Albania pays respect to Gligorov

TIRANA, Jan. 3 – Albanian top leaders paid respect to the former Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov, who died last Sunday.
Gligorov, the architect of Macedonia’s independence and its first president after the break-up of Yugoslavia, died at the age of 94.
President Bamir Topi and Prime Minister Sali Berisha sent letters of condolences to their Macedonian counterparts highly evaluating Gligorov’s role in their neighboring country.
The two Albanian leaders said that Gligorov helped his country pass without any violence and bloodshed the division from former Yugoslavia. They also said that Gligorov had played an important role for peace and stability in the Balkan region too.
Gligorov died late on Sunday at home in Skopje, surrounded by his family.
Once a top official of the communist Yugoslav federation, of which Macedonia was a part, Gligorov led the then Yugoslav republic to independence in September 1991.He managed to avoid for Macedonia the wars that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and peacefully deal with various disputes Skopje had with neighboringcountries.
Under Gligorov, Macedonia became a United Nations member, though under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) because Athens opposed its use of the name Macedonia, the name of a Greek northern province.
Gligorov was the first democratically elected president of Macedonia and served two terms from 1991 to 1999.
Born in 1917 in the eastern Macedonian town of Stip, Gligorov was a member of Yugoslavia’s anti-fascist movement during World War II.He held top positions in communist Yugoslavia, including deputy prime minister, member of the collective presidency and speaker of the parliament.
Gligorov is survived by two daughters and a son. His wife, Nada, died in 2009.
The government proclaimed today a day of morning in Macedonia. His family held a small funeral ceremony, as he had requested.