Press
Point
by
NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson, and
the Foreign Minister of the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia (1),
Dr. Srgjan Kerim,
19 March 2001
Spokesman: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Secretary
General and Minister Kerim have just finished their meeting.
They will say a few words and then we will take your questions.
The Secretary General will start.
Secretary General: We've had a very useful meeting
this morning discussing the issues in and around the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. I made it clear to Minister
Kerim that NATO strongly condemns the armed attacks that have
taken place against soldiers and policemen from the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. Reiterating again a strong message which
I put in the strongest way possible that those responsible for
this violence are inflicting serious damage to the interests
and the image of ethnic Albanians in the whole region and they
should stop and they should stop now.
This is the time in the Balkans where decisions should be taken
by the ballot box and not by the bomb or by the bullet and that
is a message that these extremists are receiving from Tirana,
Pristina as well as from the democratic Albanian representatives
in Skopje. NATO commends the measured response of the government
in Skopje to the acts of violence from the extremists who are
trying to break up their country, to de-stabilise the democratic
government in Spoke, and there is another very strong message
that needs to go from here today, as it will go from the EU,
the UN and elsewhere, and that is we will not contemplate the
changing of boundaries by violence and we will not contemplate
the breaking up of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
and those who try to seek that by whatever means are doomed
to failure.
This is a volatile part of the world, but NATO is determined
to do it, to make sure that these extremists are marginalised
and that their power and influence is neutralised there. All
of the North Atlantic Council, all the ambassadors to NATO,
will be visiting Skopje on the 3rd April and then the following
day going to Pristina in Kosovo. The border presence of KFOR
is being strengthened right round the border and boundary and
territory and especially with a view to interdicting any supplies
that might be going from Kosovo into the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia.
We are strengthening our diplomatic presence in Skopje at the
present time and will be adding to the help and assistance that
we will be giving both from NATO and from the NATO nations to
the government of Skopje as well. We very much welcome the virtually
unanimous statement of the parliament of the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia and the clear signals that it gives that
the democratic process will be adhered to, that reforms will
be put in place that will recognise the role of Albanians within
the society, but that there can be no question of breaking up
the country or federating or cantonising that country now or
in the future.
The European Union will be listening to Minister Kerim this
afternoon and I will be attending that meeting of the General
Affairs Council ministers of the European Union. We all stand
fair and square behind the democratic government of the democratic
parties that have formed in the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia and I'm therefore pleased to say today that that common
front is one which gives a very clear signal to the extremists
that the work that they do is to the disadvantage of Albanians,
that they would be advised to stop their violence and focus
on the ballot box to get the changes that they want, that they
feel are necessary.
Minister Kerim: Ladies and gentlemen I would like to
stress the importance of today's meeting with the Secretary
General Robertson once more. I came to Brussels to NATO Headquarters
in order to convince myself that we are working closely together
with NATO to get rid of extremists and violence as a means for
achieving political goals in the Balkans. In this case, what
they are trying is to impose a new agenda to the Republic of
Macedonia, to its citizens, including the Albanian population,
in Macedonia?
We are not going to allow them to do so, we are going to condemn
them politically as Secretary General Roberston already stressed,
everybody from Tirana to Brussels from Washington to Berlin,
Paris and London, and everywhere in this world is condemning
them and it's a very clear message. Diplomatically they are
isolated and they will remain so once we have a very clear stand
from NATO and the European Union today. I have met the Troika
this morning. It has been confirmed once again that we are working
closely together.
The fact that Secretary General Robertson is going to join
this session this afternoon in the European Union headquarters
gives you already an idea of how close and co-ordinated this
Cupertino is and this action will be, and as far as security
measures are concerned, I am pleased to state that NATO will
take additional measures to seal off the border, to indict the
routes they are using to endanger our country and to penetrate
there, and all these measures are a demonstration of a firm
conviction that we have to defend a model of inter-ethnic relations
in the Balkans which have been approved by the international
community.
It's nothing new, it's not a surprise, it's just a consequence
of behaviour on the side of NATO and the European Union and
my government and I'm very glad to state that all the measures
which I have conveyed here which have so far been undertaken
by the Macedonian government are firmly supported and we will
closely co-ordinate in not only developing further and new measures
but also trying to be efficient in their implementation and
I'm looking forward to that and once again I would like to stress
that this meeting with Secretary General Robertson was again
more proof that we are on the right wave.
Secretary General: One further point is that the North
Atlantic Council will be meeting at five o'clock this afternoon
to examine the current situation.
Question: Secretary General you have always said that
you have an indication that the conflict, the crisis in Macedonia
is not linked with the extremists in Kosovo, which is not the
Macedonian position. Have you changed your mind, do you agree
now with the Macedonians who say that those extremists come
from Kosovo into Macedonia?
