by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Haxhi Ademi. “Ali Hadri” Institute of History, Pristina.
Serbia has been declared a genocidal state by the UN for the crimes committed in Sarajevo, and for Albanians it is an act that marks an important victory and an opportunity for justice for the victims of crimes committed over a century by the Serbian state.
The United Nations General Assembly voted for a resolution proposing the proclamation of July 11 as the “International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide.” The current president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, was also a participant in this genocide, and before the massacre, he had declared: “For one Serb, we will kill 1,000 Bosnian Muslims.”
The history of the Albanian people has been a continuous struggle for survival in their ethnic lands and has become the main objective of Serbian hegemonic policy. The first Serbian national program, Ilija Garašanin’s “Načertanija”, from 1843 to 1852, elaborated the idea of a Greater Serbia and was realized through massacres and expulsions of Albanians from their centuries-old lands in Niš, Vranje, Toplica, Prokuplje and Leskovci in 1876-1878.
The present-day territory of Kosovo is the result of political and historical changes. The Balkan War of 1912, which marked the end of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, brought about major political, economic, social and demographic changes. The London Ambassadors’ Conference in December 1912 defined new political borders in the Balkans, creating an autonomous Albania, but outside it more than half of the Albanian population remained, under the rule of Serbia, Montenegro and Greece.
In Serbia and Montenegro alone, at least 900,000 Albanians remained in a territory of 22,000 km², which included most of the former vilayet of Kosovo and was subject to administrative reorganization according to Serbian and Montenegrin administrative provisions. Albanians under Serbian-Montenegrin rule faced physical and psychological violence, destruction of settlements, conversion to Slavic Orthodoxy and attempts at denationalization.
Only with the arrival of Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian troops during World War I did the repression stop. After the end of World War I, Kosovo fell under the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), where anti-Albanian policies resumed. From 1918 to 1921, the Yugoslav army killed over 12,000 Albanians and destroyed over 6,000 homes.
During the period between the two world wars, Albanians were not recognized as a national minority and were denied political, national and cultural rights. From 1918 to 1941, over 250,000 Albanians were displaced from Albanian areas to Yugoslavia.
After World War II until 1966, Albanians faced persecution and displacement in Turkey, where over 250,000 Albanians were expelled.
The 1998-1999 genocide was the culmination of a century of occupation, violence and aggression against Albanians. The massacres and crimes against Albanians included mass rape and sexual violence as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing. During this period, over 20,000 Albanian women and girls, including children, were subjected to organized rape by Serbian military and police forces.
The crimes committed in Kosovo were not isolated acts, but part of a plan to destroy the Albanian people and change the ethnic structure of Kosovo. Serbian security structures, including the army, police and secret service, are responsible for these crimes. The doctrine of genocide was supported and proclaimed by the Serbian government, the Academy of Sciences and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Crimes against Albanians included murder, torture, rape, and ethnic cleansing, aimed at destroying the Albanian population because of their ethnicity. Only 26 Serbs have been convicted for crimes committed in Kosovo, a small number compared to the over 12,000 killed and over 20,000 raped Albanians.
The conviction of Serbian crimes is a step towards justice for the victims and a recognition of their endless suffering over the past century. The crimes committed during 1998-1999 in Kosovo included horrific massacres, in which thousands of innocent civilians, including women, children and the elderly, were brutally murdered. Rape was also a tool used to carry out ethnic cleansing, with the aim of terrorizing and humiliating the Albanian population and forcing them to flee their lands.
In the quest for justice, it is essential that crimes are documented and witnesses protected to ensure that those responsible face justice. The internationalization of these crimes is an important step in holding those who committed atrocities accountable and preventing the recurrence of such events in the future.
The history of Albanians’ struggles for survival and their right to self-determination must be recognized and respected. Coming to terms with the past and acknowledging the crimes committed is essential to building a future of peace and coexistence in the region.
Ultimately, recognizing the crimes committed and punishing those responsible are important not only to bring justice to the victims, but also to ensure that the future is built on a foundation of justice and respect for human rights. The history of Albanians’ struggles for survival and their right to self-determination must be recognized and respected, ensuring that the crimes of the past are never forgotten and never repeated.
Source
