THIS WEEK IN ALBANIA, KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL (FEBRUARY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000116 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE DEPT OF JUSTICE FOR OPDAT, ICITAP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KV AL SUBJECT: THIS WEEK IN ALBANIA, KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL (FEBRUARY 8-15, 2008) ¶1. (U) The following is a weekly report prepared by Embassy Tirana's local staff to provide political and economic context and insight into developments in Albania. This special edition focuses on the average Albanian's impressions and expectations of an expectecd declaration of independence by Kosovo this weekend. -------------- SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT FOR KOSOVO -------------- ¶2. (U) HISTORY REWRITTEN, JUSTICE DELIVERED: As the day approaches for an expected declaration of independence for Kosovo, Albanians of Albania feel that history is about to be rewritten. The process has been longer than anyone expected, but momentum was never lost. Albanians here have the impression that closing the book on Kosovo opens a new chapter in the history of the Albanian people, correcting a centuries-old injustice and giving self-rule to Kosovars. ¶3. (U) Albanians, including those outside Kosovo, consider independence the most important event in their collective national history of the last one hundred years. The partition of Kosovo from Albania in 1913, which turned it over to Yugoslav rule, was considered by Albanians everywhere an historic injustice. While most of the world became aware of the plight of Albanian Kosovars in the late 90s, for most Albanians those tragic events were only another chapter in the history of Kosovar oppression and struggle for self-rule. ¶4. (U) Every Albanian in the region was affected by this history. As Albanians here in Albania lived under the isolation and repression of their own communist dictator, Kosovar Albanians were protesting Serb rule. The anti-government protests of Kosovar students in Pristina in 1981, a hunger strike by minors of Trepca in 1989, and continued state oppression until the NATO conflict were all images that deeply affected the perceptions and understanding of Albanians. Now, across the region, Albanians are relieved that Kosovar citizens will have the right to determine their own path for the first time in one hundred years. ¶5. (U) The average Albanian was closest to the Kosovar issue during the 1999 crisis. The atrocities of the Serb army and paramilitaries pushed about half a million Kosovar refugees across the border, sheltered by regular Albanian families throughout the country. Their first-hand reports of the tragedies brought the anguish directly into Albanian homes. However, when Kosovo was freed of Serb units, the refugees returned home almost without exception to rebuild their homes and their lives in Kosovo. Notably, few remained behind. ¶6. (U) A side effect of Kosovar history has been the perceptions created regarding Europe. The Great Powers' partition of Kosovo made Albanians suspicious of European intentions. In contrast, President Wilson's 1913 stand on the side of the right to self-determination for small nations raised U.S. stock in the mind of Albanians, an anecdote still well-remembered and often raised by Albanian leaders in discussions of U.S. policy toward their country. ¶7. (U) MOVING PAST 1999: Albanians accept what Serbia has chosen so far to avoid: that their future lies with EU integration. But the widespread feeling of gratitude over Kosovo is paid to the U.S., which consistently sustained momentum for independence. The EU, which has set the Western Balkans on a path to membership in its exclusive and lucrative club, represents its future, but Albanians uniformly believe that without U.S. involvement Kosovo's independence would never have been realized. ¶8. (U) AN END TO GREATER ALBANIA: The independence of Kosovo, along with what Albania hopes to be a quick path to NATO membership and an eventual path to the EU, puts "Greater Albania" on the trash heap of history. Proud to support the independence of their national kin, Albanians here do not have a sense that unification will join that solidarity. Polls consistently show that the overwhelming majority of Albanians have no passion for unification. One hundred years of living apart have had an irreversible impact, creating two distinct identities among ethnic Albanians, differences which have led to a sense of otherness that both easily admit and a sense of separateness further enforced by the fact that elites on both sides of the border look with suspicion on the idea of unification. -------------- CELEBRATIONS AND EVENTS THIS WEEK -------------- ¶9. (U) Though average citizens wait with excitement for a proclamation of independence, this is not expected to translate into TIRANA 00000116 002 OF 002 large crowds in the streets. The government has planned no events for this weekend, and has already called on all to show restraint. However, hundreds are expected to descend upon Pristina this weekend to be present for the historic occasion. Others plan to stay glued to the television, following live coverage from Albanian newscasters in Pristina. While there were initial rumors that Prime Minister Berisha could go to Kosovo on independence eve, official reports now say that the visit has been postponed. Albanian police authorities in Tirana say they expect spontaneous gatherings in the streets and have taken measures to ensure the orderly proceeding of any such celebrations. -------------- QUOTE OF THE WEEK -------------- ¶10. (U) Prime Minister Berisha, during a meeting with the Mayor of the Kosovar city of Gjakova: "The Albanian spirit and culture are the common and inalienable values of our national identity. Therefore, Independence Day will bring happiness to every Albanian family in the world. Every Kosovar must rise to the level of a contained and legitimate celebration, as the eyes of the world have already turned to their victory. Independence must be handled with dignity, an obligation to sacrifices the Kosovar people have made in the last century, and celebrations must be an expression of gratitude to all well-wishers, wherever they are in the world, who supported with sympathy the Kosovar cause." WITHERS