Some interesting reading....sorry for the length. This highlights the reality that what we are talking about is the establishment of a Greater Albania.
Armed Albanian civilians
Tomislav Kresovic
Geo-politics
of the Albanian separatism
The political genesis of the separatist movement in Kosmet
The crisis in Kosovo and Metohija did not start at the beginning of the nineties, but it has lasted in different forms for almost 120 years, to be more precise, since the adoption of the positions of the Prizren League in 1878 and the commitment to the unification of all Albanians in the Balkans into a single geo-political space. A tendency toward the affirmation of the Albanian issue in the Balkans has started to develop since the formation of Albania in 1912, and in Kosovo and Metohija, the need for unification with Albania has been developed through the Communist solutions defined by the 1944 Bujane Conference together with the need for integration of Kosovo and Metohija with Albania. Parallel to the Bujane Conference, also the so-called Second Prizren League was affirmed, established in 1944 by Albanian fascists (Balists), Hitler's collaborators.
The separatist concept of Kosovo and Metohija has been systematically encouraged ever since 1948, during the long period of Enver Hoxha's rule, when Albania lent its full support to Albanian émigrés from Kosovo and Metohija do embark upon the road to independent Kosovo. The objective of Enver Hoxha's policy was to create so-called Greater Albania. The 1974 Constitutions of the SFRY and Serbia vested many powers of the federal republic of the former Yugoslavia in Kosovo and Metohija as the autonomous province of Serbia and Yugoslavia. The policy of the creation of so-called "Kosovo Republic" was developed by an Albanian politician who was very close to Josip Broz, Fadil Hod'a. In 1990, the new Serbian Constitution was adopted which, because of the repression of the separatist movement over Serbs and their mass exodus, revoked the constitutional powers under the 1974 Constitution, and the former Yugoslav republics indirectly agreed to that since they did not insist on a different status of Kosovo and Metohija during the process of the adoption of the Serbian Constitution.
The new separatist policy led by Dr. Ibrahim Rugova has affirmed its separatist doctrine by means of the separatist Constitution (the Ka~anik Constitution) and the 1990 and 1991 referenda on the independence of Kosovo. Under the "Ka~anik Constitution" the "Government-in-exile" was formed, headed by Dr. Bujar Bukoshi and in 1992 parallel elections were organized, in which Dr. Rugova as the leader of DSK (Democratic League of Kosovo) was elected President of the self-proclaimed Kosovo Republic. All the governments in Albania, from Ramiz Aljije, Sali Berisha to the new President, Mr. Mejdani, have recognized the existence of the Kosovo Republic, thus exerting direct influence on the character of the separatist movement.
Greater Albania - a battle for the territory
Since the beginning of the 20th century, i.e. the constitution of Albania as an independent state, the concept has been developed of Greater Albania and of the expansion of Albania's geo-political interests to the territories of Kosovo and Metohija, western Macedonia and the region of ]emerija (northern Epirus) in Greece. We are talking about the creation of ethnic and geo-political atlas of the Albanians in the Balkans aimed at the cultural and political integration, i.e., setting political and territorial models for the Albanian interest in the Balkans. Through autonomy of Kosovo and Metohija, Albanians have obtained a basis in Kosovo and Metohija for the expansion of the separatist policy and official Albania for the penetration of the political irredentism.
The global all-Albanian policy is based today on the doctrine of rallying about itself 21 per cent of the Albanian minority in Macedonia and around 17 per cent of them in Serbia/FRY. It simply tells that the separatist movement rests on the territorial strategy and the right of the Albanian minority to obtain the status of a nation and thus the right to self-determination in the FR Yugoslavia and Macedonia, what gives rise to the complex interethnic crisis and conflicts in the Balkans. The main argument of the separatist movement for the territorial claims in terms of constitutionality and legality is the uncontrolled demographic development in Kosovo and Metohija and western Macedonia, which is in opposition to the population policy in the parent state of Albania. With the average rate of 23 to 25 pro mille the Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija has the most expansive demographic development in Europe, which is the result of the patriarchal and religious orientation (let me remind you that Muslims account for about 90 per cent of the Albanian population), then of the quality and abundance of natural resources and, above all, of the fertile arable land, as well as of the large number of economic emigrants in the West (around 400,000) and the tolerant attitude of Serbia toward such demographic policy. Owing to the biological vitality of the Albanian minority and the ethnic expulsion of the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija caused by separatist pressures and interethnic intolerance, the separatist policy has perfidiously effectuated, through decades of its pursuing, the ethnic cleansing of about 800 inhabited places and towns where there are no more Serbs. The domination of the patriarchal community among Albanians and their adhering to the custom law of Leka Dukadjin from the 15th century exerted such influences which have created serious differences in the cultural and spiritual sphere between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija.
