Nazi- and NATO-„Justice“: how the images resemble


---

Alcune FOTOGRAFIE della manifestazione dell'8 Novembre all'Aia sono
visionabili ai siti / PHOTOS of the 8. November Demonstration in Den
Haag can be viewed at

http://mona-lisa.org/slobo

http://it.photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/lst

Rally at The Plein
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/gal8/first.htm

Protest march
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/gal8/second.htm

Rally in front of the prison
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/gal8/third.htm

Speakers
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/gal8/fourth.htm

The people
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/gal8/fifth.htm

---


Nazi- and NATO-„Justice“: how the images resemble


Speech by Klaus Hartmann, Vice-Chairman of ICDSM,

on November 8, 2003 on the Plein in Den Haag (English translation)
 
Read this and other speeches from the Hague International
Demonstrations of 8 November 2003 at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/demonstration.htm%c2%a0
or at
http://www.icdsm.org  

 

Friends and Citizens!

We are demonstrating here today for the second time this year demanding
the dissolution of the Hague “Tribunal“ on Yugoslavia. We are
demonstrating for the immediate release of Slobodan Milosevic. We are
demonstrating for the release of all political prisoners of NATO! We
are not demanding that criminals be released. On the contrary, we are
demanding the conviction and imprisonment of war criminals, the war
criminals who destroyed Yugoslavia:

•          The leaders of the NATO-states belong behind bars!

•          The release and reparations for their victims!

We are not protesting against the fact that the government of the
Netherlands and The Hague are accommodating international courts of the
United Nations. To host the International Court of Justice and the
International Criminal Court honors this city and this country. But the
good reputation is damaged through this so-called ad-hoc-Tribunal on
Yugoslavia. This is not an institution of law, but an instrument of
political blackmail. It serves the United States and other NATO states
as an instrument for their continued aggression against the peoples of
the Balkans. With the so-called “tribunal” this city is left holding
the illegitimate baby of Madeleine Albright, who is called “the mother
of the tribunal”.

This so-called „tribunal“ is illegal: it was founded by an unauthorized
body on a non-exiting legal basis. It is illegally financed and it is
the symbol of a permanent breach of international law. This is
illegality from one end to the other; it is an illegality that cannot
be redeemed. And it will lead nowhere. This is why we demand:

•          The immediate dissolution of this „tribunal“

•          The annulment of all its so called sentences

•          The release of and compensation for those illegally
imprisoned

Our protest is taking place at a time, when all over the world
antifascists are commemorating the Day of Remembrance and Admonition. 

The night of November 9 is such an occasion, because in 1938, 65 years
ago, the racist, anti-Jewish campaign that had been in process over the
years became an orgy of violence in the nationwide pogrom known by the
Nazis as the “Reichskristallnacht”. The Nazis held their Jewish victims
responsible, demanding that they pay for the violence and destruction!
This is similar to the recent developments in the Balkans.

The fascists coined the image of „Slavic sub humans“ and the western
media did not hesitate to draw on this image in their
anti-Serb-hate-campaigns in the early 1990s. This campaign was racist
and escalated into a violent orgy: the NATO-aggression against
Yugoslavia in 1999.

The history books of the aggressors propagate the image of Serbs being
the aggressors, for example against the Croats. Long before
international attention was drawn to the war already in progress, the
Croat separatists had imitated a “Kristallnacht”. During the Dalmatian
Kristallnacht on Mai 2, 1991, Croats, while chanting their WW II
fascist Ustacha-songs and waving their checkerboard flags with the
Croatian swastikas, hunted down and slaughtered Serbs. Who knows about
this Kristallnacht here in the West, with its brainwashing mass media?
Of course, this crime plays no role in DelPonte’s circus.

From September to December 1933, exactly 70 years ago, the so called
Reichstag Fire trial was taking place in Leipzig with Georgi Dimitrov
and his Comrades Blagoj Popov and Vassil Tanev as the defendants. The
German fascists attempted to use this farce in the Leipzig Reich's
Court to criminalize all their opponents, to win legitimacy for and
consolidate their dictatorship. The German fascists themselves had set
the Reichstag on fire in order to accuse the communists of arson. How
the images resemble! NATO broke up Yugoslavia, but accuses those who
defended it, of destruction.

How the images resemble: in Leipzig the arsonists presumed to set in
judgment over the victims of fascist terror. In The Hague, the
NATO-aggressors presume to set in judgment over the victims of their
aggression.

How the images resemble: in Leipzig the German Reich's Court tried to
refuse Georgi Dimitrov the right to speak, allowing him to only answer
questions. In The Hague, Judge May attempts to declare the embarrassing
questions posed by Slobodan Milosevic “irrelevant,” at times even
cutting off his microphone.

How the images resemble: the fascists tried to completely isolate
Georgi Dimitrov in prison, to cut him off from all contacts with the
outside, especially contacts with his comrades. The Hague “tribunal” is
trying not only to refuse Slobodan Milosevic visits from his family but
also from his comrades.

How the images resemble: the Nazis had planned the trial in Leipzig as
an exemplary show trial to promote their dictatorship. They installed a
special post office adjacent to the courthouse; the trial was
transmitted live from the courtroom…. But, just as in The Hague, this
functioned only at the beginning of the trial.

How the images resemble: 70 years ago today, on November 8, 1933, the
Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, took the stand in the
“trial” against Georgi Dimitrov. He suffered a total defeat. The chiefs
of propaganda, Rudolf Scharping, Tony Blair, Madeleine Albright and
Jamie Shea are afraid, still today, to take the witness stand against
Slobodan Milosevic. The third rank – Holbrooke, Petritch, Ashdown and
Mesic are allowed to portray miniature Goebbels - also without success.

How the images resemble: In Leipzig the Nazis called on police spies,
criminals and agents to witness against Georgi Dimitrov. In The Hague,
UCK-terrorists, CIA-agent William Walker and NATO-General Naumann took
the stand.

How the images resemble: The German fascists brought antifascists,
incarcerated in prisons and concentration camps, before the court in
Leipzig – promising them liberty, if they gave false testimony against
Georgi Dimitrov. The same pattern in The Hague: by offering “deals”,
the court is pushing other defendants to give false testimony. The
court’s collaborators in Belgrade promised not only to release Rade
Markovic, but to also furnish him with a new identity and wealth. But
because of Rade Markovic' steadfastness, he was immediately returned to
prison in Belgrade.

How the images resemble: The Leipzig court was surprised and horrified,
when Georgi Dimitrov succeeded in politicizing the trial. Today Del
Ponte, Nice and May and their subservient media are terrified that
Slobodan Milosevic contradicts the falsified and racist media
manipulation with historical facts in their proper contexts.

How the images resemble: Georgi Dimitrov thwarted the fascists’ plans
for an anti-communist show trial by turning the trial into an
indictment of fascism. Slobodan Milosevic is thwarting the plans of his
NATO accusers by putting them in the dock and even the tribunal's
sympathizing media is dumbfounded and has had to admit this.

How the images resemble: Georgi Dimitrov exposed that the arson in the
Reichstag and the trial were two parts of the same fascist provocation,
and sarcastically referred to those behind the scenes doing stage
management of both the arson and the indictment as the “Holy Ghost”.
Today Slobodan Milosevic is showing, that the aggressors and indicters
come from the same stable and that this tribunal is part of NATO’s
arsenal for enslaving peoples.

How the images resemble: In the early 90s, the United States and their
accomplices put the “New World Order” on their agenda. Who remembers,
who knows that 60 years earlier there was talk of the Nuovo Ordine
Europeo, - The "New Order of Europe" was on the agenda of the fascist
axis powers!

Many images are similar, but some differ: in 1933, the fascists made no
secret of their objectives: they wanted to finish off with communism
and install their limitless dictatorship. Today the aggressors complain
of violations of human rights and war crimes, to cover up their
crusades of subjugation. Hypocrisy is triumphant. They rarely let the
cat out of the bag:

The coup against Milosevic in October 2000, though originally
colporteured in NATO capitals as a victory over “Serbian nationalism”,
it very soon became billed as the victory over the “last communist
state in Europe”.

When Alija Izetbegovic was buried a few weeks ago, those holding
obituary speeches at the graveside regretted that he had not been able
to accomplish “the most important goal in his life”: “the political
supremacy of the Muslims in Bosnia”! Not a word about the
multi-cultural idyll, he was rumored to have promoted during the war.

Imagine, a corner of the truth is exposed – and even though it exposes
the lie of a so-called “Serb aggression” – it goes practically
unnoticed!

How will the show in the Del Ponte circus continue?

Professor Paul de Waart, the well known Dutch expert in international
law, recently stated on the Netherlands' television, that the trial
against Milosevic should have been suspended a month after it had
started on the grounds of lack of evidence. The fact that this did not
happen speaks volumes and proves that we are not dealing with a court
but with political agents of NATO.

The half-time of Slobodan Milosevic's defense will follow the half-time
of the „prosecution“. The “prosecution” had up to 8 years to prepare
its case. Slobodan Milosevic asked for two years for his preparation –
two years in liberty, with access to archives, witnesses and means of
communication. The “court's” answer is known: Milosevic has 3 months –
in his prison cell. This, in reality, will mean only 6 weeks, at which
time he is supposed to submit the complete list of defense witnesses
and the main themes of their testimony. Equal protection before the law
is a basic, internationally recognized principle. But this “tribunal”
doesn’t care about internationally recognized principles. Here is a
man, denied his rights, having to face alone this enormous apparatus,
the NATO hemisphere. It simply shows, that this “court” has nothing to
do with law. It tramples on the principles of rule of law.

We are proud that the founder of our international Committee is the
president of the anti-fascists of Bulgaria, the land of Georgi
Dimitrov. Prof. Velko Valkanov was right in his assessment: “It is not
at all surprising that the judges have granted Milosevic so little time
to prepare his defense. These are not really judges. If the tribunal is
not a legitimate court, how can these people be true judges? They have
a political mission to accomplish. They are the executive organs of
political vengeance – a vengeance carried out against all those who
dared to contradict the rulers of the world. The "judges" in The Hague
are really accomplices to NATO’s crimes. Their behavior at the tribunal
is evidence of their anti-juridical nature.”

How the tribunal deals with the health problems of its victims speaks
also volumes and makes a mockery of UN conventions. Subsequent to a
Dutch cardiologist's diagnosis that Slobodan Milosevic has such high
blood pressure that he is in danger of organic defects, heart attack,
brain stroke and death, Del Ponte sneered in the Neue Züricher Zeitung
on July 18, 2003 that “he is in very good health. Many people 60 years
old and older have high blood pressure.” One could not expect more
sensitivity from this creature, but she added: “We don’t spare him. – I
hope you do not get this impression!” What should one call this – an
attempt at judicial murder? What an abyss of cynicism, of pure contempt
for humanity! It is for just this depth of cynicism that made fascist
torturers infamous.

In my speech, June 28, at the Vidovdan, in front of the former
Nazi-prison in Scheveningen – now serving as NATO-prison, I said: “They
will not get away with it! Slaveholders were never victorious in
history!”

We are demonstrating today under the motto: „We will not allow NATO to
write our history!”

The NATO-powers need the revenge “justice” of Del Ponte's circus in
order to establish their version of history, their interpretation of
reality, as the only and eternal truth. They will not succeed, just as
German fascists did not succeed in building their "1000 year Reich",
which ended in 12 years.

In 1933, communists and anti-fascists wrote the „Brown Book on the
Reichstag Arson and the Terror of Hitler”. It is an excellent document
of international anti-fascist solidarity. It was the central and
strongest weapon against fascist lies. It was history written by the
masses, the real history helping the population to learn the truth
about fascist barbarism. Letus continue this tradition of antifascism
and internationalism: let us use this example and write the black book
on the destruction of Yugoslavia and NATO-terror. Let us contribute to
the exposure of the truth about NATO’s shady characters behind the
tribunal. Let us propagate the truth about the just struggle of the
Serbian people, about their heroic resistance against NATO-aggression –
as an incentive for the necessary resistance to the "new world order".

In the article "Let’s distribute Original-Ton of Slobodan Milosevic",
SLOBODA made a classical formulation: Slobodan Milosevic will help us
in our struggle, if we help him now! Let us make known, what Slobodan
Milosevic is saying in courtroom. He is a feared weapon against
imperialism, as is shown through May’s behavior in the “tribunal” and
the silence of the media. Our struggle for the release of Slobodan
Milosevic stands in the tradition of the struggle against fascism and
war.

The central lesson, the oath given after the liberation from fascist
barbarism ended with the following promise: “Never again fascism, never
again war!” This promise was broken on March 24, 1999. Never again
fascism, never again war! This is and will remain our commitment. This
connects us to the anti- fascists, the anti-militarists of all
generations.

Anti-fascism is not simply a commemoration of the past. Anti-fascism is
not looking towards the past. Anti-fascism still means, what Georgi
Dimitrov said at the time: the struggle against the most aggressive
forces of international finance capital and its world hegemonic designs.

By defending those resisting the new hegemonic forces, we honor the
memory of Georgi Dimitrov.

We repeat the promise we gave on June 28. We will come again!

Freedom for Slobodan! Liberty for Yugoslavia!

Freedom and Equality for all peoples!

Never again fascism, never again war!


---

URGENT CALL: Make the full victory of truth and justice possible!
 
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
 
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsm-us.org/ (US section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)

Dobro dosli na J U G O I N F O !

JUGOINFO
e' il bollettino sulla Jugoslavia ed i Balcani curato dal
COORDINAMENTO NAZIONALE PER LA JUGOSLAVIA - https://www.cnj.it
(vedi archivio: http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/)
Per contattarci: <jugocoord@...>

La nostra attivita' di informazione via internet, che continua
ininterrottamente (seppur con diverse denominazioni) dal 1997
grazie allo sforzo individuale di pochissimi volontari, puo'
continuare solo con il vostro sostegno. Vi chiediamo pertanto di
SOTTOSCRIVERE SUBITO per JUGOINFO e per le
altre attivita' del Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
usando il:
Conto Bancoposta n. 47595665
intestato ad Anita Krstic, Milano.
Causale: sostegno per Jugoinfo

JUGOINFO
is a bulletin on Yugoslavia and the Balkans edited by
ITALIJANSKA KOORDINACIJA ZA JUGOSLAVIJU - https://www.cnj.it
(see archive: http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/)
For contacts: <jugocoord@...>

Our effort to keep you informed through the net is continuing
without interruption (even if under different denominations)
since 1997 thanks to the voluntary engagement of very few people.
This has a chance to go on only if you support us, by
IMMEDIATELY SUBSCRIBING in favor of JUGOINFO and the other
activities of the Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
by giving your contribution through the Italian account:
Conto Bancoposta n. 47595665
intestato ad Anita Krstic, Milano.
Causale: sostegno per Jugoinfo


GRAZIE / HVALA / THANKS

[ Juergen Elsaesser - autore di "MENZOGNE DI GUERRA. Le bugie della NATO
e le loro vittime nel conflitto per il Kosovo" ( Napoli, La città del sole,
2002, 190 p., 21 cm., ISBN 8882921832 ) - segnala la prossima uscita di
una edizione completamente riveduta del suo libro.
Essa sara' in distribuzione a partire da marzo prossimo, in coincidenza
con il quinto anniversario della criminale aggressione contro la RF di
Jugoslavia.
Il nuovo volume consistera' di un numero di pagine quasi doppio rispetto
al precedente, con aggiornamenti sulla situazione in Kosovo, il "processo"
Milosevic, le menzogne su Srebrenica, la causa intentata contro la NATO,
la disinformazione strategica, ed un allegato con il
discorso di Milosevic a Campo dei Merli...
Ulteriori informazioni su: http://www.juergen-elsaesser.de/ ]


Da: Jürgen Elsässer
Data: Dom 30 Nov 2003 23:00:30 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Neuerscheinung zum 5. Jahrestag des Jugoslawienkrieges

Absenderr: Jürgen Elsässer

Im März 2004 jährt sich der Beginn des NATO-Krieges gegen Jugoslawien zum
fünften Mal. Oh wie schön befreit ist Kosovo, wird man dann wieder aus dem
Volksempfänger hören. Die verantwortlichen Politiker wünschen keine Nestbeschmutzung.

Damit werden sie freilich nicht durchkommen. Die albanischen Terroristen
haben angekündigt, das Frühjahr zu Angriffen auf Südserbien, Mazedonien
und ? erstmals ? Griechenland zu nutzen. In Den Haag geht der Prozeß gegen
Milosevic in seine Endphase ? nun wird der Angeklagte seine Entlastungszeugen
aufrufen. In den USA tritt Wesley Clark gegen George W. Bush bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen
an ? der Killer von Belgrad als vermeintliche Alternative. All dies sind
gute Anlässe, um die Kritik an der damaligen Aggression und der bis heute
dauernden Okkupation des Balkan durch die NATO und durch deutsches Militär
zu wiederholen.

Aus diesem Grund erscheint Anfang März 2004 eine IM UMFANG FAST VERDOPPELTE
und VOLLSTÄNDIG AKTUALISIERTE NEUAUFLAGE meines seit knapp zwei Jahren vergriffenen
Buches

?Kriegsverbrechen. Die tödlichen Lügen der Bundesregierung und ihre Opfer
im Kosovo-Konflikt?.

Gerne bin ich im März/April zu Lesungen, Podiumsdiskussion und anderen Veranstaltungen
bereit ? bitte sichern Sie sich schon jetzt einen Termin.

Etwa zeitgleich zur deutschen Neuauflage erscheint auch eine griechische
Lizenzausgabe - schon 2002 erschienen bekanntlich Ausgaben auf Italienisch,
Französisch und Serbisch.

