TIRANA, Aug. 27 – Albanian best-known novelist, Ismail Kadare, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe that the partitioning of Kosova would spark endless conflict in the Balkans.
Kadare said it is unclear what will result from the extended 120 days of talks on Kosova’s status.
“It is an extraordinary, deeply important and indisputable issue. ŠSuch an essence should be never forgotten,” he said. “A whole population is asking for the oldest thing of humanity, that is its basis which is his freedom.”
Kadare said he was surprised by the confusion about Kosova by the media, politicians, government and many others for “something that should have been no dilemma.”
Kadare noted that Europe had the courage to bomb a sovereign country, the former Serbia, Yugoslavia, he said, and it had no dilemma. Now, he said there is a kind of repentance, a turning back or kind of revision for the military actions.
But Kadare considered that Europe was behaving contrary to what they had done years ago for Kosova.
He criticized this repentance which he claims Europe was feeling for bombing a state like Yugoslavia.
He said the deportation of a whole population, one million people, was done by the Belgrade regime, something he considered as ethnic cleansing that may “rival” with that of the Jews during the World War II.
“(Europe) should have no repentance. (Europe) should not turn back. On the contrary, it should oblige Serbia to ask forgiveness,” he said.
But Kadare said that Serbia was being spoiled now and that was the greatest harm Europe was doing to Serbia and its people because it is sinking them deeper in their blame.
“That people should understand what his soldiers did, its paramilitary troops did, during the years in Kosova and former Yugoslavia countries. If they understand they will be released of something bad and that would help Serb democracy. There is no democracy in Serbia if that crime is not acknowledged,” he said.
On ideas on a Kosova partition, Kadare noted, “I would say with full responsibility that such a partition would open a new, endless conflict in the Balkans.”
That act would create new quarrels whose cost would be extremely high to people here and in Europe as well.
“That is not a solution. That does not give an end. That opens a new, terrible conflict. There should be no symmetry in Kosova’s work. That is why I stressed that the problem of who committed the crime and who suffered is fundamental.”
“There is nothing to release when speaking of the freedom of a people. There is no negotiation on that. Those people are entitled to ask for their freedom, to defend it to the last,” said Kadare.
The novelist also said that his homeland, Albania, had to do more on Kosova.
“Albania is the first interested country and there is nothing to hide on that because that would be total hypocrisy,” he said.
Kadare said that Albania had to be committed to proceed with honesty and dignity, of course being constructive, not destructive, because that is its historic moral right which the nation asks for.
“We hope that our diplomacy, which is renewed recently, will correct that,” said Kadare.
