We came to Kumanovo the day after the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement, after which the Yugoslav Army withdrew from Kosovo. The reason for our gathering was not this jubilee, sad for the Serbs in Kosovo, but a joyful jubilee for the Albanians there, but the annual gathering of our generation from the JNA, which spent its military days in 1987/88. in the barracks in Pirot. This time our host was Dimče from Kumanovo, Dušan came all the way from Finland, and Ivica and I from Novi Sad. Zvezdan from Belgrade and Zoran from Vancouver were absent this time, and we haven't been in contact with our globally most famous "classic" Ramus Haradinaj, with whom we shared the same bedroom for 12 months.
Dimce tells us how Kumanovo flourished two decades ago after thousands of its residents went to work in logistics, first in Bondsteel in Kosovo, and later in the American bases in Afghanistan. With salaries between 5.000 and 10.000 dollars per month, they revived this border town, which is now almost merged with Skopje. The return of the Taliban to Kabul also meant the twilight of the Kumans, the income dried up, but now many of the former workers in the American bases, with the help of insurance companies and various speculators, have come up with the idea of suing their former employers for various types of physical and psychological consequences that they allegedly or actually have as a result of working in wartime conditions. Today, Kumanovo is a gloomy town with unmown lawns, unkempt facades, musty storefronts and a lot of garbage on the streets.
Some other cities in North Macedonia fared better: Veles ended up on CNN and Netflix because of the kids who started "fake news factories" and "troll farms" in 2016 and today drive furious cars and support half the city. Đevđelija, on the border with Greece, lives by repairing the teeth of neighbors who come here because of the much lower prices of dental services, as well as because of the casinos. Many places on the border with Kosovo and Albania, where betting shops are prohibited, live precisely from that industry, into which millions of euros pour in from neighboring countries. Tetovo, which is predominantly Albanian, receives huge foreign currency remittances "from relatives from Switzerland", who are engaged in a wide variety of legal and illegal industries. In any case, the impression is that despite the political turbulence, economic instability and large population outflow characteristic of all Balkan countries - the citizens of North Macedonia somehow more successfully use the advantages of globalization (Kumanovo and Veles) or their geographical position (Đevđelija and places along the border with Albania and Kosovo).
Nevena Ivanović, the ambassador of Serbia in North Macedonia, welcomes us with a broad smile in her office in the spacious embassy building, in the residential part of Skopje. He has been here for three years and says that he really feels like he is among friends. Despite numerous challenges such as Macedonia's recognition of Kosovo's independence and the recent vote for the Declaration on Srebrenica in the UN, relations between the two countries and between the two peoples are more than good at all levels - from church to economy. The guy who drove us to the hotel the day before after dinner says that he supports Red Star, which is very often the case with young people.
photo: Robert Choban...
After coffee with the ambassador, we go to the center of Skopje to see how Alexander of Macedonia and dozens of other historical figures who have been "decorating" the streets and squares of the capital of our southern neighbor since ten years ago were petrified. The "Skopje 2014" project cost, according to some estimates, between 700 and 800 million euros, although the exact data remained unknown. Last year, Skopje marked 60 years since the tragic earthquake of 1963, which is commemorated by the clock at the then Railway Station, today's City Museum, which stopped at the moment of the earthquake. What has happened in the past 15 years on the streets and squares of Skopje has changed the city more than the earthquake six decades ago, one would say - beyond recognition. Someone who was in Skopje in 2000 would hardly recognize this city today. Again, rivers of tourists from all over the world eager for bizarre attractions come to the capital of North Macedonia precisely because of what the "Skopje 2014" project has brought to the city.
