From: malenovi@plains.NoDak.edu (Malenovic Nikola V.)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Interview ( VREME NDA 28 Aug 1992 )
Date: 28 Aug 92 20:44:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.19944
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network


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     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                     No. 47, August 17, 1992
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    Interview
    ---------

        Mr. Veton Suroi, President of the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo

                    HOPE FOR POLITICAL SOLUTION AVERTS WAR


    Veton  Suroi (30),  President of  the Parliamentary  Party of Kosovo, is
    well-known for  never having shown  any reluctance in  openly discussing
    the most  sensitive issues in  Kosovo with the  Serbian authorities. For
    VREME  Suroi   gives  his  views   on  the  Serbian-Albanian   conflict,
    possibilities for compromise, war and peace...

    VREME: Passions  have not abated  and Mr. Rugova  (the leader of  Kosovo
    Albanians) recently admitted that he  did not exclude the possibility of
    an insurrection of sorts, while Cosic announced, in a way, the spreading
    of bloodshed to Kosovo. How do you assess the current situation?

    SUROI:  The  war  option  was  never  excluded,  because,  obviously the
    military involvement in '81 and the overall repressive manner of dealing
    with the crisis, opened up the southern  front in Kosovo 11 years ago. I
    do think  that the possibility  for a political  option does exist,  and
    that  the  issue  can  be  resolved  in  a  non-violent way. Within this
    context, Kosovo and Serbia and their  future relations could serve as an
    example  for some  future Balkan  integration. This,  of course,  is the
    idealistic view.  Realism, and I do  not know to what  degree, points to
    the fact that both a military and a war option are possible. However, as
    time passes,  the war option is  becoming less realistic. As  far as the
    Albanian side  is concerned, so  long as there  is hope for  a political
    solution, there will  not be any serious shifts  towards the war option.
    It cannot  be disregarded, however,  that political options,  especially
    enforced ones, could provoke the Albanians to unwished-for actions.

    VREME:  What about  the objections  that no  one will  bring freedom  to
    Albanians on a silver platter?

    SUROI:  That is  true. On  the  other  hand, the  main issue,  I repeat,
    pertaining to  the non-violent resolving  of the crisis,  is how and  in
    what way is  Serbia entering negotiations with Kosovo.  I am pessimistic
    as regards developments in Serbia, because I think that a denazification
    of Serbia will take a  long time, because national-socialism has existed
    in Serbia for  a long time. The butchers in  Bosnia and Croatia have not
    dropped out of the sky; they are a part of the Serbian social milieu and
    Serbian  politics in  general. However,  the alternative  -- to say that
    one's  freedom cannot  be handed  over on  a silver  platter --  must be
    rationally analysed,  as this is too  easy to say. We  are not, in fact,
    waiting  for freedom  on a  silver platter.  Non-violent resistance  has
    shown a preparedness to bear sacrifices  and the citizens of Kosovo as a
    whole  have,   in  their  majority,  suffered   sacrifices,  or  rather,
    self-sacrifices. Every single one of us has made some kind of sacrifice.

    VREME: At a  time when Serbian Prime Minister  Radoman Bozovic is saying
    that the main  goal of Serbian politics is to  make Kosovo more Serbian,
    and  when, on  the other  hand, Albanians  are aspiring  more than  ever
    before  towards total  independence, how  will it  be possible  to bring
    these two extremes to terms? How can a solution be found?

    SUROI: What Bozovic is saying  is not sufficiently intelligent, and this
    is not characteristic only of him when it comes to Kosovo. As far as our
    aspirations for  independence are concerned, they  are natural, not only
    for historical  reasons and psychological  factors, but bearing  in mind
    the basic structure of defense of human rights, which must be built into
    Kosovo's constitutional and legal system. The only way to realize a true
    market  economy  and  to  satisfy  Kosovo's  cultural  needs, is to have
    settled accounts. And accounts are always  settled when each has his own
    budget.  This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  Kosovo will exhaust its
    independence  in  an  autocracy.  I  believe  that  Kosovo  can have its
    independence for just one logical  second to be followed by integration.
    But, it would have to be  based on new foundations, on settled accounts,
    and a completely formulated constitutional, legal and economic system. I
    am  convinced that  the solution  can be  found in  a peaceful  way. The
    question is with what degree of probability. As far as Serbian political
    forces are concerned, I have nothing to say about them. Political forces
    which  tolerate butchering,  ethnic cleansing,  and the  horrors of war,
    belong  to a  society which  can no  longer exist  as such. Germany went
    through that. A collective feeling  of responsibility for Nazism has led
    to an entirely different situation in  Germany today. We can expect such
    a change  in Serbia  in a  few years'  time. But,  before this  happens,
    Serbia must have its Nuremberg Trials and go through denazification.

    VREME:  Serbia has  options to   divide Kosovo,  create the  Republic of
    Kosovo  and Metohija,  and is  also offering  the possibility  of Kosovo
    Republic, but solely as part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

    SUROI: The  division of Kosovo  is out  of  the question. That  is a war
    option promoted by Dobrica Cosic and  involves a mass re-location of the
    population. These ideas are being carried  out in Bosnia and Croatia and
    we can see  what it is like. As  far as other options are  concerned, we
    must start  from the simplest  pre-requisite: only sovereign  Kosovo can
    decide on the matter.

    VREME:  Current developments  have  led  to growing  apprehensions among
    local Serbs and Montenegrins. The recent removal of sacral relics to the
    territory  of so-called  Serbia proper,  has been  interpreted as a sign
    that these spaces could be engulfed by war.

    SUROI: In that particular case, the Orthodox Church said its say. What I
    find interesting is this atmosphere of  fear, that this is the beginning
    of the  end for Serbs.  This points  to  that, as yet,  unspoken part of
    Serbian collective thinking, namely, that  Kosovo is lost to Serbia. The
    problem  with this  mental structure  is that  it cannot understand that
    Kosovo  is  not  lost  to  the  Serbs  and  Serbian  culture,  because a
    democratic Kosovo can survive only as a multi-cultural society, and I am
    urging  for dialogue  in the  quest for  a solution  which will  protect
    Serbian culture  and help it develop.  The Albanians must also  learn to
    accept  the  reality  that  Kosovo  is  a  part  of Serbian history, its
    cultural  heritage  and  space.  These  strong  emotional  links must be
    understood,  respected  and  resolved  through  constitutional and legal
    documents.
                                                               Violeta Orosi
                                                           Seljadin Dzezairi


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     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                     No. 47, August 17, 1992
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