The Indivisibility of Kosovo: Principle of International Law <http://www.newkosovareport.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=65 4> PDF <http://www.newkosovareport.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6 54&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=101> Print <http://www.newkosovareport.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform &id=654&itemid=101> E-mail Sunday, 24 February 2008 Following the proclamation of Kosova´s formal independence, many have focused on the attitude of the small Serb minority in the new country. The Serb populations do not want to recognize the existence of their new country, and have already manifested in violent manner. Centered around Mitrovica, Kosova´s Serbs deployed already a great number of efforts to show their discontentment. If they continue reacting, attacking the UNFOR, creating tensions in the border area, and threatening the regional stability, a major problem can be created. At the epicenter of the Kosova´s Serbs´ claims one finds a very mistaken equation, namely that of the Kosovars, becoming independent from Serbia, with the Kosova´s Serbs, who unjustly and dishonestly want to secede from Kosova. In this article, we will analyze the reasons for which Kosova´s Serbs have no right to secession from Kosova. Mitrovica Serbs do not constitute a Nation. National independence is the privilege of peoples, ethnic-linguistic groups, eventually religious groups that make a significant part of a nation. But national independence cannot be accorded to various populations that are an insignificant part of their own nation, except for historical and major political reasons. Kosovars (ca. 2 m people) represent a sizeable part of the Albanian nation; Albania itself, the metropolis of the world´s Albanians, totals merely 3.6 m people. Kosova Albanians form ca. 40% of the population of the two countries combined. Even if we compare Kosova Albanians to the total number of population of the Albanian nation (ca. 8 – 8.5 m), we realize that Kosova Albanians constitute one fourth (1/4) of the Albanian nation. However, Mitrovica Serbs consist in a minimal part of the Serb nation (ca. 1.5%). This makes their case very questionable. Small Population: not an Obstacle in the Path of Independence In fact, it´s not the total number of the Mitrovica Serbs (ca. 140000) that is small, and cannot make up a new nation. Certainly, there are already many countries, fully accredited UN member states, with smaller population. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is slighter larger than the Mitrovica Serbs in terms of population; and it should be formally recognized as well. The Mitrovica Serbs are larger in terms of population than Tonga, Kiribati, Aruba, Grenada, Seychelles, Andorra, Greenland, Antigua, Bermuda, Lichtenstein and many other micro-states. Fore more details: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119ra nk.html Small Part of the Country to Split from: Not an Obstacle It´s not the Mitrovica Serbs´ proportion among Kosova´s total population (6.3%) that is small, and cannot justify a secession. If we were to apply this principle, Estonia should still be a part of Russia. In fact, the seceding part´s proportion among the entire country´s population matters not, as we cannot accept that a larger nation should invade, occupy, annex, permanently rule, eventually tyrannize, and progressively exterminate a smaller ethnic group. As all human beings are equal with respect to their civil rights, all nations are equal when it comes to their pledge for independence, freedom, and national self-determination. Smaller nation in terms of population does not imply lesser degree of independence, freedom and/or international significance. Small Part of a Nation, Seceding from Another State It´s Mitrovica Serbs´ proportion among the entire Serb nation (ca. 9.5 m people) that is minimal. This is a factor that we should take into consideration along with many other aspects of the problem. Taken alone, the proportion of a population among the entire nation where it belongs does not consist in a barrier in our consideration of that population´s right to self-determination. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is again a convincing example; compared to Turkey (75 m people), the Turkish Cypriots (200000 people) are an infinitesimal part; yet, their pledge to statehood and self-determination is fully understandable and reasonable. Why? Because there are other, additional, reasons involved. When the proportion of a population seceding from a country is minimal among the nation to which this population belongs, there must be other more important reasons to consider. What these reasons can possibly be? They are mainly of historical and political nature. To evaluate the situation, Justice, Equity, and Impartiality must prevail. Historical Reasons against the Case of the Mitrovica Serbs This is a very delicate subject that can be easily misunderstood because many peoples and establishments believe in and diffuse falsified versions of History. One should not deduce that these falsifications are colossal of character; they are slight differences in the beginning, but when the political use of them is made, when the popular sentimentalism colours them accordingly, and the nationalistic phraseology is added, they become absolutely explosive. At times, a historical falsification may simply be determined insistence on one page of History, and intentional oblivion of another. More precisely, when the Serbs characterize Kosova as their ´Jerusalem´, they simply focus on the late 14th century (so, 600 years ago), they make of that period a historical myth, and they forget that before 100 years (and ever since) Albanians constituted the majority of Kosova´s inhabitants. In fact, the Serbian historicity of Kosova had ended