President of Kosovo: Ideas of moving borders would only lead to bloodshed

President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu. Photo: Eero Vabamägi

West Balkan countries are not expecting a lower bar for EU accession, while Brussels should see expansion in the region as a geopolitical priority that would contribute to stability, peace and development for the entire continent, President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu says in an interview to Postimees.

There has been a lot of talk about Kosovo’s EU aspirations during your Estonia visit, however, relations with Serbia need to be normalized first. How hopeful are you in terms of corresponding progress being made in the near future?

As reported by the EU, Kosovan and Serbian leaders will meet on June 15, and as far as we are concerned, it will be a new chapter in the dialogue.

The process so far has deviated from its initial goal of solving the problem between the two countries in a way that would benefit the citizens of both. Unfortunately, the process revolved around politicians for too long, instead of the people they were representing.

Therefore, it is extremely important to return to dialogue. And Kosovo – and I would emphasize this – is never the side standing in the way of dialogue.

When we return [to talks], we must make sure certain principles are observed. An unprincipled process is doomed to fail.

Firstly, we must make sure that everyone understands that the dialogue will not be over the status of Kosovo. Those negotiations were concluded based on Ahtisaari’s proposal (the plan for resolving the status of Kosovo proposed by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as the UN special representative – ed.). Kosovo declared its independence based on that plan in 2008, which was found to be in accordance with international law by the International Court of Justice in 2010.

Secondly, we must once again emphasize that Kosovo will never agree to hold talks over its borders as such a venture would only lead us back to 19th century ideas that have nothing to do with European values. It would endanger the entire region and beyond as opening that particular Pandora’s box would not be contained to Kosovo.

Thirdly, we must make sure lessons have been learned from past mistakes. Serbia has not executed more than two-thirds of agreements they have signed in Brussels. Therefore, the EU must be more vocal on the Serbian heading for them to honor agreements in addition to signing them.

Learning from past mistakes, we also need to learn to avoid unsuccessful models from the past, for example, those used in Bosnia and Herzegovina that remains destabilized by Serbia through the Republika Srpska. We must avoid models used to create autonomous regions that work to separate, segregate and keep people apart instead of bringing them together.

And that is not a principle Kosovo was built on. Kosovo was built on the principle of multinationalism where the rights of people from every nationality are guaranteed and protected no matter which city they inhabit as prescribed by our Constitution that comprises the rights of minorities and communities like no other constitution in Europe.

Keeping in mind these three main principles and being able to learn from past mistakes, I believe we can draw the conclusion that the process must be that of mutual recognition as suggested by U.S. President Joe Biden more than once. And Serbia must recognize Kosovo in its current borders.

The benefit would see both countries move toward the EU, toward integration that would bring greater peace and stability to the whole region.

You said that redrawing borders would benefit no one, while a sensational discussion document making extensive proposals to that effect, including unifying Kosovo and Albania, was recently circulated in the corridors of Brussels. What kind of reaction did the document merit in Kosovo?

It did not merit too many reactions as we are quite certain these ideas will prove unsuccessful. Kosovo has new leaders who are very clearly against such ideas. The Kosovan parliament is against it, the president and government are against it, but most importantly, the people of Kosovo are against ideas that aim to redraw borders.

We do not need a discussion document to tell us what to do and what our positions should be. On the contrary, the fact that they are not disclosing their names and hiding behind a discussion document shows that even its authors know just how dangerous the idea is. Were the idea any good, they would have come forward and been able to defend it publicly.

However, the idea is undefendable. Everyone who knows the history of the West Balkans and former Yugoslavia also know that it is an unrealizable idea that would only result in bloodshed. That is why it is not even an issue. And not just for Kosovo. I recently met with the heads of most West Balkan countries – not all of them for obvious reasons – and they all reject the idea of redrawing borders.

The only path left to achieve sustainable and long-term peace in the West Balkans is for Serbia to recognize Kosovo. Once that happens, the entire region will quickly plot a European course – based on reforms, of course – that will bring greater prosperity for all our citizens.

You have talked about a plan to sue Serbia over the genocide of the 1998-1999 war. How serious is the intention and how to make headway at talks with Serbia in that case?

I would stress that these two matters should not be confused. The plan to sue Serbia over the genocide has existed for some time, while no concrete steps have been taken. We remain very dedicated to planning it in the best possible way, working with local and international experts, as everyone who experienced and saw what Serbia did knows that their aim was to terminate [Albanians in Kosovo].

Therefore, it has nothing to do with our dialogue with Serbia. It is simply our moral and human obligation to demand justice for the victims of [Slobodan] Milosevic’s regime.

More children per capita were killed in Kosovo than any other former Yugoslavian country. Over 90 percent of victims were civilians killed in their own homes. They were not random victims. This was a premeditated, systematic massacre of civilians all over Kosovo that mostly targeted children, women and the elderly.

To this day, one key issue in our dialogue with Serbia that we ask at every meeting is where are our lost people? Nearly 2,000 families in Kosovo still do not know what happened to their loved ones. It is a deep wound that can only be healed by Serbia opening its archives to us and telling us where these people are – all of them civilians.

That would be a major step forward in the dialogue as it would lend credibility to the process and show the people that they can benefit from all of these discussions that require so much energy on the part of the Kosovan government.