Rugova - the Clown
=== === ===
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decani/message/78361
[si veda alla URL qui sopra riportata per le fotografie e l'originale in
lingua italiana della intervista di Rugova al Corriere della Sera, gia'
diffusa da JUGOINFO]
From: "decani3"
Date: Mon Dec 1, 2003 4:16 am
Subject: ERP KIM Ibrahim Rugova - Deceiving the world community (a commentary),
Dec. 01, 2003
December 01, 2003
ERP KIM 01-12-03
Commentary on the interview of Mr. Ibrahim Rugova to Corriere della Sera
Deceiving the world community - Ibrahim Rugova for Corriere della Sera
Despite his four months of specialization at the Sorbonne and the photograph
of the Pope in his salon, Mr. Ibrahim Rugova has very little understanding
of the authentic values of Christianity in the region where he has been
elected as president. Moreover, he does not even mention the existence of
the Serbian Orthodox Christian monuments that comprise more than 90 percent
of the entire cultural and historical wealth of Kosovo and Metohija. He
does not even mention the more than 100 Serbian churches and monasteries
destroyed by Albanian extremists after the end of the armed conflict in
1999 (not in the time of war), which, by the way, he has never publicly
condemned. More sensitive questions of the Corriere journalist Mr. Rugova
gently evaded, hiding behind Pope JP II.
pdf version of this text (with imbedded photos) may be downloaded at:
http://www.kosovo.com/erpkiminfo_dec03/erpkiminfo01dec03.pdf%c2%a0 (1.9 Mb)
html version is available at:
http://www.kosovo.com/erpkiminfo_dec03/erpkiminfo01dec03.htmlhtml (70 Kb)
[PHOTO:] Ibrahim, Abraham, "Balkan Gandhi" or Kosovo version of Mother Theresa: a
man with many faces but one clear nationalist goal. Ibrahim Rugova - Albanian
nationalism in pacifist wrapping (photo: Paris, March 1999)
ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, December 01, 2003
In his most recent interview with the respected Italian daily Corriere della
Sera published on November 27, 2003 President of Kosovo Province Mr. Ibrahim
Rugova once again attempted to deceive the world community by misrepresenting
himself as a great peacemaker and protector of Christianity in Kosovo and
Metohija.
"The Balkan Gandhi", as the Italian daily calls Mr. Rugova, speaks with
warmth about Christianity, the Albanians as a people of Western orientation
(sic), and mentions with pride the Albanian Roman Catholics who fought against
the Ottomans (although the ethnic Albanians, generally speaking, were the
strongest Ottoman allies in the Balkans), announcing the consecration of
the foundation of a large Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Mother Theresa
that is expected to be consecrated by none other than Pope John Paul II.
The first impression readers of the article could get is that of a man and
a society that affirms Christian values, tolerance, and Western and European
culture - music to the ears.
However, reality is completely different. Despite his four months of specialization
at the Sorbonne (he studied and later earned his Ph.D in Pristina, not in
Paris) and the photograph of the Pope in his salon, Mr. Ibrahim Rugova has
very little understanding of the authentic values of Christianity in the
region where he has been elected as president. Moreover, he does not even
mention the existence of the Serbian Orthodox Christian monuments that comprise
more than 90 percent of the entire cultural and historical wealth of Kosovo
and Metohija. Although one cannot call him a typical Moslem believer, Mr.
Rugova is far from being "defensor christianitatis".
In his interview he does not even mention the more than 100 Serbian churches
and monasteries destroyed by Albanian extremists after the end of the armed
conflict in 1999, which he has never publicly condemned. Moreover, during
the visit of U.S. president Bill Clinton in November 1999 to Pristina and
in the presence of Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija
and representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Ibrahim Rugova publicly
rationalized the destruction of Serbian holy shrines as alleged "political
churches". That was quite a shock for the president and others, especially
after Bishop Artemije showed photos of 14th century churches destroyed after
the end of the conflict. The theory of so-called "Serbian political churches"
is not an invention of the "Balkan Gandhi" nor of the Kosovo Albanian Roman
Catholic Bishop Marko Sopi, who is also fond of it. As early as August 1995,
Mr. Rugova publicly stated "that the monasteries and churches in Kosovo
were Albanian and that the Serbs occupied them, destroying in the process
a large number of Albanian churches" http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/kosova/95-08-25.ksv.html
- a theory not based on a single piece of historical proof, which he could
not have learned during his sojourn at the Sorbonne. In fact, this quasi-historical
theory has been launched and repeated in parrot-like fashion by a number
of Albanian revisionist historians whose goal is equivocate the existence
of Christianity in the region exclusively with Albanian Roman Catholicism
in order to prove that Serbs actually never lived in Kosovo as the indigenous
population. This is also a way to find at least some "plausible" excuse
as to how, in an "ethnic Albanian Kosovo", the most important cultural monuments
belong to the Serbian Orthodox people and their history.
