Little Dictator Gruevski’s End is Nigh

Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski | Photo by: gov.mk

January 31st, 2015, was the date marking the end of the ruthless political career of Nikola Gruevski, the dictator who has ruled Macedonia for almost nine years. This date marks the beginning of a new era for Macedonia and the region.

On January 31st, at a press conference Prime Minister Gruevski made public his dramatic accusations that Zoran Zaev, leader of the main opposition Social Democatic Party, was a collaborator with foreign secret services. To this day, the country of origin of the implicated secret services remains a mystery. In the infamous tradition of world dictators, Gruevski, who is politically cornered by a scandal that has revealed his flagrant abuse of power, is defending himself by making accusations.

The Prime Minister’s allegations have no rational basis to them, nor has he provided any convincing evidence to support his claims.

They are based on claims that he and the people around him have been spied on, and the material, in the form of recorded telephone conversations, was then given to the opposition by the foreign secret services with the primary goal of destroying the country.

Days after the Prime Minister’s address, Zaev called a series of press conferences where he publicly played recordings of talks between high officials including Gruevski and his ministers. These have revealed major elections forgeries, the telephone wire tapping of more than 20000 citizens, multi-million dollar corruption scandals, and other almost incredible crimes, unacceptable to any normal person.

Since then, the opposition has conducted 26 press conferences releasing more compromising material. None of the persons involved in the talks has denied that the alleged conversations took place.

However, while the opposition continues to release this material, and as the public learns more about the disgraceful and humiliating manner in which Gruevski’s government rules of the country, he stills maintains tight control over almost all the media in the country. Officials are also pressuring the public administration on a daily basis, which spreads additional fear among people.

Over the past two months, citizens of Macedonia have been led to believe in two mutually opposing truths: one propagated by Gruveski who is claiming to protect the country from foreign secret services, and the opposite, advocated by Zaev, who is claiming to protect the country from Gruevski and from his first cousin, the chief of the secret police, Saso Mijalkov, the eminence grise of the regime.

The ongoing situation continues to paint a cruel and almost unbelievable portrait of the reality of Macedonia’s brutal political scene. As the time passes, I felt personally deeply embarrassed, because I participated in the first Gruevski government in the period between 2006 and 2008.

It is due to that personal embarrassment, responsibility and conscience that together with Nikola Dimitrov, and Pero Dimshoski, we decided to meet in Amsterdam on March 7th, 2015, and to call for a Revolution of Conscience in Macedonia. The three of us used to hold high government positions for which we were nominated by the ruling party. Dimitrov is a former ambassador to the United States and The Netherlands, and the former Chief Negotiator over the country’s name in the dispute with Greece.

Dimshoski is a former Deputy Minister of Agriculture who was also responsible for overseeing Macedonia’s EU accession processes. I was former a Deputy Minister of Health and executive president of the World Health Organization for the Europe Regional Committee.

Over the past few weeks we have established strong collaboration with Jove Kekenovski as a person with strong ties to VMRO DPMNE’s political base, and with former police general Stojance Angelov who leads the “Dostoinstvo” political party. Together we are building strong coalition of supporters many of whom are coming from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE.

We have promoted our ideas in a series of articles, public statements and TV shows on the few independent media outlets left in the country. I have been a guest on Bulgarian National Television, which was also a historical moment due to the decades-long intentional blockade in communications between Macedonia and Bulgaria, due to political reasons whose roots date back to Tito’s communist regime.
Unfortunately, for me, as Macedonian citizen, it has been impossible to be guest on Macedonian National Television, for which I have paid taxes for years, due to my criticisms of Gruevski’s government.
Our manifesto, called the “New sun of freedom”, has drawn thousands of supportive reactions on the internet and social networks, where an increasing number of people openly express disappointment and anger over the way a handful of high government officials have captured state institutions.
People now see hope in new but experienced officials who could restore freedom and democracy in the country and together with the other political parties bring Macedonia closer to the European Union.  
Our mission has only just started, and we intend to continue our quest until complete and unconditional capitulation of Gruevski from his position as Prime Minister and president of VMRO-DPMNE.

The author is a former deputy minister of health in the Cabinet of first Gruevski government 2006/2008 and one of the Amsterdam trio, the informal group that is seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Gruevski