A revealing exploration of the history of Kosova

By Dr. Bajram Kosumi*

The recent book by Ethem à‡eku, titled Kosovo and diplomacy since World War II: Yugoslavia, Albania, and the Path to Kosovan Independence deals with the Kosova issue and its path towards independence in relation to the Albanian and Yugoslav diplomacy. Apart from the important historical information, the book provides the possibility to revaluate and to assess the recent history of the Albanian-Serbian relations. I shall delineate the various reasons, which I discuss further below. Before embarking in a more extensive discussion, it should be mentioned that the Albanian-Serbian relations are crucial/determining not only for these two nations but for the whole South Eastern European region. The region cannot have a sustainable peace unless these two nations attain peace between themselves.

1. The Publication of the Book in English

Before discussing the substantial content of the book, it should be mentioned that the book has been recently published in English by a prestigious English publication house. This strikes out as a remarkable fact for the humanist thought in Kosova and for the Albanian culture as well. The history of Kosova has been written in the last two centuries not only from Serbian authors, but even when it was written by foreign authors, most of the sources have been Serbian sources. This approach is rather biased and imprecise, especially if we bear in mind the century long campaign and efforts of the Serbian scientific community to transform the history of Kosova into a myth and mythologize it. This practice goes on even today. One example, is the chapter ‘Kosovo under Autonomy, 1974-1990’ of Momčilo Pavlović, in the book Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies / A Scholar’s Initiative , edited by Charles Ingrao and Thomas A. Emmert, United States Institute of Peace Press, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana, 2009 [second revision 2010], where most of the sources are of Serbian origin. I have mentioned thus far an objective or neutral publication, let alone propagandistic books such as the one by Jean-Arnault Derens Le Piege du Kosovo/Kosovo anne zero (2006, 2008), which are totally in favor of the Serbian policies and politics.

The British historian, Noel Malcolm is the one that has changed the biased manner of history writing on Kosova. However, he has not been followed by others, with the exception of Olivier Schmitt. The fact that foreign authors have been leading these changes is not a positive fact for the scientific community in Prishtina and Tirana. The Albanian scientific community has remained confined to the reconstruction of the Albanian history and the history of Kosova based on the facts and on the sources that others create, which are related to the cultural sphere of the Albanian speaking community. This science has not succeeded to find the sources for a comprehensive history of Kosova and as a consequence, cannot claim to reach out to the above the average foreign reader and to the foreign press and science on Kosova. The very fact that the Albanian historians have not written a history of Kosova testifies to this deplorable situation of the Albanian science.   The publication of Ethem à‡eku’s book in English and by a prestigious English publication house has intended to overcome the limitations of the Albanian writing of history on Kosova and to appeal to a broader circle of readers, especially foreign ones. This is an important objective in order to challenge the biased history writing on Kosova and on Albanian in general. Ethem à‡eku with the publication of this book undertakes the first step in revealing the truth about Kosova even outside of the Albanian speaking community.

2. The Issue of Kosova

As Robert Elsie has indicated one of the important merits of this book is the precise explanation for the origin of the Kosova’s issue. There exists a widespread understanding that the international diplomacy has started to deal with this issue since 1989 or 1990. Even a part of the Kosovar’s historiography and politics have conceded to this argument. à‡eku argues that the Kosova’s issue has been articulated initially by Hasan Prishtina and Kadri Prishtina and later by Adem Demaà§i which kept alive the struggle for the liberation of Kosova during the 40 years of the Yugoslav communist rule. Whereas in the revolution of the 1981, the Albanian people decided finally to follow the path of independence and as a consequence we have the establishment of the KLA.

Henceforth, the issue of Kosova has been articulated by a powerful movement that worked for a century to provide a final resolution to it.

The international diplomacy begins to focus on Kosova   in the year 1981. It was precisely the revolution of this year that sent the clear message that the Albanians in Yugoslavia would not accept the oppressed condition and that necessary qualitative changes had to be done.

3. The Futile demagogy of the politics of ‘brotherhood-unity’ in Kosova

The slogan of Yugoslav socialism for ‘brotherhood-unity’ describes one of the foundational principles (the other is social equality) on which the Yugoslav socialism was constructed but also its Soviet and world socialism. This is a policy created by USSR and diffused further through Comintern. According to this politics all the peoples of Yugoslavia are brothers and equal as well. However, the name Yugoslavia excluded Albanians albeit the fact that they were the third largest group in Yugoslavia. The Albanians have not had any role in the establishment or the ruling of Yugoslavia.