[PHOTO:] Is this "a liking for Christianity" in Kosovo, Mr. Rugova? UNESCO
delegation (Feb, 2003) visiting the ruins of the 14th century church of
the Holy Virgin Odigitria, near Suva Reka. Only a 20th century bell tower
survived the attack of Albanian extremists (even the surrounding trees were
cut)
(more about the church: http://www.kosovo.com/odigitria.html )
Rugova's paramilitary organization - FARK
Mr. Rugova, considered to be "a great peacemaker", directly blessed and
supported the paramilitary organization known as FARK (Armed Forces of the
Republic of Kosovo), funded from abroad by his émigré premier Bujar Bukoshi
and commanded by former Yugoslav People's Army officer Tahir Zemaj, who
was murdered earlier this year by members of the rival paramilitary (KLA)
group close to KLA clans. Together with the KLA, FARK participated in operations
against the Serbian military, police and civilian population; the only difference
between the two organizations, as is now the case among Rugova's LDK, Thaci's
PDK and Haradinaj's AAK, is that each of them was fighting to get the biggest
piece of the pie from illegal trafficking and political power behind the
smoke screen of building "democratic and a multiethnic Kosovo". The treatment
of the Serbs by these political parties and paramilitary organizations was
more or less the same, although it is true that the KLA managed to take
the lead in its crimes and aggression against Serbs and some FARK "officers"
appeared as witnesses on trials against Mustafa Remi and Daut Haradinaj.
When the first operations conducted by the KLA against Serbian authorities
and the civil population began in 1996, Rugova consciously deceived the
world community by saying that these were secret operations by the "Serbian
intelligence service" - the same justification that some of today's K/Albanian
politicians use to try to explain when Serbs are attacked or killed.
[PHOTO:] Mr. Rugova's version of KLA - FARK (Armed Forces of "Kosovo Republic")
The first photo shows the FARK commander Tahir Zemaj with Rugova's émigré
premier Bukoshi displaying a new anti-aircraft "stinger". On the other photo,
Zemaj poses with a few of his comrades. Bukoshi was in charge of funding,
which came mostly from diaspora and drug smuggling. While Mr. Rugova was
publicly acting the role of the "Gandhi of the Balkans", at the same time
he was supporting his paramilitary organization also responsible for crimes
against civilians. His sudden "interest" in Christianity is just another
way to improve the declining image of Albanian nationalism, the goal of
which remains the territorial unification of all Albanians... of course,
under the Kosovo political and military elite (photo source: http://www.trepca.net/2001/zemaj/libri.htm
)
Later, when he himself was threatened by the KLA, Rugova and his family
managed to flee to Italy with the help of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic,
who "generously" arranged his transport to Belgrade and his escape to Rome.
KLA leaders had many reasons to suspect that some of Rugova's leading men
were in fact working secretly for Milosevic's intelligence. Immediately
after arriving in Italy, where he was welcomed as a great martyr, Rugova
resumed his role, satanizing all Serbs and claiming that more or less the
entire province of Kosovo had been transformed into a wasteland. His entire
political activity was and remains a façade of supposed pacifism hiding
a lack of a clear vision of modern democratic society and respect for the
basic rights of all citizens, regardless of their ethnicity. Ibrahim Rugova
was and remains more or less a politically impotent symbol created by the
Western media as a counter to Slobodan Milosevic. However, more cautious
analysts will quickly conclude that Ibrahim Rugova practically exists and
acts today only as a figurehead without any real political initiative and
power. Perhaps the entire secret of his political success lies in the inability
of his rivals from the former KLA to whitewash their wartime biographies
and affirm themselves as true democratic leaders.
(More about relations between UCK/KLA, FARK, Western Intelligence Services
and NATO on http://www.kosovo.net/who.html )
[PHOTO: ]A photo which may cost Rugova his life. Rugova claims that he was
forced to make this photo in spring 1999. However, no one can deny that
it was thanks to Milosevic and the Italian Foreign Ministry that Rugova
and his family safely left Kosovo. The true danger for him in Pristina apparently
was never from Serb police who, according to Milosevic, were even guarding
his villa from Thaci's gunmen, but from the KLA, which saw Rugova as a
Milosevic's political puppet. Even today in his "free Kosovo", Mr. Rugova
is heavily guarded by UNMIK police
Political impotence and a lack of responsibility
For Mr. Rugova the Serbs and other non-Albanians represent a single amorphous
mass of "national minorities" that are supposed to serve as a decoration
to the supposed multiethnicity of Kosovo. Attacks in which Serbian children
and elderly are murdered represent incidents that merely "spoil Kosovo's
image". When Bishop Artemije requested a minute of silence for the slain
Serb children in Gorazdevac, neither the Kosovo Parliament nor Mr. Rugova
supported his idea. He has never visited an Orthodox church or a Serb-inhabited
enclave, unlike his colleagues from the PDK and AAK who, considering their
KLA past, can even allow themselves a display of sympathy toward the Serbs.
