WHAT DO THE SERBS IN KOSOVO WANT

AIM Pristina, July 6, 1996

When seven years ago, more than a million Serbs in Gazimestan near Pristina, celebrated with great pomp the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo, this ancient "crucial battle" for the people of the Balkans was just symbolic. It did not take much to realize that the essence of the gathering was, as assessed at the time, "demonstration of Serb sovereignty and historical claim over Kosovo". "It was a happening of the people", said the head of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia at the time, and the current President, as characterized here, of the Serb regime, Slobodan Milosevic.

Only seven years have passed since then, but of all the "glory and glitter" only dim memories have remained. The autonomy of Kosovo along with that of Voivodina was destroyed, emergency measures were introduced, and still last, the war in former Yugoslavia broke out, political circumstances changed. There are no more "spectacular rallies", and the people whose "happening" was at the time, nowadays participate only in less and less numerous solemn occasions of "unveiling busts" and monuments to ancient medieval Serbian rulers and opening of newly constructed churches. Enthusiasm with which the myth on the "cradle and soul of Serbia and Serbdom" is gradually dying out. While seven years ago, the main speaker Slobodan Milosevic announced "new battles", the tone of the "leader" of former "antibureaucratic units" on the eve of this year's, as the Serbs and the Montenegrins called it, greatest Serb religious holiday (it is neither Christmans nor Easter any more), Vidovdan, resembles the remaining anachronistic voices of lonely "veterans". And the number of those who want to "incite to rebellion" in order to preserve the "cradle of Serbdom" is decreasing. After seven years, accounts are settled, what was achieved and what lost. Some leaders of the so-called Serb Resistance Movement (SPOT) believe that much has been done in the sphere of culture, but in all other fields there is stagnation.

And while local Albanians think that by constitutional amendments introduced in 1989 and, as claimed, "classical occupation" since 1990, Kosovo has been brought to the verge, their Serb neighbours stress that many "objectives of their movement are still far from effectuation". They complain that emigration from Kosovo continues, but about numerous other problems. The only thing they do not complain about is "what has been done in the sphere of culture", as for example, erection of various monument and Orthodox religious buildings. In this sense, there is the nostalgia for times long gone and memories about the period when (as it was stated at the recent Symposium of the Serb Resistance Movement held in Gracanica) "in the great struggle and revolution without firing a single bullet, without a single dead or wounded, four autonomy-loving governments were overthrown, and Serbia which used to be broken into three parts was united".

Therefore, still the same old stories, although somewhat subdued, and unchanged objectives. During the eighties, an impression was created that rights of the Serbs and the Montenegrins were jeopardized by "autonomy-loving Kosovo authorities". Based on that, a climate was created convenient for an "intervention from Belgrade in order to preserve these rights". But, analysts of the situation in Kosovo claim, this unchanged scenario is still being tested. "Certain situations are staged intended to intimidate the Serbs and the Montenegrins in Kosovo", they add. "However", claims the vice-president of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, Fehmi Agani, "this is actually an attempt to present the problem of the Serbs to the public and especially to the international factor, as the problem which characterizes Kosovo, and not as the problem of the Albanians". The same rhetoric about "banishment of Albanian emigrants", or as a leader of the Serb Resistance Movement once said "banishment of the Albanians who are quite different from the Shqiptars"?!

The thing which is different is the fact that the local Serbs and Montenegrins have divided. Indeed, the story about the natives and the newcomers is not mentioned any more; nowadays, the one about treason and advocating their interests is modern. The first who admit that they voted for Slobodan Milosevic in the elections, claim nowadays that Milosevic need not come to Kosovo. "Even if we did give our votes, it will not happen again". And this is happening before the federal elections, and soon there will be presidential elections, too. What will happen with Milosevic's safest stronghold, here among Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins, those who fear for the future wonder. The others, mostly gathered in local organizations of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), just as their official policy demands, claim that there is no reason for anyone to fear and that nobody has betrayed anybody in Kosovo. Those who are well informed, however, claim that these Serbs and Montenegrins are also "with their hearts and souls" in favour of the Serb Resistance Movement, but for the sake of preserving certain privileges, status and flourishing business, dare not admit it.

What they all have in common, though, is real fear what will become of Kosovo, and this refers to both the Serb and the Albanian population. While the Albanians in their conversations still wonder "will they give it to us", the Serbs and the Montenegrins, especially those gathered in SPOT, wonder "has Kosovo been sold". This issue is increasingly attracting attention, although representatives of Serb authorities keep repeating the old story about "Kosovo as the inalienable part of Serbia and Yugoslavia". Fear of the local Serbs for the "destiny of Kosovo" has not died down even after they have for years "ruled and managed" Kosovo all by themselves.

The spokesman of the Democratic Party of Serbia for Kosovo, Milos Djordjevic, underlines that this is all "normal, especially after opening of the American Information Centre in Pristina, which marks", as he adds, "the beginning of the prevalence of the demand of the Albanian political subjects for a dialogue in the presence of the third, international party". These words are in a way confirmed by the vice prime minister of Serbia, Ratko Markovic: "The international factor must participate in composing the rights of the Albanians in Kosovo, since the problem of Kosovo is transnational" (statement made on Radio Kragujevac). Word comes from SPOT that the agreement between Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and German head of diplomacy Klaus Kinkel on the return of 120 thousand asylum seekers most of whom are the Albanians from Kosovo is almost of the same proportions.

When all this is "thrown on the steelyard", in fact, there are very slight differences in stances concerning Kosovo between representatives of the authorities in Belgrade and SPOT. The difference is reflected perhaps only in the fact that seven years ago they all together celebrated Vidovdan and overthrew the "autonomy-loving governments", with the blessing of the then highest state agencies of former Yugoslavia, nowadays each is fighting on its own for the electorate which will give them as many votes as possible in the forthcoming federal elections. Mutual accusations range from the stance that with its self-proclaimed leadership and moves (SPOT) "upholds Albanian separatism" all the way to allegations that there is no "real strategy for resolving the problem of Kosovo" (SPS).

On the other hand, the Albanians celebrated the anniversary of the "Constitutional Declaration" which on July 2, 1990 was the foundation for the proclamation of "Kosovo as an equal unit in the federation or confederation", and which preceded the "Kacanik Constitution" when republic of Kosovo was proclaimed...

Besim ABAZI AIM Pristina