The country is threatened
Nova Makedonija - November 7, 2003

The Democratic Alternative has been engaged in intensive activities at a local level, because although it has been a year since the government's inauguration, we have been silent and hoping that certain projects will be implemented. There is no more point in keeping silent over alarming developments and we want to present possible ways out to the citizens, because the country has been threatened. This is what Vasil Tupurkovski Democratic Alternative leader said among other things while answering many questions at a news conference in Tetovo the day before yesterday 5 November . We are in the process of negotiating a coalition with the Democratic Alliance and the Socialist Party not for the sake of coming to power, but for making changes, primarily towards progress and investment, Tupurkovski said. We are forming this coalition, which will be open to all other parties, because of the forthcoming local elections, which, with these changes, will be very important for our education and health, but also for breaking up the two-party system and the people's division into two factions, which poses a fatal threat to the country. The most fatal thing is that the citizens are unable to survive unless they belong to a certain party.

According to him, this coalition will not be conventional, but motivating for a kind of open association of people and ideas that would stand behind the country's progress. We are a threatened country - this is reality, not pessimism. I have no doubts as to who makes decisions about the Balkan region. This is the United States together with the EU, which, being most powerful, will be determining the fate of the Balkans. It is a fact that the Albanian cause is strong. Tupurkovski believes that an independent Kosovo would undermine Serbian-Albanian relations and threaten Macedonia. We must receive guarantees for our integrity to prevent our disintegration, because if there is no Republic of Macedonia, there would be no nation, either, because there can be no state without a nation.

SOURCE: Nova Makedonija, Skopje, in Macedonian 7 Nov 03 p 2

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BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
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