Kosovo Serbs: The Right To A Homeland

 

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/29/63118604.html

Voice of Russia
December 29, 2011

Kosovo Serbs: the right to a Motherland
Alexander Vatutin

The outgoing year was a challenging one for Serbs living in densely populated areas of Kosovo and Metohija as they fought for their ethnic identity and the right to live in the land of their ancestors. The authorities in the Republic of Kosovo with the capital Pristina have been doing whatever they can to establish control over Kosovo and Metohija and continue the policy of "shadow" genocide irrespective of international agreements. The Voice of Russia's Alexander Vatutin reports.

Pristina makes no secret of its intention of gaining complete sovereignty over the whole of Kosovo. Given that the West is turning a blind eye to that, it is using the situation to its maximum advantage and most of the efforts in the direction of this goal were taken this year. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said earlier that the Albanian authorities had no intention of granting Serb enclaves the right to self-determination.

Ethnic conflict expert Pavel Kandel has this to say.

"The Albanians will slowly press Kosovo Serbs out of the province. The birthrate among Albanians is fairly high. Given the current social tensions when half of young Albanians in the province are jobless, the easiest way to deal with the crisis is to put the blame on foreign neighbors."

Pristina attempted to get the administrative border of Kosovo and Serbia under its control. Pristina's authorities backed by the EU-led international police force used force against Kosovo Serbs who refuse to accept Pristina's sovereignty over their territories. The clashes that started this summer reached a culmination point at the end of November when KFOR international forces deployed in the province under the UN mandate readily supported the Albanians.

On February 15th 2012 Kosovo Serbs will take part in a referendum in which they will be asked whether they were willing to recognize Kosovo-Albanian authorities in the north of Kosovo. The positive outcome of the vote could lead to further actions of disobedience and the declaration of independence of Kosovo and Metohija. Belgrade might be unprepared for such a turn.

Driven to despair, Kosovo Serbs turned to Russia for Russian citizenship. Russia has to reject their request because Russian legislation doesn't stipulate this. However, Russian diplomacy has other means of influencing the events.

Balkan expert Pyotr Iskenderov comments.

"Russian diplomats could insist on restructuring the entire peacekeeping presence in the Balkans."

Eager to enter the EU, Belgrade de facto left Kosovo Serbs to their own devices. All throughout the year, Serbia made it a point to convince Brussels that it wouldn't meddle in the conflict between the Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo. However, in accordance with Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council which was adopted in 1999 and is still in effect, Serbia has the right to deploy troops in the Serb-populated areas of Kosovo. Apparently, Belgrade finds the mere thought of this appalling.