Balkan nation divided at birth
Monday, February 18, 2008


CELEBRATIONS:Kosovar children wearing national costumes wave US and Albanian flags as they stand on the roof of a car on the Albanian side of the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica.
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Kosovo declares its independence from Serbia, with Turks and Albanians joining in the celebrations, while the Serb minority in the new nation is quietly contemplating its future

Barçın Yinanç
PRIZREN, Kosovo Turkish Daily News


 Neither the freezing cold nor the sporadic snowfall kept Kosovo Albanians off the streets. To the contrary thousands of them have been taking to the streets since Friday in anticipation of the declaration of independence expected late yesterday afternoon.

    However, not everyone is in a festive mood. Serbs, the largest minority in the province, are obviously against breaking away from Serbia. Other minorities like Turks, believed to constitute between 1.5 and 2 percent of the two million Kosovars also have some concerns as there are suspicions to what degree Kosovo will succeed in surviving as a multi ethnic state. “Personally I believe independence will be good,” said İrfan Şekerci, president of the True Path Association (TPA) in Prizren, south of Kosovo, yesterday.

 The TPA's folklore dance group was finalizing its preparations yesterday morning to participate in the official festivities following the declaration of independence in Shadirvan square, right in front of the Sinan Pasha Mosque. But Şekerci confessed that there is a certain degree of concern among the Turks over the consequences of independence.  “Obviously there is fear from Albanian nationalism. But Kosovo will be under international monitoring. I believe ultra nationalists will not be given a say,” said Şekerci.

 The break away region from Serbia has been in a festive mood for days. Streets are decorated with Albanian flags, as the flag of the new state will not officially be in use until the declaration of independence. The double-headed eagle, on the Albanian flag is not the only figure dominating the streets in Kosovo. American and EU flags decorate not only the streets but also the windows of the shops as a token of gratitude.

 The United Nations has administered Kosovo since a U.S.-led NATO bombing in 1999 drove out Serb forces accused of persecuting the province's majority ethnic Albanians.

 Scores of drivers took to the streets in main towns like Pristina and Prizren honking their horns. Most cars had Albanian and U.S. flags. German and even Swiss flags could be seen in Prizren as these two countries have military contingents in KFOR, the NATO-led international force.

 With the exception of the flag hanging from the Sinan Pasha Mosque, an impressive legacy of Ottoman times, the small number of Turkish flags hardly visible among the others is especially striking in a city home to 10,000 Kosovar Turks. Turkish flags were hung in Prizren only Saturday afternoon after a warning from the celebration committee of the municipality, whose deputy mayor is from the Turkish community, the Turkish Daily News learned. This is all the more striking since Turkey's support for Kosovo's independence has been unequivocal. The new flag of Kosovo was made in Turkey, and brought to Kosovo yesterday by Turkish Airlines, learned the TDN. Turkey contributed to the KFOR since its inception. In fact, the Turkish unit based in Prizren assumed command of the KFOR in the south since May. The presence of Turkish troops has given a sense of security to Kosovar Turks. But they will leave one day.

  “There is a sense of uneasiness among Turks. Actually we have very good relations with the Albanians. We have the same religion, the same customs. But this also constitutes a danger since it means Albanization of Turks,” said journalist Raif Kirkul.  

 

 

Turkish as the lingua franca

 The Turkish community seems to enjoy relatively good relations with the Albanians. But it was not always the case especially in the recent past. Nowadays their first and foremost plight is to have Turkish accepted as the official language. They want back the rights they enjoyed under the 1974 constitution that recognizes Turkish as one of the three official languages in Kosovo. Turkish is the strongest characteristic that distinguishes the Turks from Albanians and thus the most important tool against natural assimilation, said Kirkul.

 Turkish was in a way “lingua franca” in Kosovo, as the region was part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. “Speaking Turkish used to be very prestigious in the past,” said Shkelzen Maliqi, editor of daily Express, an ethnic Albanian who speaks Turkish. Maliqi claimed there are at least 200,000 people in Kosovo who know Turkish. Some claim this number is around 300,000. This probably is also the result of mixed marriages between Albanians and Turks, a common phenomenon in Kosovo.  But marital ties together with religious affinity also had the effect of Albanization. Religion and mixed marriages are not however the only reason behind the natural assimilation. Albanian nationalism is also an important factor.

 

Uneasy relationship

 For years Kosovar Turks were caught between two nationalisms; one of the majority (Serbs in the federal state) and that of the major minority (Albanians). During socialist rule Turks enjoyed ample rights so that some experts even believe that the rights granted to them were disproportionate compared to the numerical strength of their population, a conscious policy of the socialist regime against the Albanians. The same policy continued during Milosevic's rule in the 1990s. “When Albanians were forced out of their jobs, most were replaced by Turks,” said an advisor to the U.N. mission in Kosovo (UNMİK).  “Some Turkish leaders were given favors. They were more supportive of the Serbian regime,” said Maliqi, adding, “but it was temporary and there were only few cases like that. We cannot make a generalization.” But many do not think like Maliqi. Most accused the Turks of collaborating with the Serbian regime and opportunism. The resentment made itself felt after Serb forces left Kosovo following the NATO strikes.  Claiming that there is no Turkish minority worth mentioning in Kosovo, Albanians have been also successful in influencing UNMIK which has resisted to calls from Turks to accept Turkish as the official language.

 But the situation has improved since then. “We have overcome the past difficulties,” said Mahir Yağcılar, the Turkish minister in Prime Minister Hashim Taci's cabinet. “We have been supportive of the independence efforts,” he said to the TDN. But he also admitted that the expectation of recognition of Turkish as an official language in Kosovo's future constitution has not been met yet. “The status of Turkish in the constitutional framework is not satisfactory. We are working to strengthen the constitutional guarantees for the use of Turkish,” he said.  For Ilır Dugolli from the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development in Pristina, the demand to have Turkish as an official language is not realistic. But the resistance to accept this demand does not stem from nationalism. “This is rather seen as an administrative hurdle,” said Dugolli, claiming that Turkish is used at local level.

 Turkish is accepted as an official language in Prizren and is the working language in municipalities where a sizable number of Turks live. “What counts is the implementation,” said Güner Üreya, an advisor to Yağcılar. The Turkish community has to press for the use of the language at local levels, he said, adding there are problems in implementation. “It is natural that there could be some concern at a small level. But independence will be better for them since until now the spotlight was only upon the Albanians. Now they will have a better opportunity to defend their rights,” said Dugolli.