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THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIANS IN KOSOVO

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RESURFACED OLD FALSEHOODS ABOUT KOSOVO CHRISTIANS DEBUNKED/ In reference to the recent claims made by Arnaud Gouillon, the newly appointed Minister of the Serbian government, sounds every bit as false and outdated as any member of Serbian cabinet before him. On January 15, 2021, the new Minister just recycled the same lies about the Christian Serb communities in Kosovo to the National Catholic Register. Indeed the only new and true item about Mr. Gouillon’s interview is its date. Dielli has decided not to give space to the false claims of Mr. Guillon. And in response to the lies published by the National Catholic Register in The silent persecution of Christians in Kosovo”, we bring The Truth about Christians in Kosovo by Albert Bikaj, published in Catholic Arena website. 

A Political Scientist and MA student at the University of Zagreb, Albert Bikaj addressed each of Gouillon’s claims and debunked the falsehoods fueled by the Serb propaganda. Here is a summary: 

There’s a Catholic and Protestant Albanian community in Kosovo. The Medieval Albanian national hero Scanderbeg, (Gjergj Kastrioti) who was a Catholic. St. Mother Teresa, who was Albanian and raised in Kosovo. The Catholic Cathedral of Prishtina, which is the largest of the region, is dedicated to her.

Kosovo was always inhabited by Albanians long before Slavs, predecessors of the Serbs arrived there. Albanians are The ancestors of Albanians who were already evangelized and baptized by St. Paul himself, read Rom. 15:18–19. And a Church Father, St. Jeremy (Hieronymus) was of Illyrian heritage, just like the two Roman emperors Constantine the Great and Justinian the Great.

After World War II, in Tito’s Yugoslavia, who stopped the Serbian colonization of Kosovo. the Albanian community, just as the Albanian Catholic priests were often persecuted, two of them were killed by the Serbian nationalists.

After Tito’s death, Serbian nationalism rose. Kosovo lost autonomy, the Albanian schools and media were closed by Serbia. Rev. Anton Kqira, a Catholic priest/pastor of the Albanian community in Detroit (USA), was among the most vocal advocates of Kosovo’s independence. He, with the help of the Catholic Albanian Congressman Joe DioGuardi, organized protests and even met with the US President Bill Clinton and other US officials in order to seek support for Kosovo.

During the Kosovo war, Albanian Catholics were among the most persecuted, not by Albanian Muslims, but by the Serbian army. One incident, the massacre of Meja was committed by Serbia in the predominantly Catholic Albanian village of Gjakova. Being Catholic meant nothing, because they were Albanians; Kosovo War was an ethnic conflict not religious. It started in the 19th century and then culminated during the Balkans War in the 20th century.

The Serbian government, as the new Minister, has mentioned a few of Orthodox Churches which were desecrated, some even demolished, by a bunch of extremists. The shameful act was condemned, and the vandalists were convicted during the era of President Ibrahim Rugova. It’s worth mentioning that during the War, Kosovo’s pacifist President I. Rugova, known for his pro-Western views, fled to Rome, and was received in a private audience by the Pope St. John Paul II. The Polish Pontiff showed compassion and support for the Kosovo Albanian’s case. One more fact of the baseless religious argument, during the ‘90s, Serbia went to war with Croatia, a predominantly Catholic country. Just like in Kosovo, the Serbian army didn’t spare the Catholic Church, clergy, nor civilians in Croatia. 

The Serbian government, and the new Minister, have mentioned a few of Orthodox Churches which were desecrated, some even demolished, by a bunch of extremists. The shameful act was condemned, and the vandalists were convicted during the era of President Ibrahim Rugova.

The accusation that the Kosovo Albanians are Islamist radicals who persecute Christians, especially Serbian Orthodox, is baseless and untrue. During the war, hundreds of mosques were demolished by the Serbian Army, as well a dozen of the Catholic Churches.

There is testimony of the Kosovo Albanian Catholic clergy (Bishop Mark Sopi, Rev. Lush Gjergji) before the American Congress. They asked for the USA’s help and support for Kosovo’s independence, and assured them that there’s no religious danger in Kosovo. 

The claims for religious discrimination of Christians are false. The Catholic Albanian community is not discriminated against, it is rather an integral part of the nation and Kosovo.

Serbs, just like the Serbian government, refuse to accept Kosovo’s independence. Likewise, the Serbian Orthodox Church refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence.

