Operation Independence Kosovo: NATO and the New Step Toward "Greater
Albania"
Sungur Savran, Socialist Project
February 23, 2008
The celebrations by the Albanian people of Kosovo upon the declaration of an
"independent and sovereign" state were aired on television extensively. Two
flags were waved during these celebrations. One was the familiar U.S. flag.
And the second one? This flag with a double-headed black eagle on a red
background, which country might that belong to? Better not to be too rash
and say that it is the flag of the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, for
that would be misunderstanding the true nature of what has happened. In the
newly "independent" state of Kosovo, the people celebrating on the streets
were waving the flag of another country. This was the flag of Albania!
The declaration of the "independence" of Kosovo is, first and foremost, a
vast step forward for one of the pet projects of the U.S. in the Balkans,
the creation of a "Greater Albania." This fact is so tangible, so concrete
that when Martti Ahtisaari, the Special Envoy of the United Nations (UN), in
a report he submitted in spring 2007 after two years of negotiations between
Kosovo and Serbia had reached a deadlock, recommended the "independence" of
Kosovo, he had to qualify this by a special formula, "supervised
independence." And against what would the "independence" of Kosovo be
"supervised"? Why, the first precondition that Ahtisaari had to propose was
to rule out unification with Albania! The mere imposition of this
qualification demonstrates, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the real
aspiration of the Albanians of Kosovo (and of the U.S.) is the creation of a
"Greater Albania" through unification with the present state of Albania.
Hence, the "independence" of Kosovo is sham independence.
And who is supposed to "supervise" the "independence" of Kosovo? The answer
to this question gives us the second dimension of Kosovo’s "independence."
It is a well-known fact that, after the seventy four-day air strikes
inflicted on the former Yugoslavia by NATO, Kosovo was delivered to the
civilian rule of UNMIK (the UN Kosovo Mission) and the military control of
KFOR (the Kosovo Peace Force). According to the terms of the resolution
adopted by the UN after the termination of the Kosovo War, Kosovo was to
remain Serbian territory, but was also to be converted into a "UN
protectorate." This was a legal formula that was permeated with
contradiction, since the status of "protectorate" is an entirely colonial
status and to declare a territory that is under the sovereignty of an
independent state (the former Yugoslavia and today’s successor state of
Serbia) a colonial belonging defies logic.
The "independence" granted today to Kosovo removes this contradiction,
making it thereby a straightforward colony, one under multilateral rule. The
initiative regarding the declaration of "independence" does not belong to
Hashim Thaci, the leader of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army become
prime minister in January this year, but Ahtisaari on behalf of the UN. It
is a travesty to pretend that Thaci is a "hero." Imperialism has offered
"independence" to the KLA on a golden platter. Today Kosovo is controlled by
17 thousand NATO troops. It is being delivered to the rule of the EU, which
will be sending an additional force of 1800 to police the territory.
"Independence" on the force of arms of others is sham independence!
The real historic significance of this sham independence resides in this,
that the U.S. and the EU have, through the Kosovo War, forcibly wrested a
part of Serbia away from the country! (It would not be futile to remind EU
fanatics that, in contrast to the Iraq War of 2003 for instance, all the big
EU countries were comrades in arms with the USA, and even led, the Kosovo
war.) The 1999 war was fought on the declared grounds of stopping the cruel
treatment and ethnic cleansing the Albanians of Kosovo were suffering at the
hands of Milosevic. But the final outcome nine years later demonstrates that
the real aim was to carry to its conclusion the dismemberment of Yugoslavia.
"Operation independence Kosovo" is but the belated consummation of the
forcible destruction of Yugoslavia in the years 1991 to 1999.
