Albanian President Meidani in Kosovo

AIM Pristina, 30 May, 2000

Several ten citizens of Kosovo gathered in front of the Grand Hotel downtown Pristina to welcome president of Albania, Rexhep Meidani, the first president of this neighbouring country to visit Kosovo ever since the foundation of the Albanian state in 1912. Public appeals even in local press in Albanian did not increase the “enthusiasm” of the citizens of Pristina for the news that the president of Albania would step on the soil of Kosovo. Mr. Meidani, who came to the head of the “country of eagles” after the bloody riots in Albania in spring 1997, among the Kosovars bears the label of a “leftist” because he is from the Socialist Party of Fatos Nano. Kosovo Albanians have never forgiven Nano the “sin” of meeting Milosevic in Crete, at the summit of Balkan countries in Greece in 1997. However, even after the visit of Meidani the local press devoted a lot of space to its significance in quite enthusiastic tone, laying stress on Meidani's statement that this was “a meeting of the century between the Albanians”. There were commentaries in which it was noted that the visit was dignified, but also that the welcome without the nostalgic national folklore.

President Meidani arrived in Pristina at the invitation of the leadership of the University in Pristina on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its work. The first thing he did was to go the building of the University to give a lecture. Twenty years ago Meidani himself was a lecturer at this University (1977-1981).

The end of the seventies was marked with the “culmination of cultural relations between Kosovo and Albania”, relations which were established with the period of “liberalism” which started in Kosovo after passing of the 1974 Constitution. Twenty years later president of Albania Rexhep Meidani declared that “this visit and these meetings with his colleagues and former students enabled him to understand that there will be no divisions among the Albanians. Many bitter, even monstrous things have happened in the past two decades in order to separate us, to deprive us of many fundamental rights, they even banished us with fascist violence from our homeland, but evil and barbarism can rule just temporarily, while freedom and justice definitely triumph over the forces of evil and mentality of darkness”, said Meidani in his address to the students and professors at the University of Pristina. He also assessed that high education was the foundation of development of the society and Albanian nation, for its consolidation, accelerated integration, as the foundation of human society in the new century.

Meidani failed to mention inter-Albanian divisions, not even after the meetings with the leaders of Albanian political parties at which the empty chair reserved for president of Democratic League of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, was notable. Just a day before Rugova had left on a trip to Italy (then to France and certain other European countries), but he did not even send a representative of his party to take his place. Neither Mr. Meidani nor his spokesmen wished to comment on this fact, probably so as not to spoil the image of “brotherly cooperation”. As if wishing to correct the “mistake” of Rugova, president of United Democratic Movement of Kosovo Rexhep Qosja “thanked the people of Albania and the regime over there for the historical role they had played during the war in Kosovo and the hospitality which had amazed the world”. Mr. Qosja esteemed highly the visit of president Meidani as a “historical day for all Albanians”. The Albanian president who had arrived in Pristina, among other, in order to promote his book at the book and press fair, reminded Kosovo Albanians that “now when freedom was won it is necessary to fight to achieve peace”. In well-measured language which referred to quotations from speeches of American president Bill Clinton, which he himself did not hide, he sent a message to Kosovo Albanian politicians to “build democratic and tolerant Kosovo”.

He repeated the same messages after the meeting with commander of peace forces, Spanish general Huan Ortuna, and Kosovo administrator, Bernard Kouchner. Kouchner insisted that this was a private visit of president Meidani, whom he called his “big friend”. Kouchner was at Pristina airport to welcome Rexhep Meidani which caused many Kosovars to wonder: “Why none of the local leaders were there to shake hands with Albanian president?”. The cynical ones commented that administrator Kouchner wished to keep this whole visit under strict control. Friendship of Mr. Kouchner is in fact an expression of intensified demands of international representatives for increased influence of leaders of Albania, both of those in power and the opposition, on Kosovo leaders, in order to relieve tensions and make it a safe environment. Kouchner said that they talked about private matters, and Meidani that they discussed very important issues, including the current situation in Kosovo, regulation of border crossings and similar.

“Albania is a neighbour of Kosovo and we should maintain relations with Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and everybody. We are a group which works a lot on various issue with these three states”, said Kosovo administrator to journalists. International representatives in fact think that time has come when Albanian officials and other leaders should exert their influence on leaders of Kosovo for realisation of the “political (although still undefined) process” in Kosovo.

The question which still has not been clearly solved between international officials and statesmen of Albania is the question of the liaison office Albania should open in Pristina. This proposal dates back since last year, but there have been no real answers to this day. In this context, Bernard Kouchner announced passing of a decree which would determine the nature and the status of international offices which would be opened, but eliminated the possibility that they would be diplomatic representative offices. “The office will soon be opened, it will be a commercial office like all the others and there is no reason why it should not be opened, when it was opened by the Macedonians, the British and others”, declared Kouchner. In this context, journalists were interested to find out whether he believed in the “shadow” of creation of Greater Albania. Kouchner replied resolutely that not even Meidani believes in it and added that this was “some kind of phantasmagoria which is coming from Western countries”. In an interview in Koha ditore, Meidani replied that terms such as Greater Albania were condemned and generated by the misinforming machinery from Belgrade, because as he stressed “the Albanians see their future in integration into the common European structures where borders are turning into geographic symbols, where they would not be isolated or overpowered by destructive megalomania of Serb ultra-nationalist concept of Greater Serbia”.

The Albanian statesmen confirmed that intensive efforts are being made to open this office, they even claim that the location has already been determined. But it seems that it is still kept fat from the eyes and ears of the public. The only thing that is certain is that this secrecy is not purely the result of a wish to surprise pleasantly the Albanian public which is already quite indifferent to the incessant discussions on opening of this office.

In any case, private or semi-official, the visit of president Meidani is for independent observers proof that Albanian political alliances exist on both sides of the border and that the border which has for decades divided the Albanians ones from the others leads to creation of “borders” in their political awareness. This visit of Meidani's is also interpreted as a test intended to feel the pulse of the public opinion in Kosovo. Fatos Nano, president of the Socialist Party of Albania has not come to Kosovo despite his own announcement that he would be present at the convention of the Party of Democratic Progress of Kosovo (now the Democratic Party of Kosovo) headed by former political representative of Kosovo Liberation Army Hashim Thaci, although it was denied a few times. The arrival of Sali Berisha, former Albanian president and the leaders of the opposition in neighbouring Albania is also expected on the occasion of the anniversary of NATO intervention. Although it has never become official, the Kosovars still remember his proposal for recognition of Kosovo as a republic adopted in his parliament. On both sides of the border and across it, political battles – the everyday ones but also the pre-election ones – are a premonition of a very hot period.

AIM Pristina

Besim ABAZI