Kosovo: 1998 - 2005

Edited by Mila

That wasn't accidental.

It wasn't accidental the Austrian authorities sent him and his wife to Sarajevo on June 28, nor was it accident that was the day the group decided to take them down. In that era, though, it was a day remembered by all people. Princip's journals even showed he was not interested in a greater Serbia but a union of all the South Slavic peoples, like Tito.

Wasn't enough though. Sarajevo took down all glorifying monuments of Princip and replaced them bland "On this place, on this date..." monuments. They renamed Princip's Bridge back to its pre-WWI name, Latin Bridge.

And on the other side, the Serbian terrorist group that calls for the murder of prominant  Serbian political leaders, priests, NGO workers, etc... who support a united Bosnia and Herzegovina is called the Gavrilo Princip Organization. Based in Chicago, America - ironically.

wow, great pictures Mila..really moving. The civil war had an effect on me too, when we had to leave Sarajevo when the war had started; I was 9 months old.

I hope this gets resolved soon.

Yea "soon". Maybe when European politicians can get time out of their hands to care enough, maybe. But considering even issues like Cyprus have not been touched, nothing will be soon. Serb populous still being adament on an autonomous province while us still adament on complete and utter independance, nothing will get resolved soon... It will all be put on haieitus and constantly post-poned.


Pictures of the "Greater Albania" are not all that welcome amongst the vast majority of the Albanian people OSMANLI. They are dreams of children, infact a survey done a while back in Kosovo stated that only 6% of the populous wished to unite with Albania. We want to setup a strong economic union but are against a union of land since we have been separated for a very long time.

Majority of Albanion's and Kosovan Albanion's share the same Islamic faith. As seen in the above image depicting the Prishtina Fatih Mosque in the Kosova province.

Yea yea and what about those who dont? What if they were not? Youd say **** em right? Is that what it is for you? Religion? Well if you want to know, currently the biggest Cathedral in the Balkans is being built in Pristina in honor of Mother Theresa, who is one of the only religious figures to have a statue in her honor. Do you care that much about the Kosovar cause now? Or maybe just a bit less?



Edited by Iskender Bey ALBO

Originally posted by OSMANLI

I don't know how the Kosovo problem should be solved, but I do know that  ultra nationalist greater-country expansionist don't only not solve problems on the Balkan, but even make it worse.

Originally posted by OSMANLI

This claim is an absurdity: while Kosova is basically ethnic Albanian and so can be said of a large stretch or Macedonia, the ammount of Albanians elsewhere is minimal. Montenegro hasn't got but a few border municipalities that are widely ethnical Albanian, Greece has no Albanian minorities (while Albania has a Greek minority in the south) and only one town of Serbia outside Kosova is ethnically Albanian - can't remeber it's name but it is between Kosova and Macedonia.

Said that, Macedonian Albanians don't want to be integrated in Albania: they want to stay as Macedonians with full ethnic rights (the model is Swedish minority in Finland). The main reason is that Albanians in Macedonia hardly can claim a coherent homeland but rather they are spread out through a large part of the territory, specially in the capital, Skopje, which is mstly Macedonian.

Kosovars hemselves don't want to be united with Albania nowadays. Not just they consider Albania sort of backwards and underdeveloped but specially they are aware that such a move would be opposed by most of their neighbours. What they want is an independent republic.

It all depends on timing. Montenegro is eligible to
separate from Serbia and Montenegro this coming
February and all public opinion polls have showed
absolutely enormous support for independence, with
the exception of those conducted by Belgrade-based
media agencies (though most still show more than
55 per cent of Montenegrins support independence).

Residents of Montenegro feel they are chained to a
sinking ship and they realize, quite rightly, that of
Serbia and Montenegro they are best equipped to
see a dramatic increase in economic growth and
standard of living in the coming years. This will be
based largely on tourism and coastal industries,
such as trade. Surpringly, polls show a significant
portion of the Serbian population would be none too
upset to see Montenegro leave. The general feeling
in Serbia is that they are supporting Montenegro,
which - without Serbian patrimony - would be as
poor and backwards as they perceive Kosovo to be.
Couple this with the fact most Montenegrins view
Serbs in Serbia as their dirty, Ottoman-tainted
cousins (Note most of the war's criminals were born
and raised in Montenegro, not Serbia), and next
year's referendum seems certain to result in a
breakdown of Serbia and Montenegro.

