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The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by VetonSurroi, a young Kosovar jou rnalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Ko hasoon becam e a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be pub lished daily under thename of Ko ha Ditor. With the kind perm ission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted onhttp://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.

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Koha Digest # 156Date: 29 July 1997

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throw them back to the street". All right then, does anybody hateanyone, and the woman says - "I don't hate anyone. We livedtogether and that's the way we are going to go on living,together." During the conversation, her husband interrupts and

says: "the inter-ethnic problems are caused by Macedonia'spolitics. It increases tensions through different informationservices, tensions that we already had. That worries us, becausethere might be even more problems". The solution according to himwould be "for the Albanians to be given their rights, for theirnational identity to be recognized, as well as their flag, theirright to education and their language."

Whilst walking the streets of Tetov, through the open market fullof people, I bumped into a Macedonian couple. I could hardly makeout what they were saying from all the noise, common for small

towns. I got the feeling that there was a person on top of my head,that talked to me about coexistence, about the many Albanianfriends he has, and about the fact that he can't understandAlbanian politicians who seem to want to catapult the tension. Justwhen I wanted to turn to him and tell him that this was enough, hismonologue he started a long time ago, ended.

The young Macedonian husband looked frightened, - "especially sinceI have a family to support". Since, as he said, it's impossible forus to live separated, then we have to find a way to go on living

together and to solve these problems through talks. His wife, says,"these problems can only be solved with goodness. I'm an optimist.We lived together for years, and that's the way we're going to livein the future."

That is what Tetov looks like. A small town with very friendlypeople that make guests in their houses feel welcome. And as Iturned away from this town, at the crossroad I noticed the

bluehelmets and their "arrogant" manners.

At the end of the day, I don't know why the hell I recalled the

foreign soldiers and their coffee shops, that have been closed forabout a year now. They've been closed ever since the time that thefirst signs of the foot&mouth disease were noticed, a time whenthey started "disinfecting" those that cross the border.

This country, in which "America's good will still survives", onehas to pay 1 DM when going in and out of the country, forenvironmental pollution. I just don't know who's going to clearMacedonian rulers' consciousness after everything that hashappened. The foreign soldiers will again leave their money on

coffee-tables as evidence of their hard work in peacekeeping.And, as you leave, like always, you'll say "nothing new inMacedonia's west".

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INTERVIEW

ALAJDIN DEMIRI, Mayor of Tetov

THIS WAS A SCENARIO THE ALBANIAN FACTOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE

Interviewed by ARBR VLLAHIU / TETOV

KOHA: How do you evaluate the situation in Macedonia after theevents of 9 July?

DEMIRI: The events of this day reveal the whole arsenal andrepetition of the Macedonian stance toward Albanians. I am talkingabout the hostile stance that is being repeated for many years,starting from Ladorishte, Bit Pazar, the weapons' affair, Tetov

and now Gostivar, where Albanians were beaten and killed, and ofcourse, according to my opinion, this must be the last warning forAlbanians to start to clarify things with themselves and toharmonize their demands; what are the next options, what, inreality, Albanians must demand from Macedonia, and what would bethat they would accept. Of course, this process has already begun,and it is a process of homogenization, of harmonization of theAlbanian stands. Still, there are two variants, two options. One isthe "stepology", preferred by PPD, and there is the option ofradical changes, preferred by us, PDSH.

KOHA: In the Albanian political scene in Macedonia, somedifferences among the Albanian political subject still can be seen.PDSH has asked the PPD leave the government coalition. What are theconsequences of this split?

DEMIRI: It is not the PDSH the one that is asking PPD to leave thecoalition. This demand was raised earlier, and it is a reality,

because Albanians are faced with this reality since the approval ofthe constitution. Since then, none of the Albanian requests has

been realized. PPD preferred to remain in coalition, and, of

course, in politics when a political option and a politicalplatform proves to be unproductive, it is completely logical tothrow away this option. This demand comes from the people and theelectorate. The last events proved that in Macedonia they arenothing more than a decoration. The statements of the ministers andof the ministerial staff were that they didnt know what washappening. After all, I say that being unaware is also beingresponsible. This thing shows that there are two sides in theGovernment, and two meetings are being held. The first side is theclandestine one, and the other one is only for decoration. So,

participating as a decoration in a government like this one meansthat you are responsible for what is happening behind the scene. IfPPD does not leave the coalition, it is obvious that the electoratewill perceive PPD as a collaborator in the events of the last days.