WAS IST NEU?

Die Erweiterung des Buchumfanges von 192 auf 350 Seiten ist vor allem einem
neuen Schwerpunktkapitel zum Haager Prozeß gegen Milosevic geschuldet.

*Pleiten, Pech und Pannen
Die Anklage gegen Slobodan Milosevic in Den Haag ist gescheitert

Das Kapitel ist die ? zumindest im deutschen Sprachraum ? bisher ausführlichste
Aufarbeitung des ?Jahrhundertprozesses? gegen den jugoslawischen Präsidenten.
Alle Lügen über das Kosovo und den Krieg sind in Den Haag wieder aufgetaucht
? von Racak über den Hufeisenplan bis zu den Massengräbern und Killing Fields
-, und neu fantasievolle Lügen wie etwa die von den Gefrier- und Wanderleichen
kamen hinzu.

Ebenfalls zentral sind drei weitere Kapitel, die eigens für die Neuausgabe
geschrieben wurden:

*Neue UCK, neue Opfer
Die Situation im Kosovo nach fünf Jahren Nato-Besatzung

*?Die albanische Frage ist offen? (J. Fischer)
Das Übergreifen des Terrorismus auf Mazedonien und Griechenland

*Die Brücke von Varvarin
Was ein serbisches Mädchen über den Krieg erzählen würde

Alle übrigen Kapitel ? am spannendsten vielleicht jenes zu Srebrenica ?
wurden auf den wissenschaftlich und politisch letzten Stand gebracht.

Auch der Dokumentenanhang wurde wesentlich erweitert. Neu enthalten sind
die vollständige Amselfeld-Rede von Milosevic aus dem Jahre 1989, eine Expertise
des tschechischen Medienkritikers Rajko Dolecek über die Lügen des Bosnienkrieges
und Wortlaut-Auszüge aus wichtigen Kreuzverhören des Milosevic-Prozesses.
Sach- und Personenregister, Glossar, Zweittafel und Internet-Tips erhöhen
den Gebrauchswert des Ganzen.

Kurz und gut: Sie sollten sich die Neuauflage dieses Buch anschaffen oder
an Freunde weiterverschenken, auch wenn Sie schon ein ?altes? Exemplar haben.
Der neue Verlag, der Kai Homilius Verlag in Berlin, hat versprochen, trotz
der Verdoppelung des Umfanges den Preis deutlich unter 20 Euro zu halten.

Sie können direkt bei mir bestellen (durch Remail) oder beim Verlag
(http://www.kai-berlin.de).


Wichtiger Veranstaltungshinweis:
Am Vorabend der Urteilsverkündung des Varvarin-Prozesses (LG Bonn, 10.12.,
11.00 Uhr) spreche ich auf Einladung Bonner Friedensfreunde in der Universität
Bonn:
9. Dezember, 19 Uhr, Hörsaal 8.

Weitere Veranstaltungen:

08.12., Luxemburg (Diskussion zu meinem letzten Buch: ?Der deutsche
Sonderweg?)
20.00 Uhr, Casino Syndical, Luxemburg-Bonneweg

11.12., Berlin (Diskussion zu meinem letzten Buch: ?Der deutsche Sonderweg?)
19.00 Uhr, Helle Panke, Kopenhagener Straße 9, 10437 Berlin

13.12., Berlin (Podiumsdiskussion zu Krieg, Terror und Medienlügen)
15.30 Uhr, Backfabrik, Prenzlauer Allee

10.01., Berlin (Podiumsdiskussion zur Globalisierungskritik)
ca. 18.00 Uhr, im Rahmen der Rosa-Luxemburg-Konferenz der "jungen Welt",
Ort
noch offen


Vidimo se, srdacno
Jürgen Elsässer



__________________________________________________________________
Tiscali ADSL SENZA CANONE, paghi solo quando navighi!
E in più il modem e' GRATIS! Abbonati subito.
http://point.tiscali.it/adsl/index.shtml

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

OGNI MEZZO CHILOMETRO
UN MONUMENTO A MASSIMO D'ALEMA


Corriere della Sera
venerdì, 28 novembre, 2003
Pag. 15

Kosovo, la strage rimasta senza prove

Cinque anni dopo ancora introvabili le fosse comuni denunciate all' epoca.
Dal ' 99 a oggi l' Unione Europea ha speso qui due miliardi e 877 milioni
di euro, il più grande investimento mai fatto all' estero, senza contare
il costo dei 18 mila soldati inquadrati nella missione Kfor-Nato cui partecipano
38 Paesi. Questa regione per il momento non è nulla
Il mondo non ha deciso che farne

IL REPORTAGE: VIAGGIO NEI BALCANI. La provincia non più serba e non ancora
indipendente è in realtà governata dalle mafie locali e internazionali

Battistini Francesco

DAL NOSTRO INVIATO KACANIK (Kosovo) - Ci ha piantato la colza: «Cresce prima
e si vende meglio». Le gelate venture non spaventano Qamil Berani, 42 anni,
mani usurate d' un emigrato a Zurigo prima di tornare a questi campi di
Kacanik. A impensierirlo non è che tempo fa: è il tempo che lo separa
dal ritorno dei cercatori di fosse. Lui pianta solo roba che si raccolga
in fretta. Perché da quattro anni gli ripetono che sotto la sua colza ci
sono altri cadaveri, sepolti nel ' 99. Tutti sanno: «Però nessuno viene
mai a scavare». Ne trovarono alla pompa di benzina, nel pozzo della moschea,
sulle montagne. Erano poche decine di corpi, però, non le centinaia che
si
pensava. Da allora tutti giurano che è impossibile, a Kacanik ce n' è altri.
Basta cercare. Per esempio, sotto la colza di Qamil: «Io non ho mai trovato
neanche un osso. Che vengano a controllare, purché dicano quando: ho famiglia,
senza raccolto faccio la fame». Le grandi fosse comuni del Kosovo sono un
po' come le armi chimiche di Saddam: introvabili. Non che
servano prove, della pulizia etnica: in pochi mesi, Milosevic massacrò duemila
albanesi e ne provocò un esodo. Però gli stermini bosniaci tipo Srebrenica,
denunciati da Clinton e dall' Europa, non sono mai stati dimostrati. E nessuno
oggi ha troppa voglia d' indagare se è vero, come sosteneva l' Uck, che
all' appello mancano almeno 9mila persone. «Sono state scoperte solo le
piccole fosse, non quelle di massa - ammette Laurie Weisberg, commissario
Onu per i profughi -. Il problema principale è la mancanza d' informazioni
che ci mettano in grado d' identificare dove sono». Do you remember Kosovo?
Sono passati cinque anni da Racak, il massacro d' albanesi che finì per
scatenare i bombardamenti Nato su Belgrado; ne sono passati tre, dalla cacciata
del feroce Slobo. Eppure questa regione non è ancora nulla: non è più Serbia,
non è ancora uno stato. Governa (male) l' Onu, una folla strapagata di ghanesi
che organizzano i municipi o di pakistani che regolano il traffico. Un'
amministrazione così chiacchierata da obbligare a istituire perfino una
task-force d' investigatori sulla corruzione: è comandata da un finanziere
italiano, ha già scoperto una dirigente delle poste (kosovara) che intascava
decine di milioni di euro. Ci costa molto, stare in Kosovo: l' Ue
ha speso 2 miliardi e 877 milioni di euro, il più grande investimento all'
estero, senza contare i 18mila soldati Nato di 38 Paesi. I 2.800 militari
italiani, sistemati nel campo superlusso di Peja, sono il contingente più
grosso dopo quello americano. La nostra ambasciata a Belgrado ha aperto
una legazione diplomatica nuova di zecca, guidata da Pasquale Salzano, mille
metri quadri di palazzina e un enorme lavoro sui visti Schengen che altri
(i tedeschi) rilasciano con fin troppa disinvoltura. In Kosovo è l' Europa
a pagare, ma è New York a comandare. S' è visto in giugno, quand' era pronta
la nomina a governatore d' un italiano, Antonio Armellini, e invece è giunto
il veto di Kofi Annan che ha imposto un ex premier finlandese, Henry Holkeri,
entrato subito in collisione con Hashim Thaci, il
guerriero-liberatore del ' 99 che nei giorni scorsi ha ricominciato ad agitare
le piazze e lo spettro della Grande Albania, cortei per chiedere la cacciata
dell' Onu. Lo riconosce anche Rugova: c' è già una piccola Albania, qui.
Il progetto multietnico è fallito. I serbi non tornano e se lo fanno, li
ammazzano. Una trentina di morti negli ultimi sei mesi, bambini compresi.
«Il nostro è un piccolo martirio che si consuma nell' indifferenza del mondo»,
enfatizza padre Sava, storica voce della comunità ortodossa. L' albanesizzazione
è fatta di mille segni e l' unica cosa in cirillico che puoi ancora trovare,
a Pristina, è l' edizione russa di Playboy. Le strade si chiamano via Madre
Teresa, le statue sono dedicate all' eroe albanese Skanderbeg, le macellerie
non vendono maiale, il logo della lotteria nazionale è l' aquila su fondo
rosso, l' aula del Parlamento viene ristrutturata da Pacolli, l' ex marito
di Anna Oxa. I partigiani dell' Uck hanno finto di disarmarsi, ma intanto
è comparsa anche qui l' Ana, la falange albanese che mette bombe nella Serbia
meridionale. Quando la polizia slovena ha arrestato un capo storico dell'
Uck, Agim Ceku, braccio destro di Thaci ricercato per crimini vari, i commercianti
di Pristina hanno rovesciato in strada tutti i prodotti importati da Lubiana.
Chi risolverà il cubo di Rubik kosovaro? L' 11 settembre ha accelerato tutto.
Impazienti di sterzare sull' Iraq, gli americani hanno fissato una data:
indipendenza nel 2005. Gli interessi dell' America non sono quelli dell'
Europa, però. Il Kosovo è uno stato-canaglia di droga, armi, nuovi schiavi.
La strada Skopje-Pristina è una mappa del potere mafioso, ogni mezzo chilometro
c' è un motel di ragazze moldave o una pompa di benzina: «Sono i soldi riciclati
dal partito di Thaci - spiega un funzionario Onu -. Ma c' è anche gente
di Rugova che s' arricchisce con questi affari. Qui non esiste un' economia
e i soldi arrivano solo da due canali: quello che spendiamo noi delle missioni
internazionali, quello che vendono loro alla mafia russa, italiana, turca».
Gli affari interessano più delle fosse, in Kosovo. E la visita di Bloomberg,
sindaco di New York, sui giornali ha più spazio di quella del segretario
Nato. «Il nostro sogno è diventare un paradiso fiscale nel cuore d' Europa»,
ha le idee chiare Edi Limani, 36 anni, che fa soldi con le Mercedes taroccate
in Albania. Mica per niente, lui come tutti, usa un cellulare col prefisso
00377: quello del Principato di Monaco.




__________________________________________________________________
Tiscali ADSL SENZA CANONE, paghi solo quando navighi!
E in più il modem e' GRATIS! Abbonati subito.
http://point.tiscali.it/adsl/index.shtml

After Yugoslavia, Iraq:
A US proposal for a new ethnic bloodbath

---

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/nov2003/gelb-n26_prn.shtml

World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq


The New York Times: a proposal for ethnic cleansing in Iraq


By Bill Vann
26 November 2003


With popular resistance mounting to its military occupation of Iraq, the
Bush administration is casting about in increasing desperation for a new
strategy to salvage the principal aims of its war?the seizure of oil resources
and the establishment of a US client regime in a strategically vital region.

While plans have been announced for Washington to erect a ?sovereign? Iraqi
regime by the middle of next year, this hollow exercise holds little prospect
for ending a bitter conflict that is claiming the lives of American soldiers
daily and creating growing political unrest in the US itself.

Enter the New York Times with a modest proposal for a bloodbath. It advances
what it terms a ?three-state solution,? based on the partition of Iraq along
ethnic and religious lines.

The proposal appeared in a November 25 column by Leslie Gelb, a former editor
and senior columnist for the Times. Gelb calls for dividing Iraq between
the ?Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south.?

He continues: ?Almost immediately, this would allow America to put most
of its money and troops where they would do the most good quickly?with the
Kurds and Shiites. The United States could extricate most of its forces
from the so-called Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, largely freeing
American forces from fighting a costly war they might not win. American
officials could then wait for the troublesome and domineering Sunnis, without
oil or oil revenues, to moderate their ambitions or suffer the consequences.?

Gelb?s proposal is a clear manifestation of another triangle?a reactionary
nexus between the US State Department, Israeli intelligence and the editorial
board of the New York Times.

Until recently, Gelb headed the Council on Foreign Affairs, the influential
Washington think tank that provides a forum for corporate executives, CIA
and State Department officials, and a select group of establishment journalists
and academics with intimate ties to these camps. Gelb himself followed stints
at the Pentagon and the State Department with his position as columnist
and editor at the Times. There is no doubt that his piece on Iraq gives
voice to policies that are under active consideration within the top levels
of the US government.

The obvious attraction for Washington in the partition proposal advanced
by Gelb is that by dismembering Iraq it would allow the deployment of US
troops in the areas that are of the greatest strategic concern: the oilfields
in the predominantly Shiite south and the largely Kurdish north, while the
Sunni population, which has dominated Iraqi political life since the days
of Ottoman rule and has been the most hostile to the US occupation, would
be left stranded in an isolated mini-state stripped of its resources.

Just as Iraq?s boundaries were artificially drawn by the British after World
War I to further colonial ambitions and establish control over oil reserves,
so, according to Gelb?s thesis, they can be redrawn by the region?s new
US imperialist master to further similar aims.

It is not only in Washington, however, that this proposal finds support.
The partition of Iraq has long been a strategic objective of the Israeli
regime. An article that appeared in the World Zionist Organization?s publication
Kivunim in 1982, on the eve of Israel?s invasion of Lebanon and in the midst
of the Iran-Iraq war, spelled this out. Written by Oded Yinon, an official
in the Israeli foreign ministry, the article was entitled, ?A Strategy for
Israel in the 1980s.? It stated, in part:

?Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is
guaranteed as a candidate for Israel?s targets. Its dissolution is even
more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In
the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to
Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and cause its downfall
at home even before it is able to organize a struggle on a wide front against
us. Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run
and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into
denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces
along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible.
So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra,
Baghdad and Mosul, and Shiite areas in the south will separate from the
Sunni and Kurdish north. It is possible that the present Iranian-Iraqi confrontation
will deepen this polarization.?

Israel actively sought to promote this agenda, offering covert support both
to the Khomeini regime in Iran and the Kurdish separatist movements in Iraq
itself.

Washington had previously opposed such a partition on the grounds that it
would destabilize the entire region and remove a strategic counterbalance
to Iran, which in the wake of the 1979 revolution was seen as the greater
threat to US interests. Clearly, however, if the US is planning to maintain
permanent military bases on Iraqi soil and preparing further wars in the
region, these calculations have changed.

What is most breathtaking about Gelb?s proposal is its utter indifference
to the welfare of the Iraqi population, not to mention international law.

He warns that the Sunni population in central Iraq ?might punish the substantial
minorities? left out of the ethnic states to be created in the north and
south. ?These minorities must have the time and the wherewithal to organize
and make their deals, or go either north or south,? he writes. ?This would
be a messy and dangerous enterprise, but the United States would and should
pay for the population movements and protect the process with force.?

What is proposed here is the uprooting of masses of people and the igniting
of an ethnic bloodbath the likes of which has not been seen since the British
partition of India 55 years ago, when a million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs
were slaughtered and some 14 million people were driven from their homes.

Baghdad?s largest neighborhood, Sadr City, a sprawling slum named after
a Shiite leader killed under the Saddam Hussein regime, is home to some
2 million residents, most of them Shiites. These impoverished masses, the
vast majority of whom have never lived anywhere else, are supposed to ?make
their deals? or move south. The same presumably holds true for the substantial
Assyrian and Turkoman populations in the north.

It should be recalled that in the mid-1990s Gelb, together with Times columnist
Anthony Lewis, was one of the principal media advocates for US intervention
in the Balkans, demanding that Washington punish the Serbs for ?ethnic cleansing.?
Now it is precisely such a bloody process that Gelb advocates for Iraq.

Indeed, Gelb cites the dismemberment of the Yugoslav federation along ethno-nationalist
lines beginning in 1991 as a ?hopeful precedent? for what his plan envisions
in Iraq. The column makes clear once again that?the human rights propaganda
used to justify the 1999 US/NATO attack on Serbia notwithstanding?the attitude
of US policy makers towards ethnic cleansing is quite flexible. It depends
upon who is doing it and whether it furthers Washington?s strategic interests.

?Overwhelming force was the best chance for keeping Yugoslavia whole and
even that failed in the end,? Gelb writes. ?Meantime, the costs of preventing
the natural states from emerging had been terrible.?

Here the former official of the Pentagon/State Department and Times editor
offers a false and self-serving explanation for Yugoslavia?s disintegration,
while providing a glimpse of the reactionary conceptions underlying what
Washington depicts as a crusade for democracy in Iraq. Yugoslavia?s breakup
was not the triumph of ?natural states? against ?overwhelming force.? It
was the byproduct of economic ?shock therapy? policies imposed by the International
Monetary Fund and other world financial institutions that led to the collapse
of the country?s national economy and the destruction of the jobs and living
standards of masses of working people.

In an attempt to divert the resulting social unrest, Stalinist bureaucrats
and communalist demagogues fomented nationalist sentiments while seeking
patrons among the major powers. The principal aim of Washington and the
other imperialist powers became the transformation of the splintered territories
of the former Yugoslavia into a collection of semi-colonies.

