CEVRO INSTITUT

KOSOVO: The
Background of the
Conflict

Conflict Regions in the Current World

Stefan Mijailović
May 2017
Introduction

This paper aims to provide the reader with the fundamental information of the newest
European (semi)independent country – Kosovo. Let us first note the distinction
regarding the name: historically and according to the constitution of Serbia, this region
is known as Kosovo and Metohija1 (officially autonomous province within Serbia), while
the Albanian version denotes it as Kosova. In order to prevent any confusion, the
internationally accepted version Kosovo will be used.

To show the proper background to the conflict, we will briefly dig deeper into medieval
history. Myth of both the heroism and martyrdom of Serbian army of (Saint) Knez Lazar 2
and his fellowmen began with the battle against the Ottoman Empire at Kosovo Polje in
13893. Both Ottoman and Serbian rulers were dead at the end of the battle, and it
marked the beginning of the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans and losing the
independence for Serbia. It also meant huge immigration of Serbs and other Slavic
people from Kosovo to the north, i. e. to Habsburg Empire. This abandoned land was
settled mostly by Albanians in the next centuries, changing the demographic structure
completely.

Map 1: Migration from the Ottoman Empire to the North (red circle represents territory of
Kosovo)

1
The purpose of the preface of the Constituion was to acknowledge that Kosovo and Metohija is still the
inseparable part of Serbia, even though FR Yugoslavia lost de facto sovereignty over Kosovo in 1999.
Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, English version:
http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=191258 (Accessed: 10.5.2017)
2
More on the myth of Kosovo Battle and the curse of Prince Lazar:
http://soi.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/soi/article/view/8045/7219 (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
3
Briefly explained on Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Kosovo-1389-
Balkans (Accessed: 10.5.2017)
The territory of Kosovo remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the First Balkan War
which ended in 1913. when Kingdom of Serbia and Kingdom of Montenegro liberated its
medieval core heart of the country – Kosovo and Metohija. Serbian Orthodox Church
managed to keep its autonomy within the Ottoman Empire, staying in the numerous
churches and monasteries, which are today part of UNESCO World Heritage4.
Unfortunately, there are no precise data on ethnical structure of Kosovo before this war,
but some high ranked Austrian and German officials estimated it roughly 40:40 between
Albanian and Serbs. Demographic situation continues to change in the 20th century for
three times:

1. Colonization of Serbs from passive regions of Yugoslavia in 20s and 30s (roughly
60.000 people)
2. Colonization of Albanians from Albania during the WW2 (150-200.000)
3. Emigration of Albanians from Albania for economic reasons to Socialist
Yugoslavia (roughly 40.000)

These forced demographic changes only intensified inter-ethnical hatred and

intolerance between Albanians and Serbs, which wasn’t new, but actually began with
islamization of Albanians during the Ottoman rule, which gave them privileges of getting
along with the majority rulers, unlike Serbs. The formation of independent Albanian
country in 1912 over the territories that Serbia and Montenegro won in the war against
Ottomans, made the intolerance between nations deeper. Combined with poor economic
situation and really low literacy among the most of population, the intolerance was only
increasing. When we add crimes committed by Albanians in two world wars, which were
fighting on the side of the enemy (Germany and Italy) both times, it is not hard to
imagine that peaceful coexistence is not sustainable.

Kosovo in socialist Yugoslavia

The situation drastically improved for the Albanians in Kosovo after the WW2. They
were recognized as one of the minorities and Kosovo got the status of Socialist
Autonomous Province within Socialist Republic of Serbia. However, it remained one of
the poorest regions in Yugoslavia, despite more than generous investment from the
4
Another dispute between Serbian and Kosovo’s authorities and UNESCO was how to denote these
monasteries, even though they obviously belong to Serbian Orthodox Church, but in the end they are declared
as Medieval Monasteries in Kosovo: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/724 (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
Federal Funds for Underdeveloped Regions. Under the dictatorship of Yugoslav
Communist Party, no one could challenge any of the policies or promote nationalism,
since all people were supposed to live in brotherhood and unity (Bratstvo i jedinstvo)5.
This is the period of relatively peaceful coexistence among two major ethnic groups, but
as we will see, it was only a façade.

First public demonstration in Kosovo took place at Priština University in 1981, only the
year after Josip Broz Tito’s death, when students showed their discontent with the poor
situation in the dormitories, and then spread throughout Kosovo demanding the status
of seventh Yugoslav republic for Kosovo6. It was the first time of public representation of
nationalist feelings of Albanians, and therefore special police troops were sent to Kosovo
to stop the protests. Most of the Kosovo Communist Party leaders were expelled, as well
as the professors and students at the University. First battle was lost, but the long war
for independence has only just begun.

In the following years, situation was becoming more and more tense. Ethnic intolerance
was increasing, followed by daily attacks on Serbs and their property, particularly in the
villages surrounded by Albanians. Slobodan Milošević, at the time president of Central
Committee of Serbian Communist Party, latter president of Serbia (1989-1997) and
Yugoslavia (1997-2000), was sent to Kosovo in 1987 to talk to local Serbs, since they
were complaining about violent Albanian police beating them. His political career rose
with the infamous sentence Niko ne sme da vas bije! (No one can beat you!), in his speech
to the local Serbs. Two years later, on the 600th anniversary of Kosovo Battle, now as the
president of the Presidency of SR Serbia, Milošević gave another speech, which many
saw as the beginning of the nationalist policy of Serbia in the following decade.

