Search results

Discusses ethnic conflict in Kosovo and the 1999 NATO military intervention; roles of Great Britain, Russia, and Germany, terrorism, and a "Greater Albania"; 5 articles.

Kosovo and Metohija, the heartland of medieval Serbia, of her culture politics and economy (1204-1455), experienced continuous waves of spiralling violence, forced migration and colonization under centuries-long Ottoman rule (1455-1912). A region which symbolizes the national and cultural identity of the Serbian nation as a whole now has an Albanian majority population, who consider it an ancient Albanian land, claiming continuity with ancient Illyrians. Kosovo was reincorporated into Serbia (1912) and Yugoslavia (1918) as a region lacking tradition of interethnic and interreligious tolerance and cooperation. The two rivalling Kosovo nations, Albanians and Serbs, remained distant, maintaining limited interethnic communication throughout the twentieth century. The mounting national and ideological conflicts, reinforced by the communist ideology made coexistence almost impossible, even after the 1999 NATO bombing campaign and establishment of KFOR-secured UN administration. Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008 is a dangerous attempt to establish a second Albanian state extended into the heartland of Serbia, a failed state cleansed of both Serbs and other major non-Albanian communities.

The culture and cultural heritage are an expression of a nation's identity, history, tradition and civilization, an indicator of its life in time and space. This paper focuses on the analysis of cultural and religious tourism in Kosovo and Metohija area. The primary data was collected through a survey method, in August 2018, by a sample group of 38 respondents who participated in an organized two-day trip. The goal of this paper is to present the current state of cultural heritage and the significance which religious and cultural tourism have for the development of the local community on Kosovo and Metohija. Results of the research indicate that cultural and religious tourism contributes to regional development, cultural values, but also that a large number of monasteries and churches located in this area represent true sanctity for our people. The purpose of this paper is to point out the importance of cultural and religious tourism on the development of local communities in Kosovo and Metohija, but also to point out the fact that sacral buildings in this area have great, sacred value for our people.The research was conducted through a multidimensional questionnaire. The obtained data were processed manually by the authors of this paper, since the research sample is restrictively small. The scientific research methods used in the paper are the methods of analysis and synthesis, the method of induction and deduction, as well as the method of descriptive analysis. On that occasion, we found that cultural and religious tourism is very developed in this area, despite the unrest that has marked the last decade. Also, it was determined that these forms of tourism are of great importance for the community in Kosovo and Metohija. Tourists view the sacral buildings in this area as great shrines to which they show great respect. The practical implications of this paper are reflected in the fact that the obtained results can be used in further research.

