THE EFFECT OF CLINTON'S VISIT IN TIRANA
GOODBYE TO NATIONALISM
AIM Tirana, November 30, 1999
All political parties and high officials in Tirana, starting from the President of the Republic, Prime Minister, smaller and larger parties, the authorities and the opposition alike, to parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties welcomed the visit the American President Bill Clinton paid to Kosovo on November 23. What characterised all these greetings was the lack of nationalistic euphoria and common assessment that it represented a contribution to peace and democracy in Kosovo and the region at large. This was not only in line with the ideas and laws the American President presented to the people of Kosovo, but pointed to yet another effect of his visit to Kosovo. Namely, ever since NATO's liberation of Kosovo, which is now the international protectorate, and the arrival of international troops under the NATO command, there is an evident lack of any nationalistic euphoria among political parties in Tirana when Kosovo is in question.
This is not without importance if we have in mind the fact that Kosovo and the Kosovo crisis were the trump card of the Albanian political parties in their struggle for power, political confrontations and electoral braggings. One of the main features of the political life here was constant competition between political parties as to which would demonstrate a higher level of involvement and patriotic enlightenment regarding Kosovo and thus earn the right to assume to power in Albania.
However, the diplomatic and military war of 19 democratic NATO member states aimed at stopping the Serbian genocide and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo, which has resulted in its present status under the international administration, has created a new situation and requires a new evaluation of political forces in Albania.
The map of Kosovo is no longer the main argument used in the political race of parties as was the case in the spring before the war. It is now clear both to the public, as well as to politicians and their parties, that differences between them regarding Kosovo are minimal and their stands so similar that they can no longer use them against each other in their electoral campaigns. It is quite understandable that the new status of Kosovo as a Western protectorate, has made it clear to political parties in Tirana that they no longer have much leeway to influence the political and strategic developments in Kosovo. The historic war early this spring, which called for NATO and American intervention, has shown the Albanian politicians in Tirana how little weight they carry and how little influence they have on the course of events in Kosovo. The larger the parties and greater their chances for keeping or taking over the power, the more conscious and realistic they become in their demands regarding Kosovo. And the less political weight they carry, the more nationalistic noise they make in an attempt to increase their membership.
Under such circumstances, basic stands of political parties and Albanian politicians in Tirana regarding Kosovo are in a stage of amalgamation. Even the opposition's stand towards the policy of Majko's and Meta's Governments regarding Kosovo, corroborates this. Not only did it restrain itself from all criticism, but even frequently assessed it positively, which happens rarely in Tirana.
The programme of Prime Minister Ilir Meta's new Cabinet, presented to the Albanian Parliament on November 4, pointed out that Kosovo would remain top priority of its foreign policy and that it would continue to support the indesputable right of the Albanian people in Kosovo to self-determination within European frameworks. In his speech delivered at the Third Party Congress on October 9, Fatos Nano, President of the Socialist Party, stated the need for the self-determination of democratic Kosovo, while on the other hand, Sali Berisha, in his speech of September 30, made at his Party's Sixth Congress, called the protectorate a step towards independence.
Analysing the stands and course of action of Albanian political parties regarding Kosovo after the arrival of NATO troops to Kosovo, it can be concluded that they are being increasingly adjusted to the policy of USA, NATO and EU regarding Kosovo. It is clear that it is very hard for the local political parties to change their position. Understandably, they cannot be expected to accept the placing of Kosovo under the Serbian sovereignty. It would be hard to find a party in Tirana that would dare do something like that. But, the placing of Kosovo under the international control, primarily of NATO, and Clinton's statement that days of Milosevic's control of Kosovo are over, raised hopes of local political parties that some future adjustment of western strategies with the Albanian wishes regarding Kosovo is possible.
That explains why the political parties in Tirana were not in favour of Albania's application for membership in the Stability Pact or, at least, a status within that Pact similar to the one granted to Montenegro or its attendance at meetings organised within the Pact, such as the one in Bari on October 9. These parties also did not react to the problem of Eastern Kosovo, i.e. the region around Medvedja, Bujanovac and Presevo in the South of Serbia mostly populated by Albanians who were exposed to strong Serbian pressures to abandon their homes when the NATO troops entered Kosovo.
Interestingly enough, after the establishment of international control over Kosovo the relations between the political parties in Tirana and those in Pristina did not intensify. It could be even said that in some respects they are weaker than they were before the war in Kosovo.
In its resolution on Kosovo of May 12, 1999, the Albanian Parliament stated its recognition and support of Hashim Thaci's temporary government, created on the basis of the Agreement between the Kosovo leaders, participants in the Rambouillet International Conference on Kosovo held this February. Five months after NATO troops entered Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, the DSK President and the main leader of the Kosovo Albanians until the KLA appeared on the scene, has not yet been to Tirana. Likewise, neither have President Rexhep Meidani nor Fatos Nano, President of the Socialist Party, nor Sali Berisha, President of the Democratic Party, paid a visit to Pristina. In July, the then Prime Minister Pandeli Majko came to Pristina and Foreign Minister Pascal Milo visited Kosovo in September.
Same as during the Kosovo crisis, when the Socialist Party became close to Hashim Thaci's KLA, and the Democratic Party to Ibrahim Rugova's DSK, political parties are continuing to regroup along the Tirana - Pristina lines. In his speech delivered at the Socialist Party Congress, its President Fatos Nano did not once mention Ibrahim Rugova, while Pjetar Arbnori, the Democratic Party's PR Secretary, who returned from a visit to Kosovo on November 22, stated that he had refused to meet Hashim Thaci in the capacity of the Prime Minister of the Kosovo Temporary Government.
Rather special relations, which some political forces in Tirana maintain with individual political groups in Pristina, are even less understandable if different views of various sides regarding the future status of Kosovo are taken into account. This has nothing to do with their patriotic engagement, but rather with endeavours to secure allies in respective major towns for future electoral race. Elections in Kosovo are scheduled for next year, and the mandate of the present Albanian Government is expiring in 2001.
However, irrespective of this regrouping, the fact remains that the relations and cooperation between the political forces of two capitals are stagnating. Ibrahim Rugova has forgotten to send a cable with congratulations to the Albanian Prime Minister, Ilir Meta, on his election although he received such a cable from USA President Bill Clinton already on the day the Albanian Parliament voted confidence to his Government.
Because of this newly demonstrated inclination of major political forces and politicians towards lowering the level of nationalism, the fear of some sort of Greater Albania, which is spreading through the region because of Tirana's political ambitions, rings hollow. None of the local politicians here speak of Greater Albania, nor do the Socialist Party, which is in power, or the opposition Democratic Party mention the uniting of Albania and Kosovo. Sali Berisha, President of the Democratic Party at the Sixth Congress of his Party later explained his idea about the Federation of Free Albanians in the Balkans which caused concern, claiming that it had nothing to do with Greater Albania or any change of borders.
It seems that the politicians on bith sides of the border understand that the card of nationalism can no longer help them as it once helped them consolidate political power, the more so as it is clear that the international factor will have the main say on the strategic development of Kosovo and its future status. For the political parties in Tirana, the effects of President Clinton's visit to Kosovo is a final "goodbye" to nationalisam.
AIM Tirana
Shaban MURATI
</body>