In 2014, a special storm was caused by the figures on the monuments on horses with weapons, which, intentionally or not, were placed opposite the monument to Skanderbeg, which was financed by the Municipality of Chair, and the monument to Hasan Prishtina, which, in turn, is a private donation.
photo: Robert Choban…and his sculptures
It is, of course, about two monuments of important figures of Albanian history, to which the latter should be a "counterbalance". In addition to Alexander the Great, Emperor Samuil, Gota Delchev, Porta Macedonia (a copy of the Triumphal Arch from Paris), the Macedonian Lion, Justinian I, Dame Gruev, George Pulevsky, Karposh, Cyril and Methodius, Saint Clement and Saint Naum, Dimitra Popgeorgiev of Berovsky, Nikola Kareva , ASNOM 1944, the monument Fallen heroes of Macedonia, the monument Founders of VMRO, there are also copies of the bull from Wall Street and the nine Greek muses art. We should not forget the large stone lions on both sides of the bridge on the Vardar, which accommodated several large galleys completely oversized in relation to the size of the river. Dozens of new buildings with Doric and Ionic columns were built, among them the Holocaust Museum and the Archaeological Museum of (Northern) Macedonia; new neo-renaissance or neo-classical facades are "glued" to some socialist buildings, they say made of styrofoam.
photo: Robert Choban...
Even then, ten years ago, there were many protests by Albanian and Macedonian intellectuals because of this "defacement of the city", and the opposition social democrats announced the removal of the monument after "one day Nikola Gruevski falls from power". There were ideas to create something like the "Statue Park" that exists next to Budapest and where after 1989 monuments to Lenin, Stalin and other "greats of socialism" found their home.
Afrim Gashi was one of the leaders of the protest against the erected monuments to the Serbian Emperor Dušan, but also against the entire "Skopje 2014" project. Gashi claimed that the project, whose implementation began in 2006, tends to continue to expand near the parts of the city where Albanians live. At the time, the non-governmental organization "Wake Up" strongly reacted to the installation of new monuments in Skopje. "They are putting up new monuments, while the roads and streets in Skopje are flooded every day from the slightest rain, and improved sewage is missing in all the neighborhoods of the capital. Roads, lighting, parks, hospitals and schools are in a deplorable condition", said the non-governmental organization "Probudi se".
It is interesting that the monuments were mostly erected under the cover of night, so when the citizens of Skopje went to work in the morning, they would only see that "another one has sprung up". Valentina Karanfilovska Stevanovska is a sculptor who realized most of the most important monuments within the project "Skopje 2014", and then she said: "Today, thanks to the project 'Skopje 2014', the capital of Macedonia can be counted among the most beautiful metropolises in the world." It is unfortunate that certain media disparages artists, without any respect. We are artists, we should not be confused with politics, because we know little about it!".
Then the VMRO DPMNE party fell from power in 2017, Gruevski fled the country and found refuge with like-minded Viktor Orban, and Zoran Zaev's SDSM came to power. In addition to loud announcements about the removal of statues from the time when they were in the opposition - only two "died". The monument to Alexander the Great was removed from the Skopje International Airport in 2018, just a few days after the name of this airport, which bore the name of the famous military leader, was changed. The monument to Alexander the Great was erected in 2011 after the management of the airport was taken over by the Turkish company TAV. The removed monument was placed in the middle of the central lounge at the international airport. By the decision of the government in Skopje, the name of the airport "Alexander the Great", which dates back to December 2006, was changed to the International Airport of Skopje, and the government, as a sign of goodwill and warming relations with Greece, also changed the name of the highway "Alexander the Great" to "Friendship ". In 2018, the Macedonian authorities removed the first monument from the "Skopje 2014" project - a monument to the controversial revolutionary Andon Lazov, better known as Ćoseto, which was located in the park in front of the Supreme Court building in the capital.
After seven years of SDSM rule, this spring VMRO DPMNE returned to power with the most convincing victory in the elections so far. Our Macedonian interlocutors say that the social democrats have not fulfilled almost any of their promises and that, apart from changing the name of the country and introducing the country into NATO, they have not solved any major problems that specifically affect the lives of citizens.
By the way, a joke has been circulating in the city for a decade: "If you stand still in Skopje for more than a minute, tourists will think you are a monument and take pictures with you." As soon as VMRO DPMNE returned to power, work continued on the construction of several large buildings in the center of Skopje, and as things stand, Valentina and her fellow sculptors can rub their palms together - there will be work again!
