The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia gives cultural and territorial autonomy to Vojvodina, Kosovo and Metohija, but without the attributes of statehood (articles 108－112). They are authorized to deal with the questions of economic development, finance, culture, education, information, use of languages, medical care, welfare, etc. The Statute is the supreme legal act of an autonomous province, and its organs are the Assembly, the Executive Council (government) and the administrative bodies. The members of the national minorities, according to the Copenhagen document of the OSCE, have the obligation of loyalty towards the state whose citizens they are.
The pre-requisite for the unification of all Albanians is an ethnically clean territory. The systematic persecutions of the Serbian and Montenegrin population, and the policy of high birth rate substantially changed the ethnic and demographic picture in this area.
The demographic picture of Kosovo has changed several times during this century. The forced exodus of the Serbian and Montenegrin population was especially important by the beginning of the Second World War.
Simultaneously with the eviction of the Serbian and Montenegrin population, Albanians from Albania and Turkey were settled in the region. During the Second World War alone some 100.000 Serbs were deported. After the war, the communist authorities of that time prohibited the return of the deported Serbs, and in the period 1968-1988 additional 220.000 Serbs and Montenegrins were forcibly deported, and over 700 villages became ethnically clean. In that way, over 400.000 Serbs and Montenegrins left Kosovo and Metohija during 40 years.
In spite of the demographic explosion in Kosovo, the Albanian population is not as overwhelming as the Albanian separatist leaders claim.
The Albanian national minority refused to take part in the census in order to be able to speak about the figure of 1.700.000 Albanians in Kosovo ― a figure they found by using the extrapolated birth rate. However, a birth rate which was once established can not be exploited forever for it decreases necessarily at the civilizational, cultural and material level achieved by the Albanians in the FR of Yugoslavia. One must also take into account the fact that many young Albanians left Kosovo, looking for better material conditions; the number of false asylum seekers in western countries increased very much since 1990 ― there are 140.000 asylum seekers in Germany alone.
According to the data given by the Albanian side, the number of people present in Kosovo and the number of those who migrated are almost identical. It was noticed that in these data one and the same person is shown as a resident in Kosovo, a refugee in Turkey, an asylum seeker in Germany and a resident of Albania or Macedonia.
Facts show that there are 900000 Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija
The main characteristics in Kosovo and Metohija are the absence of dialogue and a deep division between the ethnic groups. In spite of the fact that the Albanians achieved an enviable standard of living and a demographic explosion (the highest birth rate in Europe) in the FR of Yugoslavia, the Albanian separatists do not want the normalization of the life in Kosovo and reject every kind of dialogue which could contribute substantially to the normalization of the situation and to the lessening of the tensions.
The high degree of autonomy and of national rights did not satisfy the Albanian nationalists. They organized a separatists’ rebellion in 1981, with "Kosovo Republic" as their main slogan (separatist’s demonstrations have been repeated a number of times until 1989). The slogan "Kosovo Republic" represents the main strategy of the Albanian separatism ― the transformation of the Autonomous Province of Kosmet into a Republic which would have the right of secession. The Albanian separatist leaders in Kosmet never mention the question of the rights of national minorities, let alone the question of human rights and liberties. They request openly and unequivocally an independent state.
The Albanian separatist leaders organized elections in 1991, and established institutions of the "parallel authorities" which represent a "state alternative" of the FRY.
The selective non-recognition of the state in which they live and work is reflected in the:
― refusal to serve in the army
― non-participation in the elections ― had they participated in the elections, the Albanians would have, bearing in mind the population, more than 30 out of 250 deputies in the Republican Parliament, around 12 out of 178 deputies in the Federal Parliament, and some 80% of the deputies in the Parliament of the Province.. It is quite obvious that the members of the Albanian national minority would have practically the entire power in the Province.
― non-payment of all state taxes and duties. At the same time, they regularly pay to the "Parallel authorities" 3% of their income (very often that is a pure and simple blackmail of their compatriots).
