Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
EDITORIAL
by VETON SURROI
In 1989, in Gazimestan, the President of Serbia delivered his famous speech in front of the
gathered masses, intoxicated by nationalism, to whom he said that Serbia would be facing
future conflicts, and in which he didn't exclude the chances of an armed conflict. Then, many
of us understood the meaning of his words. Two years later, this became clear to the whole
world, with the terrifying images of the war in Croatia and Bosnia. The former - and present -
criminal code could have served as grounds for indicting the Serbian president for inciting an
armed conflict.
And, despite the fact that I don't wish further good health to the Serbian president (to say the
least), I also wouldn't wish to see him standing trial for the political speech he delivered at
Gazimestan. If standing trial, why not The Hague and the War Tribunal for Crimes against
Humanity, where his key role for the realization of the Gazimestan speech, should be proven.
This is where, more or less, a thick dividing line between the Albanian and Serbian politics is
drawn.
Last week, who knows what time in a row, this division became obvious with the new
Serbian trial against 18 Albanians accused of terrorism.
As many things that identify the Serbian regime, even the trial got tragic and comical
dimensions with the insistence of the public prosecutor that the main incriminating proof of
their terrorist activity was LKÇK's pamphlet "Çlirimi" and its distribution.
The ridiculousness of the accusation on the distribution became obvious with the partial
publication of "Çlirimi" by KOHA Ditore; parts of a publication that came to our editorial
board's offices through the Serbian post-office. There is no need to elaborate on how
grotesque is the accusation that someone is a terrorist if he/she advocates the armed struggle
in Kosova.
In fact, no one can explain anything to the actual concept of Serbian politics: there is a
dividing civilizing wall. To tell it that political debate is not an act of violence is futile,
because violence is politics to the Serbian regime. To tell it that the distribution of a
photocopied pamphlet is not an illegal act, is difficult to a regime that can't understand that
The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by Veton
Surroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Koha
soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the
name of Koha Ditorë. W ith the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on
http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.
-1-
the world has entered the Internet, where there are no more publishers and distributors, where
there are no more borders between the users of the information.
Moreover, it is a relict of both fascism and communism to insist on the use of violence and
physical torture in order to extract an admission from the accused. It is almost crazy to put on
trial people who admit that they don't recognize the "territorial integrity" of the accusing state.
Yes. This is what the majority of the Kosovars said in the 1992 Referendum. Why are 18 of
them set aside, when another two million think the same? The trial, as a result of a totalitarian
bear in hibernation, doesn't recognize these logical categories.
And the Albanians? To them, this is another proof of the regression of the Serbian regime.
But, at the same time, it is also one of the most serious warnings to the Albanian political
leadership so far.
The Albanian society, tolerant, as it has been during this decade full of violence, has entered
the phase of debate where armed resistance is evermore mentioned. And, although the
possibility to discuss even about such topics shows the strength of a society, this also reveals
the evermore unstable balance that once used to lean exclusively on the side of those that
promised everything and have not much to show as a success.
INTERVIEW
KOHA: We have been asking you for an interview since three years
ago. You gave interviews to several other newspapers and
magazines, but this is the first interview you speak to KOHA. Why
these reserves?
HYSENI: You couldn't say that I was not present in pages of your
magazine. If you insist, I may have had some justified reserves
toward the magazine and especially because of some anonymous
writings in which people were offended with or without a reason.
But this can’t influence my stand towards the magazine and it’s
editorial board.
KOHA: Five days ago, president Rugova prolonged the elections for
another six months. You, as a MP, as vice-chairman of the largest
party, are also responsible for such a decision, taking in
consideration that you are influential within the LDK.