A carve-up of Iraq will similarly be a process imposed by US imperialism
against the interests of all Iraqi people, rather than any realization of
pent-up demands for ethnic ?self-determination.?

The idea that Iraq is no more than a collection of ?natural states? composed
of different ethnic groups yearning to live separately is not only backward
but also, from the standpoint of US policy in the region, wholly inconsistent.

If Washington were truly to embrace this conception of ?natural,? i.e.,
ethnic states, then it could not but welcome the unification of the Kurdish
people, presently divided by the borders separating Iraq, Turkey, Iran and
Syria. Likewise, it would have to support the unification of the Shiites
of southern Iraq with their coreligionists in neighboring Iran, not to mention
eastern Saudi Arabia, in one contiguous state. But, in fact, the Bush administration
has made it clear it is prepared to use overwhelming military force against
anyone daring to attempt such a ?natural? form of statecraft.

The proposal to dismember Iraq along ethnic lines is a stark expression
of the predatory character of the US intervention. Notwithstanding the Bush
administration?s rhetoric about ?liberating? Iraq and turning it into a
?beacon of democracy? for the Middle East, the conceptions advanced by Gelb
demonstrate that Washington has no answers to the complex historical and
political problems posed in Iraq. Its only aim is to exploit existing divisions
to further the profit interests of the oil conglomerates and other US-based
corporations and banks.

An ethnic carve-up of Iraq would have far-reaching implications throughout
the Middle East, where the boundaries of none of the existing states are
a ?natural? reflection of ethnic identity, but rather are the legacy of
the previous division of the region between British and French imperialism.
Any number of these states could also be dismembered, and proposals already
exist to do just that. Within the civilian leadership in the Pentagon, for
example, there has been discussion of the US fostering a breakaway Shiite
?Muslim republic of east Arabia,? as a means of prying loose the vast oil
reserves of Saudi Arabia from the crumbling monarchy.

Such policies have an attraction for the Israeli regime that goes well beyond
its security concerns and regional ambitions. The principle that borders
should be drawn according to ethnic and religious identity finds direct
expression in the demand by elements within Israel?s right-wing Likud government
for a policy of ?transfer,? i.e., the forced expulsion of the Palestinian
population from both the occupied territories and Israel?s pre-1967 borders
so as to realize the exclusively Jewish character of the Zionist state.
Should the US begin massive population transfers in Iraq, the Israelis could
well be emboldened to follow suit.

For its part, the New York Times? publication of its former editor?s recommendation
to the Bush administration for the carve-up of Iraq represents the continuation
of its promotion and justification of the illegal war, as well as its long-standing
defense of Israeli interests. With the Gelb column, however, the newspaper
has abandoned its pretense of liberal humanitarianism to openly promote
a war crime of world-historic proportions.


Copyright 1998-2003
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved



__________________________________________________________________
Tiscali ADSL SENZA CANONE, paghi solo quando navighi!
E in più il modem e' GRATIS! Abbonati subito.
http://point.tiscali.it/adsl/index.shtml

Milosevic "trial": Borislav Jovic speaks (Nov. 16--20, 2003)

1. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: BORISLAV JOVIC COMES TO THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL
- November 18, 2003
2. MILOSEVIC ?TRIAL? SYNOPSIS: THE CROSS-EXAMINATION OF BORISLAV JOVIC
? PART I - Nov. 19, 2003
3. MILOSEVIC ?TRIAL? SYNOPSIS: THE CROSS-EXAMINATION OF BORISLAV JOVIC
- PART II ? Nov. 20, 2003

(NOTA: chi fosse in grado di tradurre questa importante documentazione e'
pregato di comunicarcelo con sollecitudine, grazie. CNJ)


=== 1 ===


http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111803.htm

MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: BORISLAV JOVIC COMES TO THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 18, 2003

The secret witness B-1524 finished his testimony at the Hague Tribunal
today. He finished his examination-in-chief last week, and he was cross-examined
today. B-1524 was a resident of Zvornik, a reserve officer in the T.O.,
and a high official in the municipal government.

According to B-1524 everybody was armed. He said that black market arms
dealers came into Zvornik and sold weapons to the population there regardless
of their ethnicity. The the Muslims were not unarmed. They could buy weapons
from blackmarketeers as easily as the Serbs could.

B-1524 said that armed Muslims congregated around the mosques, and in the
city of Zvornik itself. He also said that at the same time as the Muslims
were arming that the Serbs were also arming and that they mainly occupied
the suburbs. B-1524 confirmed that the conflict in Zvornik was between
locals. He also said that the SDA and the SDS jointly toppled the League
of Communists, but that neither one was competent to govern.

B-1524 said that 10,000 residents of Zvornik, primarily Muslims, fled the
city as refugees and went to seek shelter in Serbia. This is an important
point. Muslims fled to Serbia in order to escape the civil war in Bosnia.
This fact alone demonstrates that Serbia wasn?t waging any sort of aggression
against Bosnian Muslims. If Serbia had been pursuing a policy of genocide
against Muslims then certainly they wouldn?t have sought shelter in Serbia.

B-1524 also said that the JNA did not attack Zvornik. He claimed that illegal
paramilitary formations attacked Zvornik.


The next witness was Borislav Jovic. As Serbia?s representative, Borislav
Jovic was the president of the SFRY presidency in 1989 and 1990. He was
the president of the SPS in 1991 and 1992 and was later the vice-president
of the SPS from 1992 until 1995 when he was asked to resign his position.
He has written 2 books, one entitled ?The Death of the SFRY? which was
compiled from his diary, and another book he wrote in 2000 about his opinion
of Slobodan Milosevic?s personality.

In its typical underhanded fashion the Prosecution didn?t provide Jovic?s
witness statement to President Milosevic until 6 o?clock the previous night.

Mr. Jovic first explained to Mr. Nice that his books only represent his
personal views and assessments, and that their contents could be challenged.
Jovic went on to explain to a disappointed Mr. Nice that Slobodan Milosevic
didn?t control the SFRY presidency, or the JNA.

Stepjan Mesic had testified earlier that Jovic would leave SFRY Presidency
meetings in order to call Milosevic and receive instructions from him.
Jovic flatly denied this.

Jovic also said that Serbian volunteers fighting in Croatia and Bosnia
were not under Milosevic?s control. According to Jovic volunteer units
and individual volunteers were suborned to the army and that when they did
not adhere to military discipline they were regarded as paramilitaries.

Jovic said that President Milosevic regarded Arkan as a criminal, and said
that he told him, at a time when they had good relations that Arkan was
not in any way associated with the Government of Serbia.

Jovic denied that the JNA had shelled the old city of Dubrovnik. According
to Jovic only 2 shells fell on the old city by accident. Mr. Nice tried
to counter Jovic?s assertion by playing a video that showed 1 damaged building
in the old city, where as the rest of the old city was unscathed.

After playing a video tape of news story from ITN, and that other rather
unimpressive video, Nice asked Jovic again if he still believed that only
2 shells fell on Dubrovnik, and Jovic said that he did.

Mr. Nice asked Jovic if the JNA had perpetrated a massacre at Vukovar and
Jovic denied it. Jovic said that the JNA was ordered to protect civilians.

Nice, becoming increasingly frustrated, then began to threaten Jovic reminding
him that he was the commander-in-chief of the JNA at the time of Dubrovnik
and Vukovar. This was clearly a veiled threat from Mr. Nice, a signal that
if Jovic didn?t ?play ball? that he would be indicted himself. Jovic none
the less stood his ground, and why shouldn?t he? Milan Babic testified
against Milosevic, he did exactly what the prosecution wanted him to do,
and they?ve indicted him anyway. In fact they just indicted him today.

Jovic also denied that the infamous Karadjorjevo meeting had ever taken
place. Jovic said that it had always been Serbia?s position that Bosnia
should not be divided. Jovic said that Mesic had invented the Karadjorjevo
meeting in order to inflict political damage on Franjo Tudjman in Croatia,
because the two of them were having a dispute at the time.

Mr. Jovic clearly does not like Slobodan Milosevic as a person, and so
Mr. Nice spent a lot of time dwelling on things that Jovic found objectionable
in Milosevic?s personality. However, none of this has anything to do with
whether or not Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal. It was clear that
Mr. Nice was only getting Jovic to say negative things about Milosevic?s
personality so that the OTP?s cronies in the media and at CIJ would have
something bad they could say about President Milosevic.

On the key issue Jovic came through for President Milosevic. Jovic vehemently
denied that Slobodan Milosevic was a nationalist. Jovic said that it was
always President Milosevic?s position that all people had to be equal no
matter what their ethnicity was. Jovic said that President Milosevic would
never agree that anybody could be mistreated or denied rights because they
weren?t a Serb.

Mr. Nice will complete the examination-in-chief tomorrow, and then President
Milosevic will have the opportunity to cross-examine Jovic.


=== 2 ===


http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg111903.htm

MILOSEVIC ?TRIAL? SYNOPSIS: THE CROSS-EXAMINATION OF BORISLAV JOVIC ? PART
I
www.slobodan-milosevic.org ? November 19, 2003

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice finished the examination-in-chief of former SFRY
presidency member Borislav Jovic today.

Mr. Nice had some difficulty with his witness. Mr. Jovic accused Nice of
quoting excerpts from his book out of their proper context, and the examination-in-chief
was frequently confrontational. At one point Mr. Nice played a video where
some JNA personnel could be seen celebrating the liberation of the JNA
barracks at Vukovar.

Mr. Nice asked Jovic if he knew about the celebration and when Jovic said
that he didn?t, Nice asked him how, as president of the SFRY presidency,
he could not know about such a celebration. Jovic explained to Nice that
the JNA wasn?t micromanaged by the SFRY presidency to the point that members
of the army needed the special approval of the presidency to have a meeting
to congratulate one another after a successful operation.

Mr. Jovic explained to Nice that the SFRY presidency used the JNA in Croatia
to protect the Serbs who were living there from the marauding Croatian
paramilitaries. He explained that the SFRY presidency had no intention
of overthrowing the government in Zagreb. The JNA, and the SFRY presidency?s
only objective was to protect the civilian population until such time as
a political solution could be reached.

Mr. Jovic explained to Nice that Ante Markovic pursued an economic policy
that was contrary to Serbian interests. Markovic?s economic reforms put
price caps on electricity and food to such an extent that Serbia?s two
main exports, agriculture and electricity were operating at a financial
loss. At the same time as Markovic was putting the screws to the Serbian
economy he was freeing price controls on exports from other republics.
Jovic explained that it was Markovic?s objective to topple the Serbian
leadership by sabotaging the Serbian economy.

Nice asked if Jovic if he was able to disagree with Milosevic publicly.
Jovic explained that they tried not to have public disagreements, but that
one time they did trade public accusations over the management of the SPS.

It was apparent from Mr. Jovic?s testimony that he has a personal dislike
for Slobodan Milosevic. During the examination-in-chief Mr. Jovic was frequently
critical of Milosevic?s personality, he said that Milosevic chose associates
who were ?yes men,? and Jovic called Milosevic a clumsy leader. During
cross-examination Milosevic referred to Mr. Jovic by his nickname ?Bora?
while Mr. Jovic only referred to Milosevic in the 3rd person.  

In spite of Jovic?s own obvious personal dislike for Milosevic, he testified
truthfully. Mr. Jovic?s testimony cleared-up a number of things.

The JNA?s chain of command was cleared up. The SFRY collective presidency
commanded the JNA. The SFRY presidency would appoint and dismiss JNA Generals,
and members of the General Staff. The SFRY presidency was the order issuing
authority to the JNA.

The 8 member SFRY presidency was composed of 1 member from each republic
and each autonomous province. The presidency decisions were made on the
basis of a majority vote. If 5 members, or in some cases 6 voted for a
decision to be adopted then the full force of the SFRY presidency was put
behind the decision.

The JNA was issued its orders by the SFRY presidency, and the General Staff
of the JNA was bound to carryout those orders and report back to the SFRY
presidency. The entire SFRY presidency formed the supreme commander of
the JNA, no one member, not even the president of the presidency had the
ability to issued orders individually. Jovic also confirmed that none of
the republic presidents had any ability to issue orders to the JNA.

It is quite clear that Slobodan Milosevic did not command the JNA. He simply
had no ability to command the JNA. In fact Jovic confirmed that Milosevic
was not even kept abreast of JNA activities outside of Serbia.

It has been suggested by the prosecution that Slobodan Milosevic somehow
controlled the SFRY presidency. This was cleared up as well. Slobodan Milosevic,
being the president of Serbia, could only influence Serbia?s member of
the Presidency. The other presidency members were appointed by their respective
republics and provinces. Each presidency member was bound to protect his
republic or province?s interests, and each republic and province had the
right to put forward anybody they wanted to for their presidency member,
or replace their member if they considered that he had acted against their
interest.

The presidency had 8 members and Slobodan Milosevic only had the ability
to influence one of them. What is more the presidency rotated. Each republic
and province took turns appointing the president of the presidency.

It is quite impossible that Slobodan Milosevic could control the SFRY presidency
in any way on that basis. He had no possible way to form any sort of Serbian
bloc in the SFRY presidency.

The prosecution has also put forward the thesis that the SFRY defense minister,
Veljko Kadijevic, was ?Milosevic?s man.? Maybe, theorizes the prosecution,
Milosevic controlled the JNA by controlling Kadijevic.

This theory was put to bed today. Mr. Jovic explained that Kadijevic was
appointed to his post, with the consent of all 6 republics and both provinces
by the SFRY assembly. Jovic also explained that the SFRY assembly had the
right to remove Kadijevic if it had wanted to.

What?s more Jovic described Milosevic and Kadijevic?s relationship as "tolerant."
According to Jovic the two didn?t particularly like each other or get on
very well with one another. Jovic said that Kadijevic wanted to overthrow
the secessionist governments in Zagreb and Ljubljana, where as Milosevic
only wanted to ensure the protection of those citizens who did not wish
to leave Yugoslavia. 

The ?greater Serbia? question was dealt with again today, and the prosecution?s
case on this score was defeated again by its own witness.

Jovic said that no ?greater Serbia? plan had ever existed. Jovic explained
that Serbia?s position was that the SFRY should remain intact. He explained
that Serbs were living in all republics and so it was desirable from Serbia?s
point of view to preserve Yugoslavia. When it became apparent that the
SFRY could no longer exist, Jovic explained that Serbia?s position was that
equality should be ensured for the Serbian people living outside of Serbia.

Jovic confirmed that Serbia?s position was that of the SFRY presidency.
Serbia wanted to strengthen the federal institutions and build a strong
Yugoslav state.

The claim has frequently been made by Western media, and the ICTY prosecution
that Slobodan Milosevic revoked Kosovo?s autonomy. Their strategy seems
to be that if they repeat a lie long enough maybe it will become the truth.

Borislav Jovic was at the head of the commission that amended the Serbian
constitution in 1989 to limit Kosovo?s excessive level of autonomy. Kosovo?s
autonomy was not revoked by the amendments it was simply limited to a sensible
level.

Under the 1974 constitution, Serbia couldn?t enact laws or amend its constitution
unless the provinces approved it. Serbia was held hostage by its provinces.
The provinces, on the other hand, could do anything they wished and Serbia
couldn?t stop them.

The 1974 constitution conflicted with itself and with the Serbian constitution.
Article III of that constitution granted the republics (not the provinces)
the status of states within Yugoslavia. Because of the provinces? excessive
level of autonomy, the republic of Serbia was denied its rightful status
and was placed at a disadvantage to other republics within the SFRY.

Because of Kosovo?s excessive autonomy, citizens who were wronged by the
Kosovo judiciary couldn?t appeal their cases to the Serbian Supreme Court,
even though they were citizens of the Republic of Serbia. Authority began
and ended with Kosovo.

Kosovo abused its excessive autonomy. Between 1981 and 1987, more than
40,000 Serbs fled Kosovo under pressure from Albanian fascists who were
striving to create an ethnically pure Albanian Kosovo.

The situation was nonsense, and something had to be done to protect the
non-Albanian citizens in Kosovo. In 1988 Serbia appealed to the government
of the SFRY. The SFRY, with the consent of all 6 republics and both provinces
responded by amending the SFRY constitution, thereby allowing Serbia to
amend its constitution.

In 1989 Serbia amended its constitution and the amendments were adopted
with the consent of the Serbian assembly, the Vojovodina assembly, and
the Kosovo assembly. Some have said that military pressure was exerted on
the Kosovo assembly to force it to accept the amendments. Jovic denied
that this was the case. He said that the Army was only present around the
assembly to protect it from the Kosovo Albanian citizens who were demonstrating
against the acceptance of the amendments.

At this point it the 1980 and 1981 demonstrations that took place in Kosovo
were discussed. Jovic said that those demonstrations (at which people were
killed) were violent and verged on a full-blown revolt. From this history
one can clearly see that it was necessary for the army to protect the assembly
building.

Kosovo?s status was not diminished in the SFRY at all. Jovic confirmed
that in 1989 when the constitutional amendments were finalized the president
of the SFRY presidency was Sinan Hasani, a Kosovo Albanian. Hasani, along
with Ante Markovic was present at the Serbian assembly session when the
amendments were finalized and neither had any objections. Kosovo still
appointed its members to the SFRY presidency, and still had the same veto
powers in the federal assembly.

Much has also been made of the fact that the Serbian assembly dissolved
the Kosovo assembly in 1991. This was something that had to be done. Jovic
confirmed that the Kosovo assembly had voted for succession from Serbia,
which was a flagrant violation of the constitutions of both Serbia and
the SFRY. Serbia was obligated under the constitution to dissolve the Kosovo
assembly because it was acting illegally.