― the establishment of "parallel schools", exclusively for the members of the Albanian national minority. The teaching is performed according to nationalist and separatist programmes, in non-adequate premises. The level of the knowledge acquired is best shown by the fact that their diplomas are not recognized anywhere in the world. Generations of the Albanian youth are handicapped educationally at the very start, and the "parallel schools" resulted in the final ethnic division among the young, in the closing of the young members of the Albanian national minority in the dogmas of extreme nationalism and separatism and the creation of the consciousness that common life with Serbs is impossible. The demonstrations and requests to return to the school buildings have as objective only the seizure of the buildings, and not the acceptation of the valid curriculum ― as a matter of fact, they want to continue the "parallel schools" in the school buildings.The boycott of the educational system of the Republic of Serbia, which guarantees and assures conditions for teaching in Albanian prevents the application of the Declaration on the Rights of National, Ethnic, Religious and Language minorities, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1992. The manipulation of the young for the achievement of separatist objectives violates the UN Declaration on the Rights of Children and the International Convention on the Rights of Children.
Such a behaviour represents a violation of the provision 37 of the Final Document of the 2nd Meeting of the Conference on Human Dimension of the OSCE (Copenhagen, 1990), and of the Para.9 of the Preamble, of the articles 20 and 21 of the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe on the Protection of National Minorities. These provisions do not allow to the minorities any activities which would be contrary to the principles of the UN Charter, of the OSCE, and especially to the principle of respect of the territorial integrity, of the Constitution and the laws of the countries in which the minorities live.
At the same time, the Albanian minority uses all the benefits given by the state and the system they do not recognize, but which are suitable for them:
― health insurance
― employments in public and private sectors
― all rights in the field of information
― passports
― vaccination of the population, etc.
the Albanian national minority has the Albanian Drama, a Section of the Academy of Science, an Authors’Association, a Musicians’Association and over 100 cultural and artistic associations. These institutions are financed by the Republic of Serbia.
Information in Albanian There are about 50 daily and weekly newspapers and magazines published in Albanian ? news, cultural, entertainment, for youth or children. The owners of these papers are private persons or shareholder associations. The media are completely closed for the attitudes and opinions expressed by the Serbian side, while the attitudes and opinions of the international community are placed in forms which suit the interests of the Albanian secessionists.
Some of these papers are printed in Albania. There is a regular programme in Albanian on the State RTV, and the programmes in Albanian are also broadcast by two private radio stations.
The Albanian terrorism in the region of Kosovo and Metohija, directed to the persecution and exile of Serbioan population lasted for centuries, but it was most prominent in the 19th century, when the number of Serbs was dramatically diminished by physical liquidations, by the usurpation of property and by other pressures, that resulted in forced exile.
The process of emigration continued with the same intensity in the 20th century. Between the two World Wars, the Kosovo Committee (established in 1918) was very active. Its activities were quite clear - terrorism, with the objective of "liberation of Kosovo and of other Albanian regions". During the Second World War, there were many terrorist organizations which cooperated with Italy and Germany (SS divisions Skenderbeg, Balli Kombetar, Albanian Fascist Party, etc.). The exodus of the Serbs and Montenegrins and the massive settlement of Albanians from Albania continued.
After the end of the Second World War, in the period 1941-1951, the terrorist organization of Shaban Paluzha was active in Kosovo and Metohija. In the following years, several terrorist organizations were established in Kosovo and Metohija, with the support of the Albanian migrants in Western Europe, and of Albania (The Front of National Liberation, Kosovo Movement, etc.).
Since 1990, when the Albanian separatist leaders proclaimed the Kosovo Republic in Kosovo and Metohija, the terrorist organization called the Kosovo Liberation Army was active. Its activities were not directed exclusively against the Serbian people and the authorities, but also against the Albanians who accept the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as their country. The Islamic factor was strengthened since 1991, and it represents an important segment of the separatist and terrorist movement in this region.
