Back in the 1980’s when the world focused on the Balkans and armed conflict was everywhere….one of the regions effected was an area known as Kososvo….but to this day how many Americans know what or where Kososvo is located?
Let’s start with a little history/geography……
The central Balkans were part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires before ethnic Serbs migrated to the territories of modern Kosovo in the 7th century. During the medieval period, Kosovo became the center of a Serbian Empire and saw the construction of many important Serb religious sites, including many architecturally significant Serbian Orthodox monasteries. The defeat of Serbian forces at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 led to five centuries of Ottoman rule during which large numbers of Turks and Albanians moved to Kosovo. By the end of the 19th century, Albanians replaced the Serbs as the dominant ethnic group in Kosovo. Serbia reacquired control over Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War of 1912. After World War II, Kosovo became an autonomous province of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (S.F.R.Y.). Despite legislative concessions, Albanian nationalism increased in the 1980s, which led to riots and calls for Kosovo’s independence. The Serbs – many of whom viewed Kosovo as their cultural heartland – instituted a new constitution in 1989 revoking Kosovo’s autonomous status. Kosovo’s Albanian leaders responded in 1991 by organizing a referendum declaring Kosovo independent. Serbia undertook repressive measures against the Kosovar Albanians in the 1990s, provoking an Albanian insurgency.
Beginning in 1998, Serbia conducted a brutal counterinsurgency campaign that resulted in massacres and massive expulsions of ethnic Albanians (some 800,000 ethnic Albanians were forced from their homes in Kosovo). After international attempts to mediate the conflict failed, a three-month NATO military operation against Serbia beginning in March 1999 forced the Serbs to agree to withdraw their military and police forces from Kosovo. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) placed Kosovo under a transitional administration, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), pending a determination of Kosovo’s future status. A UN-led process began in late 2005 to determine Kosovo’s final status. The negotiations ran in stages between 2006 and 2007, but ended without agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. On 17 February 2008, the Kosovo Assembly declared Kosovo independent. Since then, over 100 countries have recognized Kosovo, and it has joined numerous international organizations. In October 2008, Serbia sought an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality under international law of Kosovo’s declaration of independence. The ICJ released the advisory opinion in July 2010 affirming that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not violate general principles of international law, UN Security Council Resolution 1244, or the Constitutive Framework. The opinion was closely tailored to Kosovo’s unique history and circumstances. Serbia continues to reject Kosovo’s independence, but the two countries reached an agreement to normalize their relations in April 2013 through EU-facilitated talks and are currently engaged in the implementation process.
With that out of the way and my readers have a good idea where and what Kosovo is I will move on to why this post……
It appears that violence is once again raising its head in the country…..
Riots erupted in Kosovo on Wednesday in a deepening crisis over relations with former ruler Serbia, with protesters setting fire to garbage containers and government vehicles in the capital Pristina.
A hardcore of several hundred protesters fought running battles with police, who used tear gas and armored vehicles to try to disperse them.
Almost eight years after Kosovo won its independence from Serbia, the European Union is trying to smooth relations between the Balkan neighbors, but many among Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority are opposed to concessions made to Belgrade.
An opposition bloc headed by prominent protest leader-turned politician Albin Kurti has repeatedly disrupted the work of parliament with tear gas and pepper spray, demanding that the government scrap an EU-brokered accord offering minority ethnic Serbs greater local powers and the possibility of some financing from Belgrade.
(Reuters)
Even religious leaders are talking the talk for conflict…..
The head of Serbia’s Orthodox Church Tuesday warned of using “force” if Kosovo were accepted as a member of the UN cultural agency UNESCO and holy sites there were recognised as belonging to the breakaway territory.
The predominantly ethnic Albanian territory unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 — a move Serbia refused to recognise despite more than 100 countries, including the United States and a majority of EU member states recognising Kosovo as an independent state.
“If force is deployed” to deprive Serbia of its cultural and historical heritage, “we will do all we can to defend them by peaceful means or by force,” Patriarch Irinej said on state television.
(yahoo news)
Once again tensions are running high…..the area is becoming a hot bed of conflict once again….the situation in Syria is not helping already strained relationships with countries that surround Kosovo.
Will the World return to the Balkans….yet again?
These international “HOT” spots are becoming too numerous to keep track of by the normal individual…..that is why I am here.
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