Natural resources and potentials of Kosovo and Metohija which are valued at about $500 billion as well as very favourable geo-strategic position with all important roads to the Near and Middle East and South-East Europe have influenced the separatist policy to give priority to these geo-economic factors.
The heroin route - terrorism
According to all reports of international institutions combating narco-mafia, the Albanian narco-mafia has the leading role together with Italian "Camora" in Western and South-East Europe. Expert estimates are that the Albanian narco-mafia in Western Europe holds about 80 per cent of trade in heroin which yields annual proceeds of DM 300 - 400 million thanks to big profits of the "Balkan heroin route". Apart from drug trafficking, the Albanian mafia is also engaged in arms smuggling and money laundering.
In the conflict in Albania, in mid-1997, the Albanian mafia had great influence on the transfer of up to 400,000 weapons of all kinds, which were intended for the separatist rebellion in Kosovo and Metohija and in western Macedonia. The budget of the Kosovo Republic, worth some DM 350-400 million a year, is formed from the financial support of the Albanian narco-mafia and separatist taxes levied on the sizeable Albanian emigrant population in the West as well as on coercive taxes paid by the Albanian population of Kosovo and Metohija. Out of this budget the actions of the separatist movement are financed as well as political infrastructure, parallel institutions (education and health care), the media and lobbies in the West, but also the terrorist activity of the organization which calls itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (OVK).
The separatist terrorism is combined with passive as well as active resistance of the Albanian population under the influence of the separatist policy which has all forms of the Intifada. The activities of the terrorist organization OVK, in its forms, remind of the IRA but also of the activities of classical organizations under the influence of the narco-mafia. The aim of the terrorist organization OVK is to implement, by force of arms and violence, the concept of the Kosovo Republic outside Serbia and Yugoslavia, through forcing Serbs to move out of Kosovo, through spreading fear, through liquidations and ill-treatment of their kinsmen who recognize Serbia and FRY as their state and by actively fighting the police and the Yugoslav Army. The point in question is the factor of destabilization of the regional peace.
The separatist movement has not truly dissociated itself of the activities of the terrorist organization OVK and the support to this terrorist organization is becoming ever stronger on the part of the opposition alliance under the name of Democratic forum. The activity of this organization seriously jeopardizes a political dialogue and a negotiated settlement in Kosovo and Metohija and in the Balkans.
Kosovo - the fuse of the Balkans
The adverse turn of events in Albania, the conflict between the ethnic communities of Tosks and Ghegs, i.e., the North and the South, which took more than 1,500 lives is not over yet. The rebels close to the Albanian ex-president Sali Berisha control the north of Albania which is vital for the supply of armament and training of OVK terrorist for Kosovo and Metohija and western Macedonia. The situation in Kosovo and Metohija is becoming increasingly dramatic, thus opening the geo-strategic and military and political issues of the interests of NATO and the USA in the southeast of Europe as well.
It should be recalled that Albania and Macedonia are members of the Partnership for Peace and that NATO and the USA have considerable influence.
The conflicts in Kosovo and Metohija constitute a direct threat to the interests of NATO and the USA in the southeast of Europe, with the possibility of the conflict spreading to the wider region what is a potential introduction into a Balkan and European war. It is the interest of NATO to strengthen its South Wing through the Balkans and of the USA to be the guardian of the geo-strategic interests of the southeast of Europe and of the Dayton peace. Exactly for that reason, the triangle Kosovo and Metohija, Macedonia and Albania will be a very sensitive zone of the confrontation of interests of NATO and the USA and of the exertion of pressures on all three states (Albania - FRY - Macedonia) aimed at preventing the spreading of the conflict which is in the framework of the low intensity conflict matrix. The crisis in Kosovo and Metohija endangers the regional peace but also the stability of the political dialogue and the search for democratic solutions for Kosovo and Metohija.
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