The Kosovo Albanians, especially the Catholic Albanian community of Kosovo feel offended by the publication of Mr. Gouillon’s article. The war has caused an unbelievable pain, therefore such claims hurt and offend not only us, but the families of the war victims.

READ THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIANS IN KOSOVO…

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THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTIANS IN KOSOVO

By Albert Bikaj/Political Scientist and MA Student, University of Zagreb/

I’m writing this regarding the article “The silent persecution of Christians in Kosovo” which the National Catholic Register has posted. As an Albanian Catholic, born in Yugoslavia and raised during the horrific war, reading the aforementioned article upset and offended me deeply. As an historian, I can say that it is a baseless nationalist propaganda piece of the Serbian government. Or simply said, Fake News.

Mr. Arnaud Gouillon and his claims

Let me begin with the gentleman who has shared the information with you. Arnaud Gouillon, is a French political activist, often described by the media as member of the French far-right parties and organisations. As well as this, he is a supporter of the Irish Loyalist Protestants, historically known for being anti-Catholic. He married a Serbian woman, and converted to Serbian Orthodox. Recently, he was appointed as a Minister in the Serbian government. Now, he is spreading one-sided stories, propaganda, distorted historical facts, and this by using the holy name of Christ and Church. What the Serbian government and Mr. Gouillon are doing is a shame, and theologically speaking blasphemous. For information on Mr. Arnaud: https://balkaninsight.com/2019/11/19/young-patriots-serbias-role-in-the-european-far-right/

He is known as a “far-right” activist in the French Medias as well: https://t.co/9DTS8Q8Wjt?amp=1

https://blogs.mediapart.fr/edition/trans-europe-extremes/article/240511/arnaud-gouillon-extreme-droite-pur-porc

Mr. Gouillon claims that the war was religious and aimed to eradicate Christianity. But it’s a well-known fact that the war of Kosovo had an ethnic character, not a religious one. I will explain why. 

Besides Greeks, Albanians, as the only indigenous nation of the Balkans, belong to the two main religions, Christianity and Islam. Christianity is very distinctive, with Catholics in the North and Orthodox Christians in the South. Regardless of religious plurality, the Albanian national identity, and even the Albanian nationalism, is secular and promotes Western values. The claim that Kosovo is eradicating Christianity is false. Why? Because there’s a Catholic and Protestant Albanian community in Kosovo. Albanians, regardless of religion celebrate the Medieval Albanian national hero Scanderbeg, (Gjergj Kastrioti) who was a Catholic, and who not only defended Albanian kingdom, but the whole of Christendom from the Ottoman invasion. His statue is located in the square of the capital city of Kosovo. Another celebrated Catholic figure is the Catholic Albanian Bishop, theologian and poet, Pjeter Bogdani, who worked hard for the oppressed Albanian Catholic community during the 17th century. The Public Library of Kosovo bears his name.

And of course, St. Mother Teresa, who was Albanian and raised in Kosovo. The Catholic Cathedral of Prishtina, which is the largest of the region, is dedicated to her.

Is Kosovo the “cradle of Serbia”?

Another claim of his is that “Kosovo is the cradle of Serbia”, is simply a Serbian nationalists myth, refuted by the contemporary historians. Slavs, which are the ancestors of Serbs, have settled in the Balkans during the 7th century, meanwhile Albanians, as descends of Illyrians lived in the Balkans. The ancestors of Albanians were already evangelized and baptized by St. Paul himself, read Rom. 15:18–19. And a Church Father, St. Jeremy (Hieronymus) was of Illyrian heritage, just like the two Roman emperors Constantine the Great and Justinian the Great. Professor of Cambridge, at the Trinity College, Sir Noel Malcolm has debunked the Serbian nationalist myths of Kosovo in his book: “Kosovo: A short history” (Harper Perennial, 1999). 

As I said, Kosovo was always inhabited by Albanians, after the 7th century Slavs migrated to Balkans but not yet to Kosovo. After the Schism, most of Albanians remained loyal to the Pope, meanwhile the Slavs practiced the Greek, later the Slavic rite, embraced the Eastern Church. It was the 13th and 14th century when Serbia conquered Kosovo. During the mid 14th century, Tsar Dušan “the Mighty, who had conquered and ruled most of the Balkans, banned Catholicism by considering it as a “Latin heresy” and even labeled it as “Arbanaška vera” which in translation means “the Albanian’s religion”. During that time, Catholics were persecuted, many churches were demolished, and even forced to convert to Orthodoxy. Three decades later, the invaders from the East were heading towards Kosovo. Back then it was defended by Albanians and Serbs before being conquered in 1389 by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman rule lasted for 5 centuries, and during that time thousands of Catholics churches were either demolished or converted to mosques; Catholicism in the Ottoman Empire was illegal for many centuries, meanwhile the Orthodox Church enjoyed juridically a privileged and better status – unlike the Catholic community.

