We wept and sang for the NATO invitation

The last, most difficult stage of the Europeanization of Macedonia began with singing and crying, with joy and sorrow. At the celebration for the NATO invitation, Macedonia grieved and rejoiced, some sang and laughed with tears of joy, some cried crocodile tears over the fate of Macedonia and cursed the traitors who sold the name, others were worried about the budget money of the citizens, the educated intellectuals in charge of protection of national hygiene were appalled by the Kitsch parade, and the most numerous ones, as always, watched as bystanders and minded their own business in the warm swampy July evening, waiting for a northern breeze and for the victory side to come out more clearly so they can decide if they should cry or sing. They wait for the person who will tell them whether they should rejoice, or mourn.
That’s Macedonia, regardless of whether it is a federal, folk, socialist, former Yugoslav, independent, north etc. It always considers misfortune and sadness as closer than joy. And in those rare moments of happiness there will always be some reason to cloud that joy. When the Macedonian Bastille collapsed last year and when the captured state of the Nikola Gruevski regime was liberated, the party squadrons and thugs hindered the joy and probably the biggest spontaneous celebration and catharsis after proclaiming the independence of the state. On April 27, 2017, the VMRO-members of the most sacred country, which marks parliamentary democracy, stormed in and walked all over the state and the sanctity of Parliament. The shed blood in the Parliament of Macedonia in an attempted coup by obstructing the power of the winners of the parliamentary elections, assessed by the SEC and by numerous observers as credible and regular. The blood of lawmakers and cruel scenes filled with attempts to murder and lynch MPs that spread all over the world and portrayed Macedonia as a banana state, did not allow those who waited for freedom for a whole decade waited and fought so they could rejoice for freedom and to go out to the squares and say: it’s over, tyranny is destroyed. They violently obstructed the celebration of hundreds of thousands of citizens, but that did not take away their joy. It was proven very quickly in the local election. The penalty was also a small fee for the confiscated joy.
This time, party leaders who doubt anything coming from the West, who see the threat of endangering the independence of criminal gangs and gangsters from the top of the previous government are still preaching about a catastrophe from Macedonia’s entry into the European family and acceptance of European values. They started running the last lap with an unprecedented dirty campaign against their own homeland with public intimidation aimed at obstructing Macedonia into equal membership with the world’s largest military and economic alliances such as the North Atlantic alliance NATO and the European Union.
The “toilet” campaign unveiled its mess with the discharge of the party septic tank. So now hidden behind the name of the state and behind the fictitious dangers of national identity and supposedly twist in the Macedonian language, they preach nonsense that they are not against the EU and NATO, but that they are saving Macedonia from the EU and NATO who want to disfigure it, to erase the Macedonian identity. They are not at all interested in what is written in the Agreement with Greece. They do not read contracts, they do not read anything. They know everything without even reading. As soon as the world congratulates something, we should immediately cry and grieve, it is their doctrine.
So far, the worst propaganda, which does not care what is being revealed and it is persistently forced in a matter of minutes, continues to be paid with the stolen money from the citizens of Macedonia in order not to join Macedonia in NATO and the EU and to hinder justice against the suspects for violations of human rights and freedoms, against suspects and defendants of crime and corruption, and against the right to the rule of law which is a key precondition for starting negotiations with the EU. That’s why it was the call of the party drums not to celebrate the invitation at the NATO summit because it was not true. It was a lie that 29 countries unanimously decided to hand over the invitation, the lie or the delivery itself, the lie or the congratulations on the invitation of the first people of NATO. The start of the negotiations will also be a lie. The negotiation itself will be a lie, perhaps blinded people will declare Macedonia’s entry into the EU itself a lie as well.
While it would have been possible to celebrate the last of the most difficult stages of the European road with a common celebration, by enabling the political parties to take credit of the success exclusively for themselves. VMRO-DPMNE is definitely more determined against the realization of the strategic historical interests of the state, against the EU and NATO membership.
The majority of the citizens of Macedonia know that the two unions are not possible without certain compromises, but more importantly, they accept the concessions as a bitter remedy for a healthier future for them and the next generation. This is because they have already realized that the Agreement does not concern the name of the state of Macedonia, which remains as a constant from 1944, from the establishment of the first state to this day, but also for centuries and centuries, the majority of citizens learned that the Agreement does not question the national affiliation of the Macedonians and it does not deny the Macedonian language and the Macedonian citizenship. The concessions that are made do not endanger any identity of the Macedonians, and the citizens of Macedonia. By signing the Agreement, neither the national, nor the linguistic affiliation, nor the history, nor anything of the particularity of the Macedonian nation will be compromised. On the contrary, exactly because of these concessions, the Macedonian national identity will be strengthened in the future.
The danger of dividing Macedonia has been overcome by joining NATO. Negotiations and membership in the EU will mark progress and faster development of Macedonia, a better future for all citizens.
And finally, because we decide on our own future, the government as constitutionally most responsible for the overall situation in the country should take responsibility against any interference in the realization of strategic state interests. If it does not succeed in it, it will be the most responsible for the failure, regardless of its contribution to the historical opportunity. Odds are one thing, goals are something else. The one who scores more goals – wins. VMRO-DPMNE and Hristijan Mickoski have a very short time to determine whether they will take part in the greatest success after the independence of the state, or they will definitely opt for the VMRO ideology and the destruction of everything that is advanced and everything that leads Macedonia to become a stable European democratic state. This time they will fail because the knowledge about the European affiliation of the citizens of Macedonia will be crucial. VMRO-DPMNE and its presidents and leaders will end up in a museum if they do not see it.

Erol Rizaov