A clear understanding regarding the aims of this imperialistic policy is of
paramount importance. To start with, the Balkans are the South-western tip
of Eurasia, an immense region that has come up for grabs as a result of the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the other degenerated workers’ states in
Europe between 1989 and 1992. It was imperative for imperialism to prevent
the survival of a state (Federal Yugoslavia) that had the capacity of
obstructing imperialist plans in the Balkans. The dismemberment of
Yugoslavia was the most violent form that capitalist restoration took in
this historical period. Secondly, for the smooth implementation of EU plans
to annex central and Eastern Europe, it was necessary to carve Federal
Yugoslavia into mini-states and subsequently to destroy the historically
strong identity of the Balkans through the imposition of the concept of
"Southeast Europe." The so-called <http://www.stabilitypact.org/>
"Southeast Europe Stability Pact" (of which Turkey is such an ardent
protagonist) is a product of this operation. Third, the Albanians were
promoted as a special ally of the USA. Albania has today become the
stronghold of reaction and pro-imperialist policies, as well as the Balkan
centre of trafficking in drugs and prostitution. The project of "Greater
Albania" is a U.S. initiative, developed as a counterweight to the
preponderance of the Southern Slavs in the Balkans. Today Albania and Kosovo
seem to embody the two heads of the eagle on the Albanian flag. Tomorrow,
the eagle may become triple-headed, with the Albanians of Macedonia joining
the band wagon. The "independence" of Kosovo should be situated in this
overall picture.
The Albanians of Kosovo seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of secession
from Serbia. Would it not be appropriate under these circumstances, it might
be asked, for internationalists to support this "independence" on the basis
of the right of nations to self-determination? The specific evolution of
Kosovo history and the existence of a project to establish a "Greater
Albania" complicate matters. Before it came under Ottoman domination in the
wake of the notorious Kosovo War of 1399, Kosovo used to be the historic
centre of Serbia. It was only towards the end of the 19th century that
Albanians became the majority in this territory as a result of the ethnic
cleansing of the Serbs under Ottoman colonial policy and the support
extended by the Empire to Islamised Albanians as against the Serbs. Add to
this the fact that Albanians already wield a state that neighbours the
Serbian state. Under these circumstances the national question in Kosovo
overlaps with that of the quest of one state to expand its territory (and
population) at the expense of another. Beyond the plain and simple principle
of the right of nations to self-determination, we see here a struggle for
power between two sovereign states. But all these arguments pale beside the
fact that the status accorded to Kosovo today has nothing to do with
"independence." A new colony is born. How long the status of protectorate
will last is totally unforeseeable, given the policy of imperialism in the
Balkans.
That Turkey should have recognised the "independence" of Kosovo immediately,
on the same day as the U.S. and the larger states of the EU, and this
despite its own Kurdish question and its fears regarding the Kurdistan
Regional Government in Iraq, has certainly nothing to do with respect for
the rights of oppressed nations. The ruling classes of Turkey have made it a
principle to serve the policies of imperialism, and of U.S. imperialism in
particular, in the region of Eurasia, as long as these do not come into
direct conflict with its own interests as in the case of the Kurdish
question. The Eurasia policy of Turkey, pursued since Özal established it in
1991, has taken the form of military support to all kinds of imperialist
endeavours (Somali, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc.)
During the Kosovo War, Turkish bombers poured death over the Serbian people
arm in arm with the air forces of imperialist powers, three military air
strips were allocated to imperialist fighter jets (but were not ultimately
used because the war ended earlier than predicted), and the supposedly
nationalist prime minister Ecevit declared, in the early stages of the war,
that Turkey was prepared for land combat. The recognition of the
"independence" of Kosovo implies that Turkey continues to play the game of
imperialism and is directly connected to the agreement of 5 November 2007
between Bush and Erdogan related to the bombing of Kurdish (PKK) targets in
Northern Iraq. Given the oppression of the Serbs by the Turks and the role
they played under the Ottoman Empire in the forcible Islamisation of Kosovo,
this policy becomes all the more shameless.
Sungur Savran is editor of the newspaper Isci Mucadelesi (Workers' Struggle)
in Istanbul, Turkey (www.iscimucadelesi.net <http://www.iscimucadelesi.net/>
).
