Viliem Kurtulaj/
Perhaps you too have heard the expression “The Balkans is a powder keg.” This expression is commonly used whenever there are conflicts in the Balkan Peninsula. In fact, in a quick review, since the creation of the modern Albanian state in 1912, there is no evidence that the Albanian army, or its segments, has deliberately and organized attacked another state with the aim of annexation, occupation, or ethnic cleansing. On the other hand, only in the last three decades, the armies of other Balkan countries have turned the region into a battleground. On 10 April 1994, members of the Greek armed forces attacked an Albanian border unit near the village of Peshkëpi in Dropull, where two Albanian soldiers were killed, and three others were wounded. The Albanian government did not undertake any military response against Greece for this case.
Meanwhile, attacks by the northern neighbours of Albania had become something common in the ’90s. In June-July 1991, the Serbian army attacked Slovenia to prevent its separation from Yugoslavia. This war is known as the 10-Day War, which ended with the Brioni Agreement, prohibiting the Yugoslav federal army from conducting military operations in Slovenia. Consequently, this gave Slovenia the opportunity to become an independent country. This led the Yugoslav army (dominated and leaded by Serbs) to turn towards Croatia and Bosnia.
In March 1991, Yugoslav-Serbian military forces attacked Croatian police units, killing a Croatian policeman, considered the starting act of the Serbo-Croatian war. On 19 May 1991, Croatia held a referendum for complete separation from Yugoslavia, passing with 94% of the votes in favour. On 25 June 1991, the Croatian parliament declared Croatia’s independence, breaking away from Yugoslavia. The same was done by Slovenia. The Yugoslav government responded by claiming that the declarations of independence by Slovenia and Croatia were illegal and contrary to the Yugoslav constitution. In response, it intensified attacks against Croats, resulting in a 4-year war between Serbia and Croatia. The war ended in 1995 with Croatia achieving its goals of independence and preserving its borders.
Another bloody war in the Balkans is the Bosnian War, which began in April 1992 and lasted until December 1995. This war occurred within the framework of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and developed between Serbian and Bosnian forces. The massacres committed by the Serbian army in this war were among the most horrific, culminating in the Srebrenica massacre or, as it is otherwise known, the Srebrenica genocide. This infamous event took place in July 1995, where more than 8,000 Bosnian men were killed by the Serbian army in Srebrenica. The war ended in December 1995 with the signing of the Dayton Agreement.
In 1998, another war erupted in the Balkans, a war in which the victims were different but not the aggressor. Under the leadership of Slobodan Milošević, on 28 February 1998, the Serbian army carried out several attacks against Albanians in the villages of Likoshan and Qirez in the Drenica region, in Kosova. This is considered the starting point of this war. After battles and gruesome massacres by the Serbian army, the war ended in 1999 with the intervention of NATO forces, mainly the United States forces, and the signing of the Kumanova Agreement. Since February 11, 2008, Kosova has been permanently separated from Serbia, declaring independence as a sovereign state. However, for many years afterwards, the Serbian parallel criminal structures in northern Kosova continued to be active. On 24 September 2023, a Serbian terrorist group of over 30 individuals, located in the Banjska Monastery in northern Kosova, attacked the Kosova Police, resulting in one police officer killed and another injured. After several hours of fighting with the Kosova Police, three members of this terrorist group were killed, while others withdrew towards the Serbian border, where they received protection from the Serbian government.
In January 2001, there would be war again in the Balkans. North Macedonia, which had managed to separate peacefully from Yugoslavia, would fail to secure almost any rights for the Albanian community, leading to the outbreak of a war between the Macedonian army and Albanian insurgents there, organized under the name Ushtria Çlirimtare Kombëtare (National Liberation Army). As an example of denied rights, in 2001, only 2% of Macedonian public administration employees were ethnic Albanians, even though the Albanian community in the country constituted about 30% of the total population. The war ended on 13 August 2011, with the signing of the Ohrid Agreement.
In conclusion, of all the wars or conflicts mentioned above, which have occurred in the Balkans over the last three decades, there is no case of an attack by the Albanian army against another country. It seems clear that the Serbian armies have consistently been the initiators of wars, not to mention the First World War, which also started in the Balkans after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914, in Sarajevo by the Serbian student Gavrilo Princip. Occurring in a harsh region, Albania and Albanians have suffered more than they have gained from their relationship with their neighbours. To correctly reformulate the statement “The Balkans is a powder keg,” it would be fairer and more accurate to say “Serbia is a powder keg.”