Kosovo Knot 2014

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PETAR

V



KOSOVOruOT

by

Petar

V

Gruj

iC

Hn$nilousturks

PITTSBURGH,

PENNSYLVANIA

1

5222



The contens of this work including, but

not

limited

to,

the accuracy

of events,

people,

and

places

depicted; opinions

expressed;

permission

to use

previously

published

materials included; and

any advice

given

or actions advocated

are

solely the responsibility

of

the author,

who assurnes all liability for said work

and indemnif,res the

publisher

against any claims

stemming

from

publication

of the work.

AII

Rights

Reserved

Copyright

@

2014 by

Petar

V

Grujii

No

part

of this book may

be reproduced or

transrnittd

downloaded,

distributed

reverse engineered,

or stored

in or introduced

into any information

storage

and

retrieval

system,

in

any form or by

*y

means,

including

photocopying

and

recording, whether

electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter

inr.ented

without

permission

in writing from the

publisher.

RoseDog Books

701

Smithfield Street

Pittsburgh, PAl5222

\-isit

our website at

wwro.rosed.ogboohstore.conr.

ISBN

: 978-

r 4809

-9845 -2

eISBN:

978-l-4809

-9866-7







PREEACE

.::e

d

rvriti.g

the

book

some

years

ago,

when

the Kosovo

cnsrs

was not

yet

:L-.

but

one

had all

reasons

to expect it to become in

a

foreseeable furure.

-

.

c\pectation

turned out

true and

the writing

soon took the form of a race

.:',

een

the

accelerating

series

of

events

and the record

about them. I

was

not

-

::lat

my

concept

of

the approach

would

withstand

the current

going

oo,

:

i

can

now look

with

comfort

back

to

the

recent

history

in

this

respect,

.":h

made the Kosovo

issue one

of

the

central concerns

in

the last two

-,id.es, not only on Balkan

and Europe,

but even

of

the

global

extent. Being

:-rlrralist,

physicist,

my

approach

was

intended

to

reach

the

essence

of the

-:e

.

rvhich

has escaped

politicians

to my knowledge. Whether

this

may

be

.

l:idered

a

handicap

or an

advantage

it is

the readers

to

judge.

To

paraphrase

:,rlitician

-

politics

is

too serious affair to

be

left

to

politicians.

In

fact,

the

-'

, )st

appropriate

professional

status

for

an author on l(osovo

affair

would

be

::

inthropologist,

even a

biologist, like fuchard

Dawkins. (A

possible

title

of

-,c

book

might have

been

"Selfish

gene

-

case study

of Kosovo issue").

Besides the attempt to

infer

the crux

of

the

mater

at a

deeper

level, I have

-.ed

to

put

the entire affair

in

a

much

broader

context.

I

do

not consider that

-:rr-thing

in Europe

may be locahzed and

isolated

from

the

entire world

situ-

*:ion

and

global

politics.

The Kosovo issue

appears a

paradigmatic

case)

with

.

r

pn2t

y

implications,

that any attempt to fathom

the essential fearures of

the

-lispute

over

the region without

putting

it in a broader

context

would

be

loomed

to

failure.

The book

appears

neither historical, nor political, nor ideological, nor

an-

::-rropological)

nor

religious) nor.., but each

of

all

these aspects. It

is certainly

.lot

an

academic work,

since the latter imposes

an analytical approach,

which

I

le

ave

to scholars.

As

a naruralist I experience the

world

in

a

synthetic

way,

ii'hich

leaves

no room

to formal

pedantry

and elegance.



I

am

indebted

to

a number

of

people

who

have

helped

the

book

to

be

written,

though

some

of

them

not

only

were

not

in

favour

of my

interpreta-

tions,

but

evei

took

the

opposite

view.

I owe

much

to Dejan

Kosanovii

for

his

srrppiying

me

with

relevfrt

[terature

and

valuable

discussions.

I have

made

.*iJrrriuJ*.

of

the

original

work

of

vladislav

Sotirovii, who kindly

provided

me

with

other

import"i-rt

ro*..r.

My

gratinrde

goes

to Simone

Lefebre,

who

kindty

provided

me with

many

usefirl

iefeences

and

Aleksandar

Loma

for

his

url.r"tl.

book

on

Serb

archaic

language

and

Kosovo

myth"

My

principal

sources

have

been,

however,

public

-edi",

both

Serbian

and

from

abroad.

They

nrrn

out

to

be

a

part

of the

affair

and

thus

equally

object

of study,

and

not

just

a source

of

information.

iast,

but

not

the

least,

my

deepest

gratitude

goes

to my

wife

Ljiljana

for

her invaluable help,

encouragements,

pitience

and

love,

without

which

this

book have

never

been

written.



PROLOGUE

"

i

I

Kosovo

and

Metohia

became

a

part

of

Serbia

again,

after

Ottoman

:j

',\-as

pushed

from the

Balkan

by the allied

Serbian, Greek, Bulgarian

',1

)ntenegrin

forces

(First Balkan

war). In

fgf

B

Vojvodina,

which

was

a

-:

i

t;le

Austro-Flungarian

Empire,

joined

Serbia, which in her rlrrn

joined

'

'

'.''

the

new state

of

South

Slavs.