-2-
also in favor of the organization of new presidential,
parliamentarian and local elections, when due and as described in
the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova. The truth is that
this stand was always dominant among the other members of the
Parliament and of the LDK Presidency, the Main Board and in the
meetings with the representatives of the party branches. In the
meantime, some initiatives for the constitution and functioning
of the Parliament came. But this was not done. By decision of the
President of the Republic, the elections were prolonged again,
passing by the Parliament, which should have decided about the
elections. Let me remind you that the decision made one year ago
for the postponement of the elections and for the prolongation of
the mandate of the MPs, was justifiable and in a way, it was
conditioned by the constitution of the Parliament and it’s
functioning. I can not understand why was it acted thus in regard
to the first Parliament of the Republic of Kosova, with the
highest institution of the new authorities of the independent
Kosova. Whatever the reason, I can't justify it. I consider that
this is a big mistake. The responsibility...is implied. We are
responsible not only when we do something that we shouldn't have
done, but also when we don't do something that we should have
done. The Parliament was one of those that should have been done.
Even in times of Rankovic, Kosova had its Parliament. Kosova
should have and will have it's Parliament no matter the solution
for Kosova. The constitution of the parliament was demanded by
our people, by MPs, but also by time and by the interest of
Kosova. Why not do it then? The action taken is justified by some
pressures and suggestions, but, it's forgotten that some
international support and resolutions in favor of the functioning
of the Parliament existed too. Then, it seems, that another
important fact is forgotten: pressures and suggestions are made
not only to delay the elections but also to participate in the
Serbian elections and to join the Serbian parliament. No! With
such redraws and hesitations in these matters that should not be
object of dispute and discussions, the pressures of Serbia and
it's friends and those of our friends, which sometimes can be not
so right or can be a result only of impressions that we cause
with our postures, will become more unpleasant and more
unaccepted. You know, traffic accidents happen even when the car
stops without any need and especially when hesitations exist.
KOHA: Six years have passed since you were elected MP. As a MP,
did you accomplish the given pledge, and do you feel any
responsibility towards the people that voted for you?
-3-
electoral game and were organize for some political and
propaganda effect. Others, voters in first place are those who
will judge my stand. I can say that, generally, I have
represented stands, feelings and opinions of my voters. I
defended their interest and their will, but, I can not be
satisfied with what we have accomplished, with it's quality.
KOHA: For the postponement of the elections, you used the Third
(constitutional) Amendment. The party whose vice-chairman you are
decided this. Can you tell your voters what was the real reason
for the postponement of the elections?
HYSENI: We don't remain silent always, but also things we say are
not always taken in consideration. President Rugova made this
decision as the President of the Republic. Time will tell if this
was a right decision or not.
-4-
to the decision of the President of the Republic. Strange! There
is a certain group of people fearing from ties, from the unity of
our political subjects and influential personalities and who
enjoy the separations and confrontations among them.
KOHA: Those who speak about the relations in the LDK, consider
you as a person who plays a double role in it. They say your
spirit belongs to the PPK, but you are physically member of the
LDK. Often your were declared "undesirable" in the party whose
vice-chairman you are, do you think you have enough influence in
the LDK, especially when concerning some strange relations inside
of it?
HYSENI: Yes, and it's good that people keep writing and talking,
because I believe that thus they reveal the source of nasty
tricks played in the Kosovar political life. I see the
Parliamentarian Party and other parties as participants of the
united front of efforts for freedom and independence, and not as
a rival or enemy of the LDK. If I would belong spiritually to the
PPK, I would join it physically too. Who keeps me from going
there? Before I became engaged in the LDK, I was offered a high
post in the PPK.
I do not exclude that there are people in the LDK who consider me
"undesirable", and I feel this and I read this every day in their
postures, but this can't influence my stand toward the LDK, or my
stand toward them. Kosova needs a joint engagement even of those
who don't love each other much.
I am sorry to say it, but these people are very few in LDK. In
the LDK Convention and in the Main Board both, I got the biggest
number of votes.
KOHA: Let's say that there are three groups within the LDK. The
first one is led by Fehmi Agani and Edita Tahiri, the second one
by you and the third one by representatives of Bujar Bukoshi.
Where does Hyseni find himself in this political chaos?
