Returns as the way ahead

Fr. Sava (Janjic) Creating conditions to allow the return of Kosovo's displaced citizens, especially non-Albanians, is one of the most serious challenges facing Kosovo today. Three years after the end of the war more than 280,000 citizens of Kosovo, mostly Serbs and Roma, still remain displaced in Serbia proper and in Montenegro, while an additional number of citizens is locally displaced in Kosovo, mostly within Serb enclaves. The remaining Serb population, moreover, as well as smaller non-Albanian communities are still lacking basic human rights and freedoms despite the presence of UNMIK and KFOR. They mostly live within their protected enclaves without free access to essential public services. In certain areas of Kosovo a word in Serbian may be enough to get someone shot on the spot. The Serbian Orthodox Church in particular is facing many examples of open hostility and vandalism from Kosovo Albanians, most of whom are (at least nominally) Muslims. Christian cemeteries are still being desecrated while more than 100 Serb churches, destroyed after the war, remain in ruins. In short, freedom in Kosovo has not yet come for all its citizens. Indeed, at the moment Kosovo retains the dubious distinction of having the highest level of ethnic and religious discrimination in Europe. In the past three years, the UN Mission in Kosovo has not done enough to create necessary conditions for returns. Immediately after the war extremists were allowed to persecute non-Albanians openly. Many homes and holy sites were destroyed and dozens of people were killed or abducted. These were serious mistakes that must now be rectified. The fact that Kosovo Serbs today can only live in safety and dignity within their enclaves is not a result of their self-isolation but of the prevailing intolerance that still exists on all levels of Albanian society. Kosovo Albanians tend to justify such hostility as a consequence of the war, but the fact is that similar acts of intolerance were witnessed even in the 1980s. Now as before, Kosovo Albanian youths often throw rocks at the nuns in the Pec Monastery. Their threats to burn down the monastery are especially menacing, because the monastery suffered an arson attack in 1981. Visitors to other Serb holy places are regularly exposed to vulgarities. Even Serbian clergy were killed after the war; Father Hariton's body was found beheaded and mutilated. Such behaviour tarnishes Kosovo's image in the eyes of the world and reduces its perpetrators to the same level as the former regime. Those who prey on the weak humiliate themselves, not their victims. This is especially true in the case of Serbian Orthodox monasteries, such as Decani, that offered refuge to Kosovo Albanians during the war. Bishop Artemije has repeatedly expressed regret for the suffering of Albanians. He condemned every act of violence, publicly condemning the Milosevic regime. But no Kosovo Albanian leader has ever publicly criticised the KLA, which is widely held responsible for post-war attacks on non-Albanian communities. Kosovo Albanian leaders must take the lead in working to change the mentality of "collective blood revenge". The claim that "criminals cannot return" is an attempt to make arbitrary extra-judicial decisions. In practice this allows Kosovo Albanians the right to call anyone they dislike "a criminal". This mentality has to change and a modern judicial system must replace tribal laws. Only this will show that Kosovo is truly moving towards democracy and freedom. Kosovo can never become truly multi-ethnic unless all its citizens are granted the same rights. Unfortunately, today many think that democratic rule means the repression of the minority by the majority. The right of displaced Kosovans, primarily Serbs and Romas, to return to their homes should not depend on the goodwill of the majority population; it is a fundamental right acknowledged by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and by UNSC Resolution 1244. Integration of all Kosovan communities, regardless of their ethnicity and religion, will be possible only if everyone understands that the new Kosovo cannot belong to any single ethnic group. Kosovo is the home of holy sites and traditions belonging to different religious and ethnic groups and it should remain as such in future. Repudiating Kosovo's centuries-old mosaic by retailoring history could only serve to perpetuate division and discord. The propagation of a mono-ethnic myth would cement Kosovo's internal divisions for years to come. Europe does not need a new ethnic Albanian or Serb state in the Balkans. Integration based on equal respect for all ethnic traditions, languages, religions and cultural monuments is the only model that could bring Kosovo back to the fold of European civilisation where it belongs. Multi-ethnicity cannot exist as long as there are ethnic enclaves. But enclaves will continue to exist as long as there is no integration on the basis of full and unbiased respect for human rights. The leading role in this process belongs to Kosovo's Albanian community, which is in the most favourable position to dictate the dynamics of this process. At the same time, non-Albanian communities should contribute by participating in Kosovo institutions and public services, wherever it is possible. The return of displaced Kosovans to their homes remains the most important benchmark for the future of the region. If we can achieve progress in this field, we will have good reason to believe that Kosovo is moving towards democracy and the adoption of other European norms. If, on the other hand, Kosovo continues its slide toward mono-ethnicity, it will increasingly become an isolated island with the mainstream of European democratic and cultural development rushing past it.

