The Balkans area has skilled the best diploma of peace, freedom, and democracy over the previous 25 years however this progress might be undone if Russia succeeds in Ukraine, probably emboldening Serbian enlargement efforts, Kosovo’s prime minister stated Thursday.
Albin Kurti, who has served as Kosovo’s chief since 2021, stated it was essential for the West to face united in help of Ukraine because it defends itself in opposition to Russian aggression.
In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), Kurti argued {that a} stronger Russia would embolden Serbia – and that not solely Kosovo but additionally Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and “perhaps North Macedonia” can be endangered by what he described as Serbian expansionist ambitions.
The relationship between Kosovo and Serbia stays tense and the 13-year-long normalization talks facilitated by the European Union have did not make progress, particularly following a shootout in September final 12 months between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left 4 individuals lifeless.
NATO-led peacekeepers have additionally elevated their numbers alongside the Kosovo-Serbia border.
“These 25 years in this century, this has been a quarter of a century with the highest degree of peace, freedom and democracy in the Balkans,” Kurti stated.
He spoke at Kosovo’s diplomatic mission in Warsaw, the Polish capital. The mission was opened after Poland and Kosovo established consular relations in 2022.
Asked what it might imply for Kosovo and the Balkans extra broadly if Russia have been to prevail in Ukraine, Kurti, stated “with Serbia being a regional hegemon and Russian proxy, these 25 years of peace, freedom and democracy in the Balkans, unprecedented in our history, are at risk again.”
Serbian makes an attempt to keep up dominance as the previous Yugoslavia break up up within the Nineteen Nineties unleashed probably the most devastating wars in Europe since World War II – at the least till Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Kosovo was a Serbian province till NATO’s 78-day bombing marketing campaign in 1999 ended a struggle between Serbian authorities forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 lifeless, primarily ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out.
Serbia doesn’t acknowledge Kosovo’s independence, proclaimed in 2008. Thousands of worldwide peacekeepers are nonetheless in Kosovo to keep up peace with Serbia, which Kosovo seceded from in 2008.
“Despotic President Putin would be encouraged to proceed further with his destabilization attempts, even more so if he feels successful in Ukraine,” Kurti stated. “I really don’t want to believe that he can theoretically win. But him thinking that (he) can win is problematic enough.”
Kurti visited Poland because the central European nation prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union subsequent January. One of his targets is for Kosovo to hitch the EU, however 5 of the EU’s members nonetheless don’t even acknowledge Kosovo – Spain, Greece, the Greek Cyprus administration, Romania and Slovakia.
Kurti famous that Spain started earlier this 12 months to acknowledge Kosovo passports for these visiting.
“So there are these small steps,” he stated. “But you know, these small steps do not make one big necessary step, which is recognition.”
Kosovo, the place 90% of the 1.6 million inhabitants is Albanian, is holding parliamentary elections subsequent February, a vote that’s anticipated to be a check for Kurti, whose governing get together received in a landslide in 2021.
Source: www.dailysabah.com