Kosovo and Metohia (Serbian: Косово и Метохија; Albanian: Kosova), oftenly called just Kosovo, is a province of Serbia, which together with Montenegro constitute Serbia and Montenegro. The name "Kosovo" is from "Kosovo Polje" which means "Blackbird's field" in Serbian language. "Metohia" is a Greek word which denotes church-owned land.
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2 Politics and international status 3 Administrative subdivisions 4 Geography 5 Economy 6 Demographics 7 Culture 8 Miscellaneous topics 9 See also 10 External links |
The early history of Kosovo is disputed amongst historians. There are views that Kosovo and Metohia was a single distinctive region since ancient times. However, archaeological findings indicate that Kosovo and Metohia were homes of separate cultures in prehistoric times: in particular, bronze and iron age tombs are found only in Metohia and not in Kosovo. Later, the whole territory of Kosovo and Metohia became part of Roman empire and there are two views regarding borders of roman provinces in the area: one holds that Metohia was a part of Dalmatia and Kosovo a part of Moesia (this is supported by archaeological findings) while another holds that both regions were a part of Moesia. [1]
According to most historians, Serbs entered the Balkans migrating from the north-east around the late 6th or early 7th century AD [1]. Initial spread of Serb and Slavic polulation on the Balkans was much larger then today, covering most of today Greece and Albania and, of course, entire Kosovo [1]. Slavic toponyms are still very dominant in Albania class="external">[1History
According to most historians, the existing Albanian population is mostly formed by migrants from the south-west (modern Albania) during the centuries of Ottoman rule (particularly during and after the 17th century), when Islam also became the faith of most of the Albanian people.
However, Albanians claim that they are Kosovo's original inhabitants, being the descendants of the ancient Illyrians. According to Albanian historians, in around the 6th century the Illyrians were forced south into what is now Albania by Slavic tribes - the predecessors of modern day Serbs. This is in contradiction with the archaeological findings presented above. An emerging view, mostly among Serb historians, is that Albanians are not descendants of the Illyrians but that they came to the Balkans in 11th century from Caucasian Albania class="external">[1.
Kosovo was for centuries ruled by the Ottoman Empire. From the 1870s onwards Albanians formed the League of Prizren to resist Ottoman rule, and a provisional government was formed in 1881.
20th century
In the First Balkan war of 1912, armies of Serbia and Montenegro liberated Old Serbia (Kosovo, Metohia and north of today's Albania). In order to prevent Serbia from gaining a sea port, the great powers have created an autonomous Albania within the Ottoman Empire; Serbian and Montenegrin armies retreated from northern Albania. At this time about 60% of the population of Kosovo and Metohia was Serb (see Kosovo population data-points). In 1918, Kosovo became a part of the newly formed Yugoslavia.
Between 1941 and 1945, Kosovo was included under the Italian-occupied Greater Albania. Following the end of the war and the establishment of Tito's Communist regime, Kosovo was given the status of an autonomous region of Serbia in 1946 and an autonomous province in 1963.
In 1974, new constitution of Yugoslavia was passed, under which Kosovo enjoyed almost complete self-government under predominantly Albanian local communist party leaders. For example, schools had the same curriculum and textbooks as in Albania under Enver Hoxha, even after they were dropped from Albania's school system.
Throughout the 1980s tensions between the Albanian and Serb communities in the province escalated. The Albanian community favoured sovereignty for Kosovo, whilst Serbs favoured closer ties with the rest of Serbia.
Serbs living in Kosovo were discriminated by Albanians. In August 1987, during the dying days of Yugoslavia's communist regime, Kosovo was visited by Slobodan Milošević, then a rising politician. He appealed to Serb nationalism to further his career. Having drawn huge crowds, he pledged to Kosovo Serbs that "No one should dare to beat you", and became an instant hero of Kosovo's Serbs. By the end of the year Milošević was in control of the Serbian government.
In 1989, the autonomy was revoked by a Serbia wide referendum which implemented a new Serbian constitution which was more democratic as it allowed a multi-party system, introduced factual freedom of speech and promoted human rights.
It also significantly reduced the provinces' rights, which was felt to be a democratic step by Serbs. However, Kosovo Albanians strongly opposed that measure. Albanians refused to participate in the referendum. Since it was a Serbia wide referendum and Albanians are a minority in Serbia as a whole, their participation would not have changed the outcome of the referendum.
However the new constitution had to be ratified by Kosovo's assembly [1]. In March 1989 when the assembly met to discuss the proposals, tanks and armored cars surrounded the meeting place, forcing the assembly to accept the amendments. The constitutional changes handed control of the police, the court system, the economy, the education system and language policies to the Serb government.
After constitutional changes, parliaments of all Yugoslavian republics and provinces, which until then had MPs only from the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, were dissolved and multi-party elections were held for them. Kosovo Albanians refused to participate in the elections and held their own, unsanctioned elections instead. As election laws required (and still require) turnout higher than 50%, the parliament of Kosovo could not be established.