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Our aim is not to identify them with the crime, but make themaware, make them step aside and let the murderer be identified withthe crime. This time, the murderers were Macedonians and theMinistry of Interior, i.e., Minister Cokreski. Therefore, we do not

want Albanian ministers to stand as a barricade between theAlbanian electorate and the Ministry of Interior. This request iscompletely human and natural. The time we are living in Macedoniadoes not allow the possibility to have someone act as if nothinghappened. In fact, the installation of the Macedonian State, theinstallation of the exclusive Macedonian rights and the violationof the Albanian rights happened.

KOHA: Now, after all that has happened, how do you see the Albanianfactor in Macedonia as an important factor or a hostage of thefalse stability?

DEMIRI: The power of one factor is measured with its impact indevelopments of the events. The fact that phenomenons like the lastone happen, proves that Albanian subject is an inevitable factor inMacedonia. Since Macedonia is situated in Balkan, and Balkan is azone of the instability, each of these subjects in this region can

be hostage of the stabilization of the situation, but can also becasus belli and reason for instability. We realize that theAlbanian factor in general is in a very difficult situation, havingin mind the situation in Kosova and Albania, and our moves as PDSH

are in accordance with this general phenomenon in the Balkans. Weare here and we want to be a factor of stabilization, but the otherside must work for stabilization. In this case, I think that theMacedonian side had guarantees from Serbia to go ahead with theinstability. The truth is that the phase of instability has already

begun, and having in mind the situation in Albania, this fulfillsthe mosaic that, in reality, we acted toward stabilization, butthis was not the case with the opposite side. Still, this does notmean that we will always act in the direction of stabilization,

because Albanians will never forget this blow.

KOHA: To what degree were Albanians responsible for the events inGostivar, and where does the responsibility of your party lie on?

DEMIRI: The Albanian factor is not responsible, because this was ascenario, a trap prepared by the Ministry of Interior. It is absurdto seek responsibility and culpability in the victim. Always theones who commit the crime are guilty. But, it is a tendency of allMacedonian political parties, which are sometimes backed by anAlbanian party, to look for the fault among the Albanians. Perhapsright now we can talk about the lack of awareness to avoid the

intervention of the police, but when the scenario is well prepared,it is impossible to avoid them, because two municipalities wereattacked without any reason. They were attacked when they wereacting in concrete and real circumstances, and no one could predict

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that the Ministry of Interior would attack a municipaladministrator.

KOHA: You were mayor of Tetov. Did you have the right to use the

flag and keep it there for months?

DEMIRI: The flag is only a pretext. Beside the flag, there werealso other reasons that were accumulated systematically and

produced by the Macedonian side. Before this, the motive was theUniversity of Tetov, before this a cigarette seller, etc., that

proves that reasons and pretexts are always produced, and there isalways a motive for causing conflicts. It is not the problem of theflag, but the problem of the Albanian share, that made theMacedonian side act this way. Because it was precisely when the useof the symbols was institutionalized and Parliament of Macedonia

voted the use of the flag, that in the next morning these twomunicipalities were attacked. This means that we deal with anabsurd matter here. This is absurd because, on one hand, it islegalized, and on the other hand the same organs, the same

parliament and government, attack it. And now the problem isbroader, since this where the essence of unregulated relationsbetween Albanians and Macedonians relies, and there is the damagingposition of one party, that legalizes and institutionalizes thisgovernment. Macedonia is known as a multiethnic state, and if allAlbanians work in this direction, then this contradictions can be

solved easier.

KOHA: If the Albanian political subject leaves the Parliament andthe government, how do you think to realize the rights of Albaniansthen?

DEMIRI: Very easy. If international guarantees are in favor of amultiethnic Macedonia, then internal guarantees must be that thisMacedonia should be multiethnic. After getting out of the

parliament and government, in the beginning we could establish theAlbanian board of intellectual and political structures. When they

leave the state institutions, the political crisis starts. And weknow, that when a political crisis starts in one country, then wehave negotiations and options on how to build that state. The startof a political crisis would accelerate the solution, because onlywhen the problem is evident, only then the solution is evident. Inthis case the problem is latent, sometimes it escalates, sometimesit stops, sometimes it has got a greater power of manipulating, andsometimes it has not.

KOHA: Actually, what are the concrete steps that the Albanian

political subject is taking, in order to overcome the situation?

