It looks like it's coming

Well, we've been holding out for so long (a good old Serbian tactic!), avoiding Kosovo independence. But from what we're hearing and seeing on the news, it looks like it will be coming this time, and very soon. Kosovo Albanians from the diaspora have come in large numbers to their homeland, and don't want to be disappointed!

Of course, Kosovo raises many issues for us Serbs and represents many things. It is a major part of our national identity, considering our history. I also consider Kosovo as having played an important part in our history, in that a number of events in our history either occurred there, or were in some way linked to that small plot of land. Particularly the famous 1389 Battle of Kosovo between Prince Lazar (known in folklore as Emperor Lazar) and Sultan Murat, which represented on the one hand the cause of the Serbian people's centuries-long suffering under Ottoman rule, and on the other hand our determination to free ourselves from such bondage.

Also in terms of geneology, or rodoslovlje in our language, many of my people's ancestors, perhaps my ancestors among them, were born, lived and died in Kosovo, not to mention left their land for a number of historical reasons, considering the major migrations my people have undergone. And being a Croatian Serb, I can be sure that my ancestors lived in many different parts of the Western Balkans further south and east from where my more recent ancestors lived.

However, the reality of the past often differs sharply from the reality of the present. Things change, many things and dramatically. Not to mention how history itself is quite often not so straightforward!

I mentioned in "My opinion on Kosovo", that the Kosovo issue may remain "for many years to come an unresolved conflict, like Cyprus or Palestine". Now, it looks like it might resolve itself sooner. But who knows? Maybe Kosovo could find itself in the same position as Taiwan; recognised by some, not by others.

Serbia, unless you already know, has already declared in advance null and void any declaration of independence coming from Priština. And I don't think Serbia's government will change its position anytime soon, and I don't think Serbia should be compelled to either. And dare I remind you that partitioning the province has likewise been swiftly rejected by Serbia.

With regards to the seemingly upcoming declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian leaders, there's really nothing I can do to stop them, and not just because I am located thousands of miles away. These Albanian leaders represent over 1.6 million Albanians in the province, the vast, over-whelming majority of whom want the land they live on to become its own state separate from Serbia, and have wanted it since 1999 and even before.

Personally, I'm mostly worried about the Kosovo Serbs, my fellow ethnics in the province who live as a beleaguered minority. I hope that they will stay in the province and maintain links with the perhaps soon-to-be reduced Serbia, and not leave in great number from their homes and villages. However, I have seen on the news that the UN is already prepared to offer aid to these could-be future refugees in the north of the province.

One idea I heard the Serbian president Boris Tadić mention is a possible Kosovo Serb parliament to represent all the Serbs in the province. I think this could be a good idea, as such an institution could make the province's Serbs feel represented by a major institution whose members they would be able to elect. And as such, it could provide Serbs with the reassurance they need to stay in Kosovo. Whatever the relationship this possible institution might have with Priština's government, if it even gets established, waits to be seen.


I also wonder what the other minorities in Kosovo will do; what their position is and how they will react to a unilateral declaration by Albanians. What is the position of the province's Roma population, many of whom still live internally displaced in the province's refugee camps? What about the Muslim Goranis, Turks and Bosniaks, Albanian-speaking Ashkalis & Egyptians, and what will the small number of the ethnic Croat Janjevci still left in the province do? And will these groups look to Serbia for support like the Kosovo Serbs, or will they readily accept living in an independent Kosovo separate from Serbia and become self-declared citizens thereof and active participants of its society?

God knows what will happen…

EDITED: 17th FEBRUARY