of the Turkmen minority, which has served the Turks as its ethnic excuse to trespass on Iraqi soil in the pretense that the Turkmen are ethnic Turks.

 

There are approximately one million Turkmen in Iraq. Shortly after the Kurdish visit to Washington, Turkey learned that the Kurds had prepared a draft constitution for the new state, in which it was proposed that Kirkuk would be capital of the federal state. According to a map the Turks allege was distributed by the Kurds, the city of Mosul is also included in the future "Kurdish state." Along with this news, the Kurdish newspaper Berayeti, an organ of the Kurdish Democratic Party headed by Masoud Barazani, ran an article that threatened that if Turkey invaded Iraq "the end of Turkey will be like the end of the Ottoman empire."

 

Incidentally, around the oil city of Kirkuk, Saddam Hussein has in recent weeks been awarding parcels of land to Arab settlers he has been moving from southern and central Iraq to dilute the high concentration of Kurds and Turkmen there.

 

Ankara was in tumult. It wasn't enough that the administration was not busy preparing for elections, and that no one knows what sort of government Turkey will get or who will head it. Now there were also suspicions that behind Turkey's back, a Kurdish-American stratagem was being woven to partition Iraq. According to reports from Washington about the meeting between administration leaders and the representatives of the Iraqi opposition movements, the opposition was told the United States is relying on it to run the country after the military attack. In other words, once again Kurds may seize part of the government, which would in turn stir the national inspirations of Kurds in Turkey.

 

Turkey hastened to thwart this possibility and announced - through Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit - that it is against a war on Iraq. At the same time, Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel left for a visit to Tehran, and in a joint communique with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, the two men stated their objections to the war.

 

However, in an attempt to improve positions in the face of a possible attack on Iraq, Turkey clarified that it would be interested in mediating between Iran and the United States in the aim of reaching a settlement that would prevent the partition of Iraq. This partition is viewed as a threat by both Turkey and Iran.

 

The tension between the Kurdish factions and Turkey is not new, but the two sides prefer to engage in brinkmanship and not reach open conflict, as they both have an interest in maintaining the status quo. The Kurds do not want to rock the boat of economic prosperity they have enjoyed in recent years, as a result of the Iraqi oil that is shipped through their region to Turkey.

 

Unspecified mission.

 

As far as Turkey is concerned, any change in the status of Iraq is a basis for anxiety, as it could trigger a shift in the status of its own Kurds. Turkey is not waiting on the sidelines to see how the U.S. decides, or what the Kurds will do. Through the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Turkish sources spread the word that the Kurds are seeking to upgrade their contacts with Syria and with Iran, and set up official border crossings to these countries in order to provide them an alternative to relations with Turkey.

 

This leak was more important than the mere information it contains - it was meant for American ears. It was intended to demonstrate that the Kurds, on whom the administration is relying so much, are no more than a group of opportunists willing to collaborate with countries the Americans define as supporting terror.

 

Turkey proceeded to dispatch military forces into northern Iraq without even defining their mission. Until a few days ago, the Turks denied that the forces were there, but the new chief of staff confirmed at last week's reception that Turkish forces are indeed in northern Iraq, and that they were there "for a specific mission" without giving any hint of what that might be.

 

At the same time, Turkish defense minister Sabah Ettin Cakmakouglu clarified that Turkey views northern Iraq as part of its land that was stolen by force at the end of World War I, when Iraq came under the British Mandate. And as a bonus, it was reported that Turkish authorities had confiscated Masoud Barazani's diplomatic passport, preventing him from flying to Washington for the meeting between Iraqi opposition leaders and the American administration.

 

After Turkey made its position clear, the two sides are now trying to iron out their differences. Barazani's spokesman tried to minimize the significance of the draft constitution, calling it an "exercise in composition" while Ankara turned down the heat on the rhetoric it was sounding against the Kurdish leadership.

 

But both sides understand that if the American administration decides to attack Iraq, neither Turkey nor the Kurds will be able to prevent it and the big question on both sides' minds is how they will derive maximum benefit from the attack, if and when it comes.

 

At this stage, the administration in Washington is not interested in issuing promises or guarantees to any of the sides. "Mainly because the administration does not know how things will develop in Iraq after the war," says an American diplomat close to the discussions with the Kurds. "It is abundantly clear that American soldiers will not be running Iraq. It is also clear that the opposition factions do offer any great promise for the future of Iraq.

 

The political, ethnic and religious disagreements between the opposition factions are even more intense than what we found in Afghanistan, and even there we haven't yet been successful."

 

The American diplomat may be representing the position of the State Department, which is not eager to go to war against Iraq. But even the Pentagon, it seems, which is pushing for such a war, does not have the answer to this question.