The author analyses the significance of the rich cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija as well as the consequences of its destruction and ruining. Along with this, she takes into consideration the international standards of protection of the cultural heritage in the world. Development of these standards is manifested in increasingly broad implementation of the existing and adoption of new international conventions whose goal is to protect as comprehensively as possible the cultural heritage of the mankind. The author gives a survey of the most important conventions adopted by the UNESCO and the Council of Europe, pointing to the significance of implementation of the Hague Convention and its 1999 Second Protocol introducing the international criminal responsibility for the persons who violate or order violations of the protected cultural property. The paper presents historical, esthetical archaeological, ethnological, scientific and some other values of the cultural heritage in Kosovo. By its characteristics, these values speak of the presence of various religions and civilisations here, while the value of the cultural property in Kosovo and Metohija is far from being merely local and regional. This fully applies to the significance of the cultural monuments of the Serbs. Since Kosovo is under a special international protectorate, UNMIK is also in charge of the preservation of the cultural heritage, what is in accordance with the Resolution 1244 of the Security Council. Also the Joint Document of UNMIK and FRY (November 2001), the chapter on protection of the cultural property confirms the willingness to implement the relevant provisions of the Hague Convention (1954) on protection of the monuments of culture and cultural property. Apart from this, the author points out that the Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo (May 2001) provides for the obligation of the Provisional Institutions of Kosovo to create conditions in order to enable the communities to preserve, protect and develop their identities also pointing to the their duty to work on promotion and preservation of the cultural heritage of all communities with no discrimination. However, in spite of the presence of the international forces in Kosovo and Metohija that should guarantee the implementation of the above mentioned documents and the international standards set by the UNESCO and the Council of Europe destruction of the Serb monuments of culture had not been prevented, and it was particularly prominent in the wave of violence in March 2004. In those events were also destroyed several dozens of Orthodox churches and monasteries, what was noted in the joint statement made by the Council of Europe and European Commission as well as in the report submitted by the UNESCO. The paper also analyses the international programmes of cultural heritage protection in Kosovo, pointing to the basic conclusions and proposals submitted by the missions of the UNESCO, Council of Europe and European Commission that visited Kosovo and Metohija several times. They point out that the violation of international standards in Kosovo is reflected in the deliberate destruction as well as the lack of any protection measures of the monuments from further ruining that results from not taking care of them. Destruction of the religious and cultural heritage is one of the ways for manifesting hostilities as well as the methods for "erasing" the evidence on the historical presence of the people in Kosovo. Apart from this, the author points out that the bad conditions of the cultural heritage in Kosovo also result from the involvement of the international organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, that in this field has often been partial and with no defined programmes and priorities. The author takes a critical consideration of the insufficient involvement of the Serbian authorities in this field, what is, among other things, reflected in the lack of elaborated programme of activities non-coordination and lack of continuity in their work. The author points to the impact of the violence committed in March 2004, as well as on the further work and composition of the international missions, this above referring to the common mission of the Council of Europe and European Commission. These events have in a brutal way drawn attention to the real picture of the bad conditions of the Serb cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, after which the restoration of the destroyed and protection of the remaining monuments of the Serb culture has gained a more important role in involvement of the international community in this field. This role implies above all, involvement of the representatives of the Serb community in the work of the organs and bodies established by the Council of Europe and European Commission with the aim of restoring the monuments of culture of religious character. The article also gives a survey of the measures that SM and Serbia, itself, have already taken or are going to take for the purpose of protecting cultural property in the Province. According to the author's conclusion, in order to apply comprehensive and efficient measures of restoration of the destroyed and damaged monuments of culture and protection of the remaining ones in Kosovo and Metohija it is necessary to, with no delay, ensure the co-ordination of activities of the international and domestic bodies and organisations in order to prevent the irretrievable loss of the rich cultural heritage.

The very first ideas about secession of Kosovo and Metohija of the Republic of Serbia and the use of violence in achieving them appeared immediately after the First Balkan War (1912). The key pillars of this, secessionist motivated violence in Kosovo during and after the wars of liberation of Serbia (1912 and 1918). And between the two world wars, were kachach, during and after World War II that were ballistic groups of Albanian extremists. Violence based on their tradition, with unforeseeable serious consequences for vital interests of the Republic of Serbia, escalated in the last decade of the twentieth century, violence Albanian extremist group called the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLÁ), supported by influential members of the international community. In many papers, the analysis of the specific objectives, the holders-active entities, resources, facilities attack - passive subjects and consequences, as constituent elements of that violence, confirmed his terrorist character of the KLÁ as a terrorist profile of its key holder. In this regard, the work is the result of research in which the author, as a consequence of the analysis of the constituent elements of Albanian terrorism in Kosovo and Metohija, the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, identified scientifically described and classified the effects, or levels of achievement of objectives internal and holders Foreign support­ers. In addition to the indisputable proven effects in achieving the goals of the operational and intermediate levels, the work is proven and partial achievement of strategic-political (ethno-separatistic) internal target holders of Albanian terrorism in Kosovo and Metohija, defined as secession-the secession of Kosovo and Metohija from the Republic of Serbia. The deployment of international military, security and civilian forces in Kosovo and Metohija, with the tempo­rary transfer of jurisdiction of state authorities of the FRY and Serbia to the security and the UN mission (KFOR and UNMIK) and the EU (EULEX), work has been identified as an indisputable effect of engag­ing in foreign entities the resolution on the Kosovo issue. In addition, work has confirmed the assumption according to which the set-up and to achieve this strategic objective external entities was primarily based on their 'hidden' geopolitical interests, and not to publicly proclaimed goals defined as stopping a 'humanitarian catastrophe' in Kosovo and Metohija.