President Ivanov will be boycotting

Erol Rizaov

It is good that President Gjorge Ivanov will boycott the referendum, the most important democratic act in an independent Macedonia, a historic event that will determine the future of the state and the citizens. This was confirmed by his Cabinet in the most bureaucratic manner with some partial clarification to the public as a confirmation to the media query, that supposedly, on that day – September 30th – the President will be absent, he had more important work. He will speak at the UN on September 27th, and then in the next three days, he will be addressing the impressions of his speech and the messages he will send to the world and to the citizens of Macedonia. So President Ivanov decided to bail out on this history lesson with the idea that it is better to get an unjustified absence from class than another big fat „F“ grade.

President Ivanov chose that day not to be in his homeland, not to declare in the referendum, he decided to be remembered in history as the only president of the state who participated in disrupting Macedonia to fulfill its major strategic goals – membership in NATO and start negotiations with the European Union. This is a good thing because on the evening of September 30th we will know what the determination of the majority of citizens of Macedonia is. On October 1st, it will not be possible to conceal the unjustifiable absence with a congratulatory note, and even less with a silence for his abstention from the decision on the European future of Macedonia. A shameful act for a president of a state.

Imagine it was the other way around. Ivanov, together with his entire family, as a president of the state should, in a festive mood, to be among the first at his polling station and to declare and fulfill his civic duty, regardless of the fact that the public is well aware that he is against the Treaty with Greece. Therefore, I say that it is good that he chose to leave his homeland precisely in those days of declaration. It is something that President Ivanov and former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski did a lot of times for much smaller issues. As soon as things would get rough and there was a chance the public would not receive the issue well, Ivanov and Gruevski would flee the country for a third-class symposium or a road show.

The president decided that on that day he will be in the capital of the western world, in New York, where he would once again send an emotional message to the citizens of Macedonia for a boycott with his famous verbal bravoure, that he is, in fact, a great advocate of Western democracy, that he is supporting Macedonia’s membership in NATO and in the EU and that he has always provided such support, but the capitulation agreement with Greece, concluded by the treacherous government of Zoran Zaev, is unacceptable according to his criteria and understanding of the history and antique origin of the Macedonians proven with DNA analysis of saliva sample from a pure Macedonian, conducted at an institute in Switzerland. President Ivanov does not accept the European future of Macedonia with a compromise. He rejected the agreement with Greece as an anti-state and treacherous act, and never offered any solution that would bring Macedonia closer to the EU and NATO.

His definition from the beginning of his mandate that “a reasonable compromise is a reasonable compromise” will remain as a caricatural negation of the essence of the concessions leading to a sustainable agreement acceptable to both sides. This primitive populist game the President is playing has been revealed for quite some time, because in the past ten years of his tenure, both as president and as the supreme commander of the Army, he did nothing to bring Macedonia closer to the EU and NATO with no concrete step. Just empty impotent words.

In contrast, President Ivanov was more prone to making wrong moves and scandalous decisions that have caused partners and allies to openly doubt if Macedonia is sincerely determined for EU and NATO membership.

It is almost certain that Ivanov will exploit to very last day all of the ten years of tenure devoted to one political party, as a direct participant in disrupting the rule of law with his own abolitions and regretted abolitions, by delaying court proceedings against high officials, under whose order the greatest violation of human rights in the history of Macedonia was committed – having over 20,000 citizens and public figures under surveillance for years.

The greatest mass phone-tapping revealed in a European country after World War II, revealed horrific abuses of the power of senior officials, revealed organized crime, terrible corruption, criminal associations for electoral irregularities, ordered arrests of political opponents and court verdicts, orders for destroying property, mercilessly spending money from the state treasury for which President Ivanov, apart from abolition, never said a word of criticism.

Totally putting himself on the side of the VMRO-DPMNE’s top figures, who are facing charges Macedonian courts for their sins, President Ivanov became a direct participant in the obstruction of the power of the majority of MPs after the last parliamentary elections. With this abuse of office, the president instigated the violent events in Parliament on April 27th, 2017.

For this participation in the attempted coup and the attempted murder of MPs he has not been investigated or prosecuted, although he should be, based on the gravity of legal and constitutional violations. No indictment has been filed against President Ivanov, for flagrant violation of the constitution by not signing decisions of parliament that have been voted by a majority of deputies and which the president is obliged to sign in such a case. These serious legal offenses are not out of date.

An unsuccessful referendum is a good opportunity for the president of the country to avoid his responsibility. This is the last chance for all senior officials who are facing justice. However, a successful referendum is the last chance for Macedonia’s future.

It is worthwhile to think for at least one minute, who we will be saving – Macedonia, or those who robbed and degraded it.