KOSOVO: ENCOURAGING SEPARATISM AND THE RIGHT FOR SELF-IDENTIFICATION

“What do we want to do, bring back the old process? It is impossible.”
– Eugen Saraini, Kosovo

The declaration this year that the Serbian autonomous province of Kosovo would now be known as the Republic of Kosovo sent a shudder across the world from as diverse countries as Argentina, with concerns over the Falkland Islands, to China with both Tibet and Uigher elements making known a desire for their own autonomy.

 The Kosovo question, in the words of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev during his opening remarks at the 7th annual EAMF, presents a major global issue. He said the world was again facing the challenge of separatism, which is causing a real crisis in international law.  “Events in Kosovo and Tibet immediately became part of the set of tools used in the global geopolitical struggle,” he said.

 The leading world nations needed to take resolute action to come up with new forms of international cooperation, which could stabilise the global economy and overcome the lack of balance in the world, the President said.

 During Session 2 of the EAMF this year, discussions covered a range of opinion with several delegates expressing a call like that of now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia, who has said that international law should prevail. But many players have different attitudes.  Nenad Pejic, Associate Director of Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe , Czech Republic quoted a  US journalist as saying “Everyone in ex-Yugoslavia is watching the same movie but they all entered the cinema at different times.”

 The actual situation in Kosovo as the conference was held remained clouded with the UN Security Council divided on a future path, notably Russia and China withholding recognition of the newly declared republic. Indeed, they were joined by a majority of all members of the United Nations. Many have their own concerns regarding local areas seeking autonomy or outright separation, as indeed they might.

 The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), based in the Hague, has a membership of 69 entities seeking self-determination and representation. Immediately after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February,  UNPO issued a statement saying that "for regions in similar conditions, Kosovo’s independence represents new hope for the future of their own potential statehood."

 Formally, the UN administers Kosovo through the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). It has supported creation of a self-governing entity. Meanwhile,  a European Union law and order mission is this year assuming much of the role of the UN group – just how much is still undetermined. Serbia rejects the new republic, as does Russia.

 Delegates recognized that the May elections in Serbia would have an effect on process, but not necessarily in a definitive way given the unresolved status of world recognition. That said, at least one of the divided political factions in Serbia leans more strongly toward improved western relations.

 A middle way broached during the EAMF discussion by Veran Matic, President of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Serbian broadcaster B92, would see the Balkan nations pulled into the European Union.

 “I am in favor of a strategy, of the EU stepping up its measures to embrace countries in the region,” he said. “It will erase the notion of borders in the region while countries can still maintain national identity.”

 It was a view echoed by the sole voice from Kosovo on the panel, Eugin Saracini, a TV producer,  who said “What do we want to do, bring back the old process? It is impossible. The rest of the Balkans must be allowed into Europe. Allow Serbia to become a real democratic country – if not, then we really fail.” He added that  recognition is not only a matter of solidarity with Albanians, but it could be a big factor in the stabilization of all the Balkans and even all of Europe.

 But the wider issue of how a declaration of independence is recognized by the world’s nations raised considerable concern. “The Kosovo case puts us all in a very difficult situation, “ said Lev Dzugayev, Assistant to the Head of the Russian Federal Press and Mass Communications Agency and former Deputy Head of Administration and Head of Press Service for the President of North Ossetia-Alania Republic. “Russia is bound to protect its interests,” he added.

 This view was echoed from the floor by Mikhail Leontiyev, Anchorman of "Odnako" on Russia’s Channel One, who said:  “Putin has said we will be insisting on international law principles, but if someone should push Kosovo forward we must protect our interests.”

 The conundrum in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has many facets. “How does Kosovo affect areas in Russia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transdnistria, South Ossetia?” asked Sergey Markedonov, Head of the Division of Ethnic Relations, Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Russia. He noted that all of these, and more,  had been established as problems before the Kosovo issue ever came up. But, he added, “Kosovo now becomes the grounds for legitimacy for separation” in the eyes of those seeking autonomy elsewhere in one form or another.

 Those matters will play out as they will, but back on the ground, the people who live in Kosovo have a less worldly, more personal view, according to Eugen Saraini.

 ”It was very difficult to be part of what happened in the eighties and nineties; it was very painful for the citizens of Kosovo,” he said. “People today are focused on how to survive, how to find a job, how to be part of Europe, which was not the question 15 or 20 years ago.”