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" In the post-War period, the region was economically developed but the Serbs and Montenegrins continued to migrate to Serbia and Montenegro for better employment opportunities and due to the growing Albanian nationalist aggressiveness. In 1961, the Serbs were reduced to 23.6 per cent of the population of Kosovo, which declined further to 13.2 per cent Kosovo in 1981. The Kosovo Albanians' ratio of the population was growing not only because of the migration of the Serbs from Kosovo but also because of the high rate of birth of the Albanians.": Although the author of the paper does charge some limited amount of "ethnic cleansing" on the part of the Kosovar Albanians, he also describes internal migration for the reasons I cited, and differential birth- rates, and extends the time frame well beyond that you gave. In any event, I believe that the Serbs have reason to sustain their territorial integrity, and to defend the historic connection to their "motherland", so long as they make reasonable accommodations to the local population. |