long before Serbian armies invaded Kosova and other lands during the First Balkan War (1912). Once the historicity of a nation´s presence in a certain land is terminated, there is no turning back. Lebanon cannot possibly demand political control over Tunisia, because Phoenicians founded Carthage before 2800 years. Italians have no right on Morocco´s territory, despite the fact that for many long centuries most of today´s Moroccan territory belonged to the Roman Empire. In an earlier article under the title ´The Historical Victory of Kosova´, we demanded that claims on terminated historicity be penalized at an international level, as they mostly threaten the world peace. But when can we assert that a certain aspect historicity has terminated in a specific country, and when can we affirm that present developments are consequences of a still present past? It all hinges on peoples (diachronically viewed as nations) and states; it pertains to parallel evaluation of a people´s presence on a territory (History of Civilizations) and to the history of the states (Political History). In the case of the Mitrovica Serbs, the problem is precisely double; not only they reject historical developments pertaining to the presence of Albanian majority on a territory that was Serbian before 600 or 500 years, but they also avoid to thoroughly analyze the Political History of Modern Balkans (over the past 200 years). Political History of the Balkan Peninsula clearly demonstrates that the Mitrovica Serbs´ claims are totally irrelevant. Mitrovica and the northern part of Kosova did not belong to Serbia for many centuries because simply Serbia did not exist. 1. Foreign involvement When foreign, anti-Ottoman, interests (mainly Russian, French and Austrian-Hungarian) managed to create an autonomous Serbian principality (in 1804 and 1815), Serbia was a very small territory around Belgrade; independence was rather nominal, despite the Hatisherif (1830) and the First Serbian Constitution (1835). The last Ottoman soldiers left in 1867, and formal independence came in 1878 (Congress of Berlin). In fact, Serbia became a tool of colonization of Ottoman territories in Northern Balkans. The Serbian principality and kingdom barely represent a local, popular demand for independence and self-determination. We can plainly understand this, if we only study the perfect synchronization of the supposed Serbian rebellions and the Russian – Ottoman wars! We cannot afford anymore to take seriously the nationalistic pseudo-history taught in the Serbian schools as reality. The completion of the foreign involvement took the form of Balkan Wars, a purely colonial enterprise that intended to destroy the Ottoman empire through a coordination of the anti-Ottoman efforts of Russia, France, England, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania. However, for the entire period 1804 – 1912, the entire province of Kosova was Ottoman territory, and according to demographics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kosovo), it became progressively a more and more predominantly Albanian territory. The reason is simple. 2. Voluntary Serbian abandonment of their supposed ´Jerusalem´ Contrarily to the nationalistic trash that today´s Serb politicians, diplomats, pseudo-academia and bogus-intellectuals may diffuse, during the 19th century, the past did not play an important role in Serbian politics. What did exercise a major impact on the Serbian political life then was the anti-Ottoman Serbian colonialism that became the driving force of the Belgrade chauvinist purposes, discourses and acts. That ominous factor attracted Serb population to Belgrade, as the center of the political decisions was there. For a Serb of Mitrovica, Ottoman citizen in the 1860s and the 1900s, Belgrade was the correct place to be, as from there Serbs would expand against Austria – Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. One has to realize as early as possible that for everything there is a price in this world; the treacherous attitude of the Serbian speaking populations of Kosova, who defected their country (Ottoman Empire) in order to find fast success in Belgrade, rendered the Kosova Serbs a tiny and insignificant minority in their own ´Jerusalem´. Of course, there is another dimension that Serbs voluntarily ignore; the departure of these Kosova Serbs reflects the controversy between Muslim Serbs and Orthodox Christian Serbs, as the Serb nation was divided into Muslims and Christians. By imposing a tyrannical, intolerant, and discriminatory Christian Orthodox regime in Belgrade, the Serbian principality alienated the Serb Muslims, who were therefore permanently lost (Bosnians) and assimilated with Turks and/or Albanians. This is an additional proof that the small 19th century Serbian state was not a genuine result of national uprising and desire for self-determination. It was a fake. 3. Serbian Invasion of Kosova in 1912: Colonial Occupation This is the most critical historical development that successively monarchs, communists, and pseudo-republicans in Belgrade wanted always to forget; the same concerns today the Serbs of Mitrovica. The overwhelming majority of Kosova´s population did not accept these colonial events triggered with the support of France, Russia, and England in 1912. The expansion of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro through Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire did not correspond to the political wish of the local populations that were predominantly of Albanian (in the west), Macedonian (in the central part of the 1912 occupied territories) and Turkish (in the east). The Balkan wars 1912 – 3 were one of Europe´s bleakest pages of History, involving hundreds of thousands of inhumanly murdered populations, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced populations, ethnic