Corruption and Wiretaps: The 2015 Macedonian Uprising: Macedonia is engulfed by a political crisis in which long-running tensions between the government and opposition have escalated into accusations of mass surveillance, corruption and government interference in the court system. Macedonia has been in turmoil since the recordings were released in 2015.
Corruption and Wiretaps
The confrontation has already caused Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, to cancel a meeting with Nikola Gruevski, Macedonia’s prime minister, that had been scheduled for today. Juncker’s office said that a meeting was “not seen as appropriate in light of the latest political development in Macedonia.
Tens of thousands of Macedonians have turned out to support Nikola Gruevski’s government in a counter-protest after opposition supporters marched through the capital, Skopje, a day earlier to demand the prime minister’s resignation.
What Does Corruption Really Mean?
Corruption is an illegal behaviour, usually performed by people in power. This behaviour typically involves bribery or administrative abuse for personal gain. Corruption reaches everywhere – government, media, healthcare, or on a smaller scale, mid-corruption in rural areas. which is no less threatening.
The origin of the wiretaps remains unclear. Zaev initially said they came from a foreign intelligence service, but after this, the sources were domestic, and none of Gruevski’s are under investigation.
What is behind Macedonia unrest?
Macedonia, a small Balkan country, is deeply divided by a year-long political crisis after disputed elections in April 2014 and still in shock after a bloody clash between police and ethnic Albanian men left 18 dead earlier this month. “The Albanian population makes up 25 per cent of the population in Macedonia, but they don’t seem to be represented here.
The 2015 Macedonian Uprising
In 2015, the leading opposition party, Macedonia, was the Ministry of Finance of the Social Democratic League. They revealed that approximately 20,000 Macedonian phone numbers were being wiretapped. The scandal stirred massive protests and sent the country into a political crisis, which ended with a European Union-brokered deal including an interim government and new elections, which have yet to be held, and appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations raised in the wiretaps.
Zaev, who remains at liberty while under investigation, claims to have information about a surveillance programme extending to 20,000 people – although sceptics doubt that Macedonia has the resources for a programme of that scope. He says that there are scores of leaked recordings of the mismanagement of funds, dubious criminal prosecutions of opponents and even cover-ups of killings. The government denies the accusations and in return has accused Mr Zaev of trying to destabilise the Balkan nation.
Clashes
The scandal is the latest in a long series of clashes in the country’s polarised political system. In 2013, intense diplomacy involving the European Commission and the European Parliament helped to end a boycott of Parliament by the SDSM and other opposition parties.
The Macedonian Revolts:
The demonstrations in various Macedonian cities mobilised Albanians as a Macedonian court sentenced six Albanians to life in prison for the murder of five Macedonians despite a lack of concrete evidence.
Noting that they did not recognise the court decision, the masses accused Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of implementing nationalist policies. The Albanian minority, however, also targeted the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), a coalition partner and successor of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a guerrilla organisation which clashed with Macedonians during the 2001 insurgency. And the Albanian community maintains that Gruevski, whom they perceive as an ultra-nationalist politician, seeks to eliminate the influence of the Albanian members of his administration.
Forestier-Walker
They said Zaev has been releasing self-styled “political bombs” – carefully choreographed news conferences in which audio recordings of taped phone conversations between Gruevski and his appointees implicated them in serious abuses of power ranging from vote-rigging to multi-million-dollar kickbacks. The government says that recording has not been true, that it was faked, and accuses Zaev of seeking to destabilise Macedonia.
Conclusion
In this article we discussed the Corruption and Wiretaps: The 2015 Macedonian Uprising: Macedonia is engulfed by a political crisis in which long-running tensions between the government. Zaev, who remains at liberty while under investigation, claims to have information about a surveillance programme extending to 20,000 people. The government denies the accusations and in return has accused Mr Zaev of trying to destabilise the Balkan nation.