Six centuries later, now, we are being again engaged in battles and are facing battles. They
are not armed battles, although such things cannot be excluded yet. However, regardless of
what kind of battles they are, they cannot be won without resolve, bravery, and sacrifice,
without the noble qualities that were present here in the field of Kosovo in the days past. Our
chief battle now concerns implementing the economic, political, cultural, and general social
prosperity, finding a quicker and more successful approach to a civilization in which people
will live in the 21st century

5
Mesić, Stipe. The Demise of Yugoslavia: A Political Memoir. Central European University Press,
2004.
6
More about the protests, by Momčilo Pavlović: http://www.transconflict.com/2013/04/1981-
demonstrations-in-kosovo-264/ (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
Earlier that year, by changing the constitution of SR Serbia, the autonomy of both
provinces (which was de facto the level of federal republics by the Constitution from
1974), Vojvodina and Kosovo, was brought to the lower level, in order to prevent them
from separation and to put them under the control of the authorities in Belgrade.

Map 2: Ethnical structure of Kosovo in 1991

War for Independence

The separatist movement remained calm in the years of wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Croatia, and focused rather on getting the support from abroad. First military
conflicts began in 1996, when the Kosovo Liberation Army7, considered as a terrorist

7
More on the KLA: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kosovo-Liberation-Army (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
group, constantly kept attacking official policemen (mostly Serbian) and police stations,
primarily in the smaller towns. In the next two years these attacks are spreading
throughout the province, which led to the real war between the KLA and regular police
and army of Yugoslavia. Horrible war crimes were committed on both sides, including
crimes against humanity including murder, forcible transfer, deportation, and
persecution on political, racial or religious grounds, with more than 10.000 murdered
civilians (roughly 8.000 Albanians and 2.000 Serbs)8. International Criminal Tribunal for
former Yugoslavia9 failed to bring to justice all responsible for war crimes, together with
the local courts in Serbia and Kosovo.

After the war has started, NATO was threatening of bombing of Yugoslavia, if Milošević
doesn’t remove the army and police from Kosovo and stops the humanitarian
catastrophe. By humanitarian catastrophe they meant more than 800.000 Albanian
refugees during the war, which fled to Albania (but mostly came back after the war has
ended). Peace negotiations were organized in Rambouillet, France between the leaders
of Yugoslavia and Kosovo in order to come up with the peaceful solution and end the
war. Since they couldn’t reach an agreement, Yugoslavia later denied the deployment of
NATO forces in Kosovo, which led to the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO, without the
consent of Security Council of the UN. Operation Allied Force began in March 1999 and it
was considered as the controversial use of force against the sovereignty of an
independent country, but brought the Kosovo war to the end. By signing Kumanovo
Treaty, Milošević accepted to remove the army and police from Kosovo and to allow
NATO to deploy its forces on the ground. The governance of the Kosovo was give to the
United Nations, until two sides reach the peaceful agreement on the future status.
Resolution 1244 of the Security Council of the UN10 confirmed de iure sovereignty over
Kosovo by Yugoslavia, which was the main argument for the position of
Yugoslavia/Serbia in the future negotiations against the independence of its southern
province.

Further wave of violence was organized pogrom against the Serb population that has
remained in Kosovo in March 2004, when more than 20 people were murdered, and
8
According to Kosovo Memory Book 1998-2000:
http://www.kosovskaknjigapamcenja.org/?page_id=29&lang=de (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
9
ICTY: http://www.icty.org/en (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
10
See the full text of the resolution here: https://documents-dds-
ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N99/172/89/PDF/N9917289.pdf?OpenElement (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
many churches and monasteries were demolished11. The purpose of this pogrom was to
motivate remaining Serbs to leave Kosovo, until there’s no one to oppose the
independence of Kosovo.

Another set of negotiations failed, when the authorities in Belgrade and Priština under
the supervision of the United Nation again couldn’t make an agreement, since Serbia
didn’t want to accept any form of independence.

In February 2008 the government in Priština unilaterally proclaimed independence,

which has been recognized by 114 out of 193 UN member states so far. The newborn
country is negotiating with the European Union (EU) about the path towards joining the
Union, but has failed about getting the membership in the UN.

Authorities in Belgrade and Priština have signed the so-called Brussels Agreement in
2013 in order to solve some of the daily-life problems for the citizens of Kosovo, without
the negotiations of status – even though it has been seen as a step towards the
recognition of independence by Serbia itself.

Conclusion

No matter if you regard it as a part of Serbia or an independent country, Kosovo remains

one of the poorest countries with serious problems of corruption, organized criminal
and drug smuggling. In the recent years, it brought another problem to the list, i.e.
joining of terrorists from Kosovo to ISIL in Syria and Iraq, which has been among the
highest per capita in Europe12. The political situation remains unstable, as in the time of
writing this paper the government has collapsed, which has not been a rare situation in
this country.13

Comprehensive agreement between Serbia and Kosovo is required in order for the
region to stay peaceful and stable and in order to begin with serious reforms and
improvement of life of the citizens on both sides, once the question of status has closed
down.

11
BBC report on this pogrom: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3551571.stm (Accessed: 11.5.2017)
12
According to RFE: https://www.rferl.org/a/foreign-fighters-syria-iraq-is-isis-isil-infographic/26584940.html
(Accessed: 11.5.2017)
13
Government of Kosovo collapsed: https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-general-election-june-11/28480621.html
(Accessed: 110.5.2017)