Kosovo

Kosovo (Albanian: Kosovë / Kosova, Serbian: Косово) is a province of Serbia. It is the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute between Serbia and the province's majority ethnic Albanian population. It lies within Serbia's traditional borders inside the Serbian-Montenegrin federation, but since the Kosovo War it has been administered by the United Nations under the auspices of UNMIK. The province's final status has yet to be determined; talks on this issue are scheduled for later in 2006.

Geography


With an area of 10,887 km² (4,203 mi²) and a population of over two million on the eve of the 1999 crisis, Kosovo borders Montenegro to the northwest, with the districts of Raška, Toplica, Jablanica and Pčinja in Central Serbia to the North and East; Macedonia to the south, and Albania to the southwest. The largest cities are Prishtina/Priština the capital, with estimated 500,000 inhabitants, and Prizren in the southwest with 120,000: five other towns have populations in excess of 50,000.

History
In relative terms, the Slavs, notably the Serbs were latecomers to the region. They came to the territories of roughly modern-day Kosovo in the 6th and 7th centuries.

While Metohija became an integral part of the Principality, later Grand Principality of Rascia, Kosovo was ruled by the Bulgarians since the 850s up to 1014.

In 1166 - 1168, a Serbian nobleman from Zeta, Stephen Nemanja asserted to the Grand Princely throne and conquered most of Kosovo in an uprising against the Byzantines. Nemanja was eventually defeated and had to return some of his conquests, and vouched to the Byzantine Emperor that he will not raise hand against him. In 1183, Nemanja embarked on a new offensive with the Hungarians after the Byzantine Emperor's death. Nemanja's son, Stephen II the First-crowned of Nemanja recorded Nemanja's conquests, as Nemanja restored the Kosovar lands from the Greeks, the border of the Serbian realm reaching the river of Lab. King of Serbs Stephen II finished the inclusion of the Kosovan territories in 1208, by which he had conquered Prizren and Lipljan; and moved the border of his realm to the Šar mountain.

After the Empire of Tsar Stefan Dušan prior to his death fell into disarray in the 14th century, feudal anarchy cought up with the country, with Kosovo becoming a part of Prince Lazar of Moravian Serbia's domain. The Ottomans invaded the realm and met the Serbian Army on 28 June 1389, near Kosovo Polje. The famous epic Battle of Kosovo followed, in which Prince Lazar himself lost his life. Through the cunningness of Serbian national hero Miloš Obilić, the Sultan was murdered and the new Sultan had, despite winning the battle, to retreat to consolidate his power. The local House of Branković came to prominence as the local lords of Kosovo, under Vuk Branković. With the temporary fall of the Serbian Despotate in 1439. Another great battle occurred between the Hungarian troops supported by Skanderbeg, and Ottoman troops supported by the Brankovićs in 1448. Hungarian King John Hunyadi lost the battle after a 2-day fight, but essentially stopped the Ottoman advance northwards. Kosovo then became vassalaged to the Ottoman Empire, until its direct incorporation after the final fall of Serbia in 1459.

The Ottomans brought Islamisation with them, particularly in towns, and later also created the Viyalet of Kosovo as one of the Ottoman territorial entities. This brought a great shift, as the Serbian Orthodox Christian population began to lose its majority. The 17th century saw numerous demographic changes in Metohija, as a new wave of Albanian populations started to migrate to the region from northern Albania. Kosovo was taken by the Austrian forces during the Great War of 1683 - 1699. In 1690, the Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III led 30,000 souls from Kosovo to evade Ottoman wrath, since Kosovo was just retaken by the Ottomans. Other Serbian migrations from Kosovo continued across the 18th century.

With the rise of Albanian nationalism, the League of Prizren was formed in 1878 in Prizren. In 1910, an Albanian uprising spread from Prishtina and lasted until the Ottoman Sultan's visit of Kosovo in June 1911.

After the 1912 and 1913 Balkan Wars, Kosovo became an integral part of the Kingdom of Serbia, while Metohija became a part of the Kingdom of Montenegro. The Albanian population was negotiated to be evacuated from Kosovo to Turkey, but this was not conducted.