Of course, in the interview for the Italian daily, Mr. Rugova mentions security
considerations but it is a well-known fact that the major threat to Rugova
is not the Serbs but rival Albanian organizations with whose leaders he
will agree to meet only in the presence of internationals and in the presence
of strong police security of UNMIK special forces. However, Thaci and Haradinaj
apparently would hardly wish to remove Rugova from the scene because his
image, created during the 1990s, presently represents one of their aces
for gaining independence. The real confrontation between adherents of rival
political parties would ensue only after the proclamation of an independent
state, if and when this ever occurs, and expulsion of the remaining Serbs.
Ultimately, we can conclude that this interview is yet another in a series
of Rugova's collection of lies whose goal at any price is to cover up the
tragedy of Kosovo reality and hide the existence of open ethnic discrimination
and violence against non-Albanians and Orthodox Christian monuments. If
the Vatican shows readiness to give its blessing to the new Kosovo Albanian
regime trying to whitewash its biography by using the noble name of Mother
Theresa without insisting on the rebuilding of destroyed Serb churches and
better treatment of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Metohija today, this
would seriously damage improving Orthodox-Roman Catholic relations.
To what extent tolerating the destruction of churches, the desecration of
Serbian Christian cemeteries and silent acquiescence to the expulsion of
the Serb population from Kosovo and Metohija has even the remotest connection
with the ideals of Mother Theresa every reader can judge for himself. Again,
in addition to his photos of the Pope and Mother Theresa and his rhetoric
Mr. Rugova must show concrete political action and responsibility for the
population he is supposed to represent.
Commentary
Father Sava Janjic
ERP KIM Info Service, Gracanica
---
Attached is a complete translation of the interview appearing in Corriere
della Sera. For our readers who understand Italian we are enclosing at the
bottom the original transcript from the newspapers
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
Thursday, 27 November 2003
RELIGION, Page 015
"The Gandhi of the Balkans" emphasizes his priority is true tolerance between
the different confessions in the Serbian province with an Albanian majority
population
Kosovo: Rugova "converts" - "A liking for Christianity''
''The first faith practiced by the Albanian people. The mosques came later''
PRISTINA (Kosovo) - President Rugova, is it true that you have converted
to Christianity?
A smile, a long silence. Ibrahim Rugova is, after all, the head of a "multiethnic"
state, with 90 percent Muslims, supported by monies also coming from many
Islamic countries. The one-time student of Roland Barthes knows to weigh
his words: "Let's say this. Today I have a liking for Christian and Western
education."
Can you call what you are now doing a spiritual growth?
"Our education is of Western orientation. And even historically, the first
faith practiced by the Albanian people has been Christianity. The mosques
and the rest came later. As early as the Illyrians, the Romans in this region
there were already the buds of Christianity. Under the Osmanlis [Ottoman
Turks], a part of this population was forcibly converted to Islam. This
occurred after Skanderbeg and his resistance to the invasion of the Turks."
A return to the roots...
"There was a very deep penetration by Islam and it can be discerned to this
day in the names and the customs of our people. Christians and Muslims have
been integrated into one harmonious whole. The only one premise of our existence
is mutual tolerance. Without it, we would vanish: we Kosovars, but also
the Albanians and the Macedonians. Therefore, today, in this climate, everyone
can choose the religion, the tradition that better represents him."
But you are the president of the Kosovo...
"My cultural and spiritual interests are completely personal. Do you see
this picture? (he points to an oil painting, a portrait on a green background,
the work of a Kosovo painter) It's a portrait of Peter Bogdani. He was a
great bishop in Kosovo in the 16th century who fought against the Islamic
conquest of this region. An extraordinary figure, very relevant for anyone
who wants to understand this age of confrontation between civilizations."
When will you be christened?
Another smile: "We'll see... Now my goal is first and foremost political:
I want to achieve true tolerance between Christians and Muslims."
Rugova stopped on the streets of Pristina. For a year already there have
been rumors regarding the conversion of the "Gandhi of the Balkans", the
disputed historical head of the Kosovar leadership, but he still remains
strong with a political majority. An Italian priest has followed this spiritual
journey since 1999, the time of Rugova's Roman exile, when the country was
"Serbicized" by Milosevic's troops and bombed by NATO. 'Did he convert?'
The priest tried to evade the question we asked of his a few months ago.
'I don't know if it is expedient to say. In any case, you should ask him.'
And that is what we did: On a November morning, the president of the Kosovo,
instead of evading the question, rose from his luxurious seat on the first
floor of a building in the hills of Pristina and accompanied us to the nearby
room to the model of a cathedral the color of alabaster. "This is my dream:
a mausoleum for Mother Theresa of Calcutta, a great Christian and a great
Albanian. It was designed by two Italian architects, Bruno Valente and Giuseppe
Durastanti. I have been to the Vatican. I have also shown the plan to your
minister Buttiglione."
But couldn't the money be used for more urgent things?
"The project will be financed by individual donations. In any case, we need
these symbols. And the sum of money earmarked for the church will not make
such a difference in the economy of the country."
What country? You are talking of independence, the Americans have fixed
a date (2005) but Kosovo still depends on Belgrade, at least formally...
"We will be independent before 2005. It is a realistic hypothesis."
