Abuse of death is nothing new in the Balkans or, indeed, the Empire. It was perhaps too much to expect that Boris Trajkovski’s tragic end in the Herzegovina mountains would be spared the same fate.
Antiwar.com’s resident Macedonia expert Chris Deliso has a great piece on his site Balkanalysis, examining the misleading and manipulative eulogizing of Trajkovski over the past 48 hours. I think much of what he says can be applied retroactively to several notable Balkans luminaries who passed away recently (e.g. Zoran Djindjic, Alija Izetbegovic). Definitely worth a read…
Here’s Deliso’s conclusion, which, adapted only slightly, goes for most Successor States of the former Yugoslavia:
“Trajkovski’s legacy as a peacemaker, confidence-builder, and all around purveyor of Europhilia have as much to do with the West’s perception of itself, its role in Macedonian history, and the expected behavior of its Balkanian underlings as it does with anything having to do with the men whose passing has left Macedonia dazed, trying to understand what its next incarnation may bring.”
