CITIZENS OR EXPATRIATES

The Law on Citizenship adopted in the Assembly of Yugoslavia will change overnight the legal and political status of tens and hundreds thousand citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. All citizens of former SFRY who were not registered as citizens of Serbia and Montenegro by April 27, 1992, will have the status of emigrants as of January 1,

1. It is true that in the course of the whole next year, they will be entitled to apply for citizenship of the FRY, but only with a declaration that they will renounce citizenship of another former Yugoslav federal republic which is an independent state now. This Law almost eliminates the right of acquiring citizenship of FRY for citizens of other states, or the so-called double citizenship. Federal minister of internal affairs, Vukasin Jokanovic, declared that after adoption of this Law, double citizenship could be acquired "for patriotic reasons".

This Law will affect even more seriously the citizens of former SFRY who have come to FRY after April 27, 1992. Procedure for acquiring Yugoslav citizenship prescribed for them is even stricter. Lawyers assess that such a procedure has been prescribed due to present political needs and relations in the former Yugoslav space. In fact, with this Law, the FRY keeps the question of refugees from Croatia and B&H opened, with the right to return refugees to states they have come from in certain, convenient circumstances.

Additional great incertainty for some citizens of former SFRY who live in FRY will be caused by the so-called revision of the already acquired citizenship. The Law permits nullification of the already acquired citizenship due to various possible irregularities and abuses in the procedure of acquiring citizenship and in it, gives almost unlimited rights to the police. The criterion of "before and after April 27, 1992" is introduced in the revision too, but with completely different consequences for the citizens, if the already acquired citizenship is nullified. Citizenship acquired in an "irregular" way, after April 27, 1992, cannot be nullified if a citizen is deprived of any other citizenship (expatriate). Citizenship which the police establishes to have been acquired "irregularly" before this date will simply be nullified even if it means that the citizen will become an expatriate. In these cases, the Law does not prescribe even the right to appeal. Some Albanian lawyers and experts for the problems of population believe that these solutions in the Law have been introduced primarily in order to threaten Kosovo Albanians.

In view of broad authorization and discretion of the police, Albanian experts believe that this Law, along with other measures taken by Serbian authorities against the Albanians for years, will be broadly used for political purposes. And their attention is at the moment directed in three directions: first, to possible abuses of the so-called revision of citizenships issued before April 27, 1992; second, to the status of citizens of former federal republics of SFRY, now independent states - this primarily refers to Kosovo Albanians born for example in Macedonia; and third, in view of broad authorizations of the police, to what extent this Law can affect development of the political situation in Kosovo!?

Lawyer Nekibe Kellmendi says about revision and possible abuses: "Revision is an act of discrimination which is introduced for the purposes of ethnic cleansing of the Albanians, and its retroactive effect is directly contrary to constitutions of the FRY and the Republic of Serbia. The police is not restricted by any time limits in initiation of the revision process, nor are there any time limits concerning cases solved in the past. However, the worst thing about it is that citizenship of a person can be nullified or application for it denied, without that person even having anyone to appeal to about it. It might happen that a number of the Albanians whose ancestors have lived in Kosovo for generations will become expatriates overnight. Serbian authorities will do their best to force the largest possible number of the Albanians to beg for it, which will be abused on any convenient occasion to 'prove' that a large number of the Albanians, foreign citizens, live in Kosovo", says Kellmendi.

They like to remind in Kosovo that at the time of the most violent Serbian anti-Albanian campaign during the past decade, it was claimed that there were between 300 and 700 thousand Albanians in Kosovo who were foreign citizens by origin mostly from Albania, and their forceful banishment was demanded. In a deafening anti-Albanian hubbub, it was impossible to hear the official fact that on the territory of SFRY there were a little over 700 emigrants from Albania. It is assessed that a negligible number of emigrants from Albania obtained the citizenship of SFRY.

Albanian connnoisseurs of political circumstances predict that for detection of a "surplus" of the Albanians, cases of renewed registration and documentation will be very convenient simply because of disorderly registers and negligence of the Albanians in the past to register the newly born or rather failing to do so. They also stress that if the only criterion for double citizenship is "merits for advancement of Serbdom", it is quite obvious that this very criterion but in the opposite sense will also be decisive in the procedure of issuing citizenship to citizens of former federal units of SFRY which are now independent states. The same criterion is expected to be applied in the so-called revision, with the only difference that the police can be even stricter towards the Albanians.

Reducing the possibility of double citizenship to "exceptional cases" will affect the Albanians in Kosovo born in Macedonia and just a small number of citizens of former Yugoslav republics. After 1990, a minor number of the Albanians from Macedonia have left Kosovo. It is assumed that there are nowadays not more than several thousand in this space. Like many other citizens of former Yugoslavia, they have found themselves in the situation to choose against their will uncertainty of emogrants' status instead of emotional connections and interests in their native land. About these dilemmas and possible problems of this category of citizens who have the right to apply for citizenship of FRY by renouncing the claim of citizenship of another federal unit of former SFRY, an expert on emigration, Rifat Bllaku says: "Regardless of their origin, Kosovo Albanians have the same attitude to Serbian rule in Kosovo as the Serbian authorities have towards Kosovo Albanians regardless or their origin. Kosovo without or with the least possible number of Albanians as the primary Serbian political goal is expected to reduce to a minimum the possibility for the Albanians to get citizenship of FRY even if they renounce their previous citizenship. It is easy to imagine the following situation: you renounce one and your application for the other citizenship is rejected", comments Bllaku and adds that declarations of renouncing citizenship will transform people into objects of various political and diplomatic manipulations in order to prevent psychologically, politically and legally, their survival in Kosovo, but also in their native places. "With its political flexibility and broadest possible dicretion of the police, the Law enables creation of a large number of expatriates in Kosovo", he believes.

When speaking of Serbian refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, and there are about 20 thousand of them in Kosovo, the Albanian experts think that it is mostly a political issue. Although the Law prescribes strict criteria for them to get the citizenship of FRY, the general belief is that, like evebody else who will be brought to Kosovo, they will find it easy to get the citizenship, if they decide to stay here permanently.

Albanian politicians do not doubt that the Serbian authorities will use the Law as much as possible to "make life miserable for the Albanians". At the same time, they add that a lot will depend on development of the political situation, on the current political needs and on what the politicians will order the police to do. Concerning major controversial issues, the Law has a political approach and it will depend on politics how long this Law will be in force. On this aspect of the problem, as far as Kosovo is concerned, member of the Presidency of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo in charge of migrations, Skender Kastrati, says: "The Law is flexible because of numerous political problems. The police may, but need not instigate proceedings or stick to a criterion. In this sense it is not restricted. We know exactly to what extent Serbian laws were integrally or partially adopted only because of Kosovo and Kosovo Albanians. In everyday life in Kosovo, a lot depends on the way laws are implemented, that is, on momentary political needs. When speaking about it and generally about Serbia's actions in Kosovo, a lot depends on the interest of the international community in Kosovo and pressures exerted on Serbia from abroad", Kastrati explains.

Feim REXHEPI AIM Pristina