Opinion: Skopje Warrior Fails to Make Greek Headlines July 1 - 14, 2011 Issue No. 67 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 PJ H a r ve y NEWS Confirms Kosovo Passports Dokufest to be Accepted by Appearance Serbia > page 3 Singer-songwriter PJ Harvey and Irish photog- NEWS rapher Seamus Murphy New Tax on Serbian, will be presenting their Bosnian 12 short films at this year’s Dokufest. Imports Organisers of the Prizren Questioned festival, which is fast > page 6 gaining a worldwide rep- utation, said they were NEIGHBOURHOOD thrilled by the news. Serbia Plans to See Page 14 Frighten Smokers Out of Habit > page 9 Nationalists Resurrect INVESTIGATION Condemned cigarettes Dream of Great Albania endanger lives Rise of nationalist parties in Albania and Kosovo puts unification of Albanian lands back on some people’s agenda. > page 10-11 of Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. first election it had contested. from Greece in the 1940s, also By Petrit Collaku In a surprise move this month, With 14 deputies in Kosovo’s scored surprising successes in CULTURE Serbia’s President, Boris Tadic, Assembly, the street movement- May 8 local elections. ext year Albania celebrates suggested that the formation of a turned party is establishing itself With the slogan “I Love Albanian a century of independence. “Greater Albania” including as the strongest opposition to the Albania,” and campaigning with a Artists NBut the failure of the pow- Kosovo could even help solve eth- ruling Democratic Party of mix of minority and nationalist ers to create a state that included a nic squabbles in the region – possi- Kosovo, PDK, of Prime Minister politics, the Party for Democracy, Revive big majority of Albanians remains bly because this would allow Hashim Thaci. Unity and Integration, PDIU, Lost Balkan a subject of resentment, which is Serbia not to recognize Kosovo. As well as espousing union with gained 65,000 votes. Two years ear- Connections receiving renewed attention Meanwhile, nationalist senti- Albania, Vetevendosje rejects lier, in the 2009 general elections, it thanks to the rise of nationalist ment is on the rise among Kosovo foreign-imposed national won only 14,000 voters. > page 15 parties in Kosovo and Albania. Albanians, if recent election symbols, such as the blue-and-yel- The Chams originally resided in In a poll conducted by Gallup results in Albania and Kosovo are low flag and the international- the coastal Epirus region of north- International in November 2010, 80 anything to go by. mandated decentralization plan, ern Greece before being thrown per cent of Albanians in Kosovo, 62 In Kosovo’s last general election, which has led to the creation of out after the Second World War. per cent in Albania and 51 per cent in November 2010, the Self- new majority Serb municipalities They want pressure placed on of Albanians in Macedonia sup- Determination Movement, Levizja enjoying substantial autonomy. Greece to restore them their lost Kosovo’s only English-language ported the idea of a Greater Vetevendosje, became the third Over the border in Albania, a citizenship rights and property. newspaper is available: Albania encompassing Albania, largest political force after secur- party representing the so-called mainly Albanian Kosovo and ing 13 per cent of the vote in the Cham refugees, who were expelled continues page 2-3 Delivered to Western Macedonia and fragments Your Door “I was asked to Make Illegal Experts Warn of Prishtina- From Newsstands Transfer by PM Advisor” Skopje Highway Costs across Kosovo Former Kosovo Central Bank Governor, Kosovo’s government has announced a Sent To Hashim Rexhepi, has said that corruption new, expensive road construction project, Your Inbox allegations against him are part of a polit- despite its existing commitment to build ical plot and reveals details of the pres- the country’s first highway, which is sure placed on him by senior government already straining the budget. From figures to carry out illegal activities The government had planned to... our partners interview page 4-6 economy pages 7 see page 16 for more info is supported by: 2 July 1 - 14, 2011 news Nationalists Resurrect Dream of Great Albania from page 1 have expressed a desire to unite. when Kosovo was freed from Konjufca told Prishtina Insight Serbian rule and the focus shifted While the party’s main message that the most important immediate from independence to unification. is directed at solving Cham griev- issue was to ensure Kosovo’s sover- But he added that they did not ances, it has targeted a wider audi- eignty over the whole of its territo- advocate an Albania within its “his- ence by styling itself a generally ry, adding that the current EU-medi- toric” frontiers, that is, stretching “patriotic party” and promoting ated dialogue with Serbia ran count- deep into Serbia and Greece. the idea of a sort