Interview with Vlado Buckovski, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Macedonia for Magazine "Defence"

INTERVIEW OF THE MINISTER OF DEFENSE, VLADO BUCKOVSKI, FOR “MAKEDONIJA DENES” FROM JULY 4, 2001

“We are doing everything so that it would not come to any spreading of the conflict,” said the Minister of Defense, Vlado Buckovski, and added that “we are now at a critical phase, when the success of the security forces does not depend only on the usage of force.” He said that there has been a blockage of the political dialogue for too long, which does not go into contribution to our security forces for their readiness to come to a resolution of the crisis by usage of force.

After the returning from Ukraine, on the yesterday’s meeting with the journalists, the Minister of Defense of Republic of Macedonia, Vlado Buckovski, has pointed that the motif for the stay in Ukraine is the visit to the second generation of 8 Macedonian pilots and 11 plane mechanics, who are being trained to fly the new planes of the Macedonian Army.

During the meetings with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Alexander Kuzmuk, the Prime minister Anatoly Kinah, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anatoly Zlenko, it was discussed about mutual collaboration, the current situation in Macedonia, as well as about the possibility of realization of some of the previously taken arrangements in the area of military-technical cooperation.

On his returning to the state, Buckovski in Sofia realized a short working visit with the Bulgarian Minister of Defense, Bojko Noev, on which the mutual and intensive cooperation was emphasized.

Intensifying of the plan of the Precedent Trajkovski

According to the Minister of Defense, Vlado Buckovski, the situation in the country is with a tendency of deterioration. Buckovski stated that the realization of the plan of the Precedent Trajkovski should be intensified, so that we could get out of the crisis, and move on to the next phase, i.e. to start thinking about building up the confidence. A campaign in the media should start, and we should start thinking about the most complex phase of the plan, i.e. the phase of the disarmament, because “the terrorists are at a point of radicalization of their actions, and there is an open danger of deterioration of the situation.

“It is expected that, especially before the official announcement of the cease of fire, the radical elements of the terrorists would try to prevent the conducting of the plan in number of different ways,” said Buckovski. He added that he did not expect that with the arrival of NATO-forces, the terrorists would be one hundred percent disarmed.

“We are doing everything for an utmost proficiency of our security forces to cope decisively with those that would not lay down their weapons. The usage of force would be used in the disarmament phase as well, as a measure of discouragement to the terrorists who have illusions to resolve, as they say, some open political questions by usage of force,” says Buckovski.

He once more repeated the positions of the Precedent Trajkovski, the Government, and the Ministry of Defense, that there is no need of a peace conference for Macedonia, and as he said “everything that is to be solved, would be resolved within the institutions of the system.”

About the occupation of some new territories by the Albanian terrorists, Buckovski categorically claims that the territory of Republic of Macedonia is under the control of the Macedonian security forces.

According to him, the temporary undertaking of some villages does not mean that they are controlling territories. “The security forces are doing everything to prevent the spreading of the conflict,” said Buckovski, repeating that we are at a critical point, when the success of the security forces does not depend only on the usage of force.

He says that there has been a blockage in the political dialogue for quite some time, which does not go into contribution to the readiness of the security forces for resolving of the crisis by usage of force.

The cooperation with NATO

Concerning the reaction of the NATO and its countries-members, about the military cooperation with Ukraine, the Minister Buckovski believes that “if we haven’t been at war, the critics about our intensive military-technical cooperation with Ukraine, on the part of NATO, would have been even stronger.

As he pointed out, that in the moments, when the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country are jeopardized, we have a legitimate right to defend it with all our means. Buckovski pointed that when resolving the crisis, we must not neglect our strategic purpose – membership in NATO.

At the same time, he informed that the countries-members of the NATO are donating for the ARM some defense equipment such as transport vehicles, sanitary material, bullet-prove vests, and others.

“Macedonian experts are already in Brussels, working on a details about the number of points where the weapon would be collected, the way it would be destroyed, and the places at which NATO soldiers would be situated,” said Buckovski.

He expressed his believes that by the July 15 this year, when the results of the political dialogue are to be presented, there is some development, the arrival of the NATO forces for the disarmament of the terrorists would be certain.

The Minister Buckovski evaluated the statement of the leader of the DPA, Arben Dzaferi, that NATO troupes should enter our country regardless of the proceedings of the political dialogue, as “an entrapment, which might spread the speculations that NATO would come to Macedonia for the operation of the disarmament, but with the possibility to transform their presence into a mandate for demarcation of the opposed sides.

A team of NATO has started persuading the terrorists to lay down their weapon, adding that the help from the Albanian political parties, by which they would clean at least some of their sins done in the last four months, would be welcomed.

“The number of the terrorists that are well equipped, and are terrorizing the country in the last couple of months, does not exceed the number of 2000 persons, but the possibility that the number could be two or three times larger, by a voluntary and enforced mobilization, is not excluded as well,” said Buckovski.

The events, concerning the action of the security forces in Arachinovo, and the speculations, that the weapon possessed by the terrorists was of an American origin, and that there were American instructors present, were marked by Buckovski as “an attempt that all our friends, such as NATO, USA, EU and the international community, are presented as enemies of the state.”

Buckovski did not feel the need to address to the citizens that have protested after the events in Arachinovo, in front of the Parliament. His aims in those moments were to keep under control the cadets from the Military Academy, as well as the military points, because of the possibility of an escalation of the conflict between the armed demonstrators, the security forces, and the citizens from the other side of the river Vardar.

According to him, in these moments, we should make the decisions clear-headedly, because all the decisions that brought with emotions and mixed feelings might be disastrous.