Skopje, 19 December 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski said Tuesday that North Macedonia is helping Ukraine so much because throughout history it has suffered from larger nations, which in some historical periods implemented destructive strategies towards the Macedonian people, ranging from identity disfigurement, up to physical elimination.

"We are among the top 5 member states of the Alliance according to the ratio of the gross domestic product and the military and material-technical assistance that we give to Ukraine during this critical period. Some quite legitimately ask the question: Why we implement such a policy. The formal answer would be: we do so because we are a member of NATO, where the principle of solidarity applies, and because we believe in the Charter of the United Nations, which does not allow military aggression by one of its member states against another," said President Pendarovski in the annual Parliament address.

According to him, membership in NATO is not a guarantee that we will no longer face security threats and challenges, as every country in the world faces them.

"However, membership is a guarantee that we no longer deal with the challenges alone as there are 30 countries with us, 30 democracies, 30 powerful armies, 30 of our friends, both in good and bad," noted Pendarovski.

In this security context, he referred to the most current world conflict between Israel and Hamas, "which we, as a small country, certainly cannot influence, but can feel the negative effects of that bloody conflict."

"Our political position is clear and we demonstrate it in all the votes so far in the United Nations. The first element of that position is that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and I believe that the time has come for us as a state to confirm this with a formal decision. Second, according to all international acts, Israel has the right to self-defense, but, third, according to those same international documents, it must take care not of the terrorists of Hamas, but of the human rights of the Palestinians. In that sense, the Israeli army must employ a proportionate use of lethal force, and protect the lives of civilians, women and children," said Pendarovski.

What is most important from the point of view of our national interests, he added, careful and responsible behavior of all political subjects is needed so that this conflict does not deepen the divisions in our multiethnic, but also multi-religious society.

"Unfortunately, the initial effects of such hate speech are already perceptible on our social networks," said Pendarovski.

Photo: MIA archive