HYSENI: Let's say that this is the truth, even it is not the
exact truth. I always wanted, and many times, even if I was
harmed, I made efforts to be a body and not a group in the LDK or
-5-
in our national and democratic movement. A body, a broad body, a
well organized and active body. To accomplish this, sometimes you
are forced to step over yourself and become a bridge that is
stepped by others. This is not easy, and in our conditions it is
not seen well either.
KOHA: Rumors say you have bad relations with the Secretary for
Foreign Relations, Edita Tahiri. It is because of her continuous
travelling abroad, they say.
KOHA: New York was your first meeting with the Serbs in a round
table. Before you came back, Kornblum visited Prishtinë. You are
familiar with statements of the EU and US on Kosova. In every
press conference, President Rugova keeps repeating: "the
independence is supported and sympathies for it grow every day".
You were the first to hear directly the American opinion on
Kosova. Where you informed before about the American stand or did
you constantly believe what President Rugova said on the support
of the independence from international community?
HYSENI: It's certain that direct contacts help you understand the
whole truth. And the truth on the international position of
Kosova and it's issue. I do not agree with making the picture
prettier by exaggerating the understanding and the support for
the Kosova question, but I do not agree with the other extreme
also. The truth is somewhere in the middle. The stand of the USA,
EU and other international factors toward Kosova isn't one and it
isn't defined, it's not a static stand. It depends much on what
we do and what we don't do.
I worked, I work and I will work with all my forces not to allow
this to happen to Kosova. Will this happen or not depends on many
factors...
-6-
KOHA: Will your resignation be enough, if after pressure the
status of Kosova in this Yugoslavia is accepted? This, having in
mind that you have been carrying on the politics together with
Rugova and Agani?
HYSENI: I don’t like when issues are personalized. And here, the
general issues are getting personalized and the personal issues
are becoming general. It’s not important what will happen with
some person, but what will happen with Kosova, with it’s children
and their future.
HYSENI: The Albanian communists made many mistakes, and they can
and should be criticized for that, but the whole responsibility
for the reoccupation of Kosova and other Albanian lands after
World War II, cannot be blamed on them. It was influenced by many
other internal and external reasons.
-7-
and the youth of Kosova do not allow a new national treason. It
is not 1945 and it can’t ever come back.
-8-
KOSOVA
“For more than 50 years Kosova has been facing Serbian terrorism,
political crime, killings and political trials”, it is said in
the Government’s statement. Further on, it says that `it has been
a long time since the Serbian regime, time after time and for
already known aims, frames-up political trials, either for
internal reasons or for international consumption. Belgrade has
always tried to stigmatize our movement as terrorist movement,
says the statement adding that, for this reason, the regime was
obliged to invent enemies in order to punish them.
A case like this comes following the criticism that happened not
only in the LDK-Government relations, but also after the
criticism that lately came from UÇK and LKÇK. UÇK with its
concrete “call” to the Albanian people, asked to stop paying the
3 % contribution for the Government. Likewise, LKÇK, in its
-9-
recent bulletin “Çlirimi” (Liberation) dedicated it's main
editorial to the exiled Albanians, asking them “Whose Government
is this?. The Kosova Government, can’t, but also is not trying to
achieve its duties based on it’s competencies”, says LKÇK's
“Çlirimi”.
Harsh and public criticism erupting now and directed against the
Government or the leading political structures in Kosova; the
Government’s criticism against the actual political course; the
mutual criticism, seem to start opening a new season of political
approach in Kosova and around it. This comes precisely in times
when a situation, characterized as stalemate, is actual. And it
comes immediately following the announcement on the postponement
of the elections. And no matter whether the elections are
postponed upon the “friendly advise” or upon the “unreadiness for
sacrifices”, or upon any other reason, this kind of situation
definitely has caused a unbalance that opened the door to
criticism, analyses and reevaluations. Here, criticism within the
LDK structures should be included too, as was the case with the
BBC “duel”, between two of the vice-chairmen of the LDK, Hydajet
Hyseni and Fehmi Agani. In their pronunciations, they declared
diametrically opposite things, so much opposite that the average
Kosovars have difficulties to understand whether we are still
talking of the officials of one same party?