ATTACKS ON POLICE AND STATE BUILDINGS OF THE MI, THE ARMY AND THE COURTS
From 1991, until March, 1998, there were 110 terrorists acts committed against the police and the buildings of the police. In those attacks, 18 police were killed and 54 were injured.
ATTACKS ON CITIZENS
There were 68 attacks on civilian population in the period 1991 － March 4, 1998, and 33 persons were killed.
During the period January － March 4, 1998, the number of terrorist attacks on citizens dramatically increased. There were 46 attacks, with 8 citizens killed and 6 injured.
ATTACKS ON THE MEMBERS OF THE ALBANIAN NATIONAL MINORITY
In the period 1991 － March 4, 1998, there were 45 terrorist attacks on the members of Albanian national minority, with 21 killed.
THE NUMBER OF TERRORISTS KILLED IN ATTACKS
75 Terrorists were killed in the period 1991－1998.
The contribution of the Albanian separatists to the world market of narcotics is by no means negligible. Taking advantage of their geographical position between the manufacturers in the Near and Middle East, and the consumers in Europe and America, they almost completely overtook the supply of that market.
An important source of finance of the "parallel state" is the smuggling of arms.
The major reasons for expelling the false asylum seekers from the countries of Western Europe is their involvement in crime - forged passports, theft, murders...
The separatist leadership of the Albanian national minority, as established by their policy and practice since 1990 when "Kosovo Republic" was proclaimed, are substantially endangered by those who do not let them be equal citizens, not by the state. Albanian leaders have placed the citizens of their nationality in a political ghetto, depriving them of all rights which belong to them according to the Constitution and the Laws. The census was boycotted, in order not to establish the exact number for the Albanian national minority in Kosovo and Metohija, the elections were boycotted, jobs in factories, mines, schools, hospitals, were abandoned under the pressure of the nationalists. The abandonment of the state schools was justified by the idea that schools on whose certificates there is a title "Republika Srbija" were not acceptable. Parallel schools were established, the medical personnel of Albanian nationality was withdrawn into illegal and inadequate medical services, the use of services of state hospitals, which are free of charge and at a high professional level was prohibited. At the same time, the state regularly published textbooks in Albanian, provided medical protection, information in Albanian, issued passports, etc.
The Government of the FR of Yugoslavia submitted, in the framework of the Geneva Conference on Yugoslavia, a proposal for the overcoming of the problem of education in Kosovo and Metohija.The separatist leadership in Kosovo and Metohija rejected that proposal and prevented the resolution of the problem.
In a number of informal contacts the Albanian side did not show the wish for the normalization of the situation in Kosovo. A concrete agreement on the normalization of the schooling system was signed by President Slobodan Milosevic and Rugova in September 1996. During the following months a meetings of the representatives of both sides was held with the intention to apply the agreement which had been achieved. The representatives of the Albanian minority demanded additional political concessions which were not mentioned in the political agreement. They demanded diplomas with the seal "Kosovo Republic", etc. Moreover, the demands concerned the taking of the university and college buildings in which the teaching would be performed outside the Yugoslav curricula, according to the curriculum of another state. Over 90% of the teaching in primary and secondary schools is in Albanian.
The Government of the Republic of Serbia invited, on March 11, 1998, the responsible representatives of the Albanian national minority to an open dialogue, for the solution of all concrete questions. The Government of the Republic of Serbia emphasized the fact that the dialogue is the only way to improve the political processes in order to solve the key problems of the citizens in this Province. All questions of Kosovo and Metohija should be solved in the framework of Serbia, by political means and according to international standards about the protection of the rights of national minorities, it was said in the communique from the meeting of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
The Federal Government gave on March 12, 1998 its support to the invitation to open dialogue in order to find solutions for all concrete questions in Kosovo and Metohija.