DEMIRI: The reason why these two municipalities were attacked isalso the consolidation of the Albanian corpus. The unification of

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these two parties, boosted the Macedonian anger. I think that theappearance of a strong party, that will stand in it's orientations,(the democratic fundament of the rights of Albanians, based on thehistorical heritage and concrete reality), accelerates the process

of finding a solution. The development of the process, or thecontinuation of the agony called step-by-step will always givethe Macedonians a motive to intervene sometimes with police andarmy, and sometimes with the parliament or the government.

KOHA: The international community offered the step by stepsolution to Macedonia. What influence did it have in solving the

problems here?

DEMIRI: The stepology is a very interesting thing, because thesteps lead you forward and backward. The "stepology" marks its

beginning in Macedonia with the Constitution of 1991, when theposition of the Albanians was degraded. The laws approved based onthis constitution were more and more restrictive for Albanians,even more restrictive than the constitution itself. This means thatthe beginning was not right. Albanians accepted this, Macedoniansoffered this just as the international community did in the mostcritical moment for Macedonia, when Macedonia was having areferendum, when the crisis in former Yugoslavia was reaching it'sculmination, when war in Bosnia started, when rumors about thesouthern front could be heard, where Macedonia was also included.

Today, this method is no longer valid, because this "stepology"proved to be sterile, and it only strengthened the Albanian-Macedonian antagonisms. The southern front can be created exactlyfrom this sterile "stepology". Not to forget that the internationalfactor is aware and gives as much as the subject is asking. Thereal will must be imposed to the international community. Theinternational community will never give the right to only one side.This was the case in Bosnia. None of the sides was accused, but anagreement was reached. And this what we are demanding, a newagreement for the south of former Yugoslavia: for Kosova,Macedonia, and of course Serbia.

KOHA: But what if there is no Albanian-Macedonian dialogue?

DEMIRI: I dont think that there is nothing to do. Because none ofthe sides is superior to the other, so to impose despotism. Theendangering and the positioning of both sides is evident. I thinkthat with the last intervention, Macedonia started to get away frominternational and American institutions. Macedonia is now far from

NATO. I think that the economic grounds in Macedonia will oblige itto solve the problems, and we will be forced to sit and see what

state will we build. Stubbornness will be fatal for both sides.

KOHA: It seems that you hope very much in the internationalcommunity. But, wasnt international community clumsy in regard to

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the events in Gostivar and Tetov?

DEMIRI: We were clumsy. Because an attack like this one found us,Albanians, unprepared. On the other hand, the Albanian subject that

participates in government and Parliament, legitimated this attack,therefore we cannot incriminate the international factor. Anyinternational factor that visits this government will see that onethird of the ministers are Albanians, and this is where the key is.Once Albanians are positioned strongly, then the internationalcommunity will change its opinion.

KOHA: But, if Albanians do not take part in the parliament and thegovernment, doesnt this mean that they are avoiding theinstitutions and institutionalization?

DEMIRI: Of course it means that we are avoiding them, but only forsome time. With this we will create a crisis that will bring a new

phase, in which Albanians will no longer be submitted to, when theywill no longer be a decoration. Institutions first have to beunderstood, to know what they produce. If we speak about theeternity of the institutions, then we are speaking against thelogic of development. Even the parliaments of Nazism wereinstitutions. And, of course, these institutions were valid at thattime. But today we speak about them as institutions that producedterrible things. If we, today, speak of perfect institutions in any

country, then we are making a mistake, because institutions have tobe processed. In this case we want to give this institution theAlbanian spirit, and not an Albanian decoration. We want theseinstitutions to start producing Albanian values too. If you lookcloser, you will notice that institutions in Macedonia never

produced an Albanian intellectual. In this case we must revieweither the Albanians or the institutions. We propose to review theinstitutions, since, in this period, Albanians have minimaldemands, having in mind the stabilization of the region.

KOHA: Your party, the PDSH, was accused to be radical and for

calling people for resistance...

DEMIRI: We must be reasonable. In Gostivar we had 10,000 people,and 4,000 policeman were on the other side. And in this crowd youcouldn't find 20 or even 200 guns. No responsible politician willcall the people for resistance, when they are bare-handed.Therefore, we are reasonable politicians, and we didnt call forresistance. The Ministry of Interior has now got into trouble,

because it must justify the crime. We didnt make anyradicalization, having in mind our political options, our political

variant and the situation in the region. The interior ministry, thepolice, did this radicalization. When people are shot in theirback, when Rufi Osmani is held hostage, preventing him to talk tothe crowd and tell them to disperse what kind of radicalization

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are we talking about then? We are dealing with the radicalizationof the Ministry of Interior, that was terrified when it thoughtthat the scenario could fail.

