MACEDONIA: PARLIAMENT BRAWL MARS RESOLUTION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SKOPJE 000792

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SCE (PFEUFFER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: PARLIAMENT BRAWL MARS RESOLUTION OF
STATE JUDICIAL COUNCIL STANDOFF

REF: SKOPJE 786

Classified By: P/E CHIEF SHUBLER, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY


1. (SBU) A brawl in parliament between MPs of ethnic Albanian
DPA (governing coalition partner) and DUI (opposition) on
September 25 overshadowed DUI's agreement to support a
proposal (reftel) to break a long-standing deadlock on
composition of the State Judicial Council (SJC),a key
Macedonian judicial reform component. The brawl, which the
Ambassador roundly condemned in a public statement and which
appeared to have been provoked by DPA, nearly caused DUI to
withdraw its support for the proposal. The September 25
incident was followed by protests later in the evening,
during which purported DUI sympathizers clashed with police
and some were injured. The following day, police reportedly
beat a journalist covering police harassment of a DUI MP.


2. (SBU) Following strong international community pressure,
PM Gruevski convened meetings of government and opposition
leaders to discuss how to de-escalate tensions. In a later
meeting with IC Principals, he pledged to take steps to
prevent further violent incidents, to investigate the charges
of police brutality against the journalist, and to form a
parliamentary commission to investigate the September 25 and
26 incidents. Although the fabric of Macedonian democracy has
been damaged by the incidents of the past several days, it is
not torn; cooler heads now seem to be prevailing. Our key
objectives over the next several days will be to support
efforts to de-escalate tensions, and to keep government and
opposition focused on completing composition of the SJC, an
important NATO membership-related task. End summary.

DUI AGREES TO SUPPORT PRESIDENT'S PROPOSAL ON SJC...


3. (SBU) Following several days of coordinated lobbying by
the Ambassador, EUSR, and NATO reps, DUI (ethnic Albanian
opposition) President Ahmeti on September 25 told us he would
support President Crvenkovski's proposal for completing the
formation of the State Judicial Council (SJC),a key judicial
reform component that has been deadlocked for nearly a year
(reftel). Later that day DUI planned to state their position
in favor of the proposal in parliament, followed by a press
announcement to the same effect.

...THEN BRAWL ERUPTS IN PARLIAMENT


4. (SBU) Shortly before DUI VP Teuta Arifi was scheduled to
speak in parliament to announce the DUI position, PDP MP
Vejseli (formerly a DUI ally but now a governing coalition
partner) gave a speech containing provocative language aimed
at DUI MPs. Two DUI MPs responded and reportedly attempted
physically to assault Vejseli (although DUI claims there was
only an exchange of words on both sides). Other MPs
intervened to prevent any fisticuffs. The President of
Parliament then interrupted the session and called the
parliamentary party coordinators to a meeting to discuss the
incident.


5. (SBU) During the meeting of parliamentary coordinators,
Arifi suggested continuing the parliamentary session the
following day, once tempers had cooled. At that point,
according to DUI accounts, DPA (ethnic Albanian junior
governing coalition partner) President Thaci, DPA MP Matoshi,
and Vejseli entered the room and began verbally abusing
Arifi. When Arifi tried to leave the room, Thaci reportedly
told her neither she nor her fellow party members would
"leave alive," and physically accosted her. The President of
Parliament and parliamentary security then intervened and a
shaken Arifi was taken away to be given medical treatment for
a heart condition.


6. (SBU) In the meantime, five of Ahmeti's bodyguards who
were outside the parliament at the time were detained by
police and taken to a police station for questioning, and
Ahmeti's personal vehicle was impounded. A television
reporter later claimed he had been hit by a DUI MP, and DUI
alleged that a DPA MP had struck and knocked down a security
guard. Another DUI MP reportedly was kicked repeatedly in
the shins by a DPA member.

SKOPJE 00000792 002 OF 003



SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY...?


7. (C) During a meeting with IC POLADS (US, EUSR, NATO, OSCE)
at the parliament after the incident, Ahmeti said DUI's
support for the SJC compromise was now uncertain, since "the
situation has completely changed." He reported that he had
spoken earlier with PM Gruevski, who had told him he had
asked DPA's Thaci to "calm things down." Ahmeti pledged that
he would engage fully to calm the situation, but added that
he could see no way ahead on the SJC matter. The IC POLADS
urged Ahmeti to take the high ground by supporting the
political compromise, thus preventing a victory for those who
wanted the SJC proposal to fail and to lay the blame for such
a failure on DUI's shoulders.

DUI RECONSIDERS, REASON PREVAILS


8. (SBU) In the meantime, the Ambassador spoke with Arifi to
get her version of events, and also called the President of
Parliament and the Minister of Interior to convey our
concerns about the incident and to press them to ensure
proper steps were taken to find and punish those responsible
for the incidents. The Ambassador later released a statement
strongly condemning the incidents, and calling on the
appropriate authorities to ensure those responsible were held
to account.


9. (SBU) Before ending the meeting with the IC POLADS, and
after he had been briefed on the Ambassador's statement,
Ahmeti met with senior DUI advisers and discussed whether to
continue DUI's support for the SJC proposal. Returning to
the meeting, he informed the POLADS that the party had
decided to continue support for the proposal, but wanted
strong IC support for other DUI priority agenda items,
including implementation of the May 29 agreement and the
Framework Agreement.

