SOFT BORDERS: KUKES AND PRIZREN

UNCLAS TIRANA 000787 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AL SMIG SUBJECT: SOFT BORDERS: KUKES AND PRIZREN ¶1. Summary. On October 28-29, Poloff visited the northern border town of Kukes to deliver a presentation at the local American Corner. In conversations and activities, it seemed that the city of Kukes, 15 minutes from the border with Kosovo, faces north more than south, with its interests largely in Kosovo. In at least some aspects, Kukes could be considered a suburb of the southern Kosovar city of Prizren, including their common Geg dialect, which Tiranians find difficult to understand. Movement across the international border is relatively uncontrolled for local residents. While the trip highlighted the soft borders that have developed between Northern Albania and Kosovo, it may also point to the loose hold Tirana has on its outer regions. End Summary. THE DURRES-KUKES ROAD -------------- ¶2. Poloff departed Tirana Oct 28 at 9 a.m. The winding drive through the mountains (approximately 150 km) - sometimes on no more than a dirt road - took until 3 p.m. that afternoon. Locals claim that after construction of the Durres-Kukes highway, travel from Tirana will only take one-and-a-half hours. Construction on the highway was evident in places, but it seemed that overall, little work had been done so far, and there was very little current activity to be seen during the drive. NOTE: Both the GOA and lead contractor Bechtel say they are on track for a June, 2009 completion of the road. END NOTE. THE OPENING OF BORDERS -------------- ¶3. Locals of Kukes noted that during Communist times, Kukes was extremely isolated - on its north by guards at the Yugoslav border and on its south by endless mountains. To this day, newspapers do not arrive in the city until around noon. With the opening of borders in 1991, people flowed both directions across Kukes' border with Kosovo. Extended families were united across what they considered an imaginary border invented in 1916 by outside powers. Overnight, Prizren - 15 minutes from the Kosovo border - became the closest large city to Kukes. Indeed, Kukes officials explained that, historically, Kukes had been a part of the Prizren community, and people from Kukes continue to feel close ties. These ties were strengthened when, during the 1999 Kosovo war, Kukes became a center-point for refugees from Kosovo. Today, the most prominent landmark in the city is a monument to the Kosovo War. THE SOFTENING OF BORDERS -------------- ¶4. Kukes officials apologized profusely that the Mayor could not participate in Poloff's presentation and explained that he was currently in Pristina for meetings. When asked how often the Mayor goes to Kosovo on official business, they responded at least once a week. On the other hand, at best he makes his way to Tirana once a month. Officials explained that almost all goods in Kukes come from or through Prizren, which is the hub of all trade between Kukes and Kosovo. Meanwhile, few goods from Tirana could be seen in the local market. Indeed, most purchases in Kukes were made with euros rather than lek. ¶5. After the presentation, the Mayor's Chief of Cabinet invited Poloff and other Kukes officials to dinner. After a 15 minute drive down an unlit dirt path, Poloff asked where dinner would be. The response was Prizren, Kosovo. After a few wrong-turns in the dark, we arrived at the border post. The Chief of Cabinet rolled down his window to greet the official, whom he apparently knew well. After a quick chat, our cars were waved through without any presentation of documents. The same scene was repeated 100 meters away at the Kosovar checkpoint, where the official was also an acquaintance of the Chief of Cabinet. Poloff later asked how easy it was for average citizens of Kukes to cross the checkpoint. Kukes locals responded that no passport was necessary, just any form of ID. NOTE. This is probably not true for Albanians from outside the Kukes area. END NOTE. ¶6. Immediately upon crossing the border, the dirt road turned into a paved, lit highway. Our Kukes hosts expressed envy at the state of Kosovar infrastructure as well as the wider availability of goods. While some of the infrastructure was inherited from Tito's Yugoslavia, they explained, much was from international assistance after the war. Some of our hosts wondered in jest if Albania needed a war of its own to improve its infrastructure. ¶7. Our hosts seemed well known in the restaurant. They pointed out other Kukes citizens who had come to the restaurant to dine, including the Kukes Chief of Police. They explained that to eat out, residents of Kukes usually prefer to cross the border into Kosovo rather than dine in Kukes. All our hosts praised traditional Kosovar cuisine and professed its superiority to Albanian food. ¶8. After dinner, our party strolled around the streets of Prizren, where our Albanian hosts shared their memories from the Kosovo war, when some had actually been present in Prizren. One host claimed there were hundreds of Kukes "martyrs" in the Kosovo war (although he stated he himself was only a journalist covering the war at the time). ¶9. Throughout the night, conversation focused more on Kosovo than on Albania. Indeed, during the American Corner presentation, the youth participating always posed their questions in terms of Kosovo as well as Albania, many expressing worry about a possible change in policy toward Kosovo if Barack Obama is elected. While no one disputed Kukes' loyalty to Tirana and the central government, all left the impression that life in Kukes orbited more around Prizren and Kosovo. ¶10. COMMENT: What remains to be seen is what, if any, effect completion of the Durres-Kukes road will have on the Kukes region and its ties to Tirana. The current five-to-eight hour drive will be cut to 1.5 hours, with a multi-lane highway connecting Kosovo to the Albanian port of Durres. The GOA estimates that increased traffic along the new road will bring in over 120 million euros per year in transit fees and money spent on gas, food and lodging by trucks and tourists plying the new route. END COMMENT. WITHERS