But the war in 1999 was waged, it is said, for an multiethnic Kosovo: Muslim
Albanians next to Christian Serbs. And instead everything here is Albanized.
Do you think that Europe can accept a Kosovo without Serbs?
"This will become a multiethnic society, like Europe. It is true that the
first impression is that the signs, the monuments, the language are Albanian
but that is only because the majority of the population is already Albanian.
After the war, the size of the Serbian, Turkish, Bosnian and Roman minorities
have been reduced. That does not mean that there will be no room for them."
A minimum of room: The Serbs are being shot at. And how many times have
you personally visited the minorities?
"I have done so a number of times. But I am limited in my official trips
by security considerations."
"But you favor the return of Serbs to areas such as Pec, controlled by Italian
soldiers, where cohabitation appears to be impossible?
"Yes. They are already seven thousand returnees. But it depends on individual
choice, not on the propaganda of Belgrade that only creates destabilization."
You were the only one who attended the first talks between the Albanians
and Serbs in Vienna in 1999. The leaders of the former KLA refused.
"I was there as the president of Kosovo. I ascertained that the others were
hesitant. But this is part of the normal dialectics in a democracy."
It is true that Belgrade is ready to surrender Kosovo in exchange for two
billion dollars and rapid ascension to the EU?
"Speculation. I don't know anything about it. For us, the price we paid
was the war. If the Serbs want to join the European Union, that's their
problem."
The Hague tribunal is investigating not only crimes committed by Milosevic
but also by current Kosovo leader, starting with Thaci and Cheku. Will you
hand them over?
"The mandate of Carla del Ponte includes all of the Balkans, and also the
West. Like all countries, we intend to cooperate.However, if there are arrests
to be made, that's not our job; it fall under the jurisdiction of the UN,
which is presently administering this region.
This part of the Balkans (Kosovo, Albania, Macedonian, Montenegro) is a
quadrilateral of the crime. Europe is concerned about trafficking of drugs,
weapons, human beings. How do you plan to reassure it?
"The problem is the freedom of movement in the area. Now it is limited if
you are a normal person; if you are a criminal it is unlimited. Something
does not work in the controls. The UN and European organizations must understand
that borders must be protected in a different way, without blocking those
who want to acquire wealth legally. For example, I would like to see a big
highway from Pristina to Drac so that goods can get to the Adriatic without
having to go through the mountains, which are ruled by criminals. But it
is a difficult project to push through."
How long should the international presence in Kosovo last?
"The UN mission is already transferring many powers to our institutions.
As far as NATO is concerned, the bases will stay. The future of independent
Kosovo is connected to its joining NATO."
(photo: Rugova smiling with his version of "Kosovo's new flag")
But what will this independent Kosovo be like? Which flag will have? And
will its borders be the same as today? The Albanians from southern Serbia
would want to annex themselves to you, in the public square of Pristina
there was a demand to annex Kosovo to Albania...
"The flag is already ready (Rugova shows one in the room, next to the Albanian
one). The Albanian eagle in a red circle on a blue background, the color
of our sky, of European tolerance. There is also an inscription of "Dardania",
the ancient name of the Kosovo, and a six-pointed star, that of Skanderbeg.
The borders? Not, they are inviolable. If we touched them, conflicts throughout
the Balkans would be resumed."
And the flag will wave on the cathedral of Mother Teresa?
"It is too early to say. The land is ready, the cornerstone has already
been laid. In 2004 the work should begin. We are hurrying to complete it."
Why?
"I have asked the Pope to come to inaugurate it".
Francesco Battistini
=== === ===
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2003-daily/01-12-2003/world/w4.htm
The News International, Pakistan
Monday December 01,
2003-- Shawwal 06, 1424 A.H.
Al-Qaeda attack in Kosovo ruled out
ATHENS: The president of Kosovo, an Albanian province of Serbia, has
ruled out that alleged al-Qaeda militants could prepare attacks in the
UN-administered region, in an interview published on Sunday.
"The Kosovo Albanians and I condemn al-Qaeda?s actions but I do not believe
that this organisation could be active in Kosovo in any way," Ibrahim
Rugova told the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
He insisted there were no people linked to extremists in Kosovo, adding
that he was aware of reports that such a threat could exist in the volatile
region. "But this is unfounded," he added. "It could be that some people
spread such allegations to destabilize Kosovo," he said.
Rugova said that Kosovo was standing by the United States and European
countries in the fight against extremist violence. The United Nations
mission in Kosovo and NATO-led peacekeepers have increased security in
the province after receiving a warning about an unspecified threat on
Friday.
Peacekeepers with the NATO-led force known as KFOR set-up extra checkpoints
and stationed armoured vehicles on roads leading to most diplomatic offices,
including those of the United States and Britain.
Some 20,000 KFOR troops are stationed in Kosovo and are in charge of
security in the province. Another 3,500 UN police and 6,000 local officers
are responsible for law and order. "We now know that a specific threat
has been made towards international organisations in Kosovo," KFOR spokesman
Chris Thompson said.
__________________________________________________________________
Tiscali ADSL SENZA CANONE, paghi solo quando navighi!
