Stoilkovic: The sponsorship of the resolution aims to cause as much division as possible and spoil the relations between Serbs and Macedonians

Ivan Stoilkovic, the President of the Democratic Party of Serbs in North Macedonia, believes that the decision to co-sponsor the resolution on Srebrenica aims to create as much division as possible.

He emphasizes that such a decision requires broader consultations within the state leadership and notes that it is clearly in someone's interest for relations between Serbs and Macedonians, as well as between Serbia and Macedonia, to be so damaged that no one will be able or willing to repair them in the near future.

Stoilkovic contends that the goal of supporting the Srebrenica resolution is to provoke as much discord as possible and tells Kosovo Online that the sponsors of the resolution essentially want to sell reconciliation to the region, while under that guise, they promote division and hatred.

"You cannot talk about reconciliation in the region while continuously working to increase division and hatred among the people. In this sense, the responsibility lies with the international community that initiates all this. I am primarily referring to Germany, the sponsor of this resolution, a Germany built on the genocide against the Jews, now trying to lecture others while shedding the stigma of a genocidal nation," states Stoilkovic.

He adds that this attempt does not succeed for several reasons—firstly because Germany has been internationally legally verified as genocidal, and on the other hand, the Srebrenica resolution will mean nothing because many UN Security Council resolutions have been adopted and they are not binding.

He assesses this as yet another attempt to destabilize the region, aiming "to hasten pressure on Serbia so that the sponsors of hostile policy towards Serbia can cover their crimes regarding Serbia and the violation of its internationally recognized borders and the treatment of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija before the end of their terms and before the US elections."

Stoilkovic is certain that this is the result of a political agreement between the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and the Democratic Union for Integration.

"Therefore, any future justifications that they were unaware or could not influence are incorrect because such decisions as co-sponsorship of a very hostile narrative towards Serbia and the sponsorship of a hostile narrative towards the entire Serbian people obviously cannot be made just at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but require broader consultations within the state leadership," he says. He adds that in this case, negative roles cannot be attributed neither to the President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski, nor to the entire state leadership led by Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi.

"However much someone tries to damage the friendly relations between the two peoples, I guarantee that they will not succeed. You can see this on the street, in communication, everywhere. But the political elites deciding the fate of Macedonia, the fate of the Macedonian people are obviously in completely different positions, and these positions have no similarity or closeness to the views of the entire Macedonian people," he said.

According to him, the situation in today's Macedonia is not at all brilliant.

"You see, in Macedonia, Ali, Afrim, Bujar, Xhaferi, Maferi—all Macedonians decide on major issues in Macedonia. I don't see any Macedonians there. On the other hand, if you take the whole process, you can rightly conclude that the stakes concerning the relations between Serbia and Macedonia are increasing," he says.

He adds that it is not the same to support a resolution that will be proposed and voted on or to take any other stance, but they decided to sponsor something.

This means, as Stoilkovic points out, that they are trying to elevate the level of hostility between Macedonia and Serbia to a much higher level.

"It is a dangerous gamble, not for the aforementioned gentlemen, it is a dangerous gamble primarily for the Macedonian people and for the citizens of Macedonia who have no idea what is going on here. Simply, this is a price that some generation of Macedonians will definitely have to pay in some way in the future. In that sense, a lot has changed and one should not be naive at all," he states.

Stating that it is in someone's interest for the relations between Serbs and Macedonians and between Serbia and Macedonia to deteriorate so much that no one will be able or willing to repair them in the near future, Stoilkovic says that "someone is playing not only with the fate of the Macedonian people but also with the fate of regional cooperation."