Ambassador Tonin Gjuraj on Kosova independence

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Përditësimi E enjte, 01 Prill 2010 18:59 E mërkurë, 25 Qershor 2008 22:08

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In the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008, Kosova was approaching the day when it would eventually declare its independence. The hectic diplomacy preceding this moment included also the following polemics by H. E. Tonin Gjuraj, Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to Israel.

One of polemics was touched off by this article (click on the title if you want to read the article at Jerusalem Post):

Our World: Islam and the nation-state
By CAROLINE GLICK

While the response of Mr. Gjuraj is below (click on the title if you want to read the article at Jerusalem Post):

Kosovo deserves independence
By TONIN GJURAJ

Israel opposes an imposed solution on Kosovo, but the Israeli government has given its full support to the Contact Group principles - one of them being the non-return of Kosovo to the situation before 1999. Kosovo is not a minority-dominated enclave within some other nation-state, as Glick claims. Serbia's power is not being eroded as there is no longer any Yugoslavia. Kosovo, under the UN's mandate since 1999, has already established its state institutions, independent of Serbia.

FOR READERS to better understand why Glick is mistaken in her analogy, it is necessary to know some basic truths about Kosovo: The area was annexed by Yugoslavia, against Kosovar resistance in 1918. This annexation violated the right of the Kosovars to self-determination and, therefore, violated international law.

Although Kosovo Albanians constitute 92% of the population of Kosovo, the autonomy it enjoyed was unconstitutionally removed by Serbia in 1989. After Tito's death in 1980, the situation deteriorated, reaching its nadir in the 1998 genocide.

It is precisely this genocide which explains the uniqueness of Kosovo case. For more than a century, genocide and mass expulsions of Kosovo Albanians transformed Kosovo into a unique case. Albanians suffered extreme repression under the Milosevic regime. Some 12,000 civilians were killed, and 1.5 million Albanian civilians were displaced as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign of the Serbian Army in 1999. Around 3,000 are still missing.

Serbia has lost all legal and moral claim over Kosovo. When a state so discriminates against a national group under its rule, the right of that group to self-determination includes the right to secession. This idea is internationally recognized. The right of Kosovo to self-determination is not restricted to the right of internal, substantial autonomy inside Serbia. It is a right to secede from Serbia, a right to independence, as envisaged by the Ahtisaari Package. Kosovars cannot be forced to go back under the sovereignty of Serbia.

I deliberately use the term "Kosovo Albanians" because "Kosovo Muslims," as Glick calls them, has an underlying propaganda purpose. Why doesn't she refer to "The Serbia Orthodox"?

LET'S BE clear: There is no Islamist trend in the Albanian cause. It is a fundamental mistake to equate religion with ethnicity.

While referencing Milosevic, Glick writes: "He stood accused of ethnically cleansing Kosovo of its Muslim population, which was perceived as innocent." Thus the genocide against Kosovo Albanians - the most documented event of its kind since WWII - is, for Glick, just a perception. This is beyond belief.

Regarding her claim that "Kosovo Muslims" are financed by Saudis, and their alleged connections to "global jihadists," this is false. No one in the democratic West will swallow this distorted version of the reality in Kosovo.

"Jihadist" and "irredentist" are simply loaded Serbian code-words. Kosovo is strongly supported by Washington, London, Paris and Rome. As Albania's prime minister, Dr. Sali Berisha, has stated: "Kosovo and Kosovars have chosen Brussels."

It is no coincidence that Kosovo was liberated by NATO, a powerful and democratic structure of states with an overwhelming Christian population.

THERE IS social cohesion and religious harmony in Kosovo. Today, the Speaker of the House, Kolë Berisha, is a Catholic. There is also a Christian Democratic Party now in the forefront of the struggle for independence in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians are more European than any other neighboring country in the Balkans. All surveys make clear that an overwhelming majority of the population supports NATO membership and EU integration.

Any discussion on the independent state of Kosovo should concentrate on the democratic nature of that state. Glick is mistaken when she urges the Olmert government to "immediately and loudly restate its opposition to the imposition of Kosovar independence on Serbia." Her logic of opposing the establishment of Muslim-only states should not apply in the case of Kosovo, because Kosovo is not and will not be a Muslim state.

Attempts to differentiate between the Albanians in Albania and the Albanians in Kosovo are wrong. There is, of course, sub-cultural diversity, as with all nations in the world, but Albanians on both sides of the border share the same culture, ethnicity, history, language, tradition, myths and legends.

The best answer, however, to all the speculations about Albania and the Albanians was given by your reporter Greer Fay Cashman in her Post report, "Sheltered from the Nazis in Albania" (November 4), which noted that Albania saved every one of its Jews during the Holocaust. And most of the Albanians who gave shelter to Jews during WWII were Muslims. Within the context of excellent relations existing between Albanians and Jews, there is no cause for inflammatory statements based on our religious heritage alone.

The writer, a sociologist, is the new ambassador of the Republic of Albania to Israel. 

