Unification of Albania with Kosovo

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Albania (green) and Kosovo (orange) within Europe

The unification of Albania with Kosovo is an idea that has existed even more since Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in 2008. These areas were in the Kingdom of Albania at the time of the Second World War in the same state territory, before that as the "four Albanian Vilâyets" Janina , Monastir , Kosovo and Skutari part of the Ottoman Empire . According to surveys, the idea of ​​the association is supported by a majority in both countries.

intention

The unification idea is justified, among other things, by the fact that the state of Kosovo is not only rejected by Serbia , but also by many Kosovar Albanians : The multi-ethnic state of Kosovo, founded in 2008, has no historical continuity as a state and is "artificial" through military intervention the NATO was created. In 2010, 93% of Kosovars were ethnic Albanians , which is statistically even a higher proportion than in Albania itself (82.58% in the last census in 2011). Representatives of the unification idea declare that if Kosovo is annexed to Albania, the rights of the Serbs in Kosovo and their autonomy should be preserved. An exchange of territory is also brought into play with a union: Northern Kosovo, which is predominantly Serbian, is to be annexed to Serbia, while the predominantly Albanian-populated areas around Preševo and Bujanovac would be part of the new Albania.

history

In the Ottoman Empire, Albanians repeatedly demanded several rights for the Albanians as part of the Rilindja . Occasionally there was also the demand for the four Albanian vilayets to be united to form an “ Albanian vilayet ”. As a result of the Balkan Wars and after Albania's independence was proclaimed, when the great powers established the Albanian border, the Albanian settlements were divided between several states.

A first unification after the end of the Ottoman Empire took place on August 12, 1941 as irredentist Greater Albania within the framework of the Italian kingdom, after the Albanian-majority Kosovo together with the Albanian- inhabited areas of Macedonia were added to Albania by the Axis powers . The country was also part of the Italian monarchy under King Victor Emmanuel III. After 1944 Kosovo fell back to Yugoslavia . During the protests in Kosovo in 1981, the Yugoslav government feared a possible unification of Kosovo with Albania. In the early 1990s, the statements made by politicians on this point were contradicting itself. The political activist Ukshin Hoti , founder of the Albanian National Union Party, who was murdered by the Serbian police in 1999 , was a vocal supporter of an unification between Kosovo and Albania. In 2001, Arben Imami , Albania's Defense Minister until 2013, declared that the unification of Kosovo with Albania should be a goal of the Democratic Party of Albania (PD). But within his own party, which is considered conservative, this met with criticism.

The Ahtisaari Plan placed the independence of Kosovo on the condition that "Kosovar" should be multiethnic and in no case should contain an Albanian identity.

The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama of the Socialist Party (PS) had already declared in 2015 that unification was inevitable: Either the two countries would unite as members of the European Union or in some other way. In 2017 he threatened again with a unification of both areas, in case the EU accession perspective is lost. Rama's statement and the associated closeness to Greater Albanian nationalism was linked by commentators to the upcoming election . The President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi shortly afterwards extended this threat to the unification of all Albanians in one nation state. Open opposition to the Greater Albania plans came from the Kosovar opposition party LDK .

In May 2019, Kosovar President Hashim Thaçi also proposed a referendum on the unification of Kosovo with Albania if the accession process with the European Union does not go ahead. Critics from Serbia see this statement as an attempt by Thaçi to put himself “in the limelight” without having any real intention of uniting the two countries.

Public opinion

A Gallup survey in 2010 showed that 81% of Kosovar Albanians, 62% of those surveyed in Albania and 51.9% in North Macedonia (then Macedonia) would support the establishment of a "Greater Albania", which 95% believe of respondents should include Albania, Kosovo and parts of North Macedonia. Support for an association limited to Albania and Kosovo was considerably lower: only 33.7% were in favor of Albania, 29.2% in Kosovo and 7.2% in North Macedonia.

Politicians rarely made demands for unification. In 2017 some leading Albanian politicians like Ben Blushi called for the unification of the two states. In Kosovo, the formerly largest opposition party and now the left-wing nationalist ruling party Vetëvendosje under Prime Minister Albin Kurti support the association. She explicitly advocates a Greater Albania, which should also include the Preševo ​​Valley in southern Serbia, parts of North Macedonia and the Greek region of Epirus .

Other Albanian politicians from both Kosovo and Albania see the accession of both states to NATO and the EU as another way of overcoming state borders and are less supportive of an official state association. Some Roman Catholic and especially Orthodox Albanians reject a possible unification of these Balkan regions , as this would result in a clear majority of Muslims in the new state and thus contribute to the “ Islamization ” of Albania.

Binational cooperation and social union

The governments of Kosovo and Albania are already working closely together in many areas. The two governments meet regularly. Kosovo and Albania share common administrative sectors such as education and police training. The exchange of goods between the two countries is constantly being simplified. There is also a coordinated foreign policy.

Since the war in Kosovo, the movement of goods and people between Albania and Kosovo has increased. The exchange also enabled cultural and social connections, economic ties and media consumed in both countries.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sharon L. Wolchik, Jane Leftwich Curry: Central and East European Politics: From Communism to Democracy . Rowman & Littlefield, 2011, ISBN 978-0-7425-6734-4 , pp. 390 ( limited preview in the Google book search): "Undoubtedly, Kosovo's independence has revived the idea of ​​the national unification of Albanians"
  2. ^ A b c Tristan James Mabry, John McGarry, Margaret Moore, Brendan O'Leary: Divided Nations and European Integration . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8122-4497-7 , pp. 182 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ a b Heike Krieger: The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974-1999 . Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-521-80071-6 , pp. 75 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ A b Howard Clark: Civil Resistance in Kosovo . Pluto Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-7453-1569-0 , pp. 44 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ A b Geert-Hinrich Ahrens: Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia . Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8018-8557-0 , pp. 323 ( limited preview in Google Book Search): "CSCE mission of May 1992 judged that 'on the question of the relations with Albania and of a possible unification, the answers were unclear, vague, and sometimes contraddictory'"
  6. ↑ Maria Koinova: Ethno Nationalist Conflict in Postcommunist States: Varieties of Governance in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Kosovo . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8122-0837-5 , pp. 197 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ Fatos Bytyci, Matt Robinson: Albania and Kosovo to unite, inside EU or not: Albanian PM. In: Reuters. April 7, 2015, accessed December 14, 2019 .
  8. ↑ heise.de; Telepolis "Albanian Prime Minister reveals plans for unification with Kosovo" [1]
  9. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: All Albanians in one country [2]
  10. ^ Thaci's Pan-Albania Union Plea Scorned as Populism. In: Balkan Insight . June 3, 2019, Retrieved June 9, 2019 (American English).
  11. ^ Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania' , Besar Likmeta, BalkanInsight, November 17, 2010
  12. ↑ https://koha.net/?id=27&l=153816
  13. ↑ Henry H. Perritt: The Road to Independence for Kosovo: A Chronicle of the Ahtisaari plan . Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-11624-4 , pp. 94 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  14. ↑ Ian O. Lesser, F. Stephen Larrabee, Michelle Zanini, Katia Vlachos-Dengler: Greece's new geopolitics . Rand Corporation, Santa Monica 2001, ISBN 978-0-8330-3233-1 , pp. 51 ( limited preview in Google Book search).