The rotating ‘leadership’ game of Yugoslavia, after the death of Tito (the representative of any republic and any region in the Council of Yugoslavia became by rotation the head of Yugoslavia for one year), has been the pinnacle of this demagogic politics of brotherhood and unity. With this particular political bluff Yugoslavia claimed that the constitutive republics and the constitutive regions of Yugoslavia were equal. Many people, including Albanians believed in this. However, in 1990s one republic, that of Serbia, confronted the other constitutive republics and put that to war.

Ethem à‡eku, as the biggest part of the Albanian historians, especially after 1990s, have revealed the truth that in the name of brotherhood and unity, the Albanians in Yugoslavia have been considered as second-class citizens and people, oppressed, subdued and exploited. The politics of ‘brotherhood and unity’ has been simply a propaganda, as well as in the Soviet Union which as a big nation managed to subdue more than one smaller nations. There are two important and crucial events that have happened in the socialist empire and that have disputed these two principles of international socialism: the revolution of 1981 in Kosova which has challenged the false politics of equality between nations in socialism, and the revolution that has happened in Poland in the years 1980-81 which has questioned the false politics of social equality in international socialism.

4. Discrediting the ‘friendship politics’ of Yugoslavia towards Albania in the years 1945-1948

The Yugoslav interpretation of the diplomatic relations between Albania and Yugoslavia in 1945-48 has left an imprint on the public opinion but also in the political thought. There are a number of books by Yugoslav historians and journalists that formed the perception of an older brother, in this case Yugoslavia, taking care for the younger brother, in this case Albania. According to this interpretation, Yugoslavia has taken care of: the establishment of the Communist Party of Albania, which has led the Anti-fascist war; for economic aid after the liberation; for security, and has taken care of everything without demanding anything back. The facts show a different picture. The Yugoslav envoys have contributed in the formation of the PKSH (Albanian Communist Party) in order to control it later against the national tendencies of the party itself; the promised assistance was given in form of credits and not as grants; the concern for security has been a tendency to control Albania military.

Yet the pinnacle of these ‘brotherly’ relations is manifested in the idea of ‘the seventh Albanian republic within Yugoslavia’. It meant the inclusion of Albania in Yugoslavia. In the Albanian political thought this idea has never been supported, but the Yugoslav history uses it as a central claim for the Yugoslav concern for Albania.

Ethem Ceku discredits this central argument. He presents facts and documents of Yugoslav sources that testify that even if Albania would become a seventh republic of Yugoslavia, Kosova and other Albanian lands annexed from Yugoslavia would not be part of this republic. Kosova would remain still part of the Serbian Republic and the other lands would be distributed to Macedonia and Montenegro. Henceforth, this fact shows that the Yugoslav political concepts allegedly intended to provide help and care are discredited showing that they were lies. Even in those situations when Tito mentioned to Enver Hoxha that the unification of Kosova and Albania was not appropriate for the time being, it was not meant so. Yugoslavia has not developed neutral politics and policies let alone friendly ones towards Albania.

5. Tito’s Image

The Yugoslav propaganda succeeded in saving the image of Tito from profanation. His collaborators were blamed for all the wrongdoings that happened in Yugoslavia: initially the informburo and later Raković, and then UstaŠ¡e, Chetniks, nationalists and then Albanians, etc. In all these events the figure of Tito is presented as angelic, as the most positive and honest person which is entrapped by his own collaborators. A great number of Albanians did believe this image of Tito. The same situation happened, yet with a different degree, also with the image of Fadil Hoxha, whose reminiscences appeared recently in some media in Kosova.

Ethem Ceku demystifies this myth. Tito was the one that ordered the declaration of state of war in Kosova in 1945, in which time thousands of Albanians were massacred. Tito has been informed also about ‘otkup’ and about the ‘weapons’ action’. During the 1970s, Tito did not consider positively the events and developments in Kosova and demanded that violent and administrative measures be taken towards Kosova and Albanians[1].

In the end of this discussion on the necessity of the revision of the new Albanian history and the history of Kosova it should be emphasized that the historical facts are there regardless of the political motivations of those that misuse them. However, only by clarifying the contemporary recent history we can clarify the Albanian present and future. Ultimately, history is more like a physician that heals than a judge that punishes.

*Dr. Bajram Kosumi is a former Prime Minister of Kosovo

[1] Here I should mention a fact: the book by Venceslav Cenčić Titova pslednja ispovest (2001), which is cited also in the book by Ceku, may not be a historical document, but a result of falsifications of various historical documents undertaken by secret services.