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Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
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.
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of a special commission for the revision of all private real estate
contracts among members of different nationalities”. This is
exactly why the “old laws” approved following the “ruin of Kosova’s
autonomy” were again reactivated these days.
Since there are a lot of Albanians who have bought flats from Serbs
and Montenegrins without the ministry’s approval in the past years,
and they live in those flats, now a broad campaign against
Albanians has started. According to some sources, only in
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Prishtinë, 24 persons are waiting to serve their 60 days in prison.
Some 96 similar cases are known to have taken place in Prizren, and
for example in Klinë, tens of stores have been closed because “Serb
owners of this shops have rented them to Albanians, without the
ministry’s approval”. But, the issue stands on the fact that
“ministry doesn’t decide at all, or at least never decides
positively on Albanians' claims for giving the approval for the
pruchase or sale of properties”.
The strictness in the application of this law is seen even from the
fact that “Serbia’s Parliament has formed a special commission that
deals with the rigorous application of this law”.
MACEDONIA
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will the Government act, because it is well known that removing the
flag from Gostivar can't be done without problems.
On the other hand, the disputable flags are also found in other 23
municipalities in which Albanians hold the power. It is clear that
the whole problem appeared after the local elections and the
establishment of the local governments that didn't hesitate to
practice what was guaranteed by law even in the past system - the
use of their national flags. In the justification of the
Constitutional Court which has a political dimension, the Court
considers that the Government is obliged to enforce this decision.
This incited the reaction of the Prefect of Gostivar, Rufi Osmani,
who considers that this further deteriorates the anyways bad
relations between the nations.
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from the Gostivar Municipality as much as it can. If force is
applied, the losses will be big. And, the removing of the flags
that would later be guarded by the police, is not a good solution.
And, the police could spend all it's time doing precisely this.
The threat of "close encounters" is big. If the SDLM plays the role
of the "defender of the Macedonian nation and state", aiming at
saving it's own skin in the coming elections next year, it will
only accelerate the process of the events in the unwanted
direction.
INTERVIEW
KOHA: You are now leading Belgrade's newest daily, "Gradjanin". You
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switched a large number of newspapers, you were at the head of a TV
station, and you gave up the post of information minister of
Serbia... How would you portray the media situation at this present
time?
KOHA: Do you think that the middle class existed while Tito was
alive? There is an explanation according to which, it was generated
in order to provide a synthetic social balance...
TIJANIC: I think that all of the Yugoslav peoples had a very strong
middle class. I think that of all south and eastern European
countries - including Greece, and up to a point Turkey - Tito's
Yugoslavia had the strongest middle class, created with that
brilliant method, through which Tito was capable to keep the social
peace. All those foreign credits were split in two parts: half of
it was given to the state and was spent for the military plus other
huge representative objects - and the other half was given to the
people. In that time there were workers that owned cars, villas,
passports, that travelled worldwide; they were able to provide
education for their children in nearly any faculty. Workers'
children became doctors or engineers in short time and with ease.
That class, I think, could have turned into an embryo for
Yugoslavia's democratisation. But it dissolved easily into the
lowest possible level during the homogenising process of the
people, adapting to the everyday political standards and tasks, in
the struggle for the national question within the proper nation. It
was used and left aside through a "social counterrevolution" after
which, not the best, but the most able and unscrupulous became the
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social and material elite, while everybody else dropped to the
lowest level of social ranking.
KOHA: It seems as if you think that this is the ideal time for
another Tito...
TIJANIC: I'm going to say something that Serbs aren't going to like
that much, and that is the fact that they had a good life with
Tito. His whole personal guard was made up of Serb officers; his
assistants lived in Belgrade, he lived in Belgrade... Whether we
like it or not, we had a nice life during his reign.
TIJANIC: Not only towards anarchy, but also based on the "for
everything and everyone permit", it is the unscrupulous always
triumph, the ones that spread racism, that favor their nation
proclaiming it's historical or biological importance. And all this
always ends up with the defeat of all those that proclaim
tolerance, peace and real values of democracy. So, I think that
nowadays, Serbs think of Milosevic as a multi-party Tito, as a
national Tito.
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TIJANIC: Since we're talking about it, I don't think there many
problems that can't be solved. And I also think that there is no
acceptable solution (for both sides) of Kosova's issue. I
personally think that Kosova's issue began as an ideological issue
and not a national one - but having human rights in mind, the new
Albanian intelligentsia turned the ideological issue into a
national one, and in the end - with great skill turned the human
and national rights into aspirations and political aims! That was
done with great skill and Serbs were not able to oppose them
because of two reasons: first, because they underestimated the
international public's influence towards the events in Kosova, and,
secondly, because they underestimated the contacts that Albanian
youths set up in Europe and other parts of the world. So Serbs
didn't have a solution for that. They still don't have one. That's
how Albanians managed to make an issue of their question in front
of the whole world, without the solving of which, Serbia is bound
to have a very difficult time recommencing it's position in the
international community.
I don't see a way in which Serbia could solve Kosova's issue, since
it has already turned it into a territorial issue. Serbia couldn't
make the Albanians split into pro-Yugoslavs and nationalists; the
Albanian nation is one of the most compact nations in the Balkans,
never mind the small differences which they have between
themselves, they always seem to stick together...
KOHA: Kosova Albanians consider that such things, for decades now,
aren't guaranteed even in Kosova.
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Serbia, but also where they would be able to enjoy all human rights
guaranteed by the world... Even though if it comes to that point -
that I think would be very difficult - Serbs wouldn't be happy at
all with the Albanians' return to the Serbian state system, since
such a thing would change the very roots of the relation of forces
within Serbia, because Albanians would be there with one fourth of
the potential votes.
TIJANIC: Yes.
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KOHA: For a territory in which they wouldn't be willing to live in?
KOHA: Don't you think, among others, that such a thing is a deep
disrespect of the Dayton principles?
KOHA: Do you think that the long lasting winter protests in Serbia
boosted it's political viewpoints, in the aspect of understanding
the needs and the pragmatic Serbian inabilities, faced when with
the mythic geo-political differences?
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KOHA: Except maybe, the new capital city's mayor...
KOHA: Like a person who has worked for the media, what do you think
of the trials taking place in Kosova, and of people being sentenced
to ten years imprisonment for publishing a newspaper?
TIJANIC: I still think that there are written words that are
dangerous. Still, it's different if such a word brings punishment.
I'm not familiar with the trial, but I strongly oppose any
imprisonment of journalists, no matter whether they are Albanians
or Serbs. Even though, like I said before, there are some things
that, when written, can cause a real explosion, especially in a
place such as Kosova.
On the other hand, I think that Belgrade medias and other Serbian
associations keep an eye on the way that the events develop in
Kosova, I might add, that they are very objective too. Especially
when it comes to those that oppose war, on which I don't think
Albanians should object.
TIJANIC: Futile. I think that her aim was to make Milosevic hear
the American administration's tone, but she didn't accomplish
anything politically. She met Milosevic in his uttermost aggressive
mood, after the 99 days' protests when his position strengthened.
He has put Vucelic and his people back in their ranks, and is
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preparing for the elections which he will win, and he's also going
to get at least 1 billion dollars from the privatisation of the
post offices, he isn't interested in the foreign factor...
Milosevic speaks softly with the Americans only when the domestic
situation isn't good. He met Albright quietly, he didn't promise
anything, and walked her out - that was all. That was just a simple
visit that was not fruitful in a political or diplomatic sense, for
Americans or anybody else.
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