Counter-spin: Does Gruevski, after all, have anything to do with the Macedonian cause?

By Тео Блажевски On Nov 27, 2018 0

Perhaps Gruevski doesn’t know what the Macedonian cause really is. Perhaps he has a different opinion on what it should be, that’s why he gave names like “Todor Aleksandrov” and “Thessaloniki Congress” to parking garages… But one thing is certain – he identifies himself as a fighter for the Macedonian cause falsely.

Perhaps Gruevski doesn’t know what the Macedonian cause really is. Perhaps he has a different opinion on what it should be, that’s why he gave names like “Todor Aleksandrov” and “Thessaloniki Congress” to parking garages… But one thing is certain – he identifies himself as a fighter for the Macedonian cause falsely

Author: Teofil Blazhevski

On his Facebook profile, the former Prime Minister, member of parliament and honorary leader of VMRO-DPMNE Nikola Gruevski shared a rather lengthy post on his escape and asylum-granting process which is full of spins, but we’ve decided to debunk the following:

Spin: …I have decided to continue the struggle for the Macedonian cause, the cause of the Republic of Macedonia, in the only available manner at this moment, in a manner many people throughout history opted for when they were able to. As I said in my previous post, I shall never relinquish that cause.

[Source: Nikola Gruevski’s Facebook status – date: 20 November 2018]

Counter-spin: In his addresses to the public, Gruevski, who was convicted for a crime in a case of the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) and is tried and suspected in a number of other cases, doesn’t seem to stop spinning about the reasons he has decided to escape from Macedonia.

Reflecting on the past three-four years, first he presents several untruths, among which: he was a victim of political persecution; his life was threatened; SPO was SDSM’s extension; SDSM took power illegitimately and Zaev was persecuting him and other indicted and convicted persons with the aim to squander the national interests and loot the country; the judiciary was backsliding and waiting for further instructions from Zaev or the SPO…

After all of this, Gruevski revealed the following escape-justifying spin:

I have decided to continue the struggle for the Macedonian cause, the cause of the Republic of Macedonia, in the only available manner at this moment, in a manner many people throughout history opted for when they were able to…

After his 10 year prime ministerial tenure, during which he was never prevented from implementing the right domestic and international policies, he left a “state capture” behind him that ought to be set free, wherein corruption and organized crime (used to) reign.

Hence, instead of false identification and spin-scattering, Nikola Gruevski is supposed to elaborate on the following:

What does the “Macedonian cause” have in common with some aspects of the sale of OKTA (letter singned by Gruevski as a Minister of Trade in 1999) due to which Macedonia compensated Mamidakis, the then owner of Mamid Oil – Jet Oil, in the amount of 40 million euros on 31 December 2007?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the several million euros lost with the Nacionalna Platezna Karticka (National Payment Card), a derivative of the former Payment Operations Administration, due to the reforms of the former Minister of Finance Nikola Gruevski in 2001?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the sale of Makedonska Banka in 2003, which became VMRO-DPMNE’s party bank during and following the armed conflict in 2001 (Case “Nini”).

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the Analitiko – Telekom affair, a firm that was a safe haven for a number of indicted persons in SPO’s cases, party comrades of Gruevski before taking office in 2006?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the idleness in prosecution of persons involved in the Telekom affair from nearly ten years ago?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the amnestied Hague cases as well as the police and army forces members, who fought in the armed conflict of 2001, deprived of their money through court cases and enforcement procedures?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the “Skopje 2014” project, which started in 2008/2009 with an estimated cost of 80 million euros, but ended with corruption scandals somewhere in 2015/2016 and amounts slightly below 800 million euros?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the ejection of the MPs from the Parliament in December 2012?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the violence organized in front of the building of the Municipality of Centar?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the accusations for the motorways commissions, Kichevo-Ohrid in particular, due to which citizens will pay more than 11 million euros per kilometer, while nowadays’ “technological marvel” is the fact that one of the two tunnels would be bored completely after 5 years?!

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with all electoral frauds (the 2013 frauds are currently in court proceedings)?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the wiretapping of thousands of Macedonian citizens, public figures, politicians… without having the legal grounds to do so?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the organization of counter protests and the refusal of handing over the power, although it was de facto lost in late January 2017?

What does the Macedonian cause have in common with the organization of the storming of the Parliament of the RM in April 2017, which put the legally elected MPs’ lives to the risk and nearly caused civil war?

Finally, although this isn’t the time for fun games, what does the Macedonian cause have in common with “parapet-ling” that, fortunately, was never built on the Ohrid beaches, but was part of one agenda of one Government session chaired by the “cause fighter”?

Given these examples and countless others that are not on this list, which are substantially linked to the life and achievements of Nikola Gruevski as a Prime Minister, the said person has no moral right to invoke the “Macedonian cause” and the “cause of the Republic of Macedonia”. Apart from his false identification, the claim that he escaped so he can continue the struggle for the “cause” is nothing else but a sheer spin.

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.