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8 Iustinianus Primus L. Rev. 1 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/iusplr8 and id is 1 raw text is: 




Migo Dokmanovie*


          A  FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT BEFORE THE OHRID
      AGREEMENT? AN ANALYSIS OF THE 1993 MACEDONIAN
        GOVERNMENT AGREEMENT WITH THE LOCAL SERBS

                                       Summary

The  article explores a relatively forgotten legal document signed in 1993 in an attempt of the
Macedonian  government  to regulate certain aspects of the status of the Serbian community in
the country. The Agreed  Minutes represent a conflict prevention agreement in which the
local Serbs have obliged to realize their demands within the Republic of Macedonia and on
the other hand, the Government has obliged to equalize the constitutional status of the Serbs
with other minorities in Macedonia, to provide primary and high school education in the
native tongue and to guarantee freedom of religion including free choice of church. The paper
focused on all elements of the document including its drafting, content and official reactions.
The  author argues that the document represented a turning point in the regulation of certain
aspects of  the status of national communities  in  the country beyond   the framework
established by the 1991 Constitution and a predecessor of the Ohrid framework agreement
signed 7 years.

       Key  words:   Yugoslavia, Macedonia,  Serbia, Serbs, Minorities, transition, Ohrid
framework  agreement,

I. Introduction

       The  violent break -up of Yugoslavia  in the beginning of 1990s has changed  the
traditional paradigm of national minorities' protection. Being a multiethnic state, the country
has experienced a number of challenges in dealing with the rising nationalism throughout its
history. In that sense, the status of the minorities or national communities living outside their
national republics represented the main generator of conflict in the dissolving federation.
       A  smaller Serbian community   lived on  the territory of Macedonia for decades.
According  to the 1981 Official census, the Serbs represented the fourth largest nationality
(ethnic community) in the Republic with a total of 1 909 136 inhabitants .2 Growing tensions
within the federation in the 1990s  have had  an immense  impact  on the community   in
particular in reference to its new constitutional status in the new independent republic.
       Over  the joint years in the federation Macedonia was continuously perceived as a
strong Serbian ally. However, as a result of the internal and external factors, the Republic of
Macedonia  has  decided to pass a Declaration of sovereignty in January 1991, organize a


* Miio Dokmanovid, PhD, Associate Professor, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Law Iustinianus
Primus, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
' According to the data on the population's ethnic belonging of State Statistical Office of Macedonia, on the
1981 census a total of 1279 323 inhabitants declared as Macedonians, 377 208 - Albanians, 86591 - Turks;
44468 - Serbs, 43125 - Romani etc.
2    Z8PMBCH 38BO, 3a CTaTHCTHKa Ha Peny611HKa MaKeOHnja, CTaTHCTWHCH TOAHfHIHHK Ha Peny611HKa
MaKeCOHnja, CKonje, 2013, cTp. 58. [State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia, Statistical Yearbook
of the Republic of Macedonia, Skopje, 2013, p. 58].


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