After the 1918-1929 period of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the 1929-1941 Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis forces. The greatest part became a part of Italian-controlled Fascist Albania, and smaller bits by the Nazi-Fascist Tsardom of Bulgaria and Nazi German-occupied Kingdom of Serbia. Occasions of genocide and killings occured as 100,000 Kosovan Serbs were executed in Albanian extermination camps like that of the Vulnetari militia, and at least that much more were exiled.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kosovo would pass through a period of heavy ethnic tendencies, growing nationalism and separatist movements that would eventually break out into open conflicts known as the 1999 Kosovar War, which saw thousands of Kosovar Albanians killed and over one million expelled from their homes, 800,000 of them beyond Kosovo's borders.

See also first and second Battle of Kosovo, 1389 and 1448

Disputes over language, culture and citizenship
The province is most widely known as 'Kosovo' and this has become the standard in international and United Nations usage. In Albanian this name becomes 'Kosova', which is more often found within Kosovo and in official use by the Provisional Institutions, though both Albanian and Serbian are official languages. Wherever political and cultural sensitivity are particularly important, the international community will use 'Kosovo/Kosova' to describe the province and adopt a similar standard for many place names. Whilst the formal title 'Republic of Kosova' has fallen out of use with the integration of Kosovo Albanian politics into the UNMIK system, the formal Serbian title 'Kosovo i Metohija' remains in colloquial and official use in parts of Kosovo and in Serbia proper, where parallel institutions for Kosovo remain until final status is resolved.

The question of what to call the inhabitants of Kosovo collectively has also aroused debate. The two words accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary are "Kosovar" (borrowed from Albanian), the most widely used variant in English, by a long way, and "Kosovan" (using the English rules for demonyms) much less used. As Kosovo has no formal statehood, current international usage is to refer to Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians. Most of the Albanian-descended community in Kosovo would prefer the use of Kosovar or Kosovan because of the attendant political overtones, whilst the Serb minority continue to think of themselves as Serb or Serbian (from Kosovo).

As for language and citizenship, so for cultural and political symbols. The province has never had an official flag of its own. The Albanian flag is used unofficially by the Kosovo Albanian-dominated administration and the vast majority of Kosovo Albanians; although recently the presidential flag of the presidency is being used as an unofficial flag of Kosovo, as could be seen during Ibrahim Rugova's funeral.

The Serb-inhabited area of north Kosovo uses only the flag of Serbia, which is formally the flag of the whole of Serbia including Kosovo, although this usage is rejected by virtually all Kosovo Albanians.

Politics and international status
Kosovo's international status is anomalous in that although it is a Serbian province within the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, administration is presently conducted by the United Nations with little or no involvement on the part of the Serbia government (under Security Council resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999; see Security Council Resolutions 1999). The government of the province is the responsibility of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Under the terms of the Kumanovo agreement and subsequent UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which ended the Kosovo War, security is provided by the Kosovo Force (KFOR), which is led by NATO and is answerable to UNMIK.

UNMIK has so far established a provisional assembly, provisional government and the office of provisional president, which are legislative and executive bodies under UNMIK's control. Control of security, justice and external affairs are still under full UNMIK control. Elections for the Assembly of Kosovo were held in November 2001 and again in 2004. Ibrahim Rugova was elected as president in March 2002. The seat of the assembly, government and president is in Prishtina/Pristina. So far, the parliament has enacted and UNMIK approved a constitutional framework, customs code, and two criminal codes.

The Constitutional Framework enacted by the Kosovo assembly (with UN Security Council approval) has adopted a policy of affirmative action in the assembly to ensure that the province's minorities are properly represented. Out of 120 seats, 10 are reserved for Serbs and another 10 for non-Albanian minorities, while the remaining 100 seats are elected through direct voting. UNIK does not take account, though, of Serbs and other non-Albanians who have left Kosovo as a result of interethnic tension, many of whom are unable to reclaim lost property or safely to attend elections. The process of 'returns' of these displaced persons has yet to begin in earnest, as a result of insufficient funding and a perceived inability of the UN to control violence against minority groups, as well as a concern on the part of Kosovo Albanians that an increased proportion of Serbs will undermine the chances for an independent Kosovo.

Kosovo is still recognised internationally as a part of Serbia. Its final status has not yet been resolved, though talks on the subject are planned for 2006, and considerable difficulties lie ahead in reconciling the irreconcilable Kosovo Albanian, Kosovo Serb and Belgrade positions. The Kosovo Albanians reject Serbian sovereignty and demand secession from the country. On the other side, Serbia is opposed to yielding any of its territory and domestic opinion, supported by the existence of a centuries old written, material and architectural history, continues to see the province as the heartland of Serbian culture.