Adem Demaçi Coexistence, integration and returns: these are old issues, which at the same time, unfortunately, remain all too current. I recall a line from my 1958 novel Bloodthirsty Vipers: "The brave are not those who pull the trigger to commit a crime, but those who extend the hand of reconciliation." Though conditions for Kosovo's minority communities remain far from what they should be, it must also be said that they have improved dramatically over the past three years and continue to do so every day. Nowadays in Pristina, one sees cars with Serbian plates quite often. It has become less unusual to hear Serbian being spoken on the city's streets. Serbs have been coming into the centre of Gjilan to sell their produce at a multi-ethnic market. The new Government includes a Serb as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development and a Ministerial Co-ordinator for Returns, and there is an adviser on returns in the office of the SRSG. Perhaps most importantly, Hashim Thaci and PM Bajram Rexhepi have made encouraging statements supporting returns and endorsing the vision of Kosovo as a cultural mosaic. This is the sort of leadership that has long been lacking - and we need still more of it. The source of the world's conflicts is fundamentally spiritual. Since the moment man became alienated from his spiritual essence and oriented toward objects, people, beliefs, ideologies and egoistic interests, his pure human consciousness began to deform. Since man stopped thinking with his just and unerring heart and his sense of calculation became dominant, destructive conflicts of interest appeared among people. How are we to remedy this tragic situation? Surely we must purify individual and collective human consciousness. But how? Shall we use violence, assuming the role of murderous avenging angels, like the Khmer Rouge or the Taliban? Most emphatically not! The entire bloody history of mankind proves that violence can never cleanse, but only adds more filth to the collective conscience and perpetuates the cycle of injustice and retribution. Understanding that coercion is not an option, then, what alternatives are there? The only sure and healthy course is education. Not education based on preaching about abstract ethical principals, that's for sure. To be persuasive, our moralizing must enumerate the practical advantages of adhering to this simple formula: "Don't wish anything on others that you wouldn't wish for yourself; Don't do something to the others that you wouldn't want done to yourself." Who, then, should make this case? Those who are stronger and bigger. This maxim applies to groups as well as to individuals. By virtue of their strength and numbers, it is the leaders of Kosovo's Albanian majority who now have the greatest duty to be magnanimous and lead by example. It should be clear that everyone without exception has the right to return to his or her home and land. Even those who committed crimes have the right to return if they are ready to face legal prosecution. Whoever opposes their right to return, opposes his or her own right to live in his or her own home. Those Albanians who oppose the exercise of the right of return must have some criminal motives. By the same token, those Serbs who oppose the right of the expelled Albanians must also have criminal motives. If this right is opposed by the Serb state, it must be out of some fascist political motives. There are voices on both sides, Albanian and Serbian, claiming that peaceful coexistence is impossible. Kosovo's experience during five centuries of Ottoman rule, however, demonstrates the contrary. It was the discriminatory and destructive policies of Serb-dominated regimes toward Albanians and non-Serbs that destroyed the basis of coexistence. Despite that, every time those Serb regimes have signaled a readiness for coexistence on a basis of equality, Albanians have never hesitated to co-operate with Serbs. That was the case during wars against the Ottomans and Fascist invaders. But after these wars it always emerged that Albanians had been deceived. Now, when a democratic Kosovo is being built, coexistence will become a real possibility. Who is against coexistence from the Albanian side? Those who suffer from a distorted consciousness and seek revenge. Who is against coexistence on the Serb side? Those who committed crimes against Albanians and others. Those who enjoyed the privileges of belonging to the dominant group. Those who because of their distorted consciousness cannot imagine living with Albanians as equals. Integration means balanced and functional integrity. Such a situation never existed in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia and especially in Kosovo. The imposition of integration by force, first by the fascist regime and then by the communist regime, proved not merely fruitless, but ended with wars and horrible human tragedies. Despite continuing instability in Kosovo, there is now a possibility for this territory to become organically integrated. This means a unity of its citizens based on their support for ethnic diversity, and an ethnic diversity committed to social integrity. The majority of Albanians support this vision with the condition that the final political status of Kosovo be decided on the basis of the political will of Kosovo's people. Despite popular support for multi-ethnicity and integration, some serious obstacles remain. The hegemonic appetites of a few Belgrade circles represent very serious impediments. Other contradictory interests toward Kosovo - regional, continental and global - likewise confuse and undermine Kosovans' commitment to pluralism. All those who truly want to move forward in Kosovo must abandon anachronistic fantasies and embrace Kosovo's new realities - which includes its centuries-old tradition of diversity.

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