All our enemies

The Orient Express

All our enemies

The stronger and more reliable the support of the world political elite, the stronger are the shenanigans played by the obstructionists to the future of their homeland and the future generations

Erol Rizaov

As Macedonia’s support for NATO and EU membership and its integration with Europe grows, the production of enemies in patriotic factories that defend Macedonia from the enemies around the world and domestic traitors from committing genocide against the Macedonian people, grows as well. The stronger and more reliable the support of the world political elite, the most powerful states and statesmen and a growing number of citizens, the stronger are the shenanigans played by the obstructionists to the future of their homeland and future generations. For these people who have lost their way in their own backyard, now all those who give us support are enemies, and those who openly threaten us that we must not enter NATO and convince us that the EU is only lying to us in order to erase our identity so that we disappear, only they are our true friends.

It’s bewildering how the conspiracy theories that the whole world is against Macedonia still find supporters. The accumulated traumas over the centuries, the acceptance of being an eternal victim and martyr still keep the ember of suspicion that everybody is the enemy, even when they are on our side and when they offer us support. Thus, our biggest supporters, investors, economic partners, and donors are declared enemies, and those who want to take Macedonia back in the last century, are the true friends.

I do not know if by September 30th, until the day of the referendum, there will be a part of the democratic world that did not share their support for Macedonia and its citizens to decide for the future and for membership in the EU and NATO. Is it possible to believe that they are all lying to us? Even when Angela Merkel in the middle of Skopje stood firmly behind Macedonia as a guarantor of her European affiliation and entry into the European family. And when Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, first came out with support after the EU and Western Balkans summit in Sofia, and when French President Emanuel Macron would address the citizens of Macedonia, and when US President Donald Trump sent a clear message that the NATO doors are open and that the US support Macedonia’s entry into the EU, when every single Western European country and all the neighbors together with all EU and NATO members welcome us to the club, are we to doubt that behind all this there is a grand fraud – to rout Macedonia and commit genocide against the Macedonian people.

If to some extent, the fears and suspicions of ordinary people regarding the concessions made in the Treaty with Greece are understandable, then there is little understanding for the propagandists of the referendum boycott with legal interpretations which in fact are diversions against Macedonia’s entry into NATO and the EU. They all know very well that the Treaty is a prerequisite for joining NATO and for starting negotiations with the EU and increased financial and any other support for Macedonia. All those propagandists also know well what will happen to Macedonia if the country is itself at fault for refusing this possibility and if it annuls, that is, if it backs down from the Agreement. With regret, but also with relief, many of these countries and statesmen will give up on Macedonia.

All those who are deeply involved in a campaign to boycott the referendum know that the biggest opposition parties in Greece and Macedonia in the inner power battles, promising their supporters a better deal than the current one.

And so, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of the opposition in Greece, tells disgruntled Greeks that the deal is harmful and is against national Greek interests. Mitsotakis says his northern neighbor has retained the essential name of Macedonia with an insufficiently significant and clear addition that marks a Cardinal point. Macedonians remain Macedonians, the language remains Macedonian that is shocking to ordinary Greeks, not to mention Greek nationalists. This is clearly stated not only by Mitsotakis, but also one of the greatest fighters for the rights of the Macedonians in Greece, the leader of “Rainbow”, the well-known Pavlos Voskopoulos, who promptly supports the Prespa Treaty, calling it historic, of course, if it’s ever realized.

Kiryakos Mitsotakis says concluding the agreement should not be hurried, as there might be better conditions created in the future where Greece will not have to make any concessions.

Our own Hristijan Mickoski is saying the same, and he already gained the nickname Mitsotakis for having the same stance as his Greek counterpart. And he says the agreement is capitulating and unacceptable for the Macedonian people, that inadmissably harmful setbacks have been made. And now, can at least one person in the country can believe that these two, if they become prime ministers, can make a better deal than this one. Over the past 27 years, dozens of prime ministers and governments have changed in Greece and Macedonia. A mutually acceptable solution was never reached, except for the prime ministers and the governments of Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev. It is much more probable that in the coming decades, there will be no solution, than some acceptable solution, especially if the world denounces Macedonia as guilty. This was conveyed, loud and clear and with no diplomatic vocabulary, by all the statesmen who recently visited Macedonia to give their support for a successful referendum and guarantee that they will back their word.

That’s why the most dangerous misconception shared by propagandists to boycott the referendum, is the ordinary lie that they are for EU and NATO membership, but that the agreement is unacceptable. Not only that membership is impossible without accepting the contract, but there is no chance that a better agreement will be made, nor can it be accepted if it is rejected once, because the carriers of this agreement will not have the same opportunity. It is a historic chance that the agreement that has already been signed and adopted in the Parliament of Macedonia to be supported in the referendum, which determines the European future of Macedonia.