The bottom line is that Slobodan Milosevic did not and could not revoke
Kosovo?s autonomy. Kosovo retained its autonomous status, and Serbia?s
constitutional amendments were made in accordance with the laws of the
SFRY. None of the amendments gave Serbia any more power than any of the
other republics.

The question of the establishment of a ?Serb army? was discussed. The prosecution
has put forward the idea that Milosevic was endeavoring to create some
kind of Serb army. Jovic dismissed the idea as nonsense.

Jovic said that the idea of creating a ?Serb army? was being floated by
the opposition parties, namely the SPO and the SRS. Jovic considered that
they were floating this idea just so that they could themselves seize power.

Jovic pointed out that the SPO and the SRS both raised armed formations,
but that the SPS never raised any such formation.

Mr. Jovic also divulged some interesting information about Vuk Draskovic
today. Jovic explained that SFRY government intelligence sources had informed
him that Vuk Draskovic, Stjepan Mesic and the leadership of the Democratic
Party (DS) were all engaged in a conspiracy to topple the JNA and overthrow
the Serbian Government.

So here is Vuk Draskovic, raising an armed group, and advocating a Serbian
army, while at the same time plotting to overthrow the Serbian Government
and wreck the JNA.

Jovic stated quite clearly that Milosevic was against the formation of
any Serbian army and that Milosevic always favored a multiethnic Yugoslav
army.

It was also observed by Jovic that Draskovic cooperated with Warren Zimmerman
in order to try and find ways to overthrow Milosevic and come to power
himself.

Jovic clarified the basis of the SFRY presidency?s decision to place T.O.
weapons under JNA control. Jovic explained that Croatia and Slovenia were
illegally arming their paramilitary formations by stealing the weapons
from out of the T.O. warehouses. Therefore, it was necessary to place the
weapons under JNA control so that paramilitaries couldn?t lay their hands
on them.  

Jovic and Milosevic recalled a meeting that was convened by the SFRY presidency
at which all members of the presidency, and all republican presidents were
present. The meeting was convened in order to establish the causes of the
inter-ethnic fighting in Croatia.

The meeting reached the conclusion that the problems arose because Croatia
had denied the Serbs their status as a constituent people in Croatia, even
the Croatian representatives agreed with the conclusions. Unfortunately,
according to Jovic they didn?t act on the conclusions and continued with
their violent policy of succession.

Jovic confirmed that Serbia, and Milosevic personally wanted succession
to be regulated by law in order to prevent conflicts, and the chaotic situation
which ultimately did emerge. Unfortunately, Croatia blocked the SFRY federal
assembly from passing any sort of law like that.

Jovic theorized that Croatia blocked the law because Zagreb wished to pursue
and anti-Serb policy and that a law on succession would force them to afford
equal rights to the Serbs in Croatia before they could separate from Yugoslavia.

Jovic explained the situation in Croatia. He said that already in 1990
Croatian paramilitary formations were intensively arming and threatening
the family members of JNA officers, and even killing them in some cases.

Jovic explained that after the infamous Spegelj film Tudjman had agreed
with the federal presidency decision that paramilitaries should be disarmed.
Unfortunately, Tudjman didn?t disarm the Croatian paramilitaries. On the
contrary, Jovic testified that the Croatian authorities were arming paramilitary
formations, and that they primarily gave weapons to HDZ members.

The Serbs on the other hand believed that the JNA would protect them and
they did disarm. Unfortunately, this left them open to being attacked by
the Croat paramilitaries, and they were attacked.

Unfortunately, these attacks did not result in the imposition of martial
law in Croatia, and so the Serbs reacted by spontaneously arming themselves.

Jovic explained that Croatian paramilitaries blockaded the JNA in its barracks
in violation of the Geneva agreement that had been reached with the Croatian
authorities to allow the JNA to freely leave.

Jovic used the example of Vukovar to explain how those barracks were blockaded,
how the water and electricity was cut off, how there was no food, how siege
was laid on the barracks and how JNA soldiers were being killed in the
barracks. Eventually, Jovic explained, the JNA was forced to attack the
Croat forces in order to liberate its barracks.

Jovic added an interesting detail to the tragedy of operations Storm and
Flash. Jovic said that the Z4 peace plan, which he considered to be a good
plan, was in the offing when Croatia launched its bloody offensive against
the Krajina Serbs. He said that Croatia launched its offensive before the
plan even had a chance to be discussed. 

Jovic also addressed the question of Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
Jovic vehemently denied that Serbia had perpetrated any aggression against
Bosnia. Jovic confirmed Milosevic?s claim that the wars in Bosnia and Croatia
were a civil wars, and not some sort of external aggression coming from
Serbia. Jovic confirmed that the republic of Serbia did NOT send any forces
outside of Serbia?s borders.

It is also clear that the JNA waged no aggression on Bosnia. Jovic said
that the JNA was ordered to withdraw on the very day that the international
community recognized Bosnia as an independent state. Therefore, the JNA
was on its own territory and could not possibly be accused of any aggression,
since it is quite impossible to wage aggression against yourself.

Jovic explained that when the JNA withdrew from Bosnia it only withdrew
the members who were not from Bosnia. He said that the remaining soldiers,
who were in their own republic, formed their own command and were no longer
under the command of the JNA.

Jovic said that the Bosnian war was imposed upon the Serbian people, and
Jovic expressed his firm conviction that if the principle of equality that
had existed in Bosnia for the previous 50 years had been respected then
there wouldn?t have been any war in Bosnia in the first place.

Jovic confirmed again that Bosnia was a civil war and that neither Serbia
nor Yugoslavia had anything to do with it. To demonstrate this he confirmed
that at the promulgation of the 1992 FRY constitution a statement was issued
saying that the FRY had no territorial pretensions towards any of the former
Yugoslav republics.

Jovic confirmed that the war in Bosnia was started with the illegal referendum
on succession. He also added an interesting fact. Jovic said that the idea
to have this sort of referendum had come from the E.C.

Jovic confirmed that before the war, on 18 March 1992 all three sides accepted
and signed the Cutileiro peace plan. He also explained how on 25 March
1992 Alija Izetbegovic, under the influence of Warren Zimmerman, reneged
and withdrew his signature from the peace plan.

Jovic agreed with Milosevic?s observation that the Serbs acceptance of
the Cutileiro plan showed that not even the Serbs in Bosnia had any ideas
about creating any greater Serbia. The Cutileiro plan called for an independent
Bosnia divided into cantons, and the original demand of the Bosnian Serbs
had been to remain in Yugoslavia. So quite clearly we can see from their
acceptance of the plan that they had no ideas about forming any greater
Serbia. In fact the Serbs were willing to make compromises to achieve peace,
unlike Izetbegovic who said "I would sacrifice peace in order to win sovereignty
for Bosnia, but for that peace in Bosnia I would not sacrifice sovereignty."

To drive this point home President Milosevic showed Jovic a transcript
from an SFRY presidency meeting where Radovan Karadzic had been present
and had accepted that Bosnia would be an independent state, but that he
insisted on the equality for the Serb people living there.

Jovic confirmed that Serbia had 2 main goals vis-à-vis the war in Bosnia.
The primary goal was to find a way to put a stop to the war, and the secondary
goal was to get the sanctions lifted. To prove that Serbia was trying to
achieve peace it was noted by Milosevic and Jovic that Serbia supported
the Cutileiro plan in March of 1992, the Vance-Owen plan in May of 1993,
the Owen-Stoltenberg plan (a.k.a. the ?invincible plan?) in September of
1993, the European Union Action plan in December of 1993, the Contact Group
plan in July of 1994, and ultimately the Dayton peace plan in 1995.

Jovic explained how the SFRY presidency was marginalized by the international
community. When Croatia and Slovenia left Yugoslavia their members left
the collective presidency, leaving a 6 member rump presidency behind.

The presidency could still legally function with 6 members, since the full
presidency consisted of 8 members and only a majority was required to reach
decisions.

Unfortunately, the international community, according to Jovic, did not
recognize the presidency?s authority. Instead, the international community
decided to ignore the Helsinki Final Act and recognized the secessionists
as the legitimate governments, as opposed to adhering to the act which
clearly states that a state?s frontiers are inviolable.

In fact, according to Jovic all republics, except for Croatia and Slovenia,
wished to maintain the SFRY until the international community changed its
stance and advocated succession from Yugoslavia. 

Jovic explained that Yugoslavia and Serbia became disillusioned when Europe
lent its support to violent succession. He said that it became obvious
that international law was being manipulated and twisted in order to serve
the interests of the great powers.

On that sad note the hearing ended. Mr. Jovic will continue his with his
cross-examination tomorrow.


=== 3 ===


MILOSEVIC ?TRIAL? SYNOPSIS: THE CROSS-EXAMINATION OF BORISLAV JOVIC - PART
II

www.slobodan-milosevic.org ? November 20, 2003
Written by Andy Wilcoxson

The testimony of former SFRY presidency member Borislav Jovic was concluded
today. The majority of the first session was spent discussing various peace
initiatives, and everything basically boiled down to this. Serbia and Slobodan
Milosevic personally supported practically every peace plan to come down
the pike. Serbia and Yugoslavia?s efforts were directed towards stopping
the war and finding a just political solution to the conflicts in Croatia
and Bosnia that respected the equality of all of the parties.

To highlight Serbia?s position President Milosevic read out a statement
that the Government of Serbia issued on August 30, 1991 that said that
the Yugoslav crisis should be settled peacefully and democratically. Jovic
then confirmed that this was Serbia?s position.

Jovic said that Serbia and Milosevic?s position at the beginning of the
crisis was that all nations who wished to leave Yugoslavia should be allowed
to do so, while the nations who wished to remain in Yugoslavia should be
permitted to stay.

Simply put the right of people to remain in Yugoslavia had to be equal
to the right of people to leave Yugoslavia. To accomplish this Serbia and
the SFRY presidency endeavored to have a law on succession passed so that
succession could be regulated by the law, and conflicts could be avoided.
Unfortunately, Croatia blocked such a law from being passed in the Federal
Assembly.

Once the fighting started in Bosnia and Croatia Jovic confirmed that Milosevic?s
position was that the hostilities should immediately cease and peace negotiations
should take place on the principle of equality.

Serbia?s only goal from the outset was to find a solution that was fair
to both the Serbs and the Croats in Croatia. Jovic confirmed that everything
Serbia did in regard to Croatia was geared towards finding a solution that
was fair to both parties.

Jovic testified that neither Serbia nor Yugoslavia had any desire to conquer
any Croatian territory. Serbia and Yugoslavia?s acceptance and support
for the Vance plan proves this fact. Under the Vance plan the JNA withdrew
from Croatia, and the UN soldiers came in. If the aim of Yugoslavia had
been to conquer Croatia then certainly it wouldn?t have withdrawn its army.

Jovic considered that the primary cause of the war in Croatia was Croatia?s
decision to throw the Serbs out of the constitution, and deny them their
status as a constituent people. Croatia banned the Cyrillic alphabet, and
Tudjman had plans to ban the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia.

Jovic had published in his book (that has been introduced into evidence)
minutes of a meeting where Tudjman spoke in Cleveland. The meeting took
place before Tudjman came to power. At the meeting Tudjman was laying out
the HDZ?s plans for Croatia, and these plans included a ban on the Serbian
Orthodox Church and a ban on the term ?Serb?. According to Tudjman?s plans
Serbs would be called ?Orthodox Croats.?

Outlawing being a Serb in Croatia was only one part of Tudjman?s plans.
The primary aim of the HDZ, according to the minutes of the meeting was
to break Croatia away from Yugoslavia.

Jovic recounted one occasion when Franjo Tudjman accused him of instigating
a Serb rebellion in the Krajina. Jovic pointed out that the rebellion only
began after Tudjman threw the Serbs out of the constitution and banned
the Cyrillic alphabet. Therefore, it was Tudjman?s actions and not Jovic?s
that provoked the rebellion.

In response to this Milosevic asked if anybody in the Government of Serbia
had ever attempted to incite an armed rebellion by the Krajina Serbs, and
Jovic replied that such an attempt had never been made.

When the discussion turned to the Bosnian war, the Cutileiro peace plan
was discussed. Milosevic read out a quote from Cutliero where he said in
regard to the Muslim decision to withdraw from the plan that ?they have
obviously opted for war and they must bear a great responsibility.? Jovic
then confirmed that this was the reaction that was expressed at the time.

The fact that Izetbegovic renounced the peace plan, and withdrew his signature
from it before the war ever started proves that the war in Bosnia can be
attributed exclusively to him, and Cutliero?s statement bears that out.
The Cutliero plan could have stopped the war before it started, but Izetbegovic
opted for war instead of peace.

Jovic confirmed that Serbia and Milosevic personally supported the Cutliero
plan. The fact that Serbia led by Milosevic supported a peace plan that
called for an independent Bosnia proves that Serbia had no territorial
aspirations towards Bosnia whatsoever.

Jovic confirmed that Milosevic and the whole Serbian and Yugoslav leadership
condemned ethnic cleansing regardless of who was committing it, and demanded
that people engaged in such a crime be punished. Jovic also said that Milosevic
emphatically, repeatedly, and publicly condemned the shelling of Sarajevo.

Jovic confirmed that tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees sought
shelter, and were given accommodation in Serbia. From this fact alone it
is quite obvious that Serbia wasn?t engaged in any sort of genocide against
the Muslims.

President Milosevic asked if either he or the Government ever put forward
any plan or enacted any plan that sought to deny any ethnic group or minority
their equal rights, and President Milosevic specifically mentioned the
Kosovo Albanians.

Jovic responded that the policy of the Serbian Government and Slobodan
Milosevic in particular was that every citizen had to be equal regardless
of their ethnicity.

Ante Markovic was a topic of discussion. According to Jovic, Ante Markovic
was the extended arm of the U.S. Government in Yugoslavia. Jovic said that
Markovic?s goal was to topple socialism in Yugoslavia, particularly the
government of Serbia.

It turns out that Jovic wrote another book that the OTP didn?t know about.
The book ?The Dismemberment of Yugoslavia? outlined how Ante Markovic almost
single-handedly destroyed Yugoslavia?s economy. According to Jovic, no
one man did more damage to Yugoslavia than Ante Markovic.

When Ante Markovic testified he represented himself as some sort of economic
savior, but Jovic had a different story. Jovic said that Markovic conducted
his economic policy on behalf of foreign interests, with an aim to sabotage
the Serbian economy in order to topple the Serbian government.

Jovic explained how Markovic introduced a program whereby the Yugoslav
dinar was convertible at a ratio of 7 dinars for 1 deutschemark. Jovic
explained that on the basis of Markovic?s program citizens went out and
converted their savings into deutschemarks.

What happened according to Jovic was that Markovic raided the foreign exchange
reserves of the SFRY, and the citizens who had converted their money into
deutschemarks were unable to get their money back out of the banks, and
had to be issued what amounted to IOU?s by the state.

Jovic explained that Markovic used the money from the SFRY?s foreign exchange
reserves to pay Croatia?s debt.  Markovic?s so-called ?economic reforms?
were a scam that increased the SFRY?s debt many fold.

The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic also brought up Ante Markovic. Tapuskovic
had acquired the stenogram of the 12 July 1991 presidency meeting at which
Markovic (who was the federal prime minister) was present.

From the stenogram it could be seen quite clearly that Ante Markovic, in
violation of the constitution, had in fact ordered the JNA to take over
border and customs posts on Slovenia?s external borders. It could also be
seen from the stenogram that the SFRY presidency was against this unlawful
deployment of the JNA by Markovic.

Markovic had simply taken it upon himself to issue the orders when the
SFRY presidency was on a break, and the army had executed his orders in
spite of the fact that he didn?t have the authority to issue them. This
is an important point because when Markovic testified he denied ever doing
this, but it was proven today that he did.

Earlier in the cross-examination Jovic told Milosevic about how Slovenia
had irrationally linked itself to Croatia.

Slovenia is a fairly mono-ethnic republic. All of the Slovenes pretty much
live in Slovenia, and its population is over 90% Slovene. Slovenia?s succession
from Yugoslavia should have been pretty easy. Where as Croatia?s succession
was more difficult because two ethnic groups lived there, the Serbs who
wanted to stay in Yugoslavia, and the Croats who wanted to leave Yugoslavia.

For some reason, instead of just leaving the Yugoslav federation, as it
could have easily done, Slovenia linked itself to Croatia and demanded
the disassociation of the SFRY. The question arises why was it any of Slovenia?s
business what the rest of Yugoslavia did? Slovenia wanted to leave.

Jovic theorized that Slovenia acted the way it did because it was endeavoring
to break-up Yugoslavia on behalf of foreign interests, predominantly German
and American interests.

Jovic said that Slovenia launched an unprovoked attack against the JNA.
The JNA only had 6,000 troops in Slovenia, and the Slovene paramilitary
numbered 55,000. According to Jovic Slovenia wanted to prove to the other
Yugoslav republics that it won its independence by violent armed rebellion,
and Ante Markovic?s illegal orders to the engage the JNA in Slovenia only
helped the Slovenes to more effectively create this scenario.

After Slovenia left, Croatia announced its succession. Croatia pursued
a fait accompli policy. Croatian paramilitaries attacked the JNA and blocked
it in its barracks. The Croatian idea was to achieve international recognition
first, and then deal with the Serbs later. Unfortunately, Croatia got its
wish.