The international community is reluctant to see Kosovo become independent, as its independence without Belgrade's consent would violate international law (the principles of territorial integrity and noninterference in internal affairs). It could also potentially provide a precedent for the parallel Serb demands of secession for the Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina, re-igniting tension in that country. The NATO countries insisted on the republican borders as the only acceptable solution during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s, but this does not rule out that they might revisit this in the case of Kosovo vis-à-vis Serbia and Montenegro. Questions have also been raised about whether an independent Kosovo would be politically or economically viable, given its small size, the state of its economy and fears that criminal and smuggling networks have strong positions there.

UNMIK is issuing travel documents which serve instead of passports in countries which recognise them, and issues identity cards and car plates, which again are valid only in certain countries. UNMIK has created a police force (the Kosovo Police Service) with employees from all ethnic communities (Albanian, Serbian, Roma, Bosniac, etc) and manages the province's railways and airline (Kosova Airlines). The airspace of the province is controlled by KFOR.

On January 21, 2006, the President of Kosovo, Dr.Ibrahim Rugova, died aged 61. On February 10, 2006, Fatmir Sejdiu was elected to be the second President by a 80-12 vote in parliament.

Economy
UNMIK declared the euro to be official currency of the province in 2001 in the course of implementing a currency reform. This was undertaken to replace the previous widespread use of the Deutschmark, which had become de facto currency even before the 1999 war. However, the Serbian dinar remains an official currency, though used principally in the Kosovo Serb enclaves; it is only used sporadically outside of them. Most trade is conducted using the euro, Kosovo's administration uses euro exclusively, and all commercial banks use the euro as the primary currency. Of other international currencies, the United States dollar and Swiss franc are the most widespread.

Demographics
Ethnic Albanians now comprise almost 90% of the population of the province. In the aftermath of the conflict several hundred thousand non-Albanians, particularly Serbs, Janjevs, and Roma, either followed Serb soldiers as they withdrew, were forcibly expelled by the Albanian majority or fled the province to escape continued ethnic violence or to escape the future rule of Kosovo by non-Serbians. The non-Albanian population of Kosovo has continued to fall since the arrival of NATO and the UN as a result of violence, perceived intimidation, and economic hardship. Many still live in communal camps in Serbia proper, cared for by international relief agencies and the Serbian governement. However, there have been many attempts by Kosovo's government to resettle Non-Albanians in the region which have largely been successful, including the resettlement of well over one thousand Serbians and Roma from 2004 - 2005.

According to the 2000 Living Standard Measurement Survey of the Statistical Office of Kosovo, Kosovo's total population is estimated between 1,8 and 2,0 million in the following ethnic proportions: However, the figures are highly disputable and may presently include an Albanian majority well into the 90s in percentile.
 * 88% Albanians (between 1,584,000 and 1,733,600)
 * 7% Serbs (between 126,000 and 140,000)
 * 3% Muslims and Bosniaks (54 to 60 thousand)
 * 2% Roma (36 to 40 thousand) Roma in Mitrovica Camps
 * 1% Turks (18 to 20 thousand)

Presidents

 * Ibrahim Rugova, 1992-2006 (deceased)
 * Fatmir Sejdiu, 2006-present

Prime Ministers

 * Bajram Rexhepi, 2002-2004
 * Ramush Haradinaj, 2004-2005
 * Bajram Kosumi, 2005-present

Pro-Albanian

 * Balkan Update- A blog with news, analysis and the lates updates from Balkans
 * Economic Initiative for Kosovo - "...latest news, analysis and publications from the Kosovar economy"
 * RTK - Kosova's public television (news in Albanian, Serbian, Turkish and Roma)
 * Albanian.com - general information
 * Kosova e lirë (Free Kosova) -- Material about Kosovars and Albanians in Albanian language.
 * General information from Beqiraj.com (in German)
 * General information from Beqiraj.com (in Albanian)
 * Why Independence for Kosovo? A summary of the case for an independent Kosova by two Prishtina intellectuals

Pro-Serb

 * Hugo Roth, Kosovo Origins: a historian's comprehensive overview
 * Kosovo.com Serbian Orthodox Church's official website on Kosovo


 * Account of destroyed Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo and Metohija
 * Kosovo Newsgroup archive
 * Coordination Center of SCG and the Republic of Serbia for Kosovo
 * Serbian Government Kosovo-Metohija site
 * Eastern Orthodox Resource Centre
 * Al Qaeda involvement in Kosovo

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