German-Kosovar relations

German-Kosovar relations

Germany	Kosovo

Germany recognized Kosovo in February 2008 as one of the first states. As it is only recognized by 114 of the 193 member states of the United Nations , it is difficult for the country to join international organizations. Germany isrepresented in Kosovoas part of the multinational missions UNMIK , KFOR and EULEX . At the 2008 donor conference, Germany was the second largest donor to Kosovo after the USA.

The Hermann-Schlimme-Haus is the seat of the Kosovar embassy in Berlin.

Germany has been operating an embassy in Pristina since February 27, 2008 . Kosovo has an embassy in Berlin and consulates in Düsseldorf , Frankfurt am Main , Leipzig , Munich and Stuttgart .

The German-Kosovar Society was founded in 2008 and is based in Erfurt. There is also a Bavarian-Kosovar Society.

history

Middle Ages and early modern times

A German presence in the area of ​​today's Kosovo is attested as early as the Middle Ages, when the territory was part of the Serbian Empire . Especially important for the development of the country were Saxon miners who had been working as specialists in Serbia since the end of the 13th century and enjoyed numerous privileges. Trepča , Janjeva , Letnica and especially Novo Brdo can be named as important Saxon settlements in Kosovo . In addition to mining, Germans also served as knights in Kosovo at this time, wandered around as minstrels or worked as craftsmen.

From the battle on the Amselfeld (1389), Kosovo also came under Ottoman control and was to remain so until 1912. An exception to this is the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), in which troops of the Holy League (1684) , i.e. the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and its allies, were able to penetrate deep into Ottoman territory at times and, among other things, (also only temporarily) Pristina could conquer (1689). Also in 1689 the imperial general Enea Silvio Piccolomini died in Prizren . Serbs and Albanians also took part in the campaigns on the imperial side. When the fortunes of war turned against them, many Serbs fled to Austrian territory - one of the reasons for the demographic decline of the Serbian population in Kosovo. Also in the Venetian-Austrian Turkish War (1716-1718) Albanians and Serbs found themselves on the Austrian side, again there were successful counter-attacks by the Turks. Again, threatened Serbs (and also Albanians) had to flee to Austrian territory. Kosovo remained Ottoman.

19th century to the First World War

In the 19th century, the Albanian national feeling grew stronger again in the course of the Rilindja movement. In 1878 the League of Prizren was founded to defend the entire Albanian territory, including Kosovo, from territorial claims by foreign powers, and to demand autonomy and cultural freedom within the Ottoman Empire for all Albanian areas. The league was broken up, but the Albanian question remained virulent. For example, Abdyl Frashëri and Mehmed Ali Vrioni campaigned for support for the Albanian cause in Berlin in 1879 (as in other major European capitals). However, these efforts by the major European powers had no effect. After the anti-Turkish First Balkan War won in 1912/1913, the Balkan states divided up the remaining European possessions of Turkey among themselves. While they did not succeed in joining the whole of Albania to their territories and this part of the Albanian settlement areas achieved its independence, other areas claimed by Albanians for their state (including Kosovo) were added to the neighboring states. With the London Treaty (1913) , the major European powers and thus also the German Reich approved, among other things, the annexation of Kosovo by Serbia. After an interlude of the Austro-Hungarian (partial) occupation (1915–1918) during World War I , Kosovo came back to Serbia and Yugoslavia .

20th century

During the Second World War , the German attack on Yugoslavia in April 1941 quickly led to the defeat and collapse of the attacked state. Like the Croatians , the Kosovar Albanians had hardly taken part in its defense, as they usually could not identify with him. Germany's allies Italy and Bulgaria also took part in the division of the conquered land . Kosovo and parts of Macedonia were united with Albania, which Mussolini had occupied on April 7, 1939 (see also History of Albania # interwar period ).

After Italy left the war in the summer of 1943 , the Germans occupied Kosovo. The National Socialists modified their racial ideology elastically by declaring the Albanians a superior race compared to the Slavs. In this way they won a large part of the Albanians for the fight against the Yugoslav partisans . Since 1943, Kosovo had increasingly become an area of ​​action for Yugoslav partisan organizations. Her attacks on the German troops and the Albanian police were repeatedly repaid by the murder of Serb civilians. People suspected of supporting the partisans were also deported to the Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia . In 1944 the Kosovar Albanian SS division Skanderbeg was set up. Their location was Prizren , their main operational area Kosovo. In its brutal approach it did not differ from the German associations. Eventually the partisans (on whose side Albanians also fight) were able to drive out the Germans and at the end of the war Kosovo became Yugoslav again.

