Until the early 12th century, the Northern part of modern day Kosovo was administered by the Serbian medieval kingdom whilst the rest by the then Byzantine Empire. In relation to the contemporary Albanian claims; it is important to note, that Albanians do not have an ethnic name for Kosovo. Their naming for this region is “Kosova” simply an alteration of the original Serbian etymology that means, “The field of the black birds”. In Greek these black birds are called “Kotsifi” (1) another abbreviation of the Serbian original world. Therefore if language is of any value in historical research, Kosovo is a clear Serbian eponym that other nations have used and in the case of the Albanians in order to stake claims and create the necessary framework upon which they could push their claims.

The creator of the first Serbian Kingdom Stefan Nemanja took over the Kosovo province and the creation of a strong state begun, centered on Kosovo, that reached its zenith two centuries later under Stefan Dousan. The Serbian aristocracy soon created numerous fortresses, churches and artistic monuments that remain up-to-date, albeit under the yoke of Albanian aggression. The Serbian state moved its head of Church from Raska to the city of Pec in Kosovo so as to be protected better because of numerous attacks from the North. That resulted in Kosovo becoming the most important area in Serbia and one of the major hubs for commerce, culture and industry in the then Balkans.

In 1389, in St Vittes day- 28/06-, a bloody battle between Ottoman Muslims and Serbians and other Christians resulted in the defeat of the latter and the beginning of the Islamic era in the Balkans. A century later the Ottoman occupation had subdued Serbia along with Constantinople, Albania and Romania and an occupation that lasted 5 centuries was enacted.

As far as Kosovo is concerned, the resistance of the Serbian population resulted in numerous expulsions by the Turkish authorities, and between 1683 to 1715 the Turkish-Austrian wars resulted in the massive forced immigration of the Christian-Serb population from Kosovo to Central Europe. This was described in historiography as “Velika Seoba” meaning the great flight. Moreover the Turkish troops aided by Albanian- Muslim paramilitaries robbed most of the ages-old treasures of the Serbian Church in Pec and killed most of the priests and monks.

The Serbian Patriarchy moved to Voivodinja and in 1756, a Sultan’s firman (Order in Turkish) disband the Pec Serbian Church in a move aiming to destroy Serbian presence in the area. In most of the 18th century desperate masses of Serbian civilians immigrated from Kosovo to the North, and at the same time newly brought immigrants from Northern Albania arrived, in an Ottoman plan to alter the demographic composition of the Kosovo province. Of course any resemblance with modern day developments is just a coincidence!

It took almost 2 centuries and up to 1912, until the Serbian national state could liberate Kosovo and complete more or less the mission for which it was formed in the first place. From that moment onwards Kosovo followed Serbia’s and later on Yugoslavia’s historical path.

During WW2, Serbia was occupied by the Axis forces and Kosovo was given to Albania that operated as a Balkan collaborator for Mussolini and Hitler. Actually in 1943 the SS Skandeberg battalion was created by Muslim-Albanians in Kosovo that systematically attacked Serbians, Jews, Gypsies and moderate Albanians in order to create a pure ethnic state. At this point it is interesting to note that the name of the SS corps was “Skandeberg” the national hero of Albanians and one of the leading Christian Balkan heroes that fought ferociously against the Ottomans. He was an Orthodox Christian and his army was composed by Albanians, Greeks, Serbs, Montenegrins, Italians and others; hardly the suitable name for a racist army corps during the axis occupation. Even though 20,000 Serbs were massacred by the Albanian-Axis followers and another 150,000 were forced to flee, thus casting another stone in the viability of creating a climate of good relations between the two nations.

After the end of the was Marshal Tito deliberately left the borders between Kosovo and Northern Albania open so as to facilitate immigration from the South and in parallel stalled the process of the return of Serbian refugees to their homeland. Thus until 1948, when the Tito-Stalin dispute provoked the former to close down the borders; 150, 000 more Albanians entered Kosovo and significantly alter demographics, once gain.

The post war years were characterized by an explosion of births by the Albanian side that resembled Middle Eastern ethics (Patriarchic extended families, high birth rate, women domestically labor force,) and an immigration of the Serbians further north or abroad. As a result the balance tilted for the Albanian side and since the early 70’s Tito made the Province autonomous providing numerous rights to the Albanians.