If this happens before Kosovo's final status is
decided, those making the decisions will be less
inclined to offer the republic something similar to the
level of autonomy Montenegro received in Serbia and
Montenegro. If they offer Kosovo 'independence', but
still under the banner of being a part of Serbia, the
consequences for Serbs in Kosovo will be severe.
While no one can say with any real certainty how
Kosovo Serbs will be treated in a fully-independent
Kosovo, we can say - for certain - that a
semi-independent Kosovo will be foaming at the
mouth to demonstrate, in every way and in every
situation, that it is Albanian. The education system,
public services, all of these things will be more
Albanian-ized than they already are.

I believe they will offer Kosovo full independence and
I believe it will lead to significant disputes in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Whether these isolated protests,
attacks, gun battles, and so on will develop into an
all-out war - who can say. But something will
happen. If Kosovo is granted full independence, you
can safely assume the Serbian Orthodox Church will
then force all those Serbs it's currently convincing to
stay away from the region to return. Churches will be
air lifted into predominantly Serbian towns by
helicopter, as they have been in Montenegro, and
sermons will be as political in places like Mitrovica
as they are today in much of Serbia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Like my friend Mirjana told - "Mila, at
church I hear "terrorist", "Kosovo", "defend Serbia" at
least once in every sentence. I can't tell you the last
time I heard a priest say Jesus."

It doesn't matter which way it goes, there is going to
be violence. The question is whether it will be carried
out by Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Kosovo, or by Albanians in Kosovo.

I think the international community is leaning
towards something similar to the situation with
Montenegro as it is today - but if Montenegro
separates before this all is concluded, then that
decision won't hold. In fact, I would be surprised if
anything less than independence is accepted in
Kosova. The Serbian army no longer has it's
marauders stationed across the province. They can't
crack down simultaneously on protests across the
country - we saw the effects of that in 2004.

If the Kosovo Albanians are willing to go to war for
their independence, then nothing less than this will
ever stand long enough to be implemented on the
ground.

Because the US helped the Kosovo Albanians so
quickly, they don't have the war fatigue that most
Bosniaks have. Bosniaks, right now - I promise you,
are the last people in the world willing to go to war.
You switch us with any nationality, any - and we
would be the last to rise up in our situation. Kosovo
doesn't have that at all. They're as emboldened by
their success in Kosovo as Serbs were by the
world's lack of desire to intervene in first Slovenia,
then Croatia, and finally Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Originally posted by Maju Originally posted by OSMANLI     Greece has no Albanian minorities (while Albania has a Greek minority in the south) and only one town of Serbia outside Kosova is ethnically Albanian - can't remeber it's name but it is between Kosova and Macedonia.

Maju I didn't expect this from you, one of the members of this forum that is considered to be a very well all-around learned person. Im greatly disappointed.
Greece has no Albanian minorities!!!!
wtf you been smoking man there is at least 10 times as much Albanians in Greece as there is Greeks in Albania. The Greek government refuses to recognize Albanians or any other minorities there but this doesn't mean that there is no minorities like they claim.
And im not talking just about the people who have emigrated there lately but also for Cam Albanians who are ethnic Albanians just like Kosovars but have been integrated in the Hellenic population during the last century.

before you go any further I should say that there is no Turkish minority in Greece, they are muslim greeks 

Can't say much about the rest


Edited by erci

Originally posted by vulkan02 Originally posted by Maju Originally posted by OSMANLI     Greece has no Albanian minorities (while Albania has a Greek minority in the south) and only one town of Serbia outside Kosova is ethnically Albanian - can't remeber it's name but it is between Kosova and Macedonia. Maju I didn't expect this from you, one of the members of this forum that is considered to be a very well all-around learned person. Im greatly disappointed. Greece has no Albanian minorities!!!! wtf you been smoking man there is at least 10 times as much Albanians in Greece as there is Greeks in Albania. The Greek government refuses to recognize Albanians or any other minorities there but this doesn't mean that there is no minorities like they claim. And im not talking just about the people who have emigrated there lately but also for Cam Albanians who are ethnic Albanians just like Kosovars but have been integrated in the Hellenic population during the last century.

Well, I was disinformed but anyhow it does seem that most people of Albanian or Arvanite origin live not in the border with Albania but in Attica! Only about 30,000 live in NW Greece, according to this site: http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/arvanites.html. UNESCO also talks of figures like the reported in the previous site or even smaller, considering Arvanitika Albanian a serioulsy endangered language ( http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#Arvaniti ka).

Regarding reeks in Albania (concentrated in the southern tip) they are, according to CIA factbook, about 3% of the population, what makes about 150,000 of them. That's almost as many as Arvanites/Albanians in Greece in total figures and in proportion much many and all concentrated in the southern region contiguous with Greece, unlike Arvanites.

In any case, claiming half of Epirus and Montenegro as that nationalist poster does is totally capricious.