Saturday, 14 August 2010
February 17, 2008 is the date associated with the official origin of Kosovo, the newest state in the heart of a troublesome Balkan. That winter day, l happened to be in the neighbor Albania and precisely in the city of Vlora or as Albanians call it the city of the flag, the city from which the independence of Albania was declared long ago. It is not easy to describe the atmosphere in the city; however, in the simplest words Vlora was all wearing red and black. National music was heard everywhere and it looked messy as people were going up and down the city singing, laughing and wishing. This continued until dark when everybody gathered in the center to follow the concert prepared by the citys center of culture for the occasion and to light the fireworks. The temperature was only a few degrees over zero, still nobody seemed to care and as the media would show later it had been almost the same situation all over Albania. Nevertheless, what l mentioned above should cause no surprise since almost 90% of independent Kosovos population is Albanian and the fact, except of legitimating the joy of all Albanians for the independence of Kosovo has been the reason why Kosovos issue is a crucial one among the other factors shaping politics in Albania.
Historical Background of the Kosovo Issue
Kosovos relevance for Albania can be explained by going back to once upon a time through the pages of their history which is full of common points until 29 July of 1913 when the Great Powers decided to satisfy the Serbian ambitions by declaring Kosovo their territory in the London Conference of Ambassadors[1]. Speaking of common points, it is worth to mention common genesis which relates to the ancient Illyrians who had been living in the west part of the peninsula long before the Slavic populations came in around the 7th century[2]. Both regions, as most of the Balkans, have always been under the occupation of some other big empire starting from Romans, Bezants and the last Ottomans. As such they did not have the possibility to form a separate state until the end of the empires approached together with the increasing conscience of nationalism which dates in the end of 19th and beginning of 20th centuries. League of Prizren of 1878 [3] would be the perfect proof of their common history as it was a league in which all the territories populated by Albanians were united under the aim of having a say on their fate as objection to the just made Treaty of San Stefano which transferred their territory from Ottomans to other Balkan states, mostly Serbia.
The aspirations for autonomy continued up to 1912 when Independence was declared in Vlora, meanwhile the Ottoman Empire was struggling for survival and Serbia for expansion. By the time the Conference of Ambassadors in London gathered, people in todays Kosovo and Albanian territory had still the same traditions and what is more important they still spoke the same language which is different from all other Balkan languages, Serbian included, but apparently this wasnt enough of a reason to keep them together and Kosovo was declared a Serbian territory. Ever since, Albania would continue its road as an independent state and Kosovo would be part of a state in which different ethnicities couldnt find the level of understanding needed for a normal coexistence.
Last 100 years
History has been full of events for both Albania and Kosovo during the last 100 years. Judging from now it seems like Albania since the independence has been looking for a perfect regime starting from Republic to Kingdom with Ahmet Zogu, then Peoples Republic with Enver Hoca until today when it is a Parliamentary Republic with an almost functioning Parliament. During all this period the need for development and stability cooperating with the quest of leaders for power has caused Albania to depend on politics of different neighbors, like Italy and sometimes Serbia, which in turn has affected its standing towards the Kosovo issue. A good example of what l mentioned before is immediately after Second World War when Albania became a communist state with close relations with Yugoslavia for the sake of which Kosovo went out of its political agenda. Meanwhile, Kosovo which had the only non Slavic population in Yugoslavia was under constant tension and in the last hundred years there isnt any period when their relations have been stable until the 1974 constitution of Yugoslavia when finally, Kosovo as a constituent province of Serbia, received substantially increased autonomy, including de facto veto power in the Serbian parliament. However, this would not last long, in 1980s the situation started once again to deteriorate and the coming in power of Milosevic together with international conjuncture of the time made Yugoslavia kill herself.