While the second polemics was set off by this article (click on the title if you want to read the article at Jerusalem Post):

The case against Kosovo independence
By MIODRAG ISAKOV 

(Ambassador of Serbia in Israel)

And the reply of Mr. Gjuraj is below (click on the title if you want to read the article at Jerusalem Post):

The Jerusalem Post 
December 17, 2007

Letter to editor

Sir, - My op-ed "Kosovo deserves independence" (November 27) in the Post was in reply to Caroline Glick's column "Islam and the nation-state" (November 13), and not to any column written by my honorable colleague Mr. Miodrag Isakov, ambassador of Serbia in Israel ("The case against Kosovo independence," December 13).
Any ambassador has to advocate his/her official position, but with all due respect to Mr. Isakov, I have to make clear a number of points.
First, the atrocities in Kosovo committed by the Serbian Army in 1999 were the most documented events witnessed and condemned by the international community after World War II. When I speak of atrocities, I mean Milosevic's Serbia, not Tadic's and/or Kostunica's, although the latter has openly expressed his anti-NATO stance. What is even worse, not a single Serbian politician has ever asked for a public apology. Instead, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, in his visit to Kosovo last year, met with the representatives of the Serbian minority and denounced isolated cases of violence.
Second, Kosovo was annexed by "the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians," as my colleague wishes to specify, but it was in 1923 that this annexation was recognized by the commission entrusted by the League of Nations, which determined also the Albanian-Yugoslav border.
Third, attempts to link Kosovo with "the Nazi regime," the so-called "Greater Albania" and the 21st SS Division "Skanderbeg" that allegedly "committed genocide against the Serbian and Jewish population" - as my colleague has said - are speculations, as there is no such a reality of "Greater Albania."
Regarding the genocide Isakov has mentioned, this is false and invented by Carl Savich, James Jatras and Srdja Trifkovic, known for their extreme attitudes against Albanians. Jatras, for example, is known for having excommunicated former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, calling him "a pagan" for marrying a Jewish young lady, Mrs. Kitty Dukakis. Meanwhile, Trifkovic is the spokesman for accused war criminals General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.
Instead, my Serbian colleague may refer to Noel Malcolm's Kosovo: A Short History (NY, 1998), as the most authoritative work on Kosovo in our time.
Concerning the number of Jews saved by Albanians: This is untrue. I suggest he visit Yad Vashem's Righteous Among Nations list.
Finally, there is no need for me to make the Albanian case to the Israelis, as this was already done by the US and the EU, united in their attitudes and actions.
Kosovo will not declare independence unilaterally, but in coordination with the US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany. Other countries will then join, including former Yugoslav countries. Most policy makers are fully convinced that there is no alternative to independence. Europe needs a multiethnic and democratic state of Kosovo, open to cooperation and neighborliness with Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania.

TONIN GJURAJ
Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to Israel

The third one (click on the title if you want to read the article at Jerusalem Post):

Anti-Kosovar spirit

Sir, - Caroline B. Glick's "Kosovo's stark warning" (February 22) did not come as a surprise to me, as she is notorious for her anti-Kosovar spirit and one-sided in her analysis of the Kosovo-Serbia crisis. She considers Kosovo "a precedent," although many democratic and enlightened nations have accepted that it is a sui generis case. She has the right to present her viewpoint, but what is unacceptable is the misuse of facts about Kosovo and her hysteria against Kosovar Albanians and all the Muslims in the world (I myself am a Catholic).

She says it is "hard to see how Kosovo constitutes a viable state." If there is unemployment and "the absence of proper economic and governing structures," this is because of the status quo before independence. It was not in the hands of the Kosovo Liberation Army to "build functioning governing apparatuses" because the country was under a UN protectorate since 1999. That is why there is the need to change the status quo and determining it became a necessity. The international community understood that, and decided to recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence. Its euro-Atlantic integration will answer all of Ms. Glick's "concerns" about the viability of the state of Kosovo.

What she says about the Kosovo Liberation Army is more than untrue, it is vile. Her mention of its "links" to al-Qaida is a far-fetched conspiracy theory that she wants to use as the basis for her argument against Kosovo independence.

Her other theory is that Kosovar Albanians "ethnically cleansed" Kosovo in recent years, and that it is not the Kosovars who are victims of genocide, but the Serbian Christians. This is so anti-humane on her part, considering the thousands of killings of Albanian children and women by Serbian forces in 1999. She provides distorted demographic data, mixing up demography with "ethnic cleansing" in order to "victimize" Serbs.

"Symmetry of crime" does not work in this case, Ms. Glick.

TONIN GJURAJ
Ambassador of Albania

Caroline Glick responds:

Kosovo's current lack of a sustainable independent economy is admitted even by Ambassador Gjuraj. Given the historical experience of mandatory-era Jewish Palestine and Hong Kong, among others, I am skeptical about Mr. Gjuraj's claim that lack of independence prevents economic growth, and see no reason to believe that secession will suddenly make Kosovo economically viable.

These are uncomfortable facts for Kosovo Albanian partisans, to be sure, and it is regrettable that instead of confronting the unpalatable truth, Mr. Gjuraj falsely accuses me of ethnic and religious bias. Calling me names and denying the truth will not change the facts.