While Kosovo Albanians celebrate and mark the 25th anniversary of NATO’s arrival in Kosovo as a day of liberation, the Serbs recall that more than 1,500 Serbs were kidnapped and killed, most of them between June and December 1999, in the presence of KFOR forces, journalist Branislav Krstić told KoSSev in the week of the anniversary of the end of NATO bombing and days-long manifestations in Kosovo celebrating the liberation.
A total of 25 years have passed as of Monday since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which officially ended the NATO bombing of the FRY on June 10, 1999, which had begun on March 24 of the same year.
The day before the Resolution, the delegations of NATO and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia signed the Military-Technical Agreement (the Kumanovo Agreement), which provided for the withdrawal of military and police troops of the then FRY from the territory of Kosovo, with the simultaneous deployment of NATO troops in Kosovo.
According to Kosovo Albanians, the days since the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement are interpreted as the „liberation of Kosovo“, while for Serbs, especially from Kosovo, June and the following months were experienced as an exodus, given the ethnically-motivated crimes against the Serbian civilian population, their expulsion and abandonment of the then of the Yugoslav-Serbian provinces despite the international military and civilian missions already widely present in Kosovo.
June 10 is celebrated as what is essentially the biggest holiday in Kosovo every year. This year, the date was marked with organized events and visits of high-ranking dignitaries, including those who played a key role in 1999 when it comes to the bombing itself, and who reportedly saved the Albanians.
The Serbian side, however, once again pointed to what happened in the months and weeks after June 10, 1999, that is, the crimes for which no one has been held accountable to this day, with an emphasis on the fact that those who were supposed to guarantee security and peace to the Serbs after the Resolution and the withdrawal of the Serbian army failed at that task.
Journalist Branislav Krstić, a native of Djakovica, which he had to leave in the midst of the war, pointed out this same issue in a statement for KoSSev.
„For the purposes of the celebration of the ’25th anniversary of liberation’, the Kosovo authorities organized a series of celebration events to which ‘political and historical friends’ of Kosovo were invited. While the Kosovo Albanians celebrate and mark the 25th anniversary of the arrival of NATO in Kosovo as a day of liberation, the Serbs remind us that more than 1,500 of them kidnapped and killed, most of them in June and until the end of 1999, in the presence of KFOR forces,” this experienced journalist told KoSSev.
He added that among those who celebrated „25 years of freedom“ this week are also probably the perpetrators of the atrocities committed after June 10 against members of his family.
„On the other hand, my cousin was killed and he was kidnapped in the hospital. With the arrival of the international peacekeeping mission, my uncle was kidnapped, about whom even after 25 years we know nothing. The perpetrators of these crimes are still at large and are probably celebrating 25 years of freedom.“
Everything points to the fact that, although it is contested, there were crimes on both sides, but also on the third side:
„If we were to scratch the surface – crimes were committed by everyone, Milosevic’s regime the most, but they were also committed by the Albanians and certainly by the KFOR forces with their inaction and lack of concern for the Serbs.“
The majority of Kosovo Serbs live in an atmosphere of non-acceptance by the Kosovo authorities, abandonment by Belgrade and insufficient protection from the international community, he warned.
„This is how the majority of Serbs in Kosovo feel. Abandoned and betrayed by the official Belgrade, and not accepted by the current authorities, nor protected by the international community,“ Krstić points out.
Kosovo did not liberate itself, because they still see Milošević in their Serb citizens
After all this talk of “liberation,” 25 years later, Krstić wondered whether – we really free and how free are we?
He believes that the Kosovo side has still not truly freed itself from the ghosts, that is, from the government that it fiercely contested in the 90s. Hence the problems even today.
„Kosovo still hasn’t freed itself from Slobodan Milošević. The Kosovo authorities and a good part of the Albanian elite still see Milošević in their Serb citizens. The ultra-nationalist government in Pristina, with its unilateral decisions and the escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo, revived Serbophobia among Kosovo Albanians,“ Krstić pointed out.
He states that the majority in Kosovo today does not understand, while „the radical and militant part of society does not accept“, that „Kosovars live in Kosovo and not only Albanians, but also Serbs and other communities“.
„The executive authorities in Pristina have continuously been violating their own Constitution and laws for 25 years, killing democracy and treating minorities harshly. Even after 25 years, Serbs do not have access to their property. Every attempt by the Serbs to integrate is met with sabotage by the Kosovo institutions,“ he stressed.
„In the north of Kosovo, a civilian illegitimate municipal government was established that serves only Prime Minister Kurti, and not the citizens in those municipalities – which is a direct violation of the Constitution. For more than 20 months, a police state has been installed in the north, which is an alarming and intolerable violation of the collective rights of Serbs.“
In his words, this will only result in the mass emigration of Serbs from the North of Kosovo.
After 25 years – the Government in Pristina is on the threshold of political isolation
The current Kosovo government, apart from the fact that it is harmful to Serbs, is also losing the trust of its partners:
„Due to the escalation in the north of Kosovo, the EU introduced sanctions and punitive measures against the government of Kosovo. There is an apparent impression that the government in Pristina has lost its ‘modus vivendi’ and unreserved partnership with Western friends and allies“.
According to him, Pristina is on the threshold of political isolation.
„Even after 25 years, instead of serious investments and the arrival of large global corporations and companies, the Government in Pristina is on the threshold of political isolation, because how else to interpret the fact that the US administration has not been communicating with the leaders of the current executive power for the last five months,“ Krstić says.
How independent is Kosovo if it cannot open a bridge in Mitrovica?
They are not allowed to do that, he added, because the executive power failed to fulfill international commitments.
Krstić believes that the US and EU administrations want to complete the statuses of unfinished states in the Balkans by the end of next year: „Kosovo, Serbia, because Serbia is not a completed state without a border with Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a unitary state.“
This is supported by the fact that the US and European administrations have significantly increased their presence and interest in resolving the final status of Kosovo in the last two years.
„The German-French plan and the Annexes from Ohrid are implemented on the ground every day with the monitoring of the conflict management group for Kosovo,“ he concluded.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