At the same time as Slovenia and Croatia were engaged in violent succession
Germany was putting pressure on the EC to grant recognition to the secessionist
republics. Initially Germany was the only country in the EC that wanted
to recognize Croatia and Slovenia, but the Germans threatened to withdraw
from the EC if Slovenia and Croatia were not recognized and so the EC acquiesced
to German demands and granted recognition to Croatia and Slovenia.

According to Jovic?s book there is evidence that the Germans were endeavoring
to break-up and provoke civil-war in Yugoslavia. According to Jovic?s testimony
a video tape exists where the former Slovene assembly speaker France Bucar
can be seen discussing various ways to start a civil war in Yugoslavia
with a German spy.

Jovic said that there was also intelligence data that suggested Croatian
paramilitaries were receiving training in Germany.

According to Jovic the United States originally opposed the break-up of
Yugoslavia. However, Jovic believed that the United States was so Hell-bent
on getting rid of communism that the Americans elected to get rid of communism
in Yugoslavia by breaking-up the country, and then dealing with the individual
pieces.

Simply put, in Jovic?s estimation, the USA?s objective was to get rid of
the communists in Yugoslavia, and the method that America ultimately used
to achieve its goal was the destruction of Yugoslavia itself.

Then the cross-examination turned to personal issues regarding Milosevic,
and issues internal to the SPS, although one other important point was
raised. Jovic and Milosevic both agreed there were hundreds of newspapers,
TV stations, and radio stations operating in Serbia that were not controlled
by the government. Only the state-owned media was influenced by the state.

After President Milosevic concluded his cross-examination; the Amicus Curiae
Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined Jovic.

As I mentioned earlier Tapuskovic had acquired the stenogram of the 12
July 1991 SFRY presidency session, when Ante Markovic is caught issuing
illegal orders to the JNA.

There were some other interesting things taking place at that same presidency
session. For example the Yugoslav Defense Minister, Veljko Kadijevic was
reporting that paramilitary formations on SFRY territory numbered approximately
200,000 men, whereas the JNA only numbered 140,000 men.

In view of this shocking information Kadijevic is asking for the JNA to
disarm these paramilitaries before what had happened in Slovenia repeats
itself elsewhere in the country.

In this stenogram it can be seen quite clearly that Stjepan Mesic opposed
the disarming of paramilitary formations. Mesic considered that the JNA
should go to its barracks, but by that time Croatian paramilitaries were
already blocking and laying siege on JNA barracks in Croatia. Mesic essentially
wanted the JNA to be prisoners.

Jovic opposed the election of Mesic to the presidency in the first place.
However, he explained that the EC prevailed upon the presidency and insisted
that they accept Mesic, even though Mesic had already stated quite clearly
that he wanted to destroy Yugoslavia.

After Mr. Tapuskovic?s cross-examination was cut off, Mr. Robinson brought
up the fact that the prosecution was seeking tender the BBC documentary
?The Death of Yugoslavia? as an exhibit. Robinson observed that Jovic had
appeared in the documentary and asked if it was an accurate documentary,
and if it accurately represented him.

Mr. Jovic gave a critique of the BBC documentary that the BBC probably
won?t use in any of its advertising. Jovic denounced the BBC program as
being ?contrived and incorrect,? and he said that the BBC took his interview
out of its proper context.

Mr. Jovic was then re-examined by Mr. Nice. Nice was obviously on a fishing
expedition. He was trying to get Jovic to say something in order to incriminate
himself. Nice was trying to lay the foundation for an indictment against
Jovic. Nice didn?t succeed, although I don?t think that will stop The Hague
?tribunal? from issuing an indictment anyway. Since when has The Hague
?tribunal? been afraid to issue unfounded indictments against Serbs?

On the bright side Nice?s failed fishing expedition did give Jovic the
chance to bring up one other additional point; Croatia and Slovenia did
not separate from Yugoslavia in accordance with the laws of Yugoslavia.
Jovic pointed out that the Constitutional Court of Yugoslavia had made
its ruling and found their succession to be in violation of the SFRY constitution.

After Nice finished the so-called ?tribunal? adjourned. It will reconvene
again on Monday.



__________________________________________________________________
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://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/29-Novembre-2003/
art68.html

Il Manifesto - 29 Novembre 2003
GUERRA E PACE

Missione umanitaria con l'elmetto

L'ambiguo aiuto
REPORTER di guerra per diversi giornali statunitensi, dalla Bosnia al
Ruanda, dall'Afghanistan all'Iraq, autore del libro «Un giaciglio per
la notte. Il paradosso umanitario» per Carocci, David Rieff critica le
scelte politiche di molte organizzazioni umanitarie. «Embedded», come
molta stampa internazionale, con le ragioni armate dell'amministrazione
di George W. Bush STEFANO LIBERTI

Scrittore e giornalista, inviato di guerra per diverse testate
statunitensi, David Rieff ha vissuto in prima persona le principali
crisi internazionali dell'ultimo decennio: è stato in Bosnia, in
Ruanda, in Kosovo, in Afghanistan e recentemente in Iraq. Entrando in
contatto con situazioni di guerra, o di dopoguerra, ha avuto modo di
vedere all'opera le organizzazioni non governative impegnate nell'aiuto
umanitario e ha potuto così condurre una sorta di ricerca sul campo
sulla loro azione pratica e sui meccanismi che ne sono alla base. A
questo tema ha dedicato un libro, da poco uscito anche in Italia (Un
giaciglio per la notte. Il paradosso umanitario, Carocci, pp. 320, €
20. L'autore sarà presente nel convegno «Dove va l'aiuto umanitario»
che inizia oggi a Lucca). Un libro che rappresenta un duro atto
d'accusa nei confronti della politica degli aiuti umanitari e che ha
una conclusione estremamente pessimistica: «Negli ultimi anni, il sogno
di un umanitarismo indipendente è miseramente fallito». Mosse dalla
necessità di raccogliere fondi, gran parte delle Ong sono diventate in
qualche modo sub-appaltatrici dei governi, che le hanno impiegate come
braccio benevolo per le operazioni militari in quelle zone che per loro
rivestivano maggiore interesse strategico. Secondo David Rieff, diverse
Oragnizzazioni non governative hanno seguito l'agenda politica dei
governi, finendo per perdere quel principio di neutralità che
teoricamente avrebbe dovuto guidare ogni loro azione.

Una tendenza confermata in qualche modo ieri dallo scandalo sollevato
dal quotidiano inglese The Guardian, che metteva in evidenza come le
sezioni britannica e statunitense di Save the Children hanno subìto
enormi pressioni dopo che avevano accusato la coalizione
anglo-americana di aver violato le convenzioni di Ginevra in Iraq.
Pressioni che le hanno spinte a ritirare quell'accusa.

È proprio contro derive di questo tipo che si scaglia Rieff, invocando
l'esigenza di un ritorno a un umanitarismo neutrale e autonomo.

Come è possibile parlare di un umanitarismo indipendente, quando gran
parte delle Ong sono finanziate principalmente dai governi? Non è una
visione utopistica?

Io ritengo che la neutralità e l'indipendenza, che sono poi le linee
guida del Comitato internazionale della Croce rossa (Cicr), siano due
principi imprescindibili dell'azione umanitaria. Se non ci sono queste
due condizioni, non è possibile parlare di reale umanitarismo. È per
questo che giudico estremamente dannosa la direzione che le Ong hanno
preso negli ultimi tempi, allontanandosi dalla loro missione
originaria. Basta prendere il caso delle guerre nei Balcani, in Bosnia
e in Kosovo.

Molte Ong erano ferocemente contrarie ai serbi e si sono schierate
apertamente con uno dei due contendenti, in alcuni casi invocando
l'intervento armato contro Milosevic. In Kosovo, dove è stata usata in
modo esplicito l'espressione «guerra umanitaria», le Ong sono state di
fatto arruolate dalla Nato. Una volta presa una posizione così netta,
hanno perso la loro capacità di agire in modo efficace: sono diventate
una parte in causa nel conflitto e come tale sono state percepite sul
terreno. Questa tendenza è legata ovviamente alla natura dei
finanziamenti. È difficile mettersi contro i governi, quando questi
sono i tuoi principali finanziatori. Per questo ritengo che non ci sia
altra alternativa: le Ong dovrebbero tornare a un umanitarismo assoluto
e non dovrebbero accettare fondi governativi. O meglio li dovrebbero
accettare solo da quei governi che sono tradizionalmente e
dichiaratamente neutrali, come la Svizzera, la Svezia o la Norvegia.
Oppure dovrebbero limitarsi ad accettare fondi soltanto da donatori
privati.

Se è vero che le Ong seguono l'agenda politica dei governi, non si può
dire che in alcuni casi riescono anche a influenzarla?

Questo è quello che sostengono le stesse organizzazioni, almeno negli
Stati uniti. Dicono: «Facciamo azioni di lobbying sull'amministrazione
affinché dedichi parte dei suoi fondi a crisi dimenticate nel pianeta».
Alcune di queste Ong sono in buona fede e da un certo punto di vista
dicono anche la verità. È indubbio che se una parte del bilancio
dedicato all'aiuto allo sviluppo viene convogliato verso aree non
strategiche, questo è dovuto all'azione delle organizzazioni attive in
quei paesi. Si tratta però di spiccioli. Sulle aree di maggiore
interesse il governo vuole mantenere uno stretto controllo e imporre un
ruolo di assoluta subalternità agli operatori che in tali zone lavorano.

Nel suo libro, lei sembra individuare una specie di filo rosso che
unisce tutte le operazioni armate degli ultimi anni, nel corso delle
quali il settore umanitario è andato progressivamente perdendo la
propria indipendenza. In Iraq, tuttavia, le Ong si sono nella quasi
totalità schierate contro l'intervento e sono oggi per lo più assenti...

Rispetto all'assenza delle Ong dal terreno iracheno, bisogna fare una
precisazione doverosa: quella irachena non era una crisi umanitaria in
senso stretto. Non lo è stata prima della guerra, non lo è ora. In
questo dopoguerra caotico, c'è senz'altro un problema di infrastrutture
e di sviluppo. Ma non ci sono carestie, flussi di profughi o croniche
epidemie. Detto questo, riconosco che in Iraq il rapporto tra le
organizzazioni umanitarie e il governo è in parte cambiato. Ciò è
principalmente dovuto all'atteggiamento dell'amministrazione Usa: per
l'Iraq gli strateghi della Casa bianca non hanno ritenuto utile
sbandierare il pretesto umanitario.

Perché, secondo lei, hanno deciso di prendere un'altra strada?

Una delle cose più sorprendenti dell'attuale amministrazione americana
è un certo grado di candore e di rozzezza, che in molti casi la spinge
a dire ciò che effettivamente pensa. Tanto per fare un esempio, non si
è mai visto prima un sottosegretario di stato gioire pubblicamente per
«l'indebolimento delle Nazioni unite», come ha fatto John Bolton nelle
settimane che hanno preceduto l'attacco in Iraq. Si tratta di un
atteggiamento sprezzante, del tutto controproducente, perché in realtà
le Nazioni unite non aspettano altro che essere usate per gli interessi
americani. Ma questo tipo di esternazioni è dovuto al fanatismo che
anima molti esponenti di spicco dell'amministrazione: i cosiddetti
neo-conservatori sono mossi dal fervore proprio dei rivoluzionari e
dalla convinzione di star portando avanti un'autentica missione
globale. Per tornare alla situazione irachena, credo comunque che nel
lungo periodo anche in Iraq si metterà nuovamente in moto la macchina
umanitaria. Al momento la situazione sul terreno è troppo pericolosa.
Ma, se le cose miglioreranno, sono quasi sicuro che a Baghdad ci
saranno molte più Ong di quante ce ne sono oggi.

Eppure, l'amministrazione Bush sembra muoversi in tutt'altra direzione
per l'organizzazione del dopoguerra iracheno. Più che alle
organizzazioni dei diritti umani si rivolge a società private, come la
Bechtel o la Kellogg Brown & Root...

Questa amministrazione crede ciecamente nel settore privato e nutre
comunque una certa sfiducia nelle Ong. Le percepisce come
organizzazioni di sinistra, da guardare con sospetto. Ma su questo
punto, come su molti altri, non c'è consonanza di vedute all'interno
del governo: se il dipartimento alla difesa, dominato dagli affaristi,
predilige le società private, altri invece vorrebbero seguire il
vecchio modello. Non per altro il segretario di stato Colin Powell
aveva detto apertamente alla conferenza dei donatori sull'Afghanistan,
nell'ottobre del 2001, che «le Ong sono per noi un'enorme
moltiplicatore di forza, una parte importantissima della nostra squadra
di combattimento».

Lei sottolinea la continuità tra tutte le crisi che analizza, dalla
Bosnia all'Afghanistan, passando per il Kosovo. Ma ritiene davvero che
con gli attacchi dell'11 settembre non sia cambiato nulla?

Sicuramente l'11 settembre e la guerra illimitata al terrorismo
lanciata da Geroge W. Bush hanno mutato gli assetti geo-politici
globali. Si è tornati a una situazione da guerra fredda in cui non ci
sono aree del mondo irrilevanti. Nella nuova dottrina, Washington deve
mantenere un controllo su tutto il pianeta, per evitare che paesi non
sospetti diventino rifugi per eventuali nemici e terroristi. Nel corso
di tutti gli anni Novanta, dopo il crollo dell'Unione sovietica, gli
Stati uniti si erano invece interessati soltanto a determinate zone,
trascurando totalmente interi continenti.

Ma allora perché, nel 1992 ,Washington era intervenuta in Somalia?

Credo che l'intervento in Somalia sia stato condotto per dirottare
l'attenzione dell'opinione pubblica, che chiedeva a gran voce che si
facesse qualcosa in Bosnia. L'amministrazione Usa ha fatto il calcolo -
rivelatosi poi sbagliato - che una guerra a basso costo avrebbe avuto
grandi risultati a livello di immagine. In realtà il costo è stato
alto: gli Stati uniti hanno subìto perdite e si sono ritirati. Ma è
anche vero che proprio in Somalia è nato il concetto di intervento
umanitario in senso stretto.

Lei scrive che l'interventismo umanitario è diventato il principale
meccanismo giustificatorio per una politica di vero e proprio
neo-colonialismo. Sottolinea poi che anche le guerre coloniali di un
tempo erano lanciate con il pretesto di portare la civiltà. Qual è, a
suo giudizio, la differenza tra i conflitti lanciati nell'Ottocento e
quelli di oggi?

In parte si tratta dello stesso meccanismo. Come scrivo anche nel mio
libro, la famosissima metafora del «fardello dell'uomo bianco»,
invocata da Rudyard Kipling per esortare gli americani a subentrare
nell'impresa imperiale britannica, è quanto mai attuale: può essere
applicata per descrivere i cosiddetti nuovi interventisti. Da un altro
punto di vista, però, oggi la situazione è diversa: all'epoca non c'era
un movimento umanitario. L'azione di assistenza alle popolazioni era
monopolizzata dai governi. Non esistevano organizzazioni indipendenti.
E' per questo che insisto sulla necessità che le Ong si ispirino a quei
principi di neutralità propri del Comitato internazionale della Croce
rossa.

La Croce rossa italiana è andata però in Iraq scortata dai
carabinieri, in aperto dissidio con il comitato di Ginevra...

Si tratta di un fatto assolutamente biasimevole, che segna una
regressione all'epoca della prima guerra mondiale, quando ogni sezione
nazionale della Croce rossa rispondeva ai propri governi. Non conosco
bene i particolari, ma la militarizzazione della Croce rossa italiana
mi sembra un episodio preoccupante, che mostra come anche le
organizzazioni teoricamente più pure possono cadere nella trappola
politica.

Quale ruolo svolgono e hanno svolto i media nel cementare quella che
ha definito la nuova dottrina dell'imperialismo umanitario?

Credo che i media stiano seguendo una deriva parallela a quella che ho
messo in luce per le organizzazioni umanitarie. Nel corso di un recente
incontro per discutere il mio libro, un lettore ha proposto un
parallelo tra i giornalisti «embedded» e le Ong embedded. Sono
sostanzialmente d'accordo: nelle ultime guerre, segnatamente in
Afghanistan e Iraq, sono comparsi per la prima volta giornalisti
armati. Non è ancora una tendenza generalizzata, ma è un inizio. Temo
che il seguito non sarà affatto confortante.

---

Dove vanno le Ong, un convegno a Lucca

David Rieff parteciperà oggi a Lucca a un convegno dal titolo «Dove va
l'aiuto umanitario. Ascesa e crisi dell'aiuto umanitario tra ambiguità
e solidarietà». Organizzato dal Consorzio italiano di solidarietà
(Ics), dalla provincia di Lucca e dalla scuola per la pace, l'incontro
- che inizierà alle ore 10:00 - prevede le relazioni dello stesso Rieff
e di Tony Vaux, dirigente di Oxfam e autore de L'altruista egoista
Analisi critica degli interventi umanitari in situazione di guerra e
carestia (Edizioni Gruppo Abele, 2002). Molti dei temi che sono stati
trattati da Rieff nel suo libro e di cui parla in questa intervista
verranno toccati nell'incontro. In particolare si parlerà di:
umanitarismo al tempo della guerra permanente e del terrorismo;
strumentalizzazione politica dell'aiuto umanitario e fine dello
sviluppo; crisi di rappresentanza, di legittimità, di «mission» delle
organizzazioni non governative; qualità dell'intervento: miti e realtà
delle «buone pratiche»; etica dell'umanitarismo e diritto
internazionale dei diritti umani.

Nel corso del pomeriggio, interverranno decine di operatori attivi
nelle Ong italiane, alcuni professori universitari e giornalisti che si
occupano di tematiche legate all'aiuto umanitario in situazioni di
crisi.