EVENING PROTESTS RAISE TEMPERATURES


10. (SBU) Later that evening, media and police sources
reported an attempt by roughly 100 alleged DUI supporters to
stage illegal protests (ones for which no permit had been
received) around the parliament. The purported DUI
sympathizers, some of whom police claimed were armed, parked
vehicles to block traffic near the parliament. There were
several reported altercations between police, including
much-disliked "Alpha" special police units, and the
supporters; one police officer and several protesters were
injured in the scuffles, according to DUI representatives and
media sources. According to one OSCE report, the police
deployed the Rapid Deployment Unit, trained for crowd
control, too late to minimize chances of confrontations.

THACI'S ALTERNATE REALITY


11. (C) On September 26, the IC POLADS met with DPA's Thaci
and PDP's Vejseli to convey the international community's
disappointment and revulsion over the incidents of the
preceding day. Vejseli stuck to his claim that DUI MPs had
attacked him, while Thaci denied he had even been present
during the reported altercation with DUI's Arifi (a claim
SDSM VP Ivanovski later soundly refuted, citing party sources
who witnessed the incident and also refuted by the President
of Parliament, who was present during the entire incident
between Thaci and Arifi.) Thaci expressed frustration at
what he called the GOM's "tolerance of DUI activities," and
blamed SDSM for having "masterminded" the entire incident.
Nevertheless, he pledged he would issue a statement calling
on his supporters to remain calm and to avoid provocative
actions. He also said he would ask one of DPA's MPs to meet
with a "moderate" DUI MP to try to establish lines of
communication between the two parties.

PRIME MINISTER: A "RETURN TO CIVILIZED DIALOGUE"


12. (SBU) The Ambassador later spoke by phone with PM
Gruevski, who said he planned to call a meeting of coalition
party leaders to discuss the September 25 incident and the
way ahead, after which he would meet with opposition party
leaders. As DUI President Ahmeti was in an emergency meeting
at the time with the DUI party presidency, Gruevski said he

SKOPJE 00000792 003 OF 003


would be willing to meet with Ahmeti "anytime in the evening"
or the following day.


13. (C) The Ambassador advised Gruevski to take decisive
steps to ensure an end to the provocations and
counter-provocations. She concurred with his plan to meet
with the opposition leaders, but noted that -- had such
dialogue existed earlier -- events would not have developed
into the current situation. PM Gruevski assured the
Ambassador that he wanted a "return to civilized dialogue in
the parliament." At the Ambassador's request, he also agreed
to meet with the IC Principals (US, NATO, EU, OSCE) later
that evening to discuss the way ahead. During that meeting,
the Ambassador reiterated the need to foster an environment
conducive to political dialogue, and to take steps to prevent
further violent incidents.


14. (SBU) Gruevski told the Principals that his top
priorities over the next few days would be to prevent violent
incidents inside or out of parliament, to urge the MOI to
conduct a speedy inquiry into reports that a journalist had
been beaten in the course of filming an incident involving a
DUI MP (see below),and to support formation of a
parliamentary investigative commission to look into the
events of the past few days. He stressed that there could be
no justification for violent behavior in the parliament,
regardless of the provocation offered.

DUI DECIDES TO FREEZE, BUT NOT BOYCOTT, PARTICIPATION IN
PARLIAMENT


15. (SBU) In the meantime, we received reports, later
confirmed, of DUI MPs having been stopped and harassed by
police while en route to the DUI party presidency meeting.
OSCE later confirmed reports that police had accosted a TV
crew, and had beaten one cameraman, in attempt to confiscate
film on which their actions had been recorded. DUI
leadership later announced that they had decided to freeze
DUI's participation in plenary sessions of parliament until
an impartial report was issued on the events of September 25
and 26, demanded that a parliamentary commission be
established to discuss the incidents, and called for a public
protest in Skopje on September 28. DUI leaders stressed that
the freeze on participation in plenary sessions did not
constitute a parliamentary boycott, and that the party would
re-engage in parliamentary activities after the report was
issued.

COMMENT -- TENSIONS HAVE PEAKED, COOLER HEADS EMERGING


16. (C) Despite DUI's assurance that it will stick with its
support for the SJC compromise proposal, it is unlikely at
this juncture that the party will consent to supporting any
government move to implement the proposal. Our goal now
remains two-fold: to press all parties to exercise leadership
and restraint in order to prevent further violence, and to
keep government and opposition focused on moving ahead with
the reforms Macedonia needs to complete to strengthen its
NATO candidacy. The September 25 and 26 incidents have
damaged but not torn the fabric of intra-ethnic relations and
democratic systems here. We will work with our IC partners
to try to keep the ethnic Albanian parties -- DPA/PDP and DUI
-- from committing additional acts that could further
jeopardize progress toward Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic goals.
In the meantime, it appears that tensions reached their peak
on September 25 and 26 and cooler heads are emerging. A key
test of whether this is the case will be the behavior of
police and demonstrators at the protest planned to take place
at the Skenderbeg Monument in Skopje on September 28. We are
urging DUI and DPA, as well as the Ministry of Interior, to
exercise proper restraint.
MILOVANOVIC