of ethnic er to this. The northern sliver of But people had a right to self- Albanian economic zone in the Kosovo is run by local Serbs in tan- determination, including the Serb Balkans. dem with Belgrade. community in northern Kosovo, he He said that Vetevendosje would added. The West is not keen: first ensure that Kosovo gained con- “Where Albanians are a majority trol of all its borders before chang- and have territorial continuity, they While a fuzzy sentiment in ing the constitution to allow for uni- should be allowed self-determina- favour of a pan-Albanian state fication. tion, and this should be applied to makes electoral gains, the likeli- “We can then call a referendum the Serbian community as well,” hood of anything of the sort actual- and create one state, or another Murati said. ly happening remains small. option is a confederation of two Ordinary Kosovars, meanwhile, Article One of Kosovo’s constitu- states,” he said, adding that the remain divided over the matter. tion expressly bans any such move. issue of whether Tirana should be Some see unification as a pipe “The Republic of Kosovo shall have the overall capital was not impor- dream. Others say it is already hap- no territorial claims against, and tant. pening, without changes to interna- shall seek no union with, any State But he doubts these moves will tional borders. or part of any State,” it says. happen soon, given the position of “Unification is happening now,” This sentence was included to the current government. “This will Kreshnik Ceka, an Albanian study- ease international fears that granti- not certainly happen while Kosovo ing at Prishtina University, said. ng independence to Kosovo might is run by Hashim Thaci,” he said. Take the bilateral agreement lead to the creation of a Greater He said the nation’s desire for between Albania and Kosovo which Albania. Kosovo’s main parties unification was opposed by Western allows Kosovo police to patrol have to date shown little interest in powers partly because Kosovo’s Albania during the summer holi- on unification. “I do try to under- from your place?’, they would say, tackling this. political elite had failed to make the day.” stand it but I think it is unrealistic,” ‘No’. Kosovo’s Interior Minister, case for it. But another student told he said. “At the theoretical level it could Bajram Rexhepi, not unexpectedly, The negative term “Greater Prishtina Insight that struggling for The attempt by Albania’s Party of happen, but people don’t make deci- told Prishtina Insight that he did Albania” was routinely used by a united state wasn’t worth it. Justice, Integration and Unity, sions now for what might happen in not even want to discuss the issue. neighbouring countries to justify “Many countries in the world have PDIU, to raise the plight of the 50 years’ time,” Malcolm said. “When we enter the EU, then we will their continued occupation of similar problems and just imagine Cham refugees, was more valid, he be united [under Brussels],” he said. Albanian land, he complained. if everyone asked for their territo- added. “I think the Chams’ requests One man goes alone: However, his ministry has The recent statement of ries [to be united in one state],” he are natural,” he said. already signed a number of agree- President Tadic of Serbia, that the said. Lani also ruled out Albania get- One man taking a more proactive ments with Albania bringing the Kosovo dispute should be solved “The great powers and the EU ting involved with Tadic’s idea for approach to the subject is head of two countries much closer together. through Belgrade and Tirana, inten- will not allow unification - and Serbia and Albania to settle Serb- the List for Natural Albania, based Deals include establishing joint bor- tionally presented the problem Western countries need to be asked Albanian disputes alone. in Tirana, who is presenting a law- der controls, so that travellers need falsely, he continued. about every step that Kosovo takes,” “Kosovo is an independent coun- suit of approximately 40 pages to to show their documentation only “There is no ‘ethnic dispute’,” he one 65-year-old man said. try and Albania cannot discuss the International Court of Justice, once, and joint police action. said. “There is a problem between Remzi Lani, a political commen- Kosovo’s partition, or any other ICJ. Economically, the two countries two countries: Kosovo and Serbia.” tator from Tirana, says state unifi- such issues,” Lani said. Koco Danaj is currently finalis- have also become closer with the Self-Determination is not the only cation is unrealistic and its discus- The new reality was the more ing the lawsuit’s two main building of a motorway, nicknamed party in Kosovo looking afresh at sion is counterproductive. fluid communication between demands: union of Albanian lands the “Patriotic Highway”, linking the issue of an all-Albanian state.