Nelle intenzioni degli organizzatori, il convegno vuole essere una
riflessione critica ed autocritica per stabilire nuove regole e codici
di condotta, basati su un'autentica autonomia politica e finanziaria.
Appuntamento alla Camera di commercio, sala Fanucchi, corte campana.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF - 2/2
(la Storia si ripete / seconda ed ultima parte)

- The roots of Kosovo fascism
(by George Thompson)
- Eyewitness to Genocide in Kosovo: Kosovo-Metohija and the Skenderbeg
Division
(by Carl Savich)
- Tetovo and Greater Albania:
Tetovo During World War II, 1941-1944
(by Carl K. Savich)

Per una documentazione in lingua italiana sullo stesso argomento si
veda l'importante articolo PASSATO PRESENTE, di Matthias Kuentzel, alle
URL:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1029
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1030


---
http://www.kosovo.com/roots.html
---


The roots of Kosovo fascism

by George Thompson (2-19-00)
www.tenc.net [emperors-clothes]

THAT WAS THEN...

"The Serbian population in Kosovo should be removed as soon
as possible. Serbian settlers should be killed." (Albanian
fascist leader Mustafa Kroja, June 1942.)

...AND THIS IS NOW

"He, like many KLA officers, says openly that he dreams of a
Kosovo without Serbs." (Description of KLA death squad
commander "the Teacher", Agence France Presse, August 19,
1999)

"As Germany overtook Yugoslavia in 1941, the Kosovar people
were liberated by the Germans. All Albanian territories of
this state, such as Kosova, western Macedonia and border
regions under Montenegro, were re-united into Albania
proper. Albanian schools, governmental administration, press and radio
were re-established." (From www.klpm.org , a Kosovo
Liberation Army-affiliated affiliated website)

Mussolini's Italy occupied Albania proper in April, 1939,
and established a collaborationist regime with the apparent
enthusiasm of most Albanians.(1) After Hitler invaded and
occupied Yugoslavia in spring 1941, the bulk of current
Kosovo-Metohija was placed under Italian-Albanian collaborationist
control and annexed to Albania.(2)

When Italian forces moved into Kosovo they were accompanied
by Albanians from Albania. Albanians living in Kosovo joined
the invasion force as it made its way North and West, and
also ambushed Yugoslav Army units moving to meet the invaders.
These Albanians, natives of both Albania and Kosovo, instituted a
campaign of murder and expulsion of Serbs. Initially, the
mayhem was carried out by disorganized "kachak" (irregular)
units. These were Albanian brigands from both sides of the
border who had fought Yugoslavia throughout the 1920s and
1930s.(3) However, soon a native Kosovo militia was formed.
This militia, called the Vulnetari, and various gendarme
units, began more systematic persecution.(4)

ITALIAN FASCISTS TAKEN ABACK

Italian authorities in Kosovo seemed a bit distressed by the
terror against Serbs and occasionally intervened to prevent
Albanian attacks, at least in urban areas. Thus a Serbian
historian wrote: "Italian troops were stationed in the towns
of Kosovo and acted as a restraining force ..."(5) And Carlo
Umilta, a civilian aide to the Commander of the Italian occupation
forces, described several instances where Italian forces
fired on Albanians to halt massacres of Serbs.6)

Because of manpower limitations and the de facto alliance
between Albanians and the Axis powers, these efforts at
restraint were limited. Nevertheless, the Italian occupiers
reported their disgust at Albanians’ actions to the authorities
in Rome. The Italian army reported that Albanians were "hunting
down Serbs", and that the "Serbian minority are living in
conditions that are truly disgraceful, constantly harassed by the
brutality of the Albanians, who are whipping up racial
hatred."(7) Carlo Umilta described some of the atrocities in
his memoirs and observed that "the Albanians are out to
exterminate the Slavs."(8) His words were echoed by those of
German diplomat Hermann Neubacher, the Third Reich’s
representative for southeastern Europe: "Shiptars (i.e.,
Kosovo Albanians) were in a hurry to expel as many Serbs as possible
from the country."(9)

The atrocities were deliberate, part of a plan to create a
Serb-free "Greater Albania". In June 1942 the fascist puppet
president of Albania, Mustafa Kroja, declared his goals
candidly before his followers in Kosovo:

"The Serbian population of Kosovo should be removed as soon
as possible . . . All indigenous Serbs should be qualified
as colonists and as such, via the Albanian and Italian
governments, be sent to concentration camps in Albania.
Serbian settlers should be killed." (10)

Similar sentiments were expressed by a Kosovo Albanian
leader, Ferat-bey Draga:

"time has come to exterminate the Serbs . . . there will be
no Serbs under the Kosovo sun."(11)

The anti-Serb pogroms intensified after Italy's collapse in
September 1943. The German Nazi's assumed control of
Albania, including Kosovo. Italian military units pulled out
and were replaced by three divisions of the German XXI Mountain
Corps. The German presence freed the Albanians of restraint.

Kosovo Albanian nationalist militias called the "Balli
Kombetar" (or "Ballistas") carried out a campaign of
deportation and murder of Serbs in 1943 and 1944. Then, on
Hitler’s express order, the Germans formed the 21st
"Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS" - the Skanderbeg Division.
With German leaders and Kosovo Albanian officers and troops, Hitler’s
hoped that using the Skanderbergs Germany could "achieve its
well-known political objective" of creating a viable (i.e.,
pure) "Greater Albania" including Kosovo.(12)

In general, German policy was to organize volunteer military
units among Nazi sympathizers in occupied countries. Of all
the occupied nations only the Serbs, Greeks and Poles
refused to form Nazi volunteer units. Rather than joining
the Nazis, as the Albanians in Kosovo did, the Serbs organized the
largest anti-Nazi resistance in Europe. Both the Communist
Partisans and thee Royalist Chetniks were mainly Serbs and
both groups fought the Germans and their local allies
throughout Yugoslavia.

The Germans recruited the 9,000 man Skanderbeg division to
fight these resistance groups But the Skanderberg's
Albanians had little interest in going up against soldiers;
they mainly wanted to terrorize local Serbs, "Gypsies" and
Jews. Many of these Kosovo Albanians had seen prior service in the
Bosnian Muslim and Croatian SS divisions which were notorious for
slaughtering civilians.

What explained this passionate hatred for non-Albanians? A
big factor was militant Islam. The Fundamentalist "Second
League of Prizren" was created in September 1943 by Xhafer
Deva, a Kosovo Albanian, to work with the German
authorities. The League proclaimed a jihad (holy war) against
Slavs. They were backed by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, El Haj Emin
Huseini, who was pro-Nazi and had called for getting rid of
all Jews in what was at that time British-occupied
Palestine. Albanian religious intolerance was shown by their
targeting Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries for
destruction.(13)

No one is certain of human destruction suffered in this
Fascist Albanian Holocaust. Estimates range from 10,000 to
30,000 Serbs murdered. At least 100,000 were driven from
Kosovo and replaced with "immigrants" from Albania proper.(14)

In justifying current Kosovo Albanian demands to secede from
Serbia, the media has repeated, like a mantra: 90% of the
population is Albanian. While this figure is most likely
exaggerated (nobody knows for sure because Kosovo Albanians
boycotted the census for years!) - the province has been largely
Albanian. But a major cause of the current demographic
imbalance: was the Albanians' success as Hitler's willing
executioners during World War II.(15)

And their attention was not limited to Serbs. Unknown
numbers of Roma ("Gypsies") were liquidated. And Kosovo
Albanians, acting alone as well as under German direction,
eliminated many of Kosovo's Jews.

The definitive work on Hitler's "Final Solution" in
Yugoslavia (16) estimates that 550 Jews lived in Kosovo
Hitler took over Yugoslavia. 210 of them, or 38 percent,
were murdered in Kosovo, mainly by Albanians. In fact, the
Skanderbeg division's first operation was to act as an "einsatzgruppen"
against the Jews, and its second was a similar extermination
foray against the Serb village of Velika where more than 400
Serbians were murdered.(17)

Ceda Prlincevic, head of the Jewish community in Pristina
and an executive of the provincial archives, has explained
to Emperors-Clothes that the Jews who were not murdered
outright were sent by the Skanderbeg division to the German
death camps Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen. One train, on its way to the
latter camp, took the wrong track and was intercepted by
advancing Russian soldiers. According to Mr. Prlincevic,
were it not for that fortunate detour, the entire Jewish
population of Kosovo would have been eliminated.

Although KLA supporters now claim that no Jews were killed
in Kosovo and that Jews were sheltered by the Kosovo
Albanians, such claims are false and should be treated the
same way we would treat other Holocaust denials.

ALBANIAN FASCISTS GO ON FIGHTING

The Germans surrendered in 1945, but the remnants of the
Kosovo Albanian Nazi and fascist groups continued fighting
the Yugoslav government for six years, with a major
rebellion from 1945 to 1948 in the Drenica region. (Drenica was the
hotbed for KLA recruiting in 1998-99). That rebellion was under
the command of Shabhan Paluzha; it is called the Shabhan
Paluzha rebellion. Sporadic violence continued until 1951.
It is literally true to say that the last shots of World War
II were fired in Kosovo

PARTING THOUGHT

This past summer, as Germans entered Prizren in Kosovo for
the first time since World War II, an NBC correspondent
reported:

"I was at dinner with a kind Kosovo Muslim family the other
night when talk turned to the German NATO troops that rolled
into town to make the city the headquarters of its
peacekeeping district. The patriarch of the family, a man old
enough to remember the last time German troops rolled into Prizren,
said they all felt safe now. 'The German soldiers are
excellent,' he said. Then he added, 'I should know, I used
to be one.' Then he raised his arm in a Nazi salute and
said, 'Heil,' and laughed merrily. (NBC, June 18, 1999)


FOOTNOTES
(1) Professor Nikalaos A. Stavrou, KFOR: Repeating History,
The Washington Times (August 11, 1999).
(2) Hugo Wolf, Kosovo Origins (1996) chapter 10. Portions of
northern Kosovo, from Mitrovica to the provincial border
with Serbia, were administered by Germany from the outset,
primarily to exploit the mines in the area. An eastern sliver
of Kosovo was ceded to Bulgaria.
(3) Dr. Smilja Avramov, Genocide in Yugoslavia, Part 2,
Chapter 5, "Genocide in Kosovo and Metohija" (1995): "The
crimes were begun by the ‘kachak’ guerrilla detachments
which had been sent into Kosovo from Albania, but members of
the Shqiptar minority quickly joined in. Judging from
Italian reports, at first the situation resembled more the marauding
of bandits than a deliberate policy."
(4) Dr. Dusan Batakovic, The Kosovo Chronicles (1992);
Avramov, supra.
(5) Dr. Smilja Avramov, supra.
(6) Carlo Umilta, Jugoslavia e Albania, Memoire di un
diplomatico (1947), in Avramov, supra, note 141.
(7) Dr. Smilja Avramov, supra, note 117.
(8) Carlo Umilta, Jugoslavia e Albania, Memoire di un
diplomatico (1947), in Avramov, supra, note 137.
(9) Hermann Neubacher, Sonderauftrag Sudost (1953), quoted
in Dr. Slavenko Terzic, Old Serbia and Albanians.
(10) Dr. Slavenko Terzic, Kosovo, Serbian Issue and the
Greater Albania Project.
(11) Batakovic, supra, citing H. Bajrami, Izvestaj
Konstantina Plavsica Tasi Dinicu, ministru unutrasnjih
poslova u Nedicevoj vladi oktobra 1943, o kosovsko-mitrovackanm
srezu, Godisnjak arhiva Kosova XIV-XV (1978-1979) at 313.
(12) Avramov, supra, note 151.
(13) Avramov, supra, note 148, citing Bishop Atanisije
Jevtic, From Kosovo to Jadovno.
(14) Batakovic gives a conservative estimate of 10,000 dead
while Dr. Slavenko Terzic cites a contemporary American
intelligence report that 10,000 died in the first year of
occupation alone. Terzic, supra, citing Serge Krizman, Maps
of Yugoslavia at War (1943). Carl Kosta Savitch, in Genocide in
Kosovo: Skanderbeg Division, quotes a wartime account that 30,000 to
40,000 Serbs were killed by Albanians. In addition, an
unknown number of Serbs dies in the German-operated work
camps of Pristina and Mitrovica, or were killed by the
Germans as reprisals against resistance activity.
The reported number of expelled Serbs also varies depending
on the source. Dragnich and Todorovich cited the figure of
70,000-100,000, based on a review of wartime refugee
records. Dmitri Bogdanovich estimates 100,000, but acknowledges
that the exact number has never been determined. Dmitri Bogdanovich,
The Kosovo Question: Past and Present (1985). Dr. Avramov
notes that wartime records showing 70,000 refugees from
Kosovo counted only those persons in need of government
assistance who registered with the Commissariat for Refugees
in Belgrade. Records of those who did not register, or who
fled to Montenegro, apparently do not exist. Avramov, supra.
(15) Before world war 2 Serbs constituted a slight majority
of the Kosovo population. Avramov, supra. In addition to the
murder and expulsion of Serbs, the relative ethnic
population balance was further skewed by the entrance of
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Albania proper during
the war. Relying on Italian records from the time, Dr. Avramov
estimates that 150,000 to 200,000 Albanians moved into
Kosovo between 1941 and 1943.
(16) The Crimes of Fascist Occupants and Their Collaborators
Against the Jews of Yugoslavia (1952, revised 1957)
(published by The Federation of Jewish Communities of
Yugoslavia).
(17) Avramov, supra


---
http://www.kosovo.com/albnazi.html
---


Eyewitness to Genocide in Kosovo:
Kosovo-Metohija and the Skenderbeg Division

SERBIANNA.COM LINK:
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/001.shtml

by Carl Savich


Introduction

The historical and political precedent for the creation of a Greater
Albania was set during World War II when the Kosovo-Metohija
region, along with territory in southwestY Montenegro andY
western Macedonia (then Southern Serbia, now part of
Macedonia, but a part of Stara Srbija in the medieval
period), were annexed to Albania by the Axis powers, fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany under a planY by AdolfY Hitler and Benito
MussoliniY to dismember Yugoslavia.The Kosovska Mitrovica
region was retained under German occupation because of the
Trepca mines. The districts of Vucitrn, Lab, and Dezevo or
Novi Pazar were made part of the Kosovo Department. The
Tetovo, Debar, Struga, Gostivar regions of western Macedonia were
ceded to a Greater Albania under Italian administration. The
Gnjilane, Vitin, and Kacanik districts were ceded by Germany
to Bulgaria to administer. In the initial stages of the
occupation of Kosovo-Metohija,YGermany organized a police
force of approximately 1,000 Kosovar Albanians and Albanian
paramilitary forces of the same number known as Vulnetara.
During the Italian administration from 1941-1943, Kosovo Serbs, Jews,
Gypsies, and other non-Albanians were arrested, interned,
deported, or murdered. Serbian houses were burned and
Serbian inhabitants were driven out of Kosovo. Dozens of
Serbian Orthodox churches were demolished and looted. Over
10,000 Kosovo Serb and Montenegrin families were driven out
of Kosovo by Albanians who wereY put in charge of Kosovo-Metohija
by the Italian and German forces.Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins
were deported to forced labor camps in Pristina and in
Mitrovica to work the Trepca mines and to Albania to work on
construction projects as forced or slave labor. The Italian
regime encouraged the Kosovo Committee and the Balli
Kombetar (BK, National Union) to create an ethnically pure
Albanian Kosovo as part of a Greater Albania. The government and
police were made up of Albanians while the Albanian language and
the Albanian flag were permitted in Kosovo-Metohija.Germany
assumed direct control and re-occupied Kosovo when Italy
surrendered in 1943.

On April 17,1944, pursuant to instructions by
Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler, an Albanian Waffen SS
Division, the 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS
'Skanderbeg' or 'Skenderbeg' (Albanische Nr.1), was formed, which
occupied and ethnically cleansed Kosovo-Metohija of Orthodox
Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and other non-Albanians. Himmler
envisioned the formation of two Albanian SS Divisions, but
the war ended before the second could be formed.
Approximately 300 Albanian troops in the Bosnian Muslim 13th
Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS 'Handzar' or 'Handschar' were
transferred to the newly forming SS division. The Skanderbeg
Division was made up of 6,491 ethnic Albanians, two-thirds
of whom were from Kosovo-Metohija, 'Kosovars'. To this
Albanian core were added German troops,Reichdeutsche from
Austria and Volkdeutsche officers, NCOs and enlisted men transferred
from the 7th SS Mountain Division 'Prinz Eugen' or 'Princ
Eugen', then stationed in Bosnia-Hercegovina. TheYSkanderbeg
Division was made up of Albanian Muslims of the Bektashi and
Sunni sects of Islam and several hundred Albanian Roman
Catholics, followers of Jon Marko Joni. The total strength
of the Skanderbeg Division was 8,500-9,000 men of all ranks.

The first commander of the Skanderbeg Division was SS
Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the Waffen SS Josef
Fitzhum, from April to June, 1944. In June,1944, SS
Standartenfuehrer August Schmidhuber, formerly an officer in
the Prinz Eugen 7thYSS Division, was appointed division commander
until August 1944, when SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Alfred Graf (or
Graaf) assumed command of the remanants of the division
until May 1945.