The new constitution took away the right of having official media from provinces and official media were integrated within official media of Serbia while still having program in Albanian language. Albanian language media in Kosovo was suppressed. Funding was withdrawn from state-owned media, including the Albanian language in Kosovo. The constitution made creating privately-owned media possible, however their functioning was very difficult because of high rents and restricting laws. State-owned Albanian language television or radio was also banned from broadcasting from Kosovo [1]. However, privately-owned Albanian media appeared; of these, probably the most famous is "Koha ditore", which operated until late 1998 when it was closed following publishing 1999 calendar with KLA iconography and glorification.
The constitution also gave control over state-owned companies (at the time, most of the companies were state-owned and de jure they still are) to Serbian government, so the new non-communist government fired old communist (mostly Albanian) directors and some of those who stayed have quit, refusing to work for Serbian government. In September 1990, up to 123,000 Albanian workers were fired from their positions in government and the media, as were teachers, doctors, and workers in government-controlled industries [1], provoking a general strike and mass unrest.
The Albanian curriculum and textbooks were revoked, and new made. The curriculum was (and still is, as that is the curriculum used for Albanians in Serbia outside Kosovo) basically the same as Serbian and that of all other nationalities in Serbia except that it had education on and in Albanian language. New textbooks were (still are) basically the same as those in Serbian, except that they were in Albanian language. Education on Albanian language was reportedly ([1]) withdrawn in 1992 and re-established in 1994; also, education of Albanian language was cut at the Priština University. It is reported that Albanian teachers were also sacked en-masse. Albanians responded by boycotting state schools and attempts to maintain a "parallel" system of Albanian-language education.
Kosovo Albanians were outraged by these developments. Following mass rioting and unrest from Albanians as well as outbreaks of inter-communal violence, in February 1990, a state of emergency was declared, and presence of the Yugoslav Army and police was significantly increased to quell the unrest.
Unsanctioned elections were held in 1992, overwhelmingly elected Ibrahim Rugova as "president", however these elections were not recognised neither by Serbian nor any foreign government. In 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities.
Albanian opposition to sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia had surfaced in rioting (1968 and March 1981) in the capital Priština. Ibrahim Rugova advocated non-violent resistance, but later when it became apparent that this was not working, opposition took the form of separatist agitation by opposition political groups and armed action from 1996 by the "Kosovo Liberation Army" (Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës, or UÇK). The Serbian police and UÇK actions by 1998 created a state of low intensity warfare with some 2000 dying prior to Kosovo War of 1999.
The UÇK repeatedly attacked Serbian police. In March 1998 Yugoslav army units joined Serbian police to fight the UÇK separatists. In the months that followed, hundreds of people were killed and more than 200,000 have fled from their homes, most of these people were Albanians. Some international media have reported that many Albanian families told of being forced to flee their homes at gunpoint.
The United Nations estimated that during the Kosovo War, nearly 640,000 Albanians fled Kosovo between March 1998 and the end of April 1999. Most of the refugees went to Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or Montenegro. Most western media have reported that at some border crossings, some identification papers of some Albanian families were destroyed by Serbian officials.
Slobodan Milošević and other senior Serb officials were indicted by the United Nations for war crimes committed by Serb forces in Kosovo. There were no indictments of NATO and KLA officials.
Politics and international status
Its international status is anomalous in that although it is formally a province of the Republic of Serbia, actual administration is presently conducted by the United Nations with no involvement on the part of the Serbian governments (under Security Council resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999; see Security Council Resolutions 1999). A parliament was elected in November 2001 and Ibrahim Rugova was selected as president in March 2002, however the UN retained control of security, justice and external affairs.
Kosovo's anomalous status is the result of the Kosovo War of March-June 1999, in the course of which air strikes against the Federal republic of Yugoslavia's armed forces and civilian infrastructure by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, without endorsement by the United Nations, forced the signing of the Kumanovo agreement which provided for the withdrawal of military and the province's occupation by a NATO-led force (KFOR) including also Russian troops (no longer serving as of July 2003).
Since 1998, Yugoslav forces were heavily fighting with the KLA, during which, according to NATO intentionally, a number of Albanian civilians was killed, wounded or temporarily driven out of province, and NATO claims that it began air strikes in order to stop that.
Both NATO and the UN continue formally to recognise Kosovo as a part of Serbia although Serbia is not allowed to exercise any sovereignty over it, as since 1999 much of the Serb population have departed and local Albanians are reluctant to see Serbian sovereignty in Kosovo restored in practice. On the other side, Serbia would hardly recognize Kosovo's independence, and recognizing the independence of Kosovo without Serbia's consent would violate international law (the principles of territorial integrity and noninterference in internal affairs). The most likely outcome is the indefinite continuation of the current situation.
Administrative subdivisions
Geography
Economy
UNMIK declared the Euro as the official currency in Kosovo, however the Serbian dinar remains an official currency in Kosovo. The Dinar is widespread in Kosovo because most trade is done with the rest of Serbia and the Kosovo Serb enclaves also use it widely. Other international currencies (Dollar, Swiss Franc) are also widespread.
Demographics
The population is currently comprised of a majority of Albanians (estimated at 80% prior to the international conflict of 1999, but now somewhat larger owing to the flight of many Serbs and other non-Albanians; see Kosovo population data-points).Culture
Miscellaneous topics
See also
External links