E in più il modem e' GRATIS! Abbonati subito.
http://point.tiscali.it/adsl/index.shtml
=== === ===
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decani/message/78361
[si veda alla URL qui sopra riportata per le fotografie e l'originale in
lingua italiana della intervista di Rugova al Corriere della Sera, gia'
diffusa da JUGOINFO]
From: "decani3"
Date: Mon Dec 1, 2003 4:16 am
Subject: ERP KIM Ibrahim Rugova - Deceiving the world community (a commentary),
Dec. 01, 2003
December 01, 2003
ERP KIM 01-12-03
Commentary on the interview of Mr. Ibrahim Rugova to Corriere della Sera
Deceiving the world community - Ibrahim Rugova for Corriere della Sera
Despite his four months of specialization at the Sorbonne and the photograph
of the Pope in his salon, Mr. Ibrahim Rugova has very little understanding
of the authentic values of Christianity in the region where he has been
elected as president. Moreover, he does not even mention the existence of
the Serbian Orthodox Christian monuments that comprise more than 90 percent
of the entire cultural and historical wealth of Kosovo and Metohija. He
does not even mention the more than 100 Serbian churches and monasteries
destroyed by Albanian extremists after the end of the armed conflict in
1999 (not in the time of war), which, by the way, he has never publicly
condemned. More sensitive questions of the Corriere journalist Mr. Rugova
gently evaded, hiding behind Pope JP II.
pdf version of this text (with imbedded photos) may be downloaded at:
http://www.kosovo.com/erpkiminfo_dec03/erpkiminfo01dec03.pdf%c2%a0 (1.9 Mb)
html version is available at:
http://www.kosovo.com/erpkiminfo_dec03/erpkiminfo01dec03.htmlhtml (70 Kb)
[PHOTO:] Ibrahim, Abraham, "Balkan Gandhi" or Kosovo version of Mother Theresa: a
man with many faces but one clear nationalist goal. Ibrahim Rugova - Albanian
nationalism in pacifist wrapping (photo: Paris, March 1999)
ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, December 01, 2003
In his most recent interview with the respected Italian daily Corriere della
Sera published on November 27, 2003 President of Kosovo Province Mr. Ibrahim
Rugova once again attempted to deceive the world community by misrepresenting
himself as a great peacemaker and protector of Christianity in Kosovo and
Metohija.
"The Balkan Gandhi", as the Italian daily calls Mr. Rugova, speaks with
warmth about Christianity, the Albanians as a people of Western orientation
(sic), and mentions with pride the Albanian Roman Catholics who fought against
the Ottomans (although the ethnic Albanians, generally speaking, were the
strongest Ottoman allies in the Balkans), announcing the consecration of
the foundation of a large Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Mother Theresa
that is expected to be consecrated by none other than Pope John Paul II.
The first impression readers of the article could get is that of a man and
a society that affirms Christian values, tolerance, and Western and European
culture - music to the ears.
However, reality is completely different. Despite his four months of specialization
at the Sorbonne (he studied and later earned his Ph.D in Pristina, not in
Paris) and the photograph of the Pope in his salon, Mr. Ibrahim Rugova has
very little understanding of the authentic values of Christianity in the
region where he has been elected as president. Moreover, he does not even
mention the existence of the Serbian Orthodox Christian monuments that comprise
more than 90 percent of the entire cultural and historical wealth of Kosovo
and Metohija. Although one cannot call him a typical Moslem believer, Mr.
Rugova is far from being "defensor christianitatis".
In his interview he does not even mention the more than 100 Serbian churches
and monasteries destroyed by Albanian extremists after the end of the armed
conflict in 1999, which he has never publicly condemned. Moreover, during
the visit of U.S. president Bill Clinton in November 1999 to Pristina and
in the presence of Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija
and representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Ibrahim Rugova publicly
rationalized the destruction of Serbian holy shrines as alleged "political
churches". That was quite a shock for the president and others, especially
after Bishop Artemije showed photos of 14th century churches destroyed after
the end of the conflict. The theory of so-called "Serbian political churches"
is not an invention of the "Balkan Gandhi" nor of the Kosovo Albanian Roman
Catholic Bishop Marko Sopi, who is also fond of it. As early as August 1995,
Mr. Rugova publicly stated "that the monasteries and churches in Kosovo
were Albanian and that the Serbs occupied them, destroying in the process
a large number of Albanian churches" http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/kosova/95-08-25.ksv.html
- a theory not based on a single piece of historical proof, which he could
not have learned during his sojourn at the Sorbonne. In fact, this quasi-historical
theory has been launched and repeated in parrot-like fashion by a number
of Albanian revisionist historians whose goal is equivocate the existence
of Christianity in the region exclusively with Albanian Roman Catholicism
in order to prove that Serbs actually never lived in Kosovo as the indigenous
population. This is also a way to find at least some "plausible" excuse
as to how, in an "ethnic Albanian Kosovo", the most important cultural monuments
belong to the Serbian Orthodox people and their history.