The Skanderbeg Division engaged in a policy of ethnic
cleansing and genocide against the Serbian Orthodox
Christian and Jewish populations of Kosovo-Metohija and the
Stara Srbija region. In Kosovo-Metohija, the Skanderbeg Division
massacred unarmed Serbian civilians with impunity and
indiscriminately in a systematic plan of genocide. The
Skanderbeg Division sought to create an ethnically pure
Kosovo-Metohija, 'Kosova' or 'Kosove', cleansed of Orthodox
Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies, the untermenschen (subhumans)
rayah targeted for extermination. The Skanderbeg Dision played a role
in the Holocaust or Final Solution when, during its occupation
of Kosovo-Metohija, it rounded up scores of Kosovo Jews and
Orthodox Serbs, persons deemed enemies of the Third Reich,
who were subsequently deported to concentration camps.

With the surrender of Italy in 1943, Germany re-occupied
Kosovo-Metohija and German occupation forces sought to
strengthen Albanian nationalist groups and to recruit
Albanians into German forces. On September 16, 1943, Dzafer
Deva, a member of the Balli Kombetar, organized the Second
League of PrizrenY ''in cooperation with the German occupation
authorities' which intensified its efforts to ethnically
cleanse Kosovo of Serbs and Jews and other non-Albanians.
Attacks against Kosovo Serbs increased and intensified. Over
10,000 Kosovo Serbian families were driven out of Kosovo.
The Balli Kombetar and the Second League of Prizren were
instrumental in the creation of the 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der
SS 'Skanderbeg', which was envisioned as advancing the cause of
Greater Albania by making Kosovo ethnically pure, cleansed
of Serbs and Jews.

When Germany re-occupied Kosovo and Albania following the
collapse of Italy in 1943, the German Wehrmacht and the
Waffen SS sought to integrate the manpower into the German
forces. Himmler wanted to use the Albanian manpower to form
two Waffen SS Divisions. Moreover, 'anthropological studies'
by the Italians during 1939-1943 purported to show that the
Ghegs of northern Albania and Kosovo-Metohija were Aryans, herrenvolk,
the master race, who had preserved their racial purity for
over two millennia. Thus, from a practical and theoretical
standpoint, Himmler was determined to form two Albanian SS
Dvisions.

Bedri Pejani, the president of the Second League of Prizen,
wrote Himmler a letter of March 19, 1944, asking that
Himmler organize Albanian military formations as part of the
armed forces of the Third Reich:

Excellency, the central committee of the Second Albanian
League of Prizren has authorized me to inform you that only
your excellency is united with the Second Albanian League,
that you should form this army, which will be able to
safeguard the borders of Kosovo and liberate the surrounding regions...
Bedri Pejani

Hans Lammers sent Pejaniis letter to Himmler, who wrote
Lammers about the planned formation of the two Kosovar
Albanian SS Divisions:

Most respected party friend Lammers! I received your letter
ofY April 29 together with the letter of the president of
the central committee of the Second Albanian League of
Prizren. At this time one Albanian division is being formed.
As things now stand, I plan to form a second division, and
afterwards an Albanian corps will be formed...
Heil Hitler!
Yours very faithfully,
H. Himmler

The 21st SS Division Skanderbeg was formed and trained in Kosovo and
was made up primarily of Muslim Albanians from Kosovo, over
two-thirds of the personnel were from Kosovo.

*** During WWII, Kosovo was under Italian occupation - as well as
Albania itself. Albania + Kosovo + Western Macedonia,
all under Italian occupation was officially caled
"Greater Albania". In Kosovo part of this fascist
structure the Albanian nationalists got free hand to
terrorize the Serbs. Under such pressure estimated 75,000 Serbs
left Kosovo. In their empty houses about the same number of
Albanians from Albania settled. This definitelly tipped
the ballance in the Albanian favour. The first official
census in post-WWII Yugoslavia (in 1948) showed 199,961
Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo and 498,242 Albanians.
***


Eyewitness to Genocide

On July 28, 1944 in the village of Velika in the Lim region of
Montenegro,Y Skanderbeg massacred 428 Serbs of which 120
were children and burned around 300 houses during Operation
Draufgegner, in a joint attack with the 7th Prinz Eugen
Division. Milunka Vucetic was an eyewitness, whose account of the
massacre follows:


I approached the house of Milovan Vucetic. Around afternoon an army
from Ivanpolje came into the area.We decided to take them
bread, salt, which we had.

When the army approached, I saw how in the olive grove
Tomislav, the son of Milovan Vucetic, played. Two soldiers
took him, a third ran over... one took out a knife and began
to skin the child alive from his eyes downwards. I could not
watch what occurred. I began screaming and his mother
Leposava-Lepa ran over to protect him. She was killed.


Radoje Knezevic, who survived the massacre, recalled:

I was only 11 years old when Hitleris Division 'Skanderbeg' and
'Prinz Eugen' burned down the village of Velika and killed
about 428 persons. Our family paid a heavy price that day.

On that day my mother Stojanka was killed and then her body
burned. The same fate befell my two brothers Nedeljko (5
years old) and Ratko ( 11 months old). My sister Raba ( 18
years old) was killed as she was trying to protect her
mother and young brothers. And she too was burned.


Draguna Knezevic gave the following account:

In the house of Andra Knezevic were killed Mona
Stamatovic...and Toma Savic with her daughter... In the
house of Leka Knezevic, Stojanka Knezevic (aged 42), her
daughter Rabija (18 years old) and sons Nedjelko (6 years
old) and Ratko (1 year old).

In the house of Ljuba Stamatovic Miroslava Stamatovic (50)
was killed.

In the house of Janka Simonovic, his two daughters, Kosa
(18), and Milojka (19) were killed. Milojka was thrown alive
into a fire. In the house of Radote Simonovic, his daughter
Milena (20) was killed... In the house of Nikola Tomovic,
his wife Rabija and his daughter Milica, who was five years
old were killed. Milica was killed outside and thrown in a
fire, in the house.


Divna Vucetic, a resident of Velika, gave the following
account of events during the massacre:

...I heard news of massacres in the surrounding villages so I became
concerned for the safety of my children, the two eldest of
whom I sent in the woods... I held in my lap my one year old
son, Boza. On the threshold my daughter Persida approached,
who was only three years old, and after her my two nieces,
four year old Kata and three year old Nata, and daughters
Cvete and Dusana Vucetic.

...A soldier approached with a gun... I told him that I wanted to bring
him bread, as I was ordered to. He replied to that:Y'Germany
has bread!' He spoke our language perfectly. He then shot at
me, killing my son Boza in my lap, and wounding me in the
right hand.


The Kosovar Albanian Skanderbeg SS Division drove out or ethnically
cleansed approximately 10,000 Kosovo Serbian families, most
of whom fled as refugees to Serbia while Albanian colonists
from Albania entered Kosovo and took over their lands,
homes, and possessions.In Between Serb and Albanian: A
History of Kosovo, Miranda Vickers described the ethnic cleansing
of the Skanderbeg SS Division as follows:

Until the first months of 1944 there were continued waves of migration
from Kosovo of Serbs and Montenegrins, forced to flee
following intimidation... The 21st SS 'Skanderbeg Division'
(consisting, as already mentioned, of two battalions) formed
out of Albanian volunteers in the spring of 1944,
indiscriminately killed Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo. This
led to the emigration of an estimated 10,000 Slav families, most of
whom went to Serbia... replaced by new colonists from the
poorer regions of northern Albania.

The Skanderbeg Division engaged in acts or war crimes against the
Kosovo Serbian population that constituted genocide and
crimes against humanity.


The Skenderbeg SS Division and the Holocaust


The 21st SS Division Skanderbeg played a role in the Holocaust or
Shoah, the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem,the
extermination of European Jewry. The first operation of
Skanderbeg in Kosovo-Metohija was the raid on Kosovo Jews in
Pristina which occurred on May 14,1944. The Albanian Kosovar
SS troops raided apartments and homes where Kosovo Jews lived,
looted their possessions, and rounded them up for deportation to the
death camps. Kosovo Jews were subsequently placed in
makeshift jails. The 21st SS Division Skanderbeg apprehended
281 Kosovo Jews, which included men, women, and children.
From May to June 1944, Skanderbeg apprehended a total of 519
Kosovo Serbs and Jews.

During the initial German occupation of Pristina in 1941
before it was turned over to Italian administration, the
property of Kosovo Jews was seized and they were conscripted
for forced labor like Kosovo Serbs. In Kosovska Mitrovica,
Jewish shops and stores were closed down and Kosovo Jews
were ordered to wear a yellow band to identify themselves as Jews. The
seizure of Jewish property was organized and conducted by the
Gestapo and members of the Albanian Committee. On May 20,
1941, Dzafer Deva, the leader of the Mitrovica district,
ordered the seizure of Jewish property. Jewish businesses
were supervised by members of the Albanian Committee. The
seizure of Jewish businesses and property was conducted by
Mamut Perijuc, Ramiz Mulic and Osman Ibrahimovic, who worked in
conjuction with the German Gestapo. Ibrahimovic was the head
of the commission overseeing Jewish property. He ordered the
demolition of the Jewish synagogue and the destruction of
papers and documents in the Jewish archive. In Pristina, the
seizure of Jewish property and anti-Jewish measures were
undertaken by the Kosovar Albanian regime placed in control
and members of the Albanian Kosovo Committee, Maljus Kosova, president
of the Committee, Dzemal beg Ismail Kanli, head of the
police, Rasid Memedali, and Rifat Sukri Ramadan.

Yugoslav Jewish survivors blame the Kosovar Albanian
Committee for inciting the first and second internments of
Kosovo Jews. In the Jewish historical archives of
Yugoslavia, the role of the 21st SS Division in the Holocaust
and in the genocide of Kosovo Jews and Serbs is described as follows:Y
''From May 25 to July 2, 1944 the Division 'Skanderbeg'
apprehended 510 Jews, Serbs... They were put in jails, while
249 were sent as forced laborers to the Reich.''

The Skanderbeg Division played a hitherto unacknowledged
role in the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jewry. In
Kosovo: A Short History, Noel Malcolm noted that in the
Djakovica region of Kosovo-Metohija, the Skanderbeg Division
engaged in ''the round-up and deportation of 281 Jews'' to
the concentration-extermination camps in May 1944.Y According to
Malcolm, ''they took part in the most shameful episode in
Kosovois wartime history.'' Malcolm, for the most part,
ignored the actions or war crimes of the Skanderbeg Division
against the Kosovo Serbian population during the same
period. Of these 281 Kosovo Jews which the Kosovars deported, more
than 200 were killed by the Germans at the Nazi death camp of
Belsen. By 1945, 210 of the 551 Kosovo Jews known to reside
in Kosovo had been killed.The division sought to create an
ethnically pure, homogenous Kosovo, supported by Italy and
Germany, a Kosovo ethnically cleansed of Orthodox Serbs,
Jews, Gypsies, and other non-Albanians, the untermenschen
rayah, not part of ''enlightened Latin Christendom'', not part of the
so-called West, not Aryans, but Slavs, who were targeted for
extermination.

Conclusion

During the occupation of Kosovo-Metohija by Nazi Germany
during World War II, an Albanian Waffen SS Division,
Skanderbeg, was formed which committed war crimes against
the Serbian Orthodox and Jewish populations which
constituted genocide and crimes against humanity. The Skanderbeg
Division engaged in a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing
against the Kosovo Serbian and Jewish populations. This
genocide contributed to the Albanian goal and policy to
create an ethnically pure and homogenous Kosovo.


Bibliography

Ivanov, Pavle Dzeletovic. 21. SS Divizija Skenderbeg.
Beograd: Nova Knjiga,1987.

Kane, Steve. ''The 21st SS Mountain Division'', Siegrunen:
The Waffen-SS in Historical Perspective, 6, no. 6, issue 38,
October-December 1984, pp. 21-30.

Malcolm, Noel. Kosovo: A Short History. NY: New York
University Press, 1998.

Michaelis, Rolf. Die Gebirgs Divisionen der Waffen SS.
Erlangen, Germany: Michaelis Verlag, 1994.

Munoz, Antonio. Forgotten Legions: Obscure Combat Formations
of theWaffen-SS. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1991.

Vickers, Miranda. Between Serb and Albanian: A History of
Kosovo. NY: Columbia University Press, 1998.


---
http://www.kosovo.com/tetovo.html
---


Tetovo and Greater Albania:

Tetovo During World War II, 1941-1944

by Carl K. Savich


Tetovo during World War II, 1941-1944: Introduction

The practical implementation of the Greater Albania ideology was
achieved during World War II when Adolf Hitler and Benito
Mussolini established a German/Italian sponsored Albanian
state which incorporated Western Macedonia, Illirida,
Kosovo-Metohija, Kosova, and southern Montenegro. Hitler and
Mussolini set the historical and political precedent for the
creation of Greater Albania which existed from 1941 to 1944. The
Orthodox Slavic populations, the Roma and Jewish populations were
to be exterminated and deported. Albanian was made the
official language in Kosovo, Western Macedonia, and southern
Montenegro. The Albanian Lek was introduced as the official
currency. The Albanian national flag, a double-headed black
eagle on a red background, was raised in the occupied areas.
Hitler and Mussolini had achieved a Greater or Ethnic Albania.
The UCK, the so-called Albanian Liberation Army, known also by the
acronyms the NLA/KLA/ANA/KPC/LAPMB, seeks to re-establish
and to re-create the Greater Albania first created by Adolf
Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The agenda, the goals, and the
objectives of the UCK are identical to those of the
ideologues of Greater Albania during World War II who created
a Greater Albania in Western Macedonia, Kosovo-Metohija, and southern
Montenegro. Western Macedonia and the city of Tetovo are
integral and inseparable components or parts of the Greater
Albania ideology. Greater Albania would be incomplete
without Western Macedonia. What is being witnessed in Kosovo
and in Macedonia today is a repeat or replay of what
occurred during World War II, when Hitler and Mussolini established
Greater Albania.

Albanian Nazi's were specially brutal to the Serb Orthodox
clergy. Here an Albanian is murdering an Orthodox priest in
Devic in World War 2.

Tetovo during World War II: Italian Occupation, 1941-1943
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini established Greater
Albania in 1941 following the occupation and dismemberment
of Yugoslavia. On April 6, 1941, Germany and allies Italy,
Albania, Hungary, and Bulgaria invaded Yugoslavia in
Operation Punishment. Yugoslavia was subsequently occupied and
dismembered. Hitler and Mussolini then sponsored a Greater
Albanian state which included territory from Western
Macedonia, Kosovo-Metohija, and southern Montenegro.

Tetovo became a part of Albania. The borders of Albania were
enlarged to include not only Tetovo or Tetova in Albanian,
but all of Western Macedonia (Illirida), Kosovo-Metohija,
and regions of Montenegro. Present-day Macedonia (FYROM) was
divided between Albania and Bulgaria. Tetovo was in the
Italian zone of occupation until September 3,1943, when Italy
surrendered and Germany re-occupied Macedonia. Ethnic Albanians in
Macedonia formed the National Albanian Committee to advance
the Greater Albania movement and agenda. The Balli Kombetar
(BK, National Union) was formed by Midhat Frasheri and Ali
Klissura to advance the Greater Albania ideology or cause.
The Slavic Orthodox populations were targeted for deportation
or murder. The Jews and Roma were similarly to be deported or killed.

Hitler and Mussolini had given the ethnic Albanians Greater
Albania. In August, 1941, the Italian occupation forces in
Tetovo established a prison for prisoners of war. The
Italian occupation authorities gave the civil authority and
administration to the Albanian population. All
Albanian-inhabited territories, Western Macedonia, Illirida,
Kosovo-Metohija, Kosova, and southern Montenegro, were
integrated completely into Albania proper. Albanian language
schools, an Albanian press, an Albanian radio network were
established and an Albanian governmental and political
administration was created. Vulnetara, an Albanian paramilitary
formation, was organized. Albanian police units were
established by the Italian occupation force. Albanian became
the official language as Western Macedonia or Illirida
became a part of Albania. The Albanian national flag, the
double-headed black eagle on a red background, was raised in Tetovo
and other cities and towns in Western Macedonia. The Albanian
Lek was introduced as the official currency. Tetovo,
Gostivar, Struga, Debar, and Kichevo were the key
municipalities and districts in Western Macedonia
incorporated into Albania, a Greater Albania. Eastern Macedonia was
occupied by Bulgarian military forces.

Macedonia was divided between Albania and Bulgaria. Hitler
and Mussolini sought to delineate the borders between
Greater Albania and Greater Bulgaria. The Albanians and
their Italian sponsors wanted to enlarge the borders of
Albania eastward encroaching on Bulgarian occupied territory.
The Bulgarians sought to expand westward. On April 20 and 21, 1941,
the German foreign minister, Joachim Ribbentrop, and the
Italian foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, met in
Vienna to discuss the Bulgarian occupation zone and the
enlargement of the borders of Greater Albania eastward.
Ribbentrop emphasized the importance of the mines in Kosovo-Metohija
and Macedonia that were vital to the strategic interests of
Germany. The German and Italian supreme commands reached an
agreement on the final demarcation line in Macedonia. Hitler
approved the agreement on April 25. The agreement was
tentative, however, and was not a final, complete agreement
on demarcation lines. The agreement was abandoned later as
Italy and Bulgaria could not agree on a border between their
two occupation zones in Macedonia and Kosovo-Metohija. Later in 1941,
the two sides were able to reach an understanding on where the
border should be.

The Italian occupation forces appointed Albanian Dzaferi
Sulejmani the president of the Tetovo district. The
vice-president was Albanian Munir Tevshana who had come from
Albania. Later, Zejnel Starova and Shaib Kamberi replaced
him. Kamberi worked for the Italian intelligence service.
Selim Shaipi was the representative for Tetovo and was the leader of
the Albanian youth movement. Shaipi was also a representative
of the Second League of Prizren and was the president of the
Third Balli Kombetar Committee. Shaipi fled with the German
Army when Tetovo was evacuated in 1944. Husein Derala was
made the commander of the gendarmes units in Tetovo by the
Italian occupation forces.

