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Sona Avagyan

Ramadan Ilazi: "Kosovo's functionality of the state is not at question just because Kosovo is not recognized by all countries"

It will be beneficial for Serbia to recognize that it has already lost Kosovo and to spare its citizens from the constant psychological burden of thinking "what are we going to do with Kosovo." Ramadan Ilazi, Executive Director of the Speak-Up Movement, a Kosovo NGO, expressed such an opinion during an interview with Hetq.

"I don't think it will be a time for Kosovo to be a part of Serbia. It's unreal. But I do not think Serbia will recognize Kosovo any time soon. It is better for Serbia to have Kosovo as a good neighbor. It's not in the interest of Serbia to have troubled Kosovo and any attempts to regain control in Kosovo will mean problems not just for Serbia but for the Balkans," Ramadan Ilazi said.

On February 17, 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. Ramadan participated in the celebrations and says it was a very good day for everyone. He is sure that any rational person realizes that Kosovo cannot go back to Serbia. Even politicians in Serbia realize this. But they don't speak about it publicly because otherwise they will lose votes: the Serbian Radical Party is the second-largest party in the Serbian Parliament and the Liberal Democratic Party, which recognizes Kosovo's independence, has only about 6% of the votes.

Children in Serbia are still taught at schools that "Kosovo is a land of Serbia, the cornerstone of Serbian culture", which Ramadan Ilazi knows is not historically accurate.

"There are historical facts proving that it was not Albanians who came to the Balkans, we were there, descendants, historically speaking now. And now if you grow a generation to believe that a part of you was taken away and we are criminals and stuff like this, then you are not going to have a society who is open to tolerance, to new ideas," Ramadan Ilazi said.

In his words the same is true about Kosovo, where schools are teaching some hate lessons towards other nations, including Serbia. He agrees that teaching hatred must be stopped simultaneously in both Serbia and Kosovo, but at the same time says: "I think speaking openly, it is Serbia who started the Balkan wars and they need to take the lead in reconciliation, because like after the WWII we didn't see Germany with its head high for what it did. It stepped down, it apologized."

In Ramadan Ilazi's opinion the fact that many counties don't recognize Kosovo means something in terms that Kosovo is seen as weak. For Kosovo, it's very important to get recognition from the 5 European Union countries which haven't yet recognized the country, as well as from Russia and China. If all EU member countries recognize Kosovo and it enters EU, the time will come when all countries will have no choice but to recognize Kosovo since they recognize the European Union.

"If these countries recognize us, then we need not worry about more recognition because even now our functionality as a state is not at question just because we are not recognized by all countries. We are operating as a state," the executive director of Speak-Up Movement said.

He says that after independence people in Kosovo are motivated to work and to help build the country since before it was hard to live in no-man's land. "Of course our independence did not bring a 1 million Euro check for every citizen, but I think it brings a psychological effect that people now have a country," he says.

After independence people were disappointed because they believed it would bring more changes. Now Kosovo faces big problems - corruption, organized crime and high government officials enriching themselves via irregular methods. The Speak-Up Movement campaigns against corruption in Kosovo.

Ramadan Ilazi emphasizes that people in Kosovo are disappointed not with independence, but with their leaders and the way they are handling problems.

Kosovo has a population of 1.7 million of which 88% are Albanians. Albanians also comprise 92 % of Albania's population of 3.2 million. The Kosovo political party called the Self-Determination Movement, which came in third in the last 2010 Kosovo parliamentary elections winning 12.7% of the votes, has a project of Kosovo's unification with Albania.

The Self-Determination Movement argues that unification will be beneficial from the point of view of economy, as well as "we are one ethnicity; it makes no sense to live in two countries."

Ramadan Ilazi is not in favor of unification and says the polls show that most Albanians of Kosovo are also opposed to it, not because they don't like Albania but because there is no practical need now to be unified.

He says that during Milosevic regime reign there were constant mechanisms of discrimination against Kosovo Albanians, they were even not allowed to express their national identity; to hang their flag atop of their buildings.

"This all climaxed in 97-99, when people mobilized to oppose the Milosevic regime. There was war in Kosovo and around 20,000 people were killed and one million were displaced from Kosovo. When we faced this kind of situation, we said, "We want to be united as Albania". That was the only way we would be free," the executive director of NGO says.

Ramadan Ilazi says that now when the Kosovo Albanians have all their rights and no fear, the need of unification is minimised even though economically there could be benefits from unification because the market would become more attractive for foreign companies.

In the case of Kosovo, no less important is that it is a potential EU candidate, like Albania and Serbia. Ramadan Ilazi says that if you have a European integration agenda, you can not simultaneously have an agenda like unification. Moreover, when you enter the Europen Union and Schengen Zone the concept of borders diminishes.

Ramadan Ilazi believes that Serbia doesn't have the option of opposing Kosovo's independence because at one point it will have to choose between European Union and Kosovo. And he thinks that Serbia will choose European Union.

"People in today's world, especially in Europe's countries, are more interested about welfare than anything else. Today everybody wants to join the EU not because they like to be neighbors with another country but maybe because this is the formula for prosperity, peace, growth, development; for everything," Ramadan Ilazi says.

On a human level, Kosovo is now united with Albania to a certain degree. Kosovo's TV channels are being transmitted to Albania and Albanian channels are being transmitted to Kosovo. The governments of Kosovo and Albania are talking about unifying the textbooks at schools.

1st photo: Albanians celebrating the third anniversary of Kosovo's independence, Prishtina, 17 Feb. 2011 (flickr.com)

Comments (3)

Onnik K.
Kosovo is a Serbian land, being the heart of the religious and culteral identity of the Serbian nation. It is by the connivance of the West that it was given to Muslim Albanians. Sooner or later Serbians will regain their land.
friendsofkosova
Serbia show their true colours every time, in the hatred they have for Albanians. Let the world not forget the ethnic cleansing and the thousands of innocent people they butchered, tortured and killed. They are inhuman.
a.t.ozymandias
Kosova is a non-functional mafia state. It should not be recognized by any country. Imperial nation-building should have gone away with the steam engine. Albanians, now free, have cleansed the country of its minorities, except in the North. The Albanians operate with impunity. The only standard they have met for a society is the criminality standard. This unilateral border fiasco is just another glaring example of how Albanians abuse the West's gift of blood and tax dollars. The West needs to require the Albanians to meet standards for a society before Serbia or any other country recognizes them. Independent Kosova is a Western disgrace when looked at from a civilian standpoint. Only the Imperial powers and their satellites see it otherwise. Of course, they saw their colonies in the same way hundreds of years ago. The Albanians still have not apologized for serving Hitler. Some still post Hilter's picture in their establishments.

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