KOHA: And, in the end, do you think that with the arrest of RufiOsmani, your indictment, and the removal of the flag from thebuildings of the Municipal Councils, in predominantly Albanianareas, means an end to Albanian governing?

DEMIRI: Let's start from the beginning. The flag will not beremoved. The flag now is official. The municipalities will not betransformed. In this phase we must prevent the arrest of RufiOsmani, my sentence, because, in these two municipalities, thelocal government and the Albanian installation didn't damage theMacedonian interest, but it rather raised it to a higher level.

Therefore, we entered an important phase, where the Albanianinterest, no matter the epilogue, will be more and more present,and more and more strong, not to say more aggressive.

KOSOVA

DO FOREIGNERS RESPECT US MORE THAN WE DESERVE?

by BATON HAXHIU / Prishtin

In the existing circumstances in Kosova, with the absence of statesupremacy, the statement "Kosova is under occupation", in thiscase, is considered an interpretation of the Albanian side, becausethe interpretation of the other side, the Serbian, says that"Kosova is part of Serbia". So far, this problem had different

points of view and different forms of handling, and this becausewestern countries didn't have a concrete approach towards the

problem of Kosova.

In the very beginning of Yugoslavia's decomposition and with thebeginning of the conflict in the former Yugoslav republics, theproblem of Kosova had been raised to the highest diplomatic level.Later on, because of our behavior, it was left on the margins of

political evaluation. This happened not because Kosova didn'tdeserve a special treatment, but because there were many reasonsthat "devaluated" such a delicate problem, that used to be a knotof the Balkan crises. Firstly, Serbian propaganda, but others too,treated Kosova as a relatively peaceful country, compared withevents running in Croatia and Bosnia, and secondly, the

organization of Kosova Albanians, as it was commented in politicalcircles, was not in correlation with the seriousness of theproblem, because Albanians fell into a political lethargy andstarted waiting and hoping to gain from events happening between

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sides in conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

At the beginning many countries didn't define the problem ofKosova, because Albanians had a serious organization.

The only dilemma of the West was the way of treating Kosova andit's problem in the new circumstances created after 1989. To treatit in the way that the Albanian side thought they should or in theway Serbian side thought they should. That is, should we be treatedas an occupied country or as a part of Serbia. If this is seenthrough real juridical prism, it's obvious that Kosova has dominantAlbanian population, a clearly defined territory, and it wasthought that Albanian parties have some control, that they dogovern some spheres in Kosova, and in this aspect, the tendency ofAlbanians for independence could be understood.

But, all this gained euphoric dimensions. Soon, Albanians,enthusiastic about the meetings with known diplomats and ordinary

people who came to visit Kosova, forgot that they were the ones whoshould carry this problem on their shoulders, and left it all inthe hands of the foreign diplomacy. Once understanding that theapproach to this problem was getting other dimensions than thosethey thought, diplomatic circles, started limiting Kosova and it's

problem to the interior plan of the coming Yugoslav state. For along time, in Kosova, these statements were ignored and onlyoptimistic statements were revealed without any political concept

or pragmatism. And, now, when the destiny of Kosova is beingdecided, this continuing optimism is still present.

Even today when we are faced with the largest crises, and withserious blows from the most important political personalities,optimism has reached it's peak. Especially president Rugova, who inhis press conferences gives himself the right to talk aboutscience-fiction themes (Mars and Kosova in NATO) - Don Quixotesquematters that do not change and do not inspire anything. All this is

being said in a time when there are no more sporadic anddiscontinued ascertainments for autonomy, but we are having

concrete ascertainments from those whom until yesterday weconsidered as candidates that support the independence of Kosova.But this support is offered masterly, but also astonishingly. Thesentence "our peaceful politics is supported" is still used by some

political circles as a support for the independence of Kosova. Therhetoric "it will be better" is dominant, but so is the "what Godgives" philosophy. Even the arrival of Cornblum in Prishtin andthe American and European statements didn't incite Albanians andtheir political structures for becoming more serious in talks andrequests even when in their documents it is clearly said that the

"international community is opposed to the concept of theindependent Kosova. Most of the countries are worried that thesecession of Kosova from Serbia can not be done in a peacefulway...".

