Kostres: Pamphlet attacking Filipche does not represent Serbs in North Macedonia, aims to protect Stoiljkovic
Leader of Vojvodina LSV says offensive 'reaction' shared by Ivan Stoiljkovic is a commissioned political text meant to defend his position, not the Serbian community.
Bojan Kostres, president of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV), condemned a smear-filled pamphlet aimed at Venko Filipche and said the text does not reflect the views of Serbs in North Macedonia but is intended to shield Ivan Stoiljkovic.
Kostres calls the text a politically commissioned attack linked to media close to Viktor Orban and funding tied to Alta Bank.
Kostres said the piece — first published on the portal expres.mk under the name "Regional Board Kumanovo of the Serbian community in North Macedonia" and later shared on Facebook by Ivan Stoiljkovic — is full of insults such as "political vomit" and "spiritual freak," and amounts to an organized political attack. He argued the publication appears on a site close to Viktor Orban and is sponsored by Alta Bank, which, he added, Serbian citizens know is indirectly owned by the family of Aleksandar Vucic.
He described the article as a deliberate political document whose true purpose is to protect Stoiljkovic's position rather than to speak for the Serbian community. "It is a politically ordered document whose aim is to protect the position of Ivan Stoiljkovic, and it is full of terrible insults against SDSM and Venko Filipche," Kostres said.
Kostres further labelled the text an "aggressive political pamphlet, in which the insults are at the lowest level," and warned that when such material is published on media linked to Orban and financed by networks close to Vucic, there is no doubt whose interests are being served. He accused Stoiljkovic of long presenting himself as a representative of Serbs while acting as "an extended arm of the services and the political centre in Belgrade."
Calling on Serb representatives across Vojvodina and Serbia to condemn what he called an "act of abuse" of the Serbian community in North Macedonia, Kostres insisted: "Serbs in North Macedonia have a right to dignity, not to the role of a political instrument."
The controversy follows Venko Filipche's announcement last week that SDSM will submit an interpellation against Ivan Stoiljkovic over alleged violent behaviour and insults directed at MPs during the parliamentary debate on the government reconstruction, and also during the break. Filipche warned of a likely major crisis from September and said SDSM plans a stronger offensive in the Assembly.
Photo: press material from the event