The war in 1999, as it could be easily predicted resulted once more in a flight of the Serbian population to the North and a whole host of atrocities committed against the civilians that remained. Between 12/06/1999 and 16/01/2000, 3,491 terrorist attacks against Serbians were recorded and another 110 against other nationalities (Turks, Gypsies, Gorani and Bosniaks)

Also 710 Serbians were assassinated along with 90 from other nationalities. Some other 650 Serbs disappeared and are presumed dead. 50,000 houses were looted and burned and 15,000 vehicles were stolen. Of course there are also criminal offences that were not recorded and the fact remains that the Albanians managed to kill one in every 200 Serbs in a matter of 6 months and under international military presence. Analogically that could count as much as 1, 5 million Americans or 20,000 Bosnians during the civil war. As far as the later is concerned it recently surfaced in the international press that 90,000 people were killed from all sides during the war in Bosnia in a 4 year period, mush less in analogy than the Serbs killed by Albanians in the “Liberated Kosovo”! The alleged 10,000 Albanians killed by the Serbian Army in 1998-1999 seem exaggerated since there is no official report with the appropriate remaining that could confirm this and many respectable sources lower that number to 2,000, including those that died because of the NATO raids. On the contrary the Albanian reprisals to Serbs are all documented by the UNMIK and easily accessible to the international scientific community for future reference…

Kosovo as it was stated above, is the cradle of Serbian-Christian culture and one of the major worldwide centers of monastic life. The so-called secular Muslim Albanians targeted viciously the Church’s legacy in order to eradicate Serbian presence and to a second level to please their collaborators in the far way- But sometimes so close- Middle East… Thus 80 Churches were blown up only in June 1999, along with 200 chapels and 10,000 icons and religious artifacts of extreme beauty and value. In parallel all monuments, including statues, estates, castles and complexes that were constructed by the Serbian medieval kingdom were destroyed in a rage that would most certainly have surprised Ottoman Turks that were pragmatic as to destroy in order to frighten and not to annihilate. Actually the “Cultural genocide” in Kosovo surpassed all other similar incidents in the Balkans for the past millennium…

The mentality of reprisals by the Albanian side has raised serious doubts as to how confident would the international community would be in assisting further the Albanian side. Moreover it enraged the Serbian populous and the rest of the Christians in the Balkans, therefore becoming a public relations catastrophe for the long-term for the Kosovo-Albanian leadership. Lastly it once again reminded to the world that the  Balkan animosities cannot be dealt with by taking one-sided arguments for granted –And that includes all sides to be fair- but rather than setting for real the infamous quote “Standards before status”. Otherwise the Albanian reprisals sooner or later will find mimics by others and the vicious circle would never stop. Needless to say that any future entrance of a proposed independent Kosovo in the EU will set for the latter the uncomfortable position of having to discuss with individuals blamed for genocidal practices and organized crime links, hardly the best partners for either the German Chancellor or the new French President.

The Kosovo issue will remain important for Europe, USA and Russia and these three entities have ample opportunities to cooperate using Kosovo’s resolution as a pretext. The only viable alternative for a stable and prosperous future for the Province is only the re-conciliation between the Serbia & Albanian community and the compromise between the great powers (2).  Otherwise we are going to assess more battles of Kosovo in the future with victory swinging from one side to the other like the flying motives of the “Black birds” that have decreased since 1999, due to the environmental damage, but will once again return if they find a suitable climate.

For information on the cultural genocide in Kosovo (1999):

 “Crucified Kosovo: Destroyed and desecrated Serbian Orthodox Churches in Kosovo & Metohija, June-October 1999, by the Center of Raska and Prizren Orthodox Eparchy

Notes:

(1) Turdus Mertula, common name in English: Blackbird and in French: Merle Noir
(2) The reconciliation committee in South Africa, despite its faults and failures it could set a good example for Kosovo, so as to examine both sides of the coin and turn the page of regional ethnic animosities. Of course for this to become a reality, the one-sided approaches to the issue should be abandoned and the sovereignty of the Serbian state should remain intact as it was the case for the Republic of South Africa.