The Serbian-Albanian conflict over Kosovo continued to smolder after 1945. It regained its sharpness with the abolition of Kosovar autonomy in 1989 and the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991. The Albanians in Kosovo continued to try to come to an understanding with the Serbs by mainly peaceful means ( Ibrahim Rugova is mentioned here ); From the mid-1990s, however, more and more acts of violence occurred: the “Liberation Army of Kosovo” ( UÇK ) appeared on the scene. The conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the UÇK ultimately led to the 1998/1999 war in Kosovo .

Kosovo war and state recognition by Germany

German troops in Kosovo 1999

On October 16, 1998 (three weeks after the 1998 federal election ) the German Bundestag approved the participation of armed forces of the Bundeswehr in a NATO intervention against Yugoslavia with the aim of protecting the Kosovar civilian population. For the first time since the Second World War, German soldiers took part in acts of war again, which was considered a turning point in German foreign policy.

Participation in the war was discussed intensively and controversially in Germany. Since there was no UN resolution , opponents of the intervention postulated that the operation was illegal under international law. Proponents pointed to a humanitarian emergency. The German ministers at the time, Joschka Fischer and Rudolf Scharping, claimed in 1999 the existence of a Yugoslav horseshoe plan to “ethnic cleanse” Kosovo from its Albanian majority population. The existence of this plan has not been proven.

Regardless of the controversy about the regularity of the expulsions, a large wave of refugees from Kosovar Albanians streamed into Western Europe , especially Germany. The question of the refugees' return to their home country was subsequently discussed in a politically controversial manner in Germany.

After the military victory of the NATO alliance over Yugoslavia, a NATO-led peacekeeping force ( KFOR ) took control of the country under UN mandate, which remained part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia-Montenegro under international law . German soldiers were also stationed in Kosovo (as the lead nation in the so-called "southern sector"). Their headquarters are in Prizren . After the March riots in 2004 , Peter Struck (German Defense Minister from 2002 to 2005) announced that the Bundeswehr would send 600 additional soldiers to the region. This increased the German contingent in Kosovo to around 3800 soldiers.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Atifete Jahjaga at the 48th Munich Security Conference 2012

After a visit to the German KFOR soldiers in the Prizren field camp on July 15, 2005, the CDU party chairman Angela Merkel clearly rejected the separation of Kosovo from Serbia. After further fruitless status negotiations with Serbia, Germany ( Merkel I government ) recognized the independence proclaimed by the Kosovars on February 17, 2008, just three days later (February 20, 2008).

The German troop presence in Kosovo is gradually being reduced: in 2011, the total number of KFOR troops was halved to around 5,500 forces, including around 900 German soldiers. After a temporary increase by an Austro-German reaction force, there were still around 750 German soldiers in Kosovo in July 2013; the troop strength of 1,850 soldiers granted by the Bundestag is no longer exhausted.

On August 28, 2014, at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the eight heads of state and government of the Western Balkans met for the first Western Balkans Conference in Berlin.

See also

• List of German ambassadors in Kosovo
• Foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany

Web links

Commons : German-Kosovar relations  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Information from the German Foreign Office on relations with Kosovo

Footnotes

1. ^ Successful donor conference on Kosovo . NZZ . July 12, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
2. ↑ Welcome to the German Embassy in Pristina (German, Albanian and Serbian) . German Embassy Pristina. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
3. ↑ Representations in Kosovo . Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
4. ^ German-Kosovar Society eV . Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 20, 2011. 
5. ^ Bavarian-Kosovar Society . Retrieved December 20, 2011.
6. ^ Susanne Dell: Kosovo. Munich 2008, p. 43.
7. ↑ 1689, Kosovo in the Great Turkish War of 1683–1699 . Robert Elsie. Archived from the original on December 6, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 19, 2011. 
8. ↑ Germany recognizes Kosovo . German federal government. February 20, 2008. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 12, 2012. 
9. ↑ The mission in Kosovo . Armed forces. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
10. ↑ Kosovo between normalization, integration and boycott . bundeswehr journal . July 9, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2014.