The Albanian administration targeted the Orthodox, Slavic
populations for elimination, disenfranchisement,
de-recognition, and expulsion. Feyzi Alizoti called for the
extermination and deportation of non-Muslims. The Greater
Albania ideology was anti-Orthodox, anti-Slavic in nature,
and atrocities, deportations, and murders were committed against the
Slavic, Orthodox populations. Josip Kovac, a Slovenian who was
placed in charge of the Tetovo hospital by the Axis forces,
described the anti-Orthodox, anti-Christian, anti-Slavic
activity of Alizoti as follows:

"There were exceptionally hard times in the annexed areas of
Western Macedonia and Kosovo-Metohija when Fejzi Alizoti,
the High Commissioner, visited. He gave a speech in Tetovo
that demanded the annihilation of the non-Muslim
communities. Publicly and openly he stated that there will
be no peace until the last foreigner---Orthodox Christians---leaves
his territory and settles across the border and only ethnic
Albanians are left behind. Following his visit, the
situation deteriorated and became unbearable for all
non-Muslims."

The Italian military intelligence service, OVRA, formed an
independent battalion in occupied Tetovo. The battalion was
named iLjuboteni, a special unit made up of ethnic Albanians
in the Tetovo region. This Italian-created Albanian Axis
unit was to uncover, question, and annihilate any resistance
to the occupation. After the surrender of Italy in 1943, the
German forces retained this Albanian formation allowing the unit
to keep their Italian-issued uniforms and weapons. Members of the
Balli Kombetar later joined the Ljuboten battalion. At the
end of 1943, the Ljuboten unit was engaged in the attack on
Kichevo in Macedonia.

The Italian occupation of Western Macedonia allowed the
Albanian population to create an ethnic Albanian-ruled
region. Albanian police and paramilitary units were formed
as a proxy army by the Italian forces. The civil administration
was entrusted by the Italians to Albanian leaders. Albanian became
the official language;the civil and police administration
was taken over by ethnic Albanians; Albanian schools,
newspapers, and radio stations were established. Tetovo
became Tetova, an Albanian Muslim city in the newly-expanded
Albanian state.


Early History

From the 14th century, Tetovo has been an Orthodox Slavic
settlement founded around the Orthodox Church of Sveta
Bogorodica (Saint Mother of God)near the mountain source of
the Pena river in the Polog valley. Sveta Bogorodica was
built in the 13th century when Tetovo began to be regarded
as a major Orthodox Church center. Tetovo was the first
center of the Orthodox episcopate. The oldest settlement in Tetovo is
the region around the Sveta Bogorodica Orthodox Church. The
modern city of Tetovo grew from this small medieval Orthodox
Slavic settlement of Htetovo with the building and
construction of houses around the Orthodox Church. The
Ottoman Turkish Muslim Empire invaded and occupied present-day
Macedonia beginning in the 14th century. The Muslim Turks began
settling and colonizing Macedonia with Turkish settlers. The
Ottoman Turks began the Turkification and Islamicization of
Macedonia. The Ottoman Turks altered the Orthodox Slavic
nature of Tetovo, which in Turkish was renamed Kalkandele.
The Ottoman Turks began settling the level lowlands of Tetovo.
The Colored or Painted Mosque (Aladzha or Sharena Dzamija), also
known as the Pasha Mosque, was built in 1459 by the Ottoman
Turks. The earlier Slavic Orthodox population concentration
in Tetovo was on the high ground and on the foothills of the
Shar Planina or Mountain range.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the city began to expand
greatly. The city was divided into the Orthodox Slavic
quarter and the Muslim Turkish quarter. The Orthodox Slavic
quarter or section was on the left side, on the Pena River,
made up of the Potok, Dva Bresta, Koltuk, Sveti Nikola, Dol,
Pevchina, and Dolno regions. The Turkish Muslim quarter or section
included the following regions: The Colored Mosque (Sharena
Dzamija) region, Banja, Gorna Charshija, Gamgan, and Saat.
After World War II, the ethnic mosaic of the city changed
with the displacement of the Serbian Orthodox and Turkish
Muslim populations. The city then acquired its present
ethnic configuration of Macedonian Orthodox Slavs and Muslim
Albanians. Different city subdivisions emerged. New settlements and
districts were formed such as Przhova Bavcha, Tabakaana,
Gazaana, the Teteks textile plant district, and the
Boulevard iBoris Kidrici.

In the town of Leshok, which had been known as Legen Grad,
in the Tetovo municipality, is located the Leshok Monastery
which includes the Orthodox Church of the Holy Virgin built
in 1326 and the Sveti Athanasius Orthodox Church built in
1924. The tomb of the Orthodox scholar Kiril Pejchinovic
lies in the Leshok Monastery. The Church has three layers of frescoes:
The lower layer was built in 1326, the middle layer was built
in the 17th century, and the top layer was built in 1879.
The Leshok Monastery symbolizes the Orthodox and Slavic
presence in the region. The UCK separatists deliberately
mined and demolished the Monastery in August, 2001, to
eradicate and cleanse the Orthodox Slavic influence. Cultural cleansing
is followed by the ethnic cleansing of the Orthodox Slavic
population. The UCK has ethnically cleansed or driven out
much of the non-Albanian population from the Tetovo district.

Tetovo and its population have undergone an evolution and
development over the centuries. Like a palimpsest, a
parchment that has been written upon over time but that
leaves impressions made on earlier layers and substrata, the
city of Tetovo has accumulated layers and strata of the
different populations, religions, and cultures that have existed in
the city. The city presents a palimpsest or mosaic of the
differing populations and cultures that have not been erased
but remain to reveal the development and growth of the city.
In the 15th century, Tetovo began to be regarded as a major
city in the region. The Turkish writer Mehmed Beg in 1436 in
the Vakuf noted that Tetovo had stores and shops and was one
of the most prosperous regions in the Polog valley. In 1470,
Mehmed Kebir Chelebija noted the rapid development of
Tetovo. In 1565, under Ottoman Turkish rule and occupation,
Tetovo was refereed to as the iepiscopal religious place
Htetovoi, an Orthodox religious center, the seat of the Orthodox Church
and domicile of the Orthodox religious leader. Haji Kalfa in
the 17th century noted in his writings that Kalkandele, the
Turkish name for Tetovo, that the city was expanding.

In the 19th century, the population of Tetovo began to
increase with settlement from the surrounding villages. The
French traveler Ami Bue noted that the population was
approximately 4,000-5,000 persons in the 1900s. Half of the
population was made up of Orthodox Slavs. In the Turkish
quarter, there were the upper and lower Turkish charshi and
the Konaci of the wealthy Turkish begs. Many clean streets were noted
by the travelers. A. Griezenbach estimated there were 1,500
houses or dwellings in the city. By the end of the 19th
century, the population increased as Tetovo became an
important trading center. In 1912, the population declined
due to the migration of the Turkish population and their
resettlement to Turkey.

A large garrison of Ottoman Turkish troops was stationed in
Tetovo during the 19th century when the city was a major
military/strategic base. During the latter half of the 19th
century, Ottoman Turkey was referred to as ithe sick man of
Europei because it could not maintain its occupation and
colonies in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Ottoman Turkey suffered
military defeats following the Bosnian Insurrection by the
Serbian Orthodox populations of 1875 and the First Balkan
War in 1912.

Herbert Vivian published his account of his travels to
Macedonia in 1904 and offered his eyewitness accounts of
Kalkandele (Tetovo) under Turkish rule. Vivian described
Tetovo as follows:

"Kalkandele is even more beautiful than most Turkish towns.
Every house has its garden and a rippling rivulet, tall
poplars and cypresses rise up beside the glistening
minarets, storksi nests, are poised upon the chimneys,
weather-beaten wooden dwellings of fantastic shape are
relieved by the gay arrangement, always artistic, of Turkish shops,
and the women are among the most gorgeously attired in all
Macedonia."

Vivian described the Macedonian system as a isemi-feudal
systemi. The landed estates are governed by chifji or
seigneurs. The peasants have to pay a third of their crop
every year in lieu of rent. Macedonians ilead a medieval
lifei. Vivian noted the tension between the Slavic Orthodox
Christians and the Muslim Albanians. Muslims were allowed to
own weapons, but Christians were forbidden to own any arms. Vivian
explained:

"This question of arms is one which exercises the
Macedonians excessively. It is a standing grievance with the
Christians that they are forbidden to possess arms, while
the Albanians bristle with weapons."

Vivian observed the ethnic and religious polarization and
animus between the Orthodox Slavic Christian population and
the Muslim Albanian population. In Tetovo, he was a guest of
the Serbian Orthodox Prota, or archdeacon. Vivian described
the residence as follows:

"His house was like a fortress. A high wall protected his
smiling garden and huge doors were heavily barricaded at
sundown. O I asked the cause of all these precautions, and
was told much about the fanaticism of the population, who
might at any time wish to raid a Christian household."

Albanian Muslims sought to incorporate Western Macedonia,
Illirida, into a Greater Albanian state following the 1878
Albanian League of Prizren in Kosovo-Metohija, which
enunciated the Greater Albania ideology. In 1912, Albanian
insurgents seized and occupied Skopje itself, demanding that
the Ottoman Turkish regime grant them a Greater Albania.


Settlement

In the 18th century, the population of Tetovo began to
increase. Residents from the following surrounding villages
and suburbs began to settle in Tetovo: Brodec, Lisec, Selce,
Poroj, Shipkovica, Gajre, Zhelino, Dobri Dol, Zherovjane,
Novake, Gorno Palchiste, Senokos, Kamenane, and Gradec.
Macedonian Orthodox Slavs, Bektashi and Sunni Muslim Albanians,
Sunni Muslim Turks, Orthodox Serbian, and Roma were the major
population groups of the city. By the end of the 19th
century, the population of Tetovo was 19,000. The Slavic
Orthodox villages and towns in the Tetovo municipality or
district included Vratnica, Staro Selo, Tearce, Leshok,
Belovishte, Jegunovce, Rogachevo, and Neproshteno.

Tetovo or Htetovo was originally an Orthodox Slavic
settlement. With the Ottoman Turkish conquest, the city was
settled by Turks from Anatolia, Asia Minor, and Bulgaria.
For much of its history, Tetovo was divided between the
Orthodox Slavic section and a Muslim Turkish section. The
majority of the Albanian settlement of Tetovo and the surrounding
villages resulted due to the influx of Albanian migration
and settlement from Albania. Albanian settlement is
relatively recent and is due to Albanian migrations from
Albania proper into the Polog valley. The Albanian migrations
originated in the Albanian districts of Findi Berdita and Luma in
Albania. Albanian migration and settlement in Tetovo and the
surrounding villages from Albania began only in the 18th and
19th centuries. The massive, intensive migrations of
Albanian settlers from Albania proper began slowly to alter
the ethnic composition of the majority Orthodox Slavic city.
Settlers also came from Kosovo-Metohija. In the late 19th century
and early 20th century, the Slavic Orthodox migrated out of Tetovo
for economic and political reasons. The total Slavic
Orthodox migration out of the city amounted to 5,500 during
this period. During World War I, 2,000 left. After World War
I, 5,000 Turks migrated to Turkey. Following World War II,
another large group of Turks migrated out of the city. These
migrations of Turks again changed the ethnic make-up of the city
leaving the Orthodox Slavic and Albanian Muslim populations as the
bulk of the population of the city.


Tetovo: German Occupation, 1943-44

The surrender of Italy on September 3,1943 forced Germany to
re-occupy Tetovo and Western Macedonia. Germany organized
the XXI Mountain Corps, led by General Paul Bader, made up
of the 100th Jaeger Division, the 297th Infantry Division
and the German 1st Mountain Division, to occupy the
territory abandoned by the Italian forces. The German forces wanted
to recruit and enlist ethnic Albanians into proxy armies that
would assist the German occupation. The Germans retained the
Albanian iLjuboteni battalion initially formed by the
Italian occupation forces. The Waffen SS sought to
incorporate the Albanian manpower of the region into Waffen
SS formations, as a German/SS proxy army to maintain the military
occupation of the Orthodox Slavic populations. In 1943, the
German occupation authorities sponsored the formation of the
Second League of Prizren, reviving the 1878 League. The
Germans sought to use the racist, extremist, anti-democratic,
anti-Orthodox, anti-Slavic agenda of the Greater Albania ideology to
maintain and support their occupation of Kosovo and Western
Macedonia. Bedri Pejani, the president of the central
committee of the Second League of Prizren, a militant and
extremist Greater Albania ideologue, even wrote Himmler
personally to request his assistance in establishing a
Greater Albania and volunteering Albanian troops to work jointly with
the Waffen SS and German Wehrmacht. Himmler read the Pejani
letter and agreed to form two ethnic Albanian Waffen SS
Divisions. Like Hitler and Mussolini, Himmler became an
active sponsor of the Greater Albania ideology.

On April 17, 1944, Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler
approved the formation of an Albanian Waffen SS Division,
which was then subsequently approved by Adolf Hitler. The SS
Main Office envisioned an Albanian division of 10,000
troops. The Balli Kombetar, the Albanian Committees, and the
Second League of Prizren submitted the names of 11,398 recruits for
the division. Of these, 9,275 were adjudged to be suitable for
drafting into the Waffen SS. Of this number, 6,491 ethnic
Albanians were actually drafted into the Waffen SS. A
reinforced battalion of approximately 200-300 ethnic
Albanians, the III/Waffen Gebirgsjaeger Regiment 50, serving
in the Bosnian Muslim 13th Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS iHandzari
or iHandschari were transferred to the newly forming division.
To this Albanian core were added veteran German troops from
Austria and Volksdeutsche officers, NCOS, and enlisted men.
The total strength of the Albanian Waffen SS Division would
be 8,500-9,000 men.

The official designation of the division would be 21. Waffen
Gebirgs Division der SS iSkanderbegi (Albanische Nr.1).
Himmler planned to form a second Albanian division,
Albanische Nr. 2. The SS Main Office designed a special arm
patch for the division, consisting of a black, double-headed
eagle on a red background, the national flag/symbol for Albania. The
UCK/ KLA/NLA/ANA/ LAMBP would have an identical arm patch in
their separatist/terrorist war for igreater rightsi and
ihuman rightsi in the 1998/99 Kosovo conflict and the
iinsurgencyi in Macedonia in 2001.The SS Main Office also designed
a strip with the word iSkanderbegi embroidered across it as well
as a gray skullcap with the Totenkopf (Deathis Head)
insignia of the SS below the Hoheitszeichen (the national
symbol of Nazi Germany, consisting of a silver eagle over a
Nazi swastika). Josef Fitzhum, the SS leader in Albania,
commanded the division during the formation stages. In June,
1944, August Schmidhuber, the SS Stardartenfuehrer in the 7th SS
Division iPrinz Eugeni, was transferred to command the
division. Alfred Graf commanded the division in August and
subsequently when the division was reorganized.
The 21st SS Skanderbeg Division indiscriminately massacred
Serbian Orthodox civilians in Kosovo-Metohija, forcing
10,000 Kosovo Serbian Orthodox families to flee Kosovo.

Albanian colonists and settlers from northern Albania then
took over the lands and homes of the displaced/cleansed
Serbian Orthodox Slavs. The goal of the Skanderbeg SS
division was to create a Serbien frei and Juden frei and
Roma frei Kosova, an ethnically pure and homogenous region
of Greater Albania. In Illirida, or Western Macedonia, the Skanderbeg
SS Division sought to create a Macedonian frei, Orthodox frei,
Slavic frei region. The Albanian SS troops played a key role
in the Holocaust, the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem,
which the sponsor of the Greater Albania ideology, Heinrich
Himmler, organized. On May 14, 1944, the Skanderbeg SS
Division raided Kosovo Jewish homes and businesses in
Pristina. The Albanian SS troops acting as a proxy for the German
occupation forces rounded up 281 Kosovo Jews who were
subsequently killed at Bergen-Belsen. The Skanderbeg SS
Division targeted Macedonian Orthodox Slavs, Serbian
Orthodox Slavs, Roma, and Jews when the division occupied Tetovo and
Skopje and other towns and cities in Western Macedonia.

The goal and agenda of the ethnic Albanian Skanderbeg Waffen
SS Division was to advance the Greater Albania ideology by
deporting and killing the non-Albanian populations of
Western Macedonia.

The Skanderbeg SS Division was formed at a time in the war
when Germany was retreating and withdrawing its forces from
the Balkans. The Russian Red Army was inflicting severe
losses on the German military forces. By November, 1944, the
Germans were withdrawing their forces from the Aegean
islands and from Greece. At this time, the Skanderbeg Division
remnants were reorganized into Regimentgruppe 21. SS Gebirgs
iSkanderbegi when it was transferred to Skopje. The
Kampfgruppe iSkanderbegi, in conjunction with the 7th SS
Mountain Division iPrinz Eugeni, defended the Vardar River
valley in Macedonia to allow Alexander Loehris Army Group E
to retreat from Greece and the Aegean. The Vardar Valley was
crucial as an escape corridor for the retreating German military forces.
The Skanderbeg SS Division crossed into Macedonia and
occupied Tetovo and Skopje in the early part of September,
1944. The purpose for the occupation was to garrison
Macedonia and safeguard the retreat of German troops from
Greece and the Aegean peninsula.

By 1944, the German forces in the Balkans were in a
defensive posture and were focusing their strategic efforts
on a well-ordered retreat and withdrawal. The Bulgarian
forces and the Italian forces had occupied Macedonia. The
Bulgarian army continued to occupy Macedonia <br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)