[PHOTO:] Is this "a liking for Christianity" in Kosovo, Mr. Rugova? UNESCO
delegation (Feb, 2003) visiting the ruins of the 14th century church of
the Holy Virgin Odigitria, near Suva Reka. Only a 20th century bell tower
survived the attack of Albanian extremists (even the surrounding trees were
cut)
(more about the church: http://www.kosovo.com/odigitria.html )
Rugova's paramilitary organization - FARK
Mr. Rugova, considered to be "a great peacemaker", directly blessed and
supported the paramilitary organization known as FARK (Armed Forces of the
Republic of Kosovo), funded from abroad by his émigré premier Bujar Bukoshi
and commanded by former Yugoslav People's Army officer Tahir Zemaj, who
was murdered earlier this year by members of the rival paramilitary (KLA)
group close to KLA clans. Together with the KLA, FARK participated in operations
against the Serbian military, police and civilian population; the only difference
between the two organizations, as is now the case among Rugova's LDK, Thaci's
PDK and Haradinaj's AAK, is that each of them was fighting to get the biggest
piece of the pie from illegal trafficking and political power behind the
smoke screen of building "democratic and a multiethnic Kosovo". The treatment
of the Serbs by these political parties and paramilitary organizations was
more or less the same, although it is true that the KLA managed to take
the lead in its crimes and aggression against Serbs and some FARK "officers"
appeared as witnesses on trials against Mustafa Remi and Daut Haradinaj.
When the first operations conducted by the KLA against Serbian authorities
and the civil population began in 1996, Rugova consciously deceived the
world community by saying that these were secret operations by the "Serbian
intelligence service" - the same justification that some of today's K/Albanian
politicians use to try to explain when Serbs are attacked or killed.
[PHOTO:] Mr. Rugova's version of KLA - FARK (Armed Forces of "Kosovo Republic")
The first photo shows the FARK commander Tahir Zemaj with Rugova's émigré
premier Bukoshi displaying a new anti-aircraft "stinger". On the other photo,
Zemaj poses with a few of his comrades. Bukoshi was in charge of funding,
which came mostly from diaspora and drug smuggling. While Mr. Rugova was
publicly acting the role of the "Gandhi of the Balkans", at the same time
he was supporting his paramilitary organization also responsible for crimes
against civilians. His sudden "interest" in Christianity is just another
way to improve the declining image of Albanian nationalism, the goal of
which remains the territorial unification of all Albanians... of course,
under the Kosovo political and military elite (photo source: http://www.trepca.net/2001/zemaj/libri.htm
)
Later, when he himself was threatened by the KLA, Rugova and his family
managed to flee to Italy with the help of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic,
who "generously" arranged his transport to Belgrade and his escape to Rome.
KLA leaders had many reasons to suspect that some of Rugova's leading men
were in fact working secretly for Milosevic's intelligence. Immediately
after arriving in Italy, where he was welcomed as a great martyr, Rugova
resumed his role, satanizing all Serbs and claiming that more or less the
entire province of Kosovo had been transformed into a wasteland. His entire
political activity was and remains a façade of supposed pacifism hiding
a lack of a clear vision of modern democratic society and respect for the
basic rights of all citizens, regardless of their ethnicity. Ibrahim Rugova
was and remains more or less a politically impotent symbol created by the
Western media as a counter to Slobodan Milosevic. However, more cautious
analysts will quickly conclude that Ibrahim Rugova practically exists and
acts today only as a figurehead without any real political initiative and
power. Perhaps the entire secret of his political success lies in the inability
of his rivals from the former KLA to whitewash their wartime biographies
and affirm themselves as true democratic leaders.
(More about relations between UCK/KLA, FARK, Western Intelligence Services
and NATO on http://www.kosovo.net/who.html )
[PHOTO: ]A photo which may cost Rugova his life. Rugova claims that he was
forced to make this photo in spring 1999. However, no one can deny that
it was thanks to Milosevic and the Italian Foreign Ministry that Rugova
and his family safely left Kosovo. The true danger for him in Pristina apparently
was never from Serb police who, according to Milosevic, were even guarding
his villa from Thaci's gunmen, but from the KLA, which saw Rugova as a
Milosevic's political puppet. Even today in his "free Kosovo", Mr. Rugova
is heavily guarded by UNMIK police
Political impotence and a lack of responsibility
For Mr. Rugova the Serbs and other non-Albanians represent a single amorphous
mass of "national minorities" that are supposed to serve as a decoration
to the supposed multiethnicity of Kosovo. Attacks in which Serbian children
and elderly are murdered represent incidents that merely "spoil Kosovo's
image". When Bishop Artemije requested a minute of silence for the slain
Serb children in Gorazdevac, neither the Kosovo Parliament nor Mr. Rugova
supported his idea. He has never visited an Orthodox church or a Serb-inhabited
enclave, unlike his colleagues from the PDK and AAK who, considering their
KLA past, can even allow themselves a display of sympathy toward the Serbs.