KOSOVA
- 10 -
session, when the “arbiter” himself breached the main principle
of criminal procedure.
During the time when (formally) the verbal delict doesn't exist
and when the public word is defined as free, 20 Albanians are
accused (their chances to be released are small) of a crime based
on proofs that don’t offer any revealing elements. Even
Zdravkovic considered the proofs as "little to go on with".
- 11 -
According to such a logic, say observers, all independent
journalists who express their opinion freely should be arrested.
So, “rubber batons and electric sticks” remain the main “aces” of
the public prosecutor.
KOSOVA
- 12 -
this institution were presented in this meeting, attended by all
chairmen of the municipal Educational Councils and the
Educational Adviser to president Rugova, Zejnullah Rrahmani.
Osmani, who has been very much present in the pages of our
newspapers in the past days, stated that "the documentation on
the income and expenses of LASH can be presented for control only
to the competent organ, in this case, the State Control
Commission. "The revision of these documents cannot be done by
individuals or different clans", he said. It took almost an hour
to present the data. In the first year the Albanian education
started working in 1992/93, Osmani said that "the gross income
was 77.318 DEM and 2.220 CHF, and the expenses, according to his
documents, were 73.700 DEM and 2.200 CHF". LASH's chairman,
Rexhep Osmani, continued reporting about 1994, noting that "the
gross income for this year was 82.770 DEM and 32.020 CHF, and
that 81.251 DEM and 32.020 CHF were spent. In 1995, the income
was 100.525 DEM and the expenses 98.437 DEM".
After presenting the documents that Osmani used to, in way, deny
Vokrri's accusations, the meeting continued. The chairmen of the
municipal Educational Councils discussed the situation of
education in Kosova. The most worrying for them, was the lack of
these kind of meetings in the past. According to them, "it is
very hard to ask the people to pay their contributions, now when
a man like Abdullah Vokrri comes in public with a accusation of
abuse of the funds". Some of the participants even criticized the
newspapers for publishing these accusations.
- 13 -
answer to all media. I'm already working on it" said Vokrri.
Otherwise, during the meeting, journalists were not allowed to
ask any questions. However, Osmani announced that he will hold a
press-conference in which they could "ask questions as many
questions as they want".
INTERVIEW
- 14 -
that would lead the country to the new elections, it was again a
fluid agreement, a compromise agreement which, despite the
intervention of the mediators, didn't manage to clarify its
second point - the future electoral system. And again, Berisha
and his party started interpreting this political contact and
its second point as it pleased them, and in a very deceptive
way, in Fino's absence, they didn't present his draft electoral
law to the Parliament. Rather, they presented a draft elaborated
by Arbnori and Spahia which would later be adopted by the
Democratic Party MPs. We have a Parliament used to be
manipulated, an assembly full of unconscious people and are being
used by Berisha as puppets.
MILO: The two main things that we dispute in regard to this law
go in two directions. The first one regards the electoral system
and the second one has to do with the administration of the
electoral process.
- 15 -
international guarantees, first of all the OSCE, that should
prepare the electoral infrastructure, starting from the voting
boxes, minutes, the electoral lists and polling stations.
- 16 -
parties that belong to our spectre.
MILO: Albania, not only now, but in the future too needs to be
governed by a broad political basis. Albania is missing political
and democratic culture. Albanians and the majority of the
political class have no idea on how to respect the legitimate
winner. They don't know what is loyal and democratic opposition.
Albanians, historically, are used to think about the political
opponent was an enemy and not an opponent. Taking this as
starting point, I believe that the next government must be a
coalition made up of at least three to four parties. No single
political force could hold the power for a long time, for this
would be an experiment that would again lead us to anticipated
elections.
- 17 -
MACEDONIA
- 18 -