Skopje, 5 January 2024 (MIA) — Describing it as "unfortunate event" and a "conflict between two coworkers," M-NAV management board chair and executive director Fahrudin Hamidi told a press conference Friday that a Security Committee convened to look into the attack on staff at the national air navigation service provider M-NAV, and that in the interest of the investigation, he was not going to comment on the incident further. He also said he did not plan on resigning as he had achieved many positive results in his executive post.

 

"We are people, managers, we manage according to certified procedures," Hamidi said. "An unfortunate event happened and it should not have happened, but it was a conflict between two coworkers who have known each other for 20 years and went to school together," he said in response to a reporter's question about how the incident was allowed to happen.

 

Asked if he had demanded responsibility for the incident, Hamidi said the authorities had already launched an investigation. "Because of the fact that the higher authorities are already dealing with that matter, in the interest of the investigation — there are cameras, there are many things that are inside — let the investigation take its course," he said.

 

"In the interest of the investigation, I do not want to comment further. We have scheduled a Security Committee in our company," Hamidi added.

 

He also said that he absolutely guaranteed the safety of Macedonian skies during the conflict. "It was personal," he said. "There are arguments in every organization. The persons are M-NAV employees."

 

"There are cameras to determine what happened," Hamidi reiterated.

 

At the press conference, he also alleged that the union leader Tasevski, in contesting the last job competition results and blaming the management board for unprofessional and unnecessary hiring, was acting from his personal motives and interests.

 

"He does not let us do our job. The company's reputation has been damaged over false slander," Hamidi said.

 

"Unfortunately, these are lucrative personal interests and shame on him," he added.

 

He said Tasevski had been drawing public attention to nepotism and partisan employment when "he is a nepotism himself, his father was a department head, then he was hired as well." 

 

"And his brother, too, works as a controller," Hamidi said.

 

According to the M-NAV executive, the recent job competition results and employments the union was disputing were legitimate and the company was open to being audited from the Financial Police Office, the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, and other institutions.

 

He also spoke about his own work in the past, noting that he was proud of the results. "At the beginning of the year, we recouped all our losses without any help from anyone, unlike the European air traffic controls, which received help from banks and states," he said.

 

Together with the Civil Aviation Agency, he said, M-NAV in February was to complete the recertification process in line with the latest EU regulations.

 

He also said that in a few months a new system was being launched, and despite a severe financial crisis, they trained 20 new air traffic controllers.

 

"That is one third of the number of air traffic controllers in Macedonia," he said. "No one tells you about it. But we will tell you because we think it is very important for our country's citizens that we have experienced and new staff in the Air Traffic Control."

 

"Unfortunately," he continued, "while we were attacked by the unionist Tasevski all the time, we didn't want to come before you, which was maybe a mistake, but I believe it was because we had bigger things to deal with."

 

Hamidi called a press conference after Thursday's incident at the M-NAV air traffic control facility where several people broke into the premises and attacked staff.

 

Earlier on Friday, the Ministry of Interior said a person connected with the Thursday attack was being questioned. Previously, four people had been called in for a police interview. Police were also searching for another four connected with the attack.

 

According to a Thursday police report, an employee identified by the initials B.N., together with several unindentified persons, had physically attacked P.B., E.K. and B.R., also employees of M-NAV, at their place of work.

 

The attack happened after the Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers leader Aleksandar Tasevski's press conference earlier in the day. He had said that twenty to thirty air traffic controllers and their assistants working for M-NAV would start resigning from their management positions in response to the latest job announcement results and to express their support for the union as well as their disapproval of the management board.

 

Late Thursday evening, the government said that at its Jan. 9 session it would discuss ways to resolve the situation in M-NAV, including the dismissal all managers and management board members.

 

Tasevski then said air traffic controllers would go on a general strike on Jan. 10 if M-NAV directors did not resign or if the government does not dismiss them as announced. mr/