UNMIK ON AIR

5^th November 2003

KOSOVO FROM BELGRADE PERSPECTIVE

By Zoran CULAFIC

Kosovo is back on the agenda and the international community is trying to make a balanced approach in getting the two major parts to start a dialogue. No problem could be solved if there is lack of readiness to talk and most surely no progress will be made if people do not understand each other.

Hello and welcome to this edition of UNMIK on Air

Do Serbia & Montenegro and Kosovo understand each other, do Kosovo Albanians and Serbs understand what is the main discord between them. We went to Belgrade and talked to three prominent editors there and the common answer was – Kosovo Albanians and Serbs do not understand each other.

Antonela Riha, is editor in chief at B92 Radio.

Antonela Riha: My feeling is that not only they do not know each other, thus not understand each other, but also there is no wish on both sides to get more familiar in that sense. I realized it while I worked in Kosovo, but also here looking at my colleagues from the Belgrade media. They never asked the question, for example, why Albanians begun an upraising, why? And I think that many awful things had happen to us just because we did not ask that right questions.

Miroslav Kos is the editor in chief of the Belgrade based weekly magazine “Blic News”; he believes that the Kosovo issue was a field for political manipulations for a long time, and even today still is. Miroslav thinks that Political elites, both in Pristina and Belgrade, do misuse the issue to antagonize two communities even more. Miroslav.

Miroslav Kos: I think that from both sides they are establishing a gap and antagonizing both communities., despite saying the opposite in the public. I believe that some kind of conflict between the two people, in this case Albanians and Serbs, still fits the intentions of both political elites.

The problem is, as it seems to Antonela Riha, that people do not wish to know each other better.

Antonela Riha: An ordinary citizen of Serbia does not know much about Kosovo. He or she feels about Kosovo through some metaphors of a Serbian cradle, through some myths … I think that also Albanians in Kosovo do not understand the situation in Serbia, they do not realize what is going on here. Often I have a feeling that they do not understand that there is no more Milosevic here; At the same time I think that Serbs do not know Albanians, not only in the field of politics but also the culture or any other field … But, my main impression is – that on both sides there exists no desire to know each other.

Yet, are people in Serbia still interested in Kosovo and vice versa? Do they understand the issue having in mind that the media coverage is mainly focused on incidents, but very rarely on the positive efforts to establish a multiethnic and democratic environment?

Antonela Riha agrees that K-Albanians were real victims of Milosevic regime, but she was disappointed by the fact that after the war there were very rare cases of civil society condemnation for crimes that happened against Serbs and other non-Albanians.

Despite repression in Serbia during the Milosevic regime, there were many individuals and intellectuals who did voice quite loudly their protest against the then Belgrade policy in the region, Antonela Riha said and added.

Antonela Riha: I was disappointed that someone who was a victim for such a long period, who knows well what repression is and what suffering it; but they do not recognize it when the word is about some other people. The fact is that after the war non-Albanians become victims and I was disappointed that there was no real response; especially from Albanian intellectuals who should have acted very strongly and clearly to condemn what had happened to Serbs and other non-Albanians

Antonela Riha: In contrast to Kosovo today, in Serbia during Milosevic’s regime there were some very strong movements who did point out what the Serbian state was doing to others. That’s what is not existing in Kosovo and that is disappointing me. I know a number of people who I could have expected to condemn it clearly. Also, I think that amongst K-Albanian actual political elite there are some people who should be tried, as so their acts during the conflict should be cleared out so one could see if they are they really as innocent as they pretend to introduce themselves today.

The huge responsibility for all the bad things that happened and that are still happening to Balkan people lies not only on the political leaders but also on the journalists, stresses Slaven Kranjc. There will be no progress in this region unless every side faces the truth once and for all, and sometimes the truth could hurt.

Slaven Kranjc: Journalists bear responsibility. Moreover, I do believe that the main guilt for all what happened during these last ten years or more lies on journalists themselves. None can convince me that such strong hatred existed before in the level we’ve witnessed. People behave according to the information they get through mass media. So, journalists did a really bad job and I do hope that now they can help in making the things batter. Professional journalism could help a lot in making people understand their own position better, and by that to accept the reality.

That was Slaven Jkranjc from RTS closing this edition of UNMIK on Air. We also heard Antonela Riha from B92 Radio, and Miroslav Kos from Blic news magazine. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.