During the centuries, a high percentage of Albanians were forced to abandon their religion because the Ottomans imposed high taxation, which was unbearable for them. Therefore, the religious demographics changed, Serbs were not replaced. After many centuries under the Ottoman bondages, Kosovo was liberated from the Ottoman empire by the Albanians nationalist movement, but unfortunately, the Great Powers handed it to Serbia, this against the Albanians will – afterward the Serbian government committed massacres on the Albanian community, which made the majority. The myth of Kosovo as the “cradle of Serbia” was born. As a consequence, there was a plan to organize ethnic cleansing. Albanophobia was being promoted by the highest officials, including the Serbian PM Vladan Djordjević who wrote a book (Arnauti i velike sile) in which he claimed that Albanians were subhumans, uncivilized, Turks, etc. Many times, Albanians were deported. In the late ‘30s, there was a plan to organize an ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

Even the notable Serbian writer, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Ivo Andrić supported and proposed such plans to be implemented. The government helped colonizing and populating Kosovo with Serbs. WW2, was another tragic episode of revenge from the both sides, but in the end, once again Kosovo was handed to Tito’s Yugoslavia, who stopped the Serbian colonization of Kosovo. Nonetheless, many Albanians regardless of religion, were jailed and even killed during his regime. 

The Albanian community, just as the Albanian Catholic priests were often persecuted, two of them were killed by the Serbian nationalists. Among the killed priests was Fr. Luigj Palaj, who was beatified recently by Pope Francis. In the ‘30s, three Albanian Catholic priests protested against the regime, and send a documented letter as evidence to the League of Nations. In the ‘50s, the only Catholic Albanian Church of Prishtina was demolished by the Yugoslav Communists.

The war of Kosovo

Now, I’ll focus on the ‘90s War. After Tito’s death, Serbian nationalism rose. Kosovo lost autonomy, the Albanian schools and media were closed by Serbia. Albanian Intellectuals who protested were abducted and killed. The protests began, and later when Kosovo Albanians became surrounded by the Serbian Police and Army, decided to organize a Liberation Army, called Kosovan Liberation Army. Formed and lead by Albanians of all religions, including Catholics who had high ranking positions. (For example: Commander Anton Çuni, Kolë Mirdita, etc.)

The Albanian Christian Democratic Party of Kosovo, founded during the ‘90s, has continuously supported the KLA, President Rugova, and Kosovo’s independence. Rev. Anton Kqira, a Catholic priest/pastor of the Albanian community in Detroit (USA), was among the most vocal advocate of Kosovo’s independence. He, with the help of the Catholic Albanian Congressman Joe DioGuardi, organized protests and even met with the US President Bill Clinton and other US officials in order to seek support for Kosovo.

Albanian Catholics were among the most persecuted during the Kosovo’s war, not by Albanian Muslims, but by the Serbian army. The Serbian-French Minister mentions the Serbian victims, I will mention one incident involving Albanians amongst many, the massacre of Meja. This was committed by Serbia in the predominantly Catholic Albanian village of Gjakova. Being Catholic meant nothing, because they were Albanians; the war itself was an ethnic conflict and the conflict between the two nations was not new carrying with it the resentments and prejudices of past generations. It started from the 19th century and then culminated during the Balkans War in the 20th century.

During the Kosovo’s war, around 800.000 Kosovo Albanians were forced by the Serbian Army to flee. More than 10.000 Albanian civilians were murdered by the Serbian army. Circa 20,000 Albanian women were raped. Corpses of many victims are still missing.

The aforementioned ethnic cleansing and the massacres are still denied by the former and current Serbian government. The attempts to make this a religious conflict is baseless, unacceptable and deeply offensive for every Albanian, especially for the Catholic Albanian community which has suffered for centuries. It’s worth mentioning that during the War, Kosovo’s pacifist President I. Rugova, known for being pro-Western, fled to Rome, and was received in a private audience by the Pope St. John Paul II. The Polish Pontiff showed compassion and support for the Kosovo Albanian’s case.

