News | Serbian Unity Congress

July 20, 2007 on 4:18 am | In Kosovo & Metohija, News in English |

Many Albanians who write me claim that they just want to be “free” finally, that “we are fighting for our freedom” by severing Kosovo from Serbia, and that this is what Bush is supporting and this is all very American. But if the goal is, as they claim, simply an independent Kosovo (as opposed to a unified Greater Albania), how does one explain the Kosovars’ attachment to the Albanian flag:

Kosovo Confused Amid Efforts to Choose a New Flag
Kosovars say future flag will represent their state, while Albania keeps their allegiance.

“I wouldn’t use the Kosovo flag in my wedding, even if I would be the one to design it,” said Besnik Nuli, a graphic designer from Mitrovica.

Nuli plans to enter an international competition to design Kosovo’s future flag and emblem. But he said whatever the designs will be, it will represent Kosovo’s government, not the national feeling of Kosovo’s 90 percent ethnic Albanian population. Instead, their hearts will beat faster for the flag of neighbouring Albania.

Most of Kosovo’s Albanians will apparently see the new flag as a standard sought by the international community. They say they are willing to accept a Kosovo state flag, but that will not change their feelings for what they consider their true national flag.
…
Elbunit Krasniqi, a graphic designer from Pristina, also plans to enter a design in the contest. But he said for him the work will be detached from any feelings.

“I am applying because of the money,” Krasniqi said. “However, it will be hard to design a proper proposal, due to the strict criteria…I would use a light green background and a toilet sign,” jokes Krasniqi. “That’s a proposal that would fit the [multi-ethnic/Euro-oriented] criteria.”
…
For Krasniqi it doesn’t matter how the future Kosovo flag will look. “I will still use the Albanian national flag, the one with black double-headed eagle and the red background,” he says.

My favorite part of the article: “According to Ahtisaari’s plan, Kosovo should have national symbols that will reflect its multi-ethnic character.” In that case, a purely Albanian flag would do it. As this recent editorial attests:

“Reunification” of all Albanian lands “necessity” - Albanian paper
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - July 3, 2007 Tuesday
Text of report by Albanian newspaper Ballkan on 2 July
[Commentary by Mona Agrigoro: “Slav and Greek Deceptions Are Being Refuted”]

Milosovski is just as ludicrous when he tries to separate the question of the Albanians of Kosova from that of the Albanians of Macedonia. There is no question of the Albanians of Macedonia, or the Albanians of Serbia, or the Albanians of Northern Highlands, or the Albanians of Greece, or the Albanians of Montenegro! There is only the question of the Albanians, as an indivisible nation whose liberation and reunification into a national Albanian state in the Balkans has become a necessity of the time if ever we want the Balkans to lose once for all time its powder keg appellation and if ever we want to have peace, security, and stability in Europe, which can be achieved only with the establishment of ethnic states, such as ethnic Albania, ethnic Bulgaria, ethnic Greece, and - why not? - ethnic Serbia.

Yes, this writer has just called for Greece and Serbia to ethnically cleanse their non-Greek and non-Serb populations.

One has to at least appreciate the writer’s consistent application of the supremacist standard that she allows for Albanians. It’s certainly a contrast to the double standards of the international community - America at the helm - which makes up the Balkan rules as it goes along and allows separatism and ethnic cleansing for every Balkan player at the expense of the Serbs.

Related posts:

• Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo: An Abbreviated History, Richard Jansen (Colorado State University)
• Alerts rise for Jihadi attacks in the Balkans, Serbianna
• The Chains That Bind: Constitutions, then and now, antiwar.com (Nebojsa Malic)
• Security concerns in the Southern Balkans, Serbianna (Ioannis Michaletos)
• Sacrificing Karadzic for Western acceptance, Globe and Mail