Kosovo

✍ Scribed by Noah Berlatsky; Frank Chalk

• Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 225
• Series: Genocide and Persecution Ser.
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Following the death of [Yugoslavian] President Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the gradual disintegration of communist Yugoslavia created a power vacuum that allowed extreme nationalist movements to undermine the country’s stability and social cohesion. In Kosovo, the ethnic Albanian Muslim majority and the ethnic Serbian orthodox Christian minority had engaged in nationalist political struggles throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These developments facilitated the rise of Slobodan Milosevic’s virulently nationalist Socialist Party of Serbia and allowed Milosevic to assume the presidency of Serbia in 1989. In the same year, Milosevic annulled Kosovo’s provincial autonomy in language and education, and asserted Serbian political and cultural hegemony from Belgrade. Political divisions deepened after the collapse of the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1990 and the abrogation of the federation’s one-party system. As head of the Serbian Socialist Party, Milosevic continued to rally nationalist sentiment using his control of the state media, through which he promoted the idea of a “Greater Serbia” that would incorporate the ethnic Serbian regions of other Yugoslav republics.
In July 1990, Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian political leaders declared independence. Serbian authorities countered this unconstitutional development with intensified repression in Kosovo, including the closing of Albanian-language newspapers, the renaming of Albanian streets in Serbian, and the introduction of compulsory Serbian curricula in Kosovar Albanian-majority educational institutions.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface Foreword World Map Chronology
5
16
18

Chapter 1: Historical Background on Kosovo
Chapter Exercises 1. Overview of Kosovo and Serbia
22
24

Kathleen Z. Young
An anthropologist explains that Serbs and Albanians have a long history of bitterness and violence in Kosovo. That history sparked the 1999 war in Kosovo and continues long after the wars end.
2. The Kosovo Liberation Army Rises as a Force
in Kosovo 34
Henry H. Perritt Jr.
A law professor details the Kosovo Liberation Army’s (KLA) opposition to Serbian control of Kosovo. Due to Serbian errors, international support, and years of insurgency, the KLA was ultimately victorious in Kosovo.
3. Ethnic Cleansing Took Place in Kosovo 45
US Department of State
The US Department of State reports on numerous atrocities by Serbs against Albanians during the Kosovo War, including forced relocation, mass killings, and rape.
4. The NATO Air Campaign in Serbia Begins 54
The Economist
A British news publication reports that NATO launched an air attack on Serbia in an effort to end the conflict in Kosovo. The results of the NA TO action on the region are uncertain.
5. Albanians Commit Ethnic Cleansing Against
Kosovo Serbs 59
Robert Fisk
A British journalist reports that after NATO forces allowed Albanians to return to Kosovo, the Albanians began to attack Kosovo Serbs, as well as other ethnic minorities. Large numbers of Serbs have been murdered and many more have been forced from their homes.
6. Serbian Leader Dies in Custody at the
International Criminal Tribunal 66
Kevin Parker
An international criminal court judge reports on the death of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president. At the time of his death, Milosevic was on trial in international court for war crimes in Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
7. Kosovo Declares Independence 74 Assembly of Kosovo
Kosovo declares itself an independent state and commits to peace with its neighbors and equal treatment for its ethnic communities.
Chapter 2: Controversies Surrounding Kosovo
Chapter Exercises 82
1. Serbia Has Created a Humanitarian Disaster
in Kosovo 84
Bill Clinton
The US President argues that Serbia is using violent aggression against civilians in Kosovo. The violence may spread through the region, Clinton asserts, and NATO has a humanitarian and strategic interest in stopping the conflict.
2. Serbs Committed Genocide and Gendercide
in Kosovo 93
Gendercide Watch

✦ Subjects

Kosovo, Kosova, Genocide, Serbia, Albanian, Serbian