The Serbian government, just like the aforementioned Minister have mentioned a few of Orthodox Churches which were desecrated, some even demolished, by a bunch of extremists. The shameful act was condemned, and the vandalists were convicted during the era of President Ibrahim Rugova.

The accusation that the Kosovo Albanians are Islamist radicals who persecute Christians, especially Serbian Orthodox, is baseless and untrue. During the war, hundreds of mosques were demolished by the Serbian Army, as well a dozen of the Catholic Churches.

It’s worth mentioning that Serbia, during the ‘90s, had a war with Croatia, a predominantly Catholic country. Just like in Kosovo, the Serbian army didn’t spare the Catholic Church, clergy, nor civilians. The war and collapse in the former Yugoslavia, was ethnic rather than religious. This is an undisputed fact for the locals, as well for the historians of Balkans.

There is testimony of the Kosovo Albanian Catholic clergy (Bishop Mark Sopi, Rev. Lush Gjergji) before the American Congress. They asked for the USA’s help and support for Kosovo’s independence, and assured them that there’s no religious danger in Kosovo.

Therefore, the claims for religious discrimination of Christians are false. The Catholic Albanian community is not discriminated, rather is integral part of the nation and Kosovo.

The Serbian minority enjoys all the human rights, and have 10 guaranteed seats in the Parliament, as well as being part of the Government. The Serbian language is recognized as an official one and it is used by the government alongside the Albanian language. Regardless, the majority of the Kosovo Serbs, just like the Serbian government, refuses to accept Kosovo’s independence. Likewise, the Serbian Orthodox Church refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence. And unfortunately, certain groups within the Serbian community in Kosovo often celebrate the war-criminals and far-right politics, calling for ethnic cleansing, and “getting Kosovo back.” Refusing to recognize Kosovo’s independence, the vast majority of Serbs have decided to live separately, in Mitrovica.

The war was a painful experience for the both communities, both had victims, even though, the highest number of victims was Albanian. Because, Albanians were the government’s target; it was an attempt for ethnic cleansing. Anyways, I mourn for every innocent victim, regardless their ethnicity and religion.

Reading such an article from a well known Catholic website was offensive and shocking, but I believe that the EWTN journalist was unaware of the situation and reality of Kosovo. The Kosovo Albanians, especially the Catholic Albanian community of Kosovo feel offended by the publication of this article. The war has caused an unbelievable pain, therefore such claims hurt and offend not only us, but the families of the war victims.

I’m addressing to this in bona fide, as an Albanian Catholic, who prays for peace, justice and reconciliation. And above all, as someone who desires to say the truth.

