Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 1998, Page 7

Special Report

As War Clouds Gather Over Kosovo and Serbia, Who Are the Adversaries and Their Allies?

By Grace Halsell

In the fighting that broke out in Kosovo in February, and which soon could involve major powers both in Europe and the Middle East, who are the adversaries?

Ninety percent of the two million inhabitants of Kosovo, the Kosovars, are ethnic Albanians. The Albanians, in turn, are the ancient Illyrians, who founded an immense empire extending from Epirus, in what is now northwestern Greece, to the Danube and the Black Sea. With a rich and unique history, the Albanians once were very numerous. Even as recently as in the 19th century, the Albanians were more numerous than either the Serbs or the Greeks.

Interestingly, none of the current neighbors of the Albanians—including those in the former Yugoslavia, the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians—are descendants of the Illyrians. Bosnians, Serbs and Croats are a Slavic people and speak a Slavic language, while Albanians speak an unrelated Indo-European language.

Archaeologists have demonstrated through excavations of numerous grave sites with artifacts dating from the Illyrian period—that is, going back to 2,000 years B.C.—that the Albanians, together with the Greeks, are the oldest people of the Balkans.

By contrast, the Serbs, who make up only 10 percent of the population of Kosovo but who are the majority in neighboring Serbia and Montenegro, are ethnic Slavs, who did not arrive in the Balkans until the 7th century. Serbs make up about 62 percent of the 11 million inhabitants of Serbia. Albanians, Hungarians and Bulgarians make up most of the remaining 38 percent.

What role does religion play?

The Kosovo Albanians, like the Albanians of Albania and elsewhere, are overwhelmingly Muslim. The Slavs of Serbia are Eastern Orthodox, also called Greek Orthodox, Christians. The Eastern Orthodox church plays a highly political role, supportive of the nationalism of the Serbs. While the war started by the Serbs is not a “religious” war, per se, the conflict is viewed by many observers as religious in the sense that if the primary victims being slaughtered were Christians or Jews, rather than Muslim, the West—long before now—undoubtedly would have stopped the Serbs.

How did this conflict begin?

As long as communist-era strongman Josip Broz Tito ruled Yugoslavia, the six federated people’s republics and two autonomous areas that included Kosovo held together. After Tito’s death, however, a virulent nationalism took over from communism. A former communist Serb leader, Slobodan Milosevic, reinvented himself as a Serb ultra-nationalist and remained undisputed ruler of Serbia and Montenegro, which he called “The Former Federation of Yugoslavia.” Like Hitler and his “pure” Aryans, Milosevic wants to live among “pure” Serbs.

In fact Milosevic’s nationalists began the destruction of Yugoslavia as a multi-ethnic country. With a ruthless “ethnic cleansing” campaign they sought to eradicate other Yugoslavs—now the “enemy” because they were non-Serbs. The Serbs have killed more than 200,000 people, most of them civilians. In their barbaric assaults, they have killed Christians and Jews, but the overwhelming majority of their victims have been Muslims.

The Serbs had the might to take what they coveted since they are inheritors of one of the strongest armies in Europe, an army that belonged to all the people of Yugoslavia. While all the inhabitants of the six republics had paid for the airplanes, tanks, mortars, ammunition and uniforms, this army was Yugoslav in name only because Serbs always dominated it from their capital in Belgrade. After Slovenia, then Croatia, then Bosnia declared independence, the Serbs moved against each of them, but their juggernaut moved most ruthlessly against Bosnian Muslims.

How might Serb nationalism lead to a World War?

The Serbs have powerful allies, foremost their fellow Slavs in Russia, who also are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Additionally, the Serbs are supported by Greece, whose population is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox.

As allies, the Kosovars have the Albanians of Albania who number three million. Another one million Albanians live in Montenegro and Macedonia—with Albanians comprising one-third to one-half of Macedonia’s population. Additionally, there are 200,000 Albanians living in southern Italy. Perhaps most important, the Albanian Muslims of Kosovo would have the support of the world’s Muslim nations, including nearby Turkey as well as Iran and Saudi Arabia, all of which shipped or paid for heavy arms to the Bosnian Muslims when they were attacked by Serbs. In any wide-spread conflagration pitting Albanian Muslims against Serbian Orthodox Christians, Turkey and Greece, arch enemies but also both NATO members, might be among the first outside powers drawn into the fray.

How “Autonomous” was Kosovo?

Tito had forged together six republics. He also made two provinces within Serbia—one of them Kosovo—“autonomous.” As an autonomous province, Kosovo was one of the independent units of the Yugoslav federation, having a vote equal to Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and the others in the confederation. Kosovo Albanians had their own parliament, their own supreme court and judges, and they ran their administrative affairs, including their hospitals and their schools, where classes were taught in Albanian. They had their own Pristina University, one of the largest in the Balkans, where 20,000 Albanian students were enrolled.

After Milosevic began fanning Serbian nationalism, Kosovo Albanians sought to upgrade their status from autonomous province to autonomous republic. In 1981, they held peaceful demonstrations. The Serbs used the demonstrations as an excuse to move in tanks and 100,000 soldiers—and seized military control.

Serbs took over all administrative duties and fired two-thirds of Albanian Kosovars from their jobs. In 1991-1992, they closed Kosovo schools, from the elementary to the university level. This meant 450,000 students were not in classes. They dismissed over 20,000 Albanian teachers and 850 university teachers. In response, Kosovo Albanians began instructing children in private homes.

The Serbs do not permit Kosovars to hold elections or perform any administrative duties. Nevertheless the Kosovo Albanians formed political parties, one of the them the Democratic League of Kosovo, which has stressed patience and nonviolence.