Adem Demaci a Belgrado, e alla tv!!!

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi@mail.inet.it>]

Beh, se qualcuno me l'avesse detto poco tempo fa, non ci avrei creduto....

Gia' che avevo un po' battibeccato con qualcuno dicendo "questa gente ha
bisogno di parlarsi", stamattina sono molto, molto felice di girare questa
notizia. Per quelli che sanno chi e' Adem Demaci, l'idea che sia stato
invitato da un businessman serbo a Belgrado, e che la tv di stato lo abbia
mandato in onda con tutte le cose - durissime da accettare per il pubblico
serbo - che ha detto in pubblico... Accidenti, tanto di cappello a chi ha
organizzato questa cosa.

(* a scanso di equivoci, la cosa che mi rende felice non ha a che vedere
con l'indipendenza si o no per il Kosovo - quella e' una questione che
devono sbrogliarsi fra loro - ma sul fatto che finalmente se ne parli
faccia a faccia, in pubblico)

Rugova ha vinto le elezioni in Kosovo alla grande, Thaci e il potere
prepotente del KLA sono stati sconfitti, Kostunica ha rilasciato Flora
Brovina e si parla di amnestia per gli altri prigionieri politici kosovari
in Jugoslavia. Io sto col fiato sospeso e tengo le dita incrociate.

paola




http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20001101/t000104471.html

Wednesday, November 1, 2000

Serbia Has Lost Kosovo, Albanian Leader Tells Belgrade

By RICHARD BOUDREAUX, Times Staff Writer

     BELGRADE, Yugoslavia--The elder statesman of Kosovo's ndependence
movement ventured Tuesday to what was once the enemy capital and, in two
packed lecture halls and a television phone-in show, demanded that
Serbia drop its claim to his predominantly ethnic Albanian province.
     The whirlwind visit here by Adem Demaci would have been unthinkable
before the ouster of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic nearly four
weeks ago. Even 16 months after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
bombed Milosevic's troops out of Kosovo province, it seemed risky.
     But the Kosovo Liberation Army's former political spokesman
suffered nothing more than mildly hostile questioning as he opened the
first high-profile contact between Serbs and ethnic Albanians rom Kosovo
since the war--one that could lead to official talks on the province's
future.
     Kosovo is nominally a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant
republic, but has been under U.N. administration since the war. A slate
of ethnic Albanians led by Ibrahim Rugova, a moderate who favors
secession, won control of the majority of ocal governments Saturday in
Kosovo's first free elections.
     Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who replaced Milosevic last
month, refused to recognize the elections because Kosovo's dwindling
Serbian minority boycotted the vote. During a visit to Norway on
Tuesday, Kostunica said an independent Kosovo would be "very dangerous
for stability in the region."
     But Kostunica said he was "open to all sorts of contacts" with
Kosovo Albanians because "enemies need to talk" and understand each
other.
     It was with that aim that Demaci came to Belgrade, the Yugoslav and
Serbian capital, at the invitation of a Serbian businessman. Although he
holds no official position in Kosovo, Demaci speaks with the authority
of a man who served three prison terms totaling 29 years for espousing
independence.
     The slight, white-haired Albanian--who shed his combat fatigues for
a dark brown suit, white shirt and red tie--looked dapper as he bounced
from a university auditorium to a downtown media conference center to a
TV studio.
     Demaci delivered his version of the bloody independence
struggle--the first by a Kosovo Albanian allowed on television in
Serbia, where the media under Milosevic portrayed the KLA as a band of
terrorists.
     "Ours was an uprising of desperate people, who for 10 years were
trying to change things in a peaceful way," he said on BK Television, a
private network that reaches all of Serbia. Fighting broke out in 1998,
he said, after Serbian "crimes" against ethnic Albanians--who were
stripped of limited self-rule--became "unbearable."
     "Albanians had no other option" but to take up arms, he said in
answer to a viewer's question.
     The rebellion prompted Milosevic's forces to launch a murderous
campaign that expelled hundreds of thousands of Albanians from Kosovo.
Eleven weeks of NATO bombing last year allowed the Albanians to return
to the province under the protection of NATO-led troops.
     Although the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the
conflict promised only "substantial autonomy" for Kosovo after a period
of international supervision, Demaci insisted Tuesday that "Kosovo is
lost for Serbia."
     "In essence, Kosovo has seceded," he said on television, urging
Serbs to accept the will of the province's ethnic Albanian majority or
face the risk of new conflict. "We breathe freely."
     The hourlong program was extended by 17 minutes to handle calls
from viewers.
     At an earlier lecture, Demaci congratulated Serbia's democrats for
the peaceful uprising that forced Milosevic to recognize his defeat in
the Sept. 24 presidential election.
     But his voice rose to a shout as he added: "It's not enough to
remove one man. This man left behind a military-police complex and a
destructive nationalist mentality."
     Zlatomir Popovic, a Serbian journalist, challenged Demaci to ustify
how Albanians can "demand to take someone else's territory on the basis
of their ethnic majority."
     "You're still thinking Serbian," Demaci said in retort. After
taking Kosovo from the Albanians, he said, Serbs assumed "a right to
kill whomever [they] wanted to."
     "I don't condemn you. I just feel sorry for you," he said.
     Another Serbian journalist asked when she could feel safe walking
the streets of Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
     "When Belgrade acknowledges our freedom," Demaci replied.
     Radio Television Serbia, the state-run network, gave the lecture
prominent coverage on its evening newscast and included Demaci's call
for the immediate release of the estimated 800 Kosovo Albanians held in
Serbian jails.
     Bogoljub Karic, a media tycoon who owns BK Television and was close
to Milosevic, organized Demaci's one-day visit and sent a car to bring
him here from Pristina. Karic told reporters that Serbs should forget
about pressing their claim to Kosovo for "the next 50, 100 years" and
work with the Albanians to create security for the Serbian minority.
     "Nothing is lost," he said, citing the example of Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong was outside China for 99 years. Now it's Chinese again."

Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times