Albert Bikaj

Political Scientist and MA Student, University of Zagreb

The truth about Kosovo

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By Isuf B.Bajrami/
The attention of world diplomacy is focusing on Kosovo ever more. We have now in the hands of UN Security Council a proposal addressed by former Finish President Martti Ahtisari which is attached to the document that sets the framework for a possible future status of Kosovo, has summarized the guarantees for the position of minorities, and in particular the Serbian minority has described the modalities for the relatively emphasized international presence in Kosovo, with executive authority as well as authority to interpret its mandate, even after the decision for the new status, which limits Kosovo’s eventual sovereignty.
Now it is on the members of the Security Council to reach a decision on Kosovo’s future. We are aware that Serbia has undertaken a diplomatic offensive to influence the members of the Security Council of UN in order to unable the adoption of a new resolution, with the justification that Ahtisari’s proposal recommends “annexation of Serbia’s territory” and “removal of Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo” and that all of this, according to Belgrade officials, “is in contradiction with international law”. This is the reason why, in an effort to inform your readers and the members of the Security Council, I will highlight in broad lines a number of historic, political and legal arguments and facts that convincingly speak that Kosovo was occupied by Serbia in an unlawful manner, which is why Albanians, as a majority population in Kosovo, should enjoy the right to self-determination, whether that is as a majority population in an individualized territory or as their national right. By proving this truth, this article aims to, at the same time, prove that Serbia’s projects for the creation of two entities in Kosovo or its partition are unacceptable. Firstly, given that Kosovo was annexed by Serbia in an unlawful manner Kosovo’s independence will in no way be in contradiction with international law. On the contrary, Kosovo independence even before being qualified as a “classic case of secession from a sovereign state”, as Serbs argue, should be considered as “annulment of an unlawful annexation.
In fact it was Serbia that acted in contradiction with international law in 1912 when it annexed Kosovo through military occupation after its aggression against the Ottoman Empire, “even though Kosovo had its historic and ethnic identity, accompanied by its right to liberation, whether that was from the Ottoman occupation (1912) or Fascist occupation (1944), and in spite of its geographical demographic and cultural integrity”. Consequently, instead of admitting its unlawful act, which she committed while violating international law in a bold manner, Serbia is now using an argument which is scientifically and historically unsustainable, namely to “preserve its sovereignty over Kosovo”, which, as proved by facts, she held in an unlawful manner for a long period of time without ever asking the majority population of Kosovo or having their consent. Kosovo was occupied during Balkan wars (1912-1913)” in contradiction with the aspiration of the Albanians, expressed during their national liberation movement 1878-1912″. In this manner Serbia, in spite of getting the “international legitimacy” for the occupation of Kosovo, in no way was able to justify the legitimacy of its act.
In addition to this, Serbian possessive attitudes towards Kosovo which refer to history are unfounded. Firstly “they are unfounded in its methodological qualification of the national character of a territory because if history is to be taken as a criteria, in light of contemporary national-territorial realities, Hungary has the right to the Panonic part of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary would argue about their rights over Belgrade, Greece would claim a right over Istanbul, Albania over Janina, Mexico over Florida and California, Sweden over Finland and Norway, Germany over Shlezi and Sudet regions, Denmark over Shlezivik, Iraq over Kuwait etc”. Secondly, Serbia’s possessive attitudes towards Kosovo are unfounded in the aspect of material truth, since Kosovo, in spite of allegations of such nature “in neither a cradle of Serbian nation, nor of Serbian state”. Finally, imperialistic ambitions with “historic rights” could not be defended by England, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, which, as it is known “with centuries held many nations under their occupation. Therefore “with the destruction of colonial empires over 120 new states were created”.
Serbia was “under the occupation of Ottoman Empire for over five centuries (1389-1878)”. Spain “had conquered all Latin America in the beginning of XVI century”. Neither do “Russians ever mention their historic rights over Ukraine”. Historic arguments speak very clearly that “Serbs were placed in Kosovo with their expansion under the rule of Nemanjics’”. As a result of occupations during the Ottoman Empire, many ethnic minorities, such as Serbs, Turks and Roma, were placed in the ethnic Albanian territories. The Serbian minority was greatly expanded with “the violent colonization that occurred between two world wars; nevertheless their percentage never exceeded 10% of the overall population”. On the basis of these facts the conclusion is very clear: it was in deed the Serbian aggression, occupation and annexation of Kosovo that violated the international law and not otherwise, namely that Kosovo independence “would violate international law”.
History “is a witness of denationalization policies; of gross crimes against Albanians during 1912-1918; for genocidal Serbian plans for the extermination of Albanians; for the deportation of Albanians in Turkey and for confiscation the lands of the population and its colonization with Serbs and Montenegrins”. The time period between February 1998 and June 10, 1999 only exceeded “these special cases and took the gravity of a general genocide of the Serbian regime against Albanians”. Secondly, the decision for Kosovo’s future cannot ignore the constitutional position of Kosovo in former Yugoslavia although Kosovo did not enjoy the status of a republic. However, most importantly, Kosovo was a constitute part of former Yugoslavia with a defined territory and borders, which could not be changed without its consent.
