Never North, always Macedonia

Aleksandar Nikoloski
Vice President of VMRO-DPMNE

We are reaching the end of the campaign for the referendum in which Macedonian citizens need to decide whether they will rename themselves and the state, or reject it. In the overall communication in the past period, it is clear that, on the one hand, the citizens, above all the Macedonian people are strongly opposed to the agreement. They oppose it and do not agree to rename themselves and the state. On the other hand, it is clear that Zoran Zaev and SDSM’s attempt to manipulate, who at all costs try to make the referendum successful in order to clear their conscience and to say that it was the people who decided to rename the state and disfigure it. Such a humiliation to your own people! They force them to do something that no other free nation would ever think of, let alone do.

But here is where the problem occurs. The Macedonian citizens are strongly opposed to this agreement, they do not want to rename themselves and they did not buy into the manipulative campaign.

Zaev and Nikola Dimitrov did not respond to any of the key questions in the referendum – why they suddenly accepted a revision of the constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, why they do not reveal the constitutional amendments to the people, how is the Macedonian national identity preserved, why we will be the only state that does not have its own minorities, which is a guarantee that Greece will not reject the agreement again when we become a member of the EU.

The lack of response to all these essential questions led us to the situation in which the people very clearly read the game and realized that only one thing is certain – that the Republic of Macedonia as we know it today will be gone, there will be a new North Macedonia, in which, with the help of Greek dictation, will be served who we are and what we are. If we add to this that the Government completely underestimates the will of the citizens through three manipulations: firstly, the question itself has three meanings, secondly, it is a consultative rather than a compulsory referendum; and thirdly, the position that even if the referendum fails the institutions will do their jobs, a situation of total disappointment for people who legitimately ask themselves why the government organizes a referendum that the government itself wants to forge and manipulate. This is accompanied by strong suspicions about a prearranged process.

Unfortunately, Macedonia has a long tradition of irregular election cycles, especially when SDSM is in power. There is no employee in the public administration who has not been threatened that they will be fired from their jobs if they don’t go to the polls and vote, there is no major business owner who is not visited by a powerful man who demands that they press the workers to go out and even Zaev openly asked them to give out bribes; there is no smaller business owner who has not received a threat of inspection and shutting their business down. Furthermore, firewood, oil and flour are regularly given away and they are preparing to bribe voters on the very referendum day. Are these European values? To make things even worse, they abuse the visits of our friends from the international community to create a public image that they support these undemocratic methods, which is completely incorrect, because it is the last thing on their minds to approve such a thing, let alone authorize such work, primarily because of their democratic beliefs and positions.

If we add to this that is widely known that in the communities where ethnic Albanians live, turnout will be 100%, although we all know that at least half of them do not live in Macedonia, then it becomes clearer why more and more people see the option of staying home as the only rescue. This is not because VMRO-DPMNE or someone else told them to, but because they feel it is the right thing to do. And that position is respectable, as is the position of those who will come out and will vote “for”, and the position of those who will vote “against”. But what is not respectable is the willingness of Zaev and Dimitrov to wash their sins away by using the people.

In this pre-referendum period, many things have become crystal clear. Thus, on one side are all transition bigshots, all transition politicians who know how to swim in muddy waters, and on the other is a new generation that is pure and has a strong national idea and a pure moral vertical. Sorry, but I’m very proud that we are in the opposite side of Zoran Zaev, Branko Crvenkovski, Ljubco Georgievski, Nikola Dimitrov, Radmila Sekerinska and similar bigshots. How many misfortunes did this country see from them, how many families lost their lives, how many were left without work and future. How many did not complete their studies, how many were left without proper health care, how many left the country, how many ended their lives, how much money remained frozen across various banks and pyramidal saving banks, and many more in this 27 years of transition bigshots, which, as Branko Crvenkovski himself acknowledged, they weren’t able to create strong institutions and a functional state, so they are ready to rename themselves. What a humiliation! And that’s why I’m happy we are on two opposite sides. We are on the side of the people, they are on the side of their dark past. And history will record who sided with whom. Who was in favor of changing the name, and who was against it. This is the sin that weighs them down and which they will have to bear for the rest of their lives. They did everything to make VMRO-DPMNE part of this, they failed, and that’s our pride.

On September 30^th, each of you will make a decision that you feel in your heart. We will respect each and every decision. I am sure that we will succeed in defending Macedonia, that it will be a historic day, the day when the Macedonian people rose against all humiliation. That’s why the slogan that appeared in the past few days is wonderful – Never North, always Macedonia!