TIRANA, Dec. 22 -Nobel Prize laureate, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, said that the Kosova independence process was reaching its end.
“Kosova’s problem has never been an administrative, political, religious, or less so, sentimental one, as sometimes it has been said. It has been a great problem of freedom. Freedom is the number one problem of any people,” said Kadare in an interview with the Voice of America, Albanian section.
Kadare denounced the delay for independence over many years following pressure from Serbia and Russia.
The novelist, however, denounced Europe’s and the world’s delay over these years and urged ethnic Albanians in Kosova to always offer their opinion when they do not agree with the world.
If the crimes committed in Kosova would be made known to the world, especially the crime not often spoken about, rape en mass of Kosova’s women and girls, the vision on what happened would be clearer and the solution would come faster, he said.
He denied that he and Albanians were seeking revenge on Serbs, adding that the problem should always be solved at its roots so that the future is peaceful among the peoples.
“Kosova will be a country of all the people who live there, applying the highest standards of humanity,” said Kadare.
The two Albanian countries in the Balkans, Albania and Kosova, will exist more than two neighboring ones as they have an internal link, a tectonic one because they are two countries of the same nation, because they are a divided nation into two countries, said the writer.
On Albania’s water and power crisis
Kadare expressed his sorrow for the difficult situation in Albania over these transitory years.
He said there is a total change, from a country expecting an attack from NATO to now a country anxiously waiting to become a NATO member.
“This transition lasted a lot and is turning into a historic obstacle because after almost 20 years one could not call it transition properly,” he said.
The writer considered the lack of proper or regular water and power supply to Albania as very important ones that block the development.
“The lack of water and power is barbarous. It does not belong to our epoch and that is why it aggravates us and in that way the normalcy is lacking,” said Kadare.
“Albania cannot be a free and sovereign country with such grave problems.”
He said that water has always been used as a tool of pressure and violence.
Without solving such major problems they block others and there is a chain reaction to that, according to the writer.
On Albania’s religious tolerance
Kadare expressed his anger at the world’s surprise when they learn about the religious coexistence in Albania where there are three communities _ Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic.
In France or Germany, he said, there area more Muslims than in Albania and Kosova together, but none is surprised about their coexistence there. Why in Albania?
He wondered why the world should be surprised about that, or just waiting for something bad o happen there.
He harshly criticized such an idea saying that is based on an old idea that Albanians are not Europeans.
“That is a distorted thesis with a certain goal which is linked to the old crimes and some future projects that will never be committed,” he said.
Albanians have also been affected by deportation campaigns. Kadare said that Kosova would have been today three million had there not been deportations last century.
That has been exploited by Serbs to tell the world that such deported Albanians went to Turkey and Albanians are not Europeans.
“Our nation has successfully coped with that problem testifying that Albanian Muslims feel as much members of the continent that is called Europe as the Catholics or Orthodox, or the atheists,” said Kadare.