Kosovo was directly represented in the former Yugoslav federation same as the other republics, not through Serbia because we would create a paradox as in that case Serbia “would have three votes in the Federation, while the other units would have only one vote”. With its political-territorial identities, its constitution, Kosovo was a federally constitute unit of the multinational federation of Yugoslavia. That Kosovo was not part of Serbia can be proven by the following historical and political facts:” Kosovo was not part of the independent sovereign state of Serbia with its international personality recognized in the Berlin Congress (1878); Kosovo was not part of Serbia in the Second AVNOJ Congress (1943); Kosovo was not part of Serbia during its establishment as a federal unit in the Anti-Fascist Popular Liberation Council (1944); Kosovo was not part of Serbia in the structure of Constitutional Assembly of Yugoslavia when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was founded (1945). Kosovo was not included in the sovereign Serbia, except in federal Serbia within federal Yugoslavia, during the military occupation of Kosovo (1945)”.
Finally it is worth mentioning that the abolishment of Kosovo’s autonomy with the amendments in the Constitution of Serbia, an act, which occurred on March 28 1989, was done in an unlawful manner. Even if we didn’t have the essential deficiencies regarding the declaration in the Kosovo Assembly, deficiencies that are proven, “lack of free will”, as a result of extraordinary political pressures, “makes the declaration for constitutional amendments unconstitutional”. Thirdly, the future of Kosovo cannot be compared with secessions in some other parts of the world. The states that remain reserved towards Kosovo independence should be mindful of this fact. They should instead look and find the “common ground” between Kosovo and certain other countries of the world, which have agreed to the removal of sovereignty over other territories. In this regard, the relations between Kosovo and Serbia are comparable with the relations of Indonesia and East Timor.
As it is well known, East Timor was occupied and annexed by Indonesia in 1975, “contrary to the will of Portugal as the external sovereign”, a fact which makes the annexation of Indonesia unlawful. In 1988 Indonesian government recognized the right to self-determination to the East Timor people. Singapore is another example that should be taken under consideration. This country was partitioned from Malaysia in 1965. The example of Eritrea is also meaningful for Kosovo. It was the Ethiopian government that recognized the right to self-determination to Eritrea in 1991. The case of Kosovo is also similar to the case of Namibia. Partition of Namibia from South Africa and its independence occurred in 1991. Therefore Kosovo’s independence should not be compared with secession of territories that were “not annexed in a unilateral manner (against the will of the people of the original sovereigns), which joined existing states but that they are operating in territories that were part of these states at the time when they were established”.
In this way even the separatist movements in Transdnjestrovle (Moldavia), in Southern Osetia and Abkhazia (Georgia) that do not have the ethnic basis that Kosovo has and which didn’t have an autonomous or federal status at the time of dissolution of former Soviet Union as Kosovo had at the time of dissolution of former Yugoslavia. Finally, Kosovo Albanians are not comparable with Catalonians, Scots, Wellsians, Basks or Corsicans… because they did not face a massive deportation from the states, which controlled them. Fourthly, the existence of Albania as an Albanian state cannot hinder the independence and sovereignty for Kosovo, because as we can recall from history neither did the status of Romania “hinder the independence of Moldavia nor did the existence of France hindered the establishment of the canton-state of Switzerland”.
Finally, “even if Kosovo was constituted as an Albanian state in the Balkans, this would be a handicap rather than an advantage of Albanian population in the Balkans”. Consequently Kosovo fulfills all the criteria for being an independent and sovereign state. If it is about the size of the territory, 34 states with smaller territory are members of the UN. If it is about the population, 58 states with a smaller number of population are members of the UN. If it is for the acceptance or not of new states in the UN, it should be noted that between 1990 and 2002, UN has accepted 34 new member states. The proverb that “wherever we have facts, words become unnecessary” is not meaningless. On the basis of these arguments and facts emphasized, in broad lines, the new political legal and international status of Kosovo should be the equivalent, without any doubt, with independence and sovereignty with internationally recognized personality in all of its territory, in the manner to ensure the consistent enforcement of law, including the northern part of Kosovo and the so-called municipalities with Serbian majority, which in the proposal of Ambassador Martti Ahtisari have gained significant competencies in the name of an asymmetric territorial and ethnic based decentralization, which in spite of its well intentions threatens the future of Kosovo.
Serbian claims for the creation of two entities or for partitioning of Kosovo are unacceptable for Kosovo. These claims “ignore the fact of expressively different demographic and national quantum and proportions”. In the end we would like to emphasize the fact that Kosovo “is not an ethnically diversifiable territory of an enclave character”. Therefore “the violent surrounding of one part of Kosovo’s territory”, in spite of painful compromises that Kosovo delegation agreed to with decentralization, protective zones around Serbian heritage sites and favorable legislative procedures for minorities would directly contradict the derivative political entity of that territory and would not be in accordance with it. It is about time that Kosovo gets out from the “closed circle” in which it was for so many years.
Kosovo is awaiting a new resolution from the Security Council of UN, which should be characterized from: Firstly, political, legal and international clarity regarding the status of Kosovo, which would prevent ambiguity in regard to it. Secondly, full international personality which would enable Kosovo to seek membership in international mechanisms, including UN. Thirdly, territorial integrity, which would ensure the extension of Kosovo governing institutions and consistent enforcement of the law in its entire territory. Fourthly, functional state of Kosovo, which would prevent its possible invalidation.