cleansing, intentional genocide, and incredibly tyrannical attitudes practiced against ancient nations that did not correspond to the ominous machinations of the Apostate Freemasonic lodge and the Anglo-French delirium against the Ottoman empire. In fact, the first great victory for the Kosovar Albanians dates back in the aftermath of WW I, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians planned an aggressive re-serbization of Kosova, but failed to implement it. It was pathetic and ludicrous for the Serbs to imagine that they won in the Balkan wars. In fact, they were left with a time bomb in their hands and it was a matter of time until it explodes and destroys them. The explosion did not start in 1991; in fact, it has not yet started. It is up to the Serbs and their skills of reasoning to avoid further deterioration of the lamentable position in which they find themselves today. If they insist on the Mitrovica secession, Voivodina will – finally and deservedly – explode, and even worse, the incredible Sanjak volcano will terminate the existence of the Serb nation, as the entire Serb nation will be identified as the anti-Islamic nation par excellence in 2008. To imagine that you can avoid to pay the consequences of your own acts is political foolishness. The Serbs never had the opportunity to realize that all Serbian dreams for expansion beyond the limits of the tiny Serbian kingdom of the 1880s were utter expansionism and unjustified claims that, if materialized (as they were), would trigger oppression, tyranny and discrimination of the Slovenians, the Croatians, the Bosnians, the Macedonians, the Hungarians, the Turks, and the Albanians. It was gloomy for the Albanians of Mitrovica in 1912, when they found themselves detached from their own state, the Ottoman Empire, without their will, so it will be gloomy for the Serbs of Mitrovica in 2008, when they will find themselves detached from the state they had mistakenly supposed to belong, namely Serbia. In fact, Serbia´s southern borderline is far in the north of Mitrovica. Instead of repeatedly stating their adherence to Serbia, the Serbs of Mitrovica should come to terms with the fact that Serbian rule was never accepted in the territories occupied by Serbia after 1912, and that Serbia was never invested with legitimacy in its long - but illegitimate - presence in Kosova. In this regard, it becomes comical to find pro-Serbian literature in Greek portals (http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_world_2_24/02/2008_260533) under the illuminative title "Together and separately for an entire century"; in fact, for an entire century, the Albanians of Kosova were never asked. And it becomes dangerous for Greece to tolerate comments by neo-Nazi elements like the incorrigibly ignorant and biased Thanos Veremis (http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_world_100068_24/02/2008_260530 ), who portrays the Great Moment of the Liberation of Kosova as mere "American and Russian Games in the Balkans". One wonders how, in a EU member states, supposedly referential analysts and professors have heard nothing about the modern democracies´ fundamental ideals and principles, particularly that of National Independence. Except, for the irrelevant Thanos Veremis the Albanians of Kosova are Untermenschen. To complete the dangerous slip-up, Thanasis Tegopoulos, the owner of the supposedly progressive, left-of-center daily Eleftherotypia, expands on a biased approach, saying that Kosova´s independence, if in another place and at another time, could be taken as an expression of a people´s self-determination (http://www.enet.gr/online/online_text/c=110,id=12050856)! This is the epitome of partiality and duplicity. This guy does not understand that values exist above times and places, and either you abide by humanist and democratic principles or you contribute to totalitarian choices and policies. By referring to territorial integrity, this folkloric figure of the Greek journalism simply contributes to confusion; territorial integrity in itself is not an ideal. It becomes an ideal, if the democratically organized state does not oppress the various existing national minorities. If this occurs, territorial integrity has to be broken to pieces, and the oppressed peoples have to get liberated, and achieve national independence. 4. Mitrovica: an Administrative Non-Entity Mitrovica Serbs seem to forget the unpleasant reality that Mitrovica was never accorded any particular status within the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Federal People´s Republic of Yugoslavia. Mitrovica was just part of the territory of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosova from 1946 until 1989. Whereas we have a long documentation about the Kosovars´ continuous rebellion and strife for independence (the Kachak resistance movement in the period between the two World Wars), we never noticed the slightest opposition of the Mitrovica Serbs to Kosova´s special status. When the nationalist and chauvinist Serbs tried to reject the national claim of Kosovars, they constantly presented as argument the different status Kosova and Voivodina had if compared to Bosnia, Macedonia, Croatia, and Slovenia (Autonomous Province instead of People´s Republic). This argument now turns against them. Kosova was an autonomous province well demarcated from other parts of Yugoslavia; Mitrovica never existed as entity with borderlines, and it should never exist in the future. Kosova cannot be divided. Even more importantly, Kosova´s indivisibility should become a principle of the International Law. In a forthcoming article, we will focus on the political reasons against the case of the Mitrovica Serbs. By <http://www.buzzle.com/authors.asp?author=973> Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
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