Kosovos Independence Declaration Day marked the end of the harmful dissolution of Yugoslavia and its maybe because of its definition as harmful that it had to be a long-lasting, violent and still not unanimously settled issue. The last step towards independence started after the 1998-1999 conflict between Serbian army and Kosovos Liberation Army (KLA) which came to an end only after NATO mission come in the picture, showing that between carrot and sticks Serbia and Kosovo had definitely chosen the later trying to put the broken van of their relations back on track. To that day onwards Albania has supported every step that was taken on the way to independence. In this context, the future of Kosovo was one of the main topics discussed when the president of US of the time G. W. Bush visited Albania on June 10th 2007, less than a year before Kosovo declared its independence. As The Guardian [4] wrote in the next day: Bush insists Kosovo must be independent and receives hero’s welcome in Albania, those words need no comment to show how Kosovos independence was perceived by Albania and Albanians.
Since independence, February 17, 2008
Albania was among the first states to officially recognize Kosovo after she declared independence and it was still among the first countries to exchange embassies. In his recognition speech the Albanian PM Sali Berisha said: "The Albanian government considers the creation of the state of Kosovo a historic event, which sanctions the right of Kosovo’s citizens to self-determination and which makes the Balkans freer, and more just than they have ever been in their history for centuries."[5] Afterwards the cooperation between the two independent states continued in political, economical and social spheres. In this framework it is worth to mention the inauguration on June 26th 2009 of the highway Durres- Kukes- Morine, or as Albanian call it the road of the nation, which links Kosovo with the Adriatic sea.
Today, when Kosovo is recognized by 69 states and after ICJ judged its independence as legal the relations between Albania and Kosovo are in the best level that the relations between two neighbor states may be and the fact bears great importance not only for them but for the entire Balkans security and best future. Albania is trying to be a stabilizing factor in Balkan and sees Kosovos independence and its recognition as significant in this prospective. A good example of what I mentioned is the latest visit of Albanias Foreign Minister, Ms Ilir Meta in Greece where he met with Dimitris P. Droutsas , the Pasok Secretary for Foreign Policy & International Relations of Greece and among other they discussed the political situation in the region after the ICJ decision for Kosovo. Moreover, in his tour in Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon which ended on 11th of August, Albanias foreign minister asked his homologues to recognize Kosovo as independent country after the new verdict of ICJ. All the above mentioned developments, except of evidently showing the official stance of Albania to the Kosovos independence, do help both of them in their European dream because it is clear that not only them but all the Balkan is planning and working for a European future. Once again the proof comes from Albanias Foreign Minister who in an exclusive interview for EurActiv [6] on May 06, 2010 told- Flexibility and responsibility for the common EU future of the Western Balkans should come first and Serbia and Kosovo should sit at the same table in a forthcoming regional forum, leaving country names and flags behind.
Concluding, it would be valuable to point out that what is seen in the relations between Kosovo and Albania as two independent states, contrary to what is often discussed, has nothing to do with any Albanian question or quest for unification. Instead of looking at the past, both of them seem to be looking at the future which in their plans is without borders, not only between them but between the entire United Europe. Until then all that remains to be done is to continue the work for making Kosovo the first country in the World in which different minorities can live in peace as a good model for the states in which minorities translate into incent for conflict. This is the future which needs effort and good will not just from the part of one, two or 69 states but of every single one of them.
Arjola Balilaj, JTW
1- Hall C. Richard, The Balkan Wars 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War, Routledge, 2000, pg 72- 74
2- Jacques E. Edwin, The Albanians: an ethnic history from prehistoric times to the present, Mcfarland , 1995
3- Jelavich Barbara, History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pg 361- 366
4-(Trayner, I. T. (11 June 2007). Bush insists Kosovo must be independent and receives a hero’s welcome in Albania. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/11/balkans.usa
5- The official web-site of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania, http://www.mfa.gov.al/)
6-Euractiv (06 May 2010). Albanian FM: Serbia and Kosovo should meet without flags. EurActiv.com, http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/albanian-fm-serbia-and-kosovo-should-meet-without-flags-interview-493793
Escalation of Crisis in Iraq, What is Next? 