Of course, in the interview for the Italian daily, Mr. Rugova mentions security
considerations but it is a well-known fact that the major threat to Rugova
is not the Serbs but rival Albanian organizations with whose leaders he
will agree to meet only in the presence of internationals and in the presence
of strong police security of UNMIK special forces. However, Thaci and Haradinaj
apparently would hardly wish to remove Rugova from the scene because his
image, created during the 1990s, presently represents one of their aces
for gaining independence. The real confrontation between adherents of rival
political parties would ensue only after the proclamation of an independent
state, if and when this ever occurs, and expulsion of the remaining Serbs.
Ultimately, we can conclude that this interview is yet another in a series
of Rugova's collection of lies whose goal at any price is to cover up the
tragedy of Kosovo reality and hide the existence of open ethnic discrimination
and violence against non-Albanians and Orthodox Christian monuments. If
the Vatican shows readiness to give its blessing to the new Kosovo Albanian
regime trying to whitewash its biography by using the noble name of Mother
Theresa without insisting on the rebuilding of destroyed Serb churches and
better treatment of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Metohija today, this
would seriously damage improving Orthodox-Roman Catholic relations.
To what extent tolerating the destruction of churches, the desecration of
Serbian Christian cemeteries and silent acquiescence to the expulsion of
the Serb population from Kosovo and Metohija has even the remotest connection
with the ideals of Mother Theresa every reader can judge for himself. Again,
in addition to his photos of the Pope and Mother Theresa and his rhetoric
Mr. Rugova must show concrete political action and responsibility for the
population he is supposed to represent.
Commentary
Father Sava Janjic
ERP KIM Info Service, Gracanica
---
Attached is a complete translation of the interview appearing in Corriere
della Sera. For our readers who understand Italian we are enclosing at the
bottom the original transcript from the newspapers
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
Thursday, 27 November 2003
RELIGION, Page 015
"The Gandhi of the Balkans" emphasizes his priority is true tolerance between
the different confessions in the Serbian province with an Albanian majority
population
Kosovo: Rugova "converts" - "A liking for Christianity''
''The first faith practiced by the Albanian people. The mosques came later''
PRISTINA (Kosovo) - President Rugova, is it true that you have converted
to Christianity?
A smile, a long silence. Ibrahim Rugova is, after all, the head of a "multiethnic"
state, with 90 percent Muslims, supported by monies also coming from many
Islamic countries. The one-time student of Roland Barthes knows to weigh
his words: "Let's say this. Today I have a liking for Christian and Western
education."
Can you call what you are now doing a spiritual growth?
"Our education is of Western orientation. And even historically, the first
faith practiced by the Albanian people has been Christianity. The mosques
and the rest came later. As early as the Illyrians, the Romans in this region
there were already the buds of Christianity. Under the Osmanlis [Ottoman
Turks], a part of this population was forcibly converted to Islam. This
occurred after Skanderbeg and his resistance to the invasion of the Turks."
A return to the roots...
"There was a very deep penetration by Islam and it can be discerned to this
day in the names and the customs of our people. Christians and Muslims have
been integrated into one harmonious whole. The only one premise of our existence
is mutual tolerance. Without it, we would vanish: we Kosovars, but also
the Albanians and the Macedonians. Therefore, today, in this climate, everyone
can choose the religion, the tradition that better represents him."
But you are the president of the Kosovo...
"My cultural and spiritual interests are completely personal. Do you see
this picture? (he points to an oil painting, a portrait on a green background,
the work of a Kosovo painter) It's a portrait of Peter Bogdani. He was a
great bishop in Kosovo in the 16th century who fought against the Islamic
conquest of this region. An extraordinary figure, very relevant for anyone
who wants to understand this age of confrontation between civilizations."
When will you be christened?
Another smile: "We'll see... Now my goal is first and foremost political:
I want to achieve true tolerance between Christians and Muslims."
Rugova stopped on the streets of Pristina. For a year already there have
been rumors regarding the conversion of the "Gandhi of the Balkans", the
disputed historical head of the Kosovar leadership, but he still remains
strong with a political majority. An Italian priest has followed this spiritual
journey since 1999, the time of Rugova's Roman exile, when the country was
"Serbicized" by Milosevic's troops and bombed by NATO. 'Did he convert?'
The priest tried to evade the question we asked of his a few months ago.
'I don't know if it is expedient to say. In any case, you should ask him.'
And that is what we did: On a November morning, the president of the Kosovo,
instead of evading the question, rose from his luxurious seat on the first
floor of a building in the hills of Pristina and accompanied us to the nearby
room to the model of a cathedral the color of alabaster. "This is my dream:
a mausoleum for Mother Theresa of Calcutta, a great Christian and a great
Albanian. It was designed by two Italian architects, Bruno Valente and Giuseppe
Durastanti. I have been to the Vatican. I have also shown the plan to your
minister Buttiglione."
But couldn't the money be used for more urgent things?
"The project will be financed by individual donations. In any case, we need
these symbols. And the sum of money earmarked for the church will not make
such a difference in the economy of the country."
What country? You are talking of independence, the Americans have fixed
a date (2005) but Kosovo still depends on Belgrade, at least formally...