Kosovo and Metohia

(I(M) brought

''--

i

lcr)

|

.

"rze

able

Nbanian

population

(Shqiptars

in

the

followi.g),

whereas

in

dina

lived

an approximately

equal

number

of ethnic F{ungarians.

But

.:I'rr.S

the

latter

never caused

serious

troubles

in the new

state,

Shqiptars

.

-

'::te

from

the

start disturbing

element

within

Serbia

and

Yugoslavia.

For

.-,\t

two

decades,

since

disintegration

of

Yugoslavia, I(iM

has

become

a

:

'lot

on

the

globe.

What

makes

the region

of the

size of

Corsica and

pop-

-

:-,

rn

of

somethirg

over

million

so

special that

it forced

first

Serbia, and

then

"

:

:he

globe, to engage

in extinguishing

the fire

which threatens

to

endanger

'

,,

-'ntire

world

orderl

Kosovo region, the south-western

part

of

Serbia,

has

been considered

a

.-.:prrted

land"

for the

last

two

cenfi.rries.

The

traditional

western

image

of the

'-:c

has

been

that

two competing

populations,

Serb

and ethnic-

Albanian

:-:s

are

fighting

for the

dominance

over

the region.

The actual

argumenrarion

'

:

the

present day

deadlock is that

two sides

are

claiming

their righrs

ac-

.

:.1ing

two

distinct sources:

Serbs referring

to

their "historical

rights",

erhnic

-.-

ranians

relyirg

on their

actual

numerical

preponderance.

\\'e

show

that the

whole

issue

is

set up

upside

down and that

a

number

-::sconceptions,

which has been

developed

and

maintained

up

to

the

presenr,

:e

to

be

rectified

before

a

serious

discourse

on the

matter

can

be carried

out.

','','e

expose

historiCd,

political,

demographic,

ethical,

and religious

background

i

the

issue

and argue

that

the latter

is

predominantly

of

the

anthropological

".lrLlre,

rather

than of

political

one.

We

examine

a number

of

possible

solu-

:rons

of the "dispute",

from an

ideal

to

the

realistic

one)

putting

the

whole

.)sue

in

the

broader historical

and

acrual

worldwide

political perspective.



INTRODUCTION

one

picture

srys

ruLyre

than

thousnmds

word.s.

-

-

l-'tulAlN.

Des

refugidr

k.rovars

ac,cueiilis

i

Lyon

par

tra

croix-Rauge,

re

1g

arrrir.

'/lLlTAlRE'

Materiel

franlais

dans

f'attente

dlun

d6part

vers

la

yougcslavie"

French

magazine

published

a

couple

of

photos

from

the

Lion

airporr

on

-':ril

lB,

1999,

at

the

time

when

NATO

bombers

were

pourirg

their

lethal

-

i--rCen

over

Serbia

(and

artlv

((^-o

Fisure

I.

Ethnic

Albanian

refugees

at

the

Lion

airport,

April

IB

,lggg.



venting

humanitarian

catastrophe"

at

Kosovo'

One

picture

showed.the

French

.r;-"p""t

ready

to

be

transported

-to

Kosovo,

the

other

presented

an

ethnic-

eruli".a-ly

f.om

Koso.rt,

as

refugees

just

arrived

to

France.

The photo

de-

,.ru",

*.ll

oui

attention,

for

it

'ptiLt

viry

much

indeed;

it

exposes

vividly

;;

;.rl

crux

of

the

matter.

Let

us

analyzg.this

picnrre'

presenting the

unfor-

*r,"

ia-ily

of

Kosovars

(as

the

ethnic

Albanians

call

themselves).

----

rirra

of

all,

it

is

a

single

family,

consisting

of

three

generations.

on

the

left

we

see

grand.mothe.

t*Itft

,.*f;,'o'

the

rifht

father

and

mother

of

the

chil-

;;;

dt-g

around.

Evidently,'it

is.the

pJasant

family'

Tou.gh

the

children

"pp.ri.

*.fidressed

1p-UuUtyty

a

humanitarian

agency)'

the

adults

reveal

if,Ji.

-od.rt

wellbeing'

W.

.,otitl

first

three

daughters,'

*e

ltaellJlomewhat

[iaa..,

behind

the

bof

in

the

centre)

and

two

twin

girls

l:i:.t"

her'

Then

we

,..i*"

a""ghters

in

the

front

and

rwo

boys

beside

as

well.

The

cenual

figure

;;;;

,h."y;,-g

girl,

of

about

B,

* 9

'['o-t

the

V

sign

in

a Churchill-like

;Uil.

What

is

tlJttying

to

tell

usl

flgjamitytt

n"t*,1111*victorious

po-

3ition,,.

Who

is going

io

d"efeat

whom?

Who

initructed

her

to

pose

before

the

carneras

in

that

mannerf

These

are

the questions

which

come

to

mind

when

looking

at

this

scene

at

the

Lion

airport'

We

shall

come

back

to

this

photo

-r"j.lit

.t

later

on,

but

here

*t

t"td

just

to

bear

it in

mind'



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Kosovo Knot 2014