Even if the Serbian services allow access to the files kept in Belgrade, those data will be selective and there is also a possibility for new files to be fabricated, people close to the situation say. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov asked of his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic last week to make sure that the Serb authorities allow Macedonia access to the files of the former secret services UDBA and KOS kept in Belgrade. Although there is no official response from Belgrade yet, President Ivanov’s office says President Tadic initially accepted the request, Vreme reports.
Former senior officials from the Ministry of the Interior warn that this process will not go without problems. Even if the access to the Serb files is allowed, it will be selective and there can also be abuses if the authorities in Belgrade assess that they can benefit from the compromising of certain officials. The lustration commission agrees with this. Its president Tome Adziev says that they requested of the Interior Ministry, the Intelligence Agency, the Ministry of Defense and the Archive of Macedonia to establish cooperation with their Serb counterparts, but fear that this may bring about more damage than benefit.
“It is not as simple as some think, that we are going to request from Belgrade to give us the files and they will comply. They can select the files and give us only those that suit them. Will the process be complete then? Also, new files can be fabricated. However, we have to respect the procedure and therefore we insist on seeing those files too,” Adziev says.
In his view, the key to a successful process of lustration is in our archives where there is enough material. However, Adziev wants more time to process all the materials.
Former Interior Minister Pavle Trajanov says that the hope that Belgrade will disclose informers is futile. However, we should wait and see what our northern neighbor delivers. In his view, deals should have so far been entered for sharing files irrespective of whether that is done as part of the process of succession or as a separate bilateral agreement.
“It is not too late to conclude such an agreement now. However, it is unrealistic to expect Serbia not to make selection of the material to be sent to us. They will by no means reveal those collaborators they can still make use of. If we were them, we would not do that either! They will give us what is of no use to them anymore, but information can be extracted from that too,” Trajanov says.
A former long-standing and high-ranking officer of the Security and Counter-intelligence Office, who wishes to stay anonymous, says too it is naïve to expect Serbia to solve our lustration problem.
“They are probably laughing at us for thinking they would. No service is going to sacrifice a collaborator just because you asked them to. The only thing we can obtain is data about people they can no longer use and have no influence in our society,” he explains.