"We will be independent before 2005. It is a realistic hypothesis."
But the war in 1999 was waged, it is said, for an multiethnic Kosovo: Muslim
Albanians next to Christian Serbs. And instead everything here is Albanized.
Do you think that Europe can accept a Kosovo without Serbs?
"This will become a multiethnic society, like Europe. It is true that the
first impression is that the signs, the monuments, the language are Albanian
but that is only because the majority of the population is already Albanian.
After the war, the size of the Serbian, Turkish, Bosnian and Roman minorities
have been reduced. That does not mean that there will be no room for them."
A minimum of room: The Serbs are being shot at. And how many times have
you personally visited the minorities?
"I have done so a number of times. But I am limited in my official trips
by security considerations."
"But you favor the return of Serbs to areas such as Pec, controlled by Italian
soldiers, where cohabitation appears to be impossible?
"Yes. They are already seven thousand returnees. But it depends on individual
choice, not on the propaganda of Belgrade that only creates destabilization."
You were the only one who attended the first talks between the Albanians
and Serbs in Vienna in 1999. The leaders of the former KLA refused.
"I was there as the president of Kosovo. I ascertained that the others were
hesitant. But this is part of the normal dialectics in a democracy."
It is true that Belgrade is ready to surrender Kosovo in exchange for two
billion dollars and rapid ascension to the EU?
"Speculation. I don't know anything about it. For us, the price we paid
was the war. If the Serbs want to join the European Union, that's their
problem."
The Hague tribunal is investigating not only crimes committed by Milosevic
but also by current Kosovo leader, starting with Thaci and Cheku. Will you
hand them over?
"The mandate of Carla del Ponte includes all of the Balkans, and also the
West. Like all countries, we intend to cooperate.However, if there are arrests
to be made, that's not our job; it fall under the jurisdiction of the UN,
which is presently administering this region.
This part of the Balkans (Kosovo, Albania, Macedonian, Montenegro) is a
quadrilateral of the crime. Europe is concerned about trafficking of drugs,
weapons, human beings. How do you plan to reassure it?
"The problem is the freedom of movement in the area. Now it is limited if
you are a normal person; if you are a criminal it is unlimited. Something
does not work in the controls. The UN and European organizations must understand
that borders must be protected in a different way, without blocking those
who want to acquire wealth legally. For example, I would like to see a big
highway from Pristina to Drac so that goods can get to the Adriatic without
having to go through the mountains, which are ruled by criminals. But it
is a difficult project to push through."
How long should the international presence in Kosovo last?
"The UN mission is already transferring many powers to our institutions.
As far as NATO is concerned, the bases will stay. The future of independent
Kosovo is connected to its joining NATO."
(photo: Rugova smiling with his version of "Kosovo's new flag")
But what will this independent Kosovo be like? Which flag will have? And
will its borders be the same as today? The Albanians from southern Serbia
would want to annex themselves to you, in the public square of Pristina
there was a demand to annex Kosovo to Albania...
"The flag is already ready (Rugova shows one in the room, next to the Albanian
one). The Albanian eagle in a red circle on a blue background, the color
of our sky, of European tolerance. There is also an inscription of "Dardania",
the ancient name of the Kosovo, and a six-pointed star, that of Skanderbeg.
The borders? Not, they are inviolable. If we touched them, conflicts throughout
the Balkans would be resumed."
And the flag will wave on the cathedral of Mother Teresa?
"It is too early to say. The land is ready, the cornerstone has already
been laid. In 2004 the work should begin. We are hurrying to complete it."
Why?
"I have asked the Pope to come to inaugurate it".
Francesco Battistini
=== === ===
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2003-daily/01-12-2003/world/w4.htm
The News International, Pakistan
Monday December 01,
2003-- Shawwal 06, 1424 A.H.
Al-Qaeda attack in Kosovo ruled out
ATHENS: The president of Kosovo, an Albanian province of Serbia, has
ruled out that alleged al-Qaeda militants could prepare attacks in the
UN-administered region, in an interview published on Sunday.
"The Kosovo Albanians and I condemn al-Qaeda?s actions but I do not believe
that this organisation could be active in Kosovo in any way," Ibrahim
Rugova told the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
He insisted there were no people linked to extremists in Kosovo, adding
that he was aware of reports that such a threat could exist in the volatile
region. "But this is unfounded," he added. "It could be that some people
spread such allegations to destabilize Kosovo," he said.
Rugova said that Kosovo was standing by the United States and European
countries in the fight against extremist violence. The United Nations
mission in Kosovo and NATO-led peacekeepers have increased security in
the province after receiving a warning about an unspecified threat on
Friday.
Peacekeepers with the NATO-led force known as KFOR set-up extra checkpoints
and stationed armoured vehicles on roads leading to most diplomatic offices,
including those of the United States and Britain.
Some 20,000 KFOR troops are stationed in Kosovo and are in charge of
security in the province. Another 3,500 UN police and 6,000 local officers
are responsible for law and order. "We now know that a specific threat
has been made towards international organisations in Kosovo," KFOR spokesman
Chris Thompson said.
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