Merko’s Logic About the Pizzeria in Ohrid is Wrong, and His Statement is False
The Major of Struga, Ramiz Merko, gave a statement which, besides being inconsistent is also false:
Since you started the conversation and asked, that location is ОК. The construction started and it has been talked about (the object) for a year maybe. Where are the local authorities? Where are the state authorities? So that is it, if you do not stop the construction, the object is legal…
[Source: Магазин.мк / Merko’s YouTube statement, date: 15 July 2019]
EXPLANATION:
The Major of Struga, Ramiz Merko, in a short interview transmitted by the portal “Magazin” gives a statement about his presence at the opening of the pizzeria of his party friend and colleague, located near the old Oriental Plane Tree in Ohrid, as well as the essence of the legality of the building. This statement is inconsistent in one part, but more importantly, it is false.
Merko, using logic with the key element that not acting means approval, practically wants to lead on the public and make it believe that the legality of the object depends on how the authorities act if it is illegal – whether they demolish it or not. If it is not demolished, then the object is de facto legal, publicly states Merko.
If everything was so simple, there would not have been such a fuss about this issue. Contrary to this, there is another question – can an illegal object become legal if it is not demolished one year after its construction.
Here is the falseness in Merko’s statement. During the past months, a decision for stopping with construction and removal of already built elements assessed as illegal has been issued to the owner of the object, the DUI councilor in the Municipality of Ohrid and president of the local branch of DUI, Nefi Useini. This means that the institution in charge of such a procedure – the Construction Inspectorate of the Municipality – has acted.
A different question is why the object has not been demolished/removed so far. Although the general justification to the public is that a tender hasn’t been publicly announced for this purpose and there wasn’t any money to rent mechanization and workers for demolishing, the truth behind this may be different. Namely, Useini is a member of the party that is in coalition with the governing party in Ohrid – SDSM. They are in power and coalition on a central level, and informally on a local level.
Hence, Merko’s statement is inconsistent. Namely, his party friend is in power, both on a local and central level, so Merko has no right to be wondering where are the local and central authorities. We cannot exclude the possibility for inter-party bargaining and influence in order not to see this, and other cases connected to the owner through.
But let’s return to his thesis or logic. The authorities have reacted formally. They have issued a decision for stopping the construction and an order to remove the already constructed parts of the object. This can be seen from previous media statements, which were repeated when Mayor Konstantin Georgievski recently visited TV24.
Due to these reasons, the statement of the Mayor of Struga, Ramiz Merko, given in an interview transmitted by the portal “Magazin”, is deemed false.
SOURCES:
- Magazin.mk – (Видео) Мерко одлепи по Охриѓани: „Штом… [Accessed on 15 July 2019]
- OhridNews.mk – Советникот Усеини тврди дека не градел… [Accessed on 15 July 2019]
- TV 24 – Усеини за ТВ24: Расправајте се со други дивоградби… [Accessed on 15 July 2019]
- MKD.mk – Нефи Усеини не е под заштита на УНЕСКО, но… [Accessed on 15 July 2019]
- A1ON – Дивоградбата ка чинарот не е урната оти Охрид… [Accessed on 15 July 2019]
Assessed by: Teo Blazhevski
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