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Although they knew, because these things were said and heard somany times, people started to believe that "Kosova has the absolutesupport of the West", that "West has promised Rugova more than theysay and everything depends on Ibrahim Rugova".

While discussing these problems a diplomat explained it in thisway: "It's true that Kosova and Rugova have the support of theWest, but only for his peaceful politics, and the opinion thatRugova has offers for solving the problem of Kosova also exist, butonly the autonomy as a concept is present in the political anddiplomatic circles of the world".

Why such an explicit stand of the US and Europe?

Diplomats, who later visited Kosova, found three or more options,

as they said, that were a result of the static reading of theinternational terminology, and not a result of serious politicaland diplomatic analyses. Having in mind these difficulties, theAlbanian side proposed "calmed" requests for the political statusof Kosova as: Kosova, sovereign, neutral, independent and undercivil international administration". Citing an EU document will beenough: "We have large reserves over the practicality of such idea.In order for atrusteeship to have success as a peaceful enterprise,the agreement of Serbia on that is necessary. That can not beimposed. The governments of EU will keep on raising the subject of

Kosova and the need of reestablishing it's autonomy".

And, for these reasons, very often, from foreign diplomats who cameto talk with Albanians, you could hear even that if great powerswould recognize the independence of Kosova, could Albanians passover it without war and will they be able to save what would berecognized to them? But, if great powers think that recognizingKosova's sovereignty would expand the armed conflict, which would

become a Balkan war, then we'd come to the issues of politicalpriorities and Kosova will not be recognized as an independentstate no matter if it deserves this or not. Diplomats also added

that there's no war here. In high level meetings when independenceof Kosova was requested, questions like: "we heard your worries andrequests, but tell us how can we help your independence?", weremade by foreign diplomats.

All these reached their highest point with the dilemma whether wecan make a real national policy for fulfilling the promise made tothe people of Kosova in the 1992 elections.

On a daily basis, people say that we have created fictitious

institutions in Kosova in order to forget the problem. This problemis getting bigger, not because of the impossibility of it'srealization, but because of the bureaucratization of the politicalopinion and because of the restricted decision-making on such

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delicate problems. Conflicts have became banally enormous. ThePresidency does not have money for paying the phone bills, becauseBukoshi blocked the funds and he does not acknowledge the addressin Prishtin. He doesn't recognize president Rugova, and the latter

is offended by whoever passes-by, including people who work inoffices under his competencies.

Rugova himself has so far requested the respect of the Constitutionand laws, which he himself never applied. The state in the meaningof the international law is created by the act of recognition.Elements like territory, inhabitants and fictitious power, aresimple facts, which by recognition turn from real situation onto a

juridical situation. Since this political structure is based onthese arguments, then it is very well known that there's not onlycreation of countries, but also their destruction, and this happens

when the government or peoples elected by voters cannot secure thefunctionality of the state elements and when at the same time theydon't respect their commitments toward their voters.

The other argument with which president Rugova functions is thefact that we had free elections for the parliament and for the

president of Kosova. This argument is repeated in every pressconference. This is completely true, but it is also true that the

parliament or the government (which is incomplete) are notconstituted yet. The Prime-minister has limited authorizations.

There are many large divergencies in all institutions over majorprinciples on deciding over the problem of Kosova. There are alsobanal conflicts in the relations between the Government and thePresidency as well as the LDK and the Government. There is also anabsence of functionality of several issues that are of vitalimportance for Kosova.

And if all this is not enough for taking some measures, then it ishard to believe that there will be a possibility to create anatmosphere to revive of all that has been lost so far.

It is a general impression that foreigners respect us more than wedeserve. And so it will be until they understand that ourseriousness for independence is killed by creating positions ofmaterial gaining from this situation. Not to say that the problemof Kosova and it's independence, for one part of the politicalstructure, has become a gastrological problem.

So, to put in life our declaration of independence of Kosova,urgent changes in the organization and activities of Albanians inKosova, political parties and legitimate institutions should be

made. Changes must not be cosmetic or only verbal, with promisesand statements. Changes must be braver and more radical: changes inorganization, in politics, changes in people and methods. This isthe only way to get out of this closed circle of self-deceit,

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illusions and fatalism in which we have put ourselves and at thesame time the way to avoid radicalization with individual futileactions.