Secretary General: What I said was we had no information
to suggest that it was people who had been operating in the
current safety zone who were operating in the other border areas.
I believe that there are connections between quite a lot of
extremist violence in the area and in different countries, which
is why the denunciation of these people has come from Tirana
and Skopje and from Pristina and democratic politicians have
to unite especially among the Albanian community against those
who are damaging in the eyes of the world as well as in the
eyes of ordinary, decent Albanians who live in these countries
their interests and what they are seeking to achieve.
Question: Secretary General, we have had very strong
words of condemnation from you just now but is NATO also contemplating
any further real action to back up these words of condemnation?
And Mr. Kerim if I could ask you are you satisfied with the
kind of measures promised or being taken by NATO so far?
Secretary General: I don't know who should answer these
questions first, but let me just say that NATO's remit militarily
does not extend into the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
and indeed the statement of the Parliament in Skopje made it
clear that they were not asking for help on their side of the
border. What is necessary is in the very difficult terrain,
the very difficult circumstances of that border area, to interdict
as much of the supplies or the traffic that might be going into
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. So NATO is committed
to tightening its control of the border, and additional troops
will be put in place in order to do that.
We are determined that we will starve this limited number of
localised extremists from being able to carry out their mischief
and we will take what measures are necessary on the military
front. On the political front we have other measures that are
taking place and of course the individual NATO countries on
a bilateral basis are also providing help to the government
of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and will continue
to increase that.
Mr. Kerim: What I would like to add to this is that
the measures which have already been undertaken by NATO and
those who will be undertaking as Secretary General already stressed
are in accordance with what we are expecting NATO to do in order
to prevent this violence and at the same time I would like to
stress the fact that the deployment of NATO and the intention
of its deployment of the border is not to scare the local population
there but rather to get rid of the extremists and to give them
a very clear message where NATO stands towards them and this
is what we are expecting NATO to do otherwise Macedonian security
forces are able and will be able to take care of the security
of our country, as they have done so far.
Question: How much of this violence is the result of
border agreements that were recently signed with Yugoslavia?
And if it's not, what in your opinion is the reason why this
violence is spreading?
Mr. Kerim: Well I can't speculate on that, I only know
that the whole international community welcomed this agreement
and also Albania as our neighbour has within the process of
(inaudible) European Cupertino during the Summit meeting in
Skopje made very clear to the Prime Minister of Albania, that
they are greeting it as well. So speculations of a border delineation
agreement, I don't think they make the target you know in this
case. What is on the scene is people that desperately believe
that they should take over the role of the avant-garde of the
Albanian population in Macedonia, that they should become the
new leadership which will provide for Albanians' concept which
I would define wherever Albanians live as Albanian territories
and this is definitely the wrongest of all approaches in the
Balkans. We have been facing a ten-year long crisis and conflicts
in the Balkans exactly thanks to this approach and we have to
prevent the international community, by all means, for this
to work. It doesn't matter who does provoke it and who does
represent it, you know, it's not the nations but those kinds
of people who want to impose this agenda and we're not going
to allow them to do this.
Question: Mr. Robertson, do you agree with the Macedonian
request for additional troops on the border on that side not
on the Macedonia side but which will have another mandate, a
new mission under the United Nations?
Secretary General: No there's no question of new mandates.
What is required at the present moment is political calm, and
the isolation of those who are undermining the democratic process
in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia or trying to undermine
the ethnic Albanian parties in the parliament in Skopje and
we can do that with KFOR on the Kosovo side of the border cutting
off lines of supply, increasingly patrolling and evicting those
who might use that border territory at the present moment bearing
in mind that it is very forested, that it is highly mountainous
and of course is covered in a large amount of snow at this time
of the year, but we can make sure that more is done and we will
certainly be doing so but remaining calm and isolating the small
number of extremists who want to subvert the interests not just
of the democratic government in Skopje but of the democratic
parties representing the Albanians in Skopje. They will be isolated
and undermined by everything that we do.
Question: I have two brief questions to the Secretary
General. How many more troops will you put on the border and
with KFOR already being overstretched as it is are there any
plans to ask member states to contribute more troops to KFOR
at this stage?
Secretary General: The answer to your second question
is: yes of course we will be asking individual states to add
to the troops they have in Kosovo in order that more flexibility
can be given to the tasks that are there. We are confident that
there are enough troops in place to be able to do it at the
present moment, and frankly you wouldn't expect me to answer
the first part of your question, because we're not going to
give that sort of information out publicly. The number of troops
in the border region will be adequate to the task that is set
out and the objective will be pursued with considerable vigour
I can assure you.
- Turkey
recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional
name.
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