Balkanalysis.com

The NATO Summit: Where Boris Trajkovski Lives On

Perhaps the planners of the Istanbul NATO Summit were just too busy setting out the cocktail napkins, or dealing with George W. Bush’s 600-strong entourage to take notice, but according to the alliance’s website, the late Boris Trajkovski is still the President of Macedonia, and Branko Crvenkovski remains Prime Minister. One imagines that it will be quite hard for NATO diplomats to help little Macedonia in its quest for accession if they are keeping an eye out for leaders who are deceased.The gaffe, spotted by the sharp-eyed folks at Vest, is just another example of the kind of black humor that characterizes so very, very much of the Macedonian reality today.

According to the tabloid, the last time NATO’s site was edited was June 2. “…At that time, and also now,” Vest helpfully reminds, “the President of the Republic of Macedonia is Branko Crvenkovski, and not Boris Trajkovski.”

The NATO web page in question is uproariously titled, ‘Who is Who?’ Well, we were hoping you would tell us!

In all probability, the embarrassed alliance webmasters will soon remove the bizarre reference, but readers can find a small reproduction in the Vest link above, and we reprint it here. As of 12:54 AM, CET, 29 June, 2004, one can still find the following listed under the entry for “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, l’ex-Republique yougoslave de Macedonie (1)”:

H.E. Mr. Boris Trajkovski

President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

H.E. Mr. Branko Crvenkovski

Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

H.E. Mrs. Ilinka Mitreva

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

H.E. Mr. Vlado Buckovski

Minister of Defence of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

H.E. Dr. Nano Ruzin

Ambassador – Head of the Mission of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

 While Vest notes with sad indignity that “…obviously, the people who prepared the site for the summit didn’t have the information that President Boris Trajkovski is dead, and that we have a new President, Branko Crvenkovski,” at least the dependable footnote 1- that “Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name”- is still prominently displayed. Well thank God for that!