The Mayor of the Municipality of Struga for CIVIL’s initiative “Make a difference, respect diversity” – We in Struga say that Struga is the best municipality and that is why the saying “There is no other like Struga” has remained.
“Struga is a multiethnic city, there are people from all nationalities, most are Albanians, then Macedonians, Turks, Roma, Egyptians, Vlachs and Serbs in smaller numbers, and is a kind of “little Europe” in a city. Apart from the multi-ethnicity, Struga is also multi-confessional, there are people from all religious communities, there are Muslims, Christians and others… Most important, and that being the European value, is that we get along well, we are all for unity, there are no divisions on ethnic or religious grounds, there are no differences based on color of skin, on nationality, we live superbly in this beautiful city.
I have said many times and will say again that we need to understand the political party life differently, that is, implement party programs in party headquarters, and for us not to be divided outside of party headquarters, that is, we should all be united. And it has been confirmed that perhaps the parties are dividing us, or that we adjust there for x interests. But on the other hand, nothing else divides us, we live in a common city and we are all equal in everything, both in the access to the institutions and to the service of the institutions to the citizens, and also employments are no carried out along party lines but on the bases of merit and we do not make divisions, but apply the percentage part by always seeing what one can do in that part in order to contribute as much as possible”, says Merko.
“When I say there are no religious and ethnic divisions, it can mostly be seen in the private sector, in private companies, where I can say that not only Albanians are hired if a company is owned by an Albanian, but there are cases where most of the employees are Macedonians and others, which is very good for our life together here. On the other hand, I openly say that a difference is not made also in cafes, restaurants, hotels, it’s no longer like it was when Albanians only went to Albanian bars, or Macedonians only went to places where the boss was a Macedonian, this no longer exists and is a big achievement. I don’t want to brag now that this is thanks to us, perhaps time did this, but we as a local self-government have created an environment for this. We have created an environment that there should be no differences and divisions in institutions, in companies, or anywhere else.
editing: Arian Mehmeti
camera: Goran Naumovski
translation: N. Cvetkovska
