Koha Digest # 94

KOHA SUMMARY # 113

FRONT PAGE: THE HISTORY OF AN INVITATION
DATE: 21 August 1996

EDITORIAL

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FIG AND THE BALCONY

by VETON SURROI

A person called Christos, I believe that was his name, married a Katherini in the town of
Napflion, the first capital of the new Greek Republic. Katherini, who limped on one leg since
birth, had inherited quite enough to live on, a house and a shop beneath the house, while
Christos, who had no defects as of birth, hadn't inherited a thing.

In front of their house, and that could be observed from the balcony where Katherini would
go out every morning to feel the scents of the day, laid a poor soil, unused by Katherini's
family, that had only one fig tree that was 100 years old. The old fig was the only memory of
childhood for Katherini and her mother, as well as the whole family. Everything led towards
the fig, mother and child would conclude their analyses of the past times.

Once on the balcony, Christos neither scented the new aromas nor enjoyed the beauty of the
old fig. The only thing he saw was the future of a store to be build in the futile land. And he
suggested the idea as he served the two kilos of octopus he had bought and prepared.

"Pity", said the old lady, and quit eating supper and the octopus and went to her room and
remained there behind closed doors. This is the last memory of Katherini's mother before her
body was found floating beside the peer without any signs of life.

The eyes of the town followed Christos very closely, even those of the French consulate that
had been opened beside their house, in order to help French sailors facing problems with the
Greek law. The attention increased even more when Christos was noticed, almost by
midnight, trying to cut down the fig tree in front of the house.

The arrest was logical and fast, and there was no man that doubted whether Christos had
killed the old lady in order to inherit the land with the big fig in front of the balcony. And the
doubt remained even after he was released innocent.

The fig is still standing and is shading the old store. The town hasn't seen a trace of Christos
and people are very careful not to walk underneath Katherini's balcony for the impression is
that tears rain there.

The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by Veton
Surroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Koha
soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the
name of Koha Ditorë. W ith the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on
http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.
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Especially the people from the French consulate, who continuously keep telling the story of
the old fig as one of the most important events since the Turks were expelled from the big
castle above the town.

KOSOVA

THE HISTORY OF AN INVITATION OR THE CHRONICLE OF AN ANNOUNCED

MEETING

by YLBER HYSA / Prishtina

Following a relatively long period since the last meeting of the Albanian and Serb
participants in an encounter last June that as organized with the assistance of the American
organization "Project on Ethnic Relations", an influential organization from New York, the
celebration of a new similar meeting is being announced. In fact, in the last meeting held in
Belgrade, where the participation of vice-chairmen of the SPS and the LDK respectively, was
highly praised, it was announced that the next meeting would be held by the end of 1995
somewhere in Italy. The meeting never took place, maybe because "it was not a good time for
it"...However, now it seems that "Project on Ethnic Relations" sees the perfect timing for
organizing a meeting between November and January in New York.

The round table is supposed to last three days, in which the guests are supposed to "clarify
their postures and opinions and decide whether there are any encountering points that would
serve as rounds for the continuation of the conversations and consultations about the situation
in Kosova".

"Project on Ethnic Relations" is said to be a private NGO sponsored by Carnegie corporation,

one of the largest American corporations. "Although the meeting is unofficial", says the
invitation. " it is supervised closely by Washington the EU and the OSCE, whose officials
will participate from time to time".

In fact, PER is a quite well known and influential organization that has been active and
successful in some states of the region of the Balkans and Central Europe. It has initiated
conversations in Rumania, between the government and the representatives of ethnic
Hungarians, and also in Slovakia, where this organization has vividly preserved the
continuous meetings between the ruling party and the opposition, including the parties of the
Hungarians. PER is also sponsoring a couple of consultations between the leadership of the
Russian Federation and Eastern and Central European states. PER is known for it's neutral
posture, and "thousands of articles" have been written about their regional activity.

PER's "identification" is more than necessary in order to understand its role and importance,
especially facing the new and very difficult task it has in front: put Serbs and Albanians
together around a table. The idea is to invite two representatives of the ruling SPS, one
representative each of the Party of Democratic Center (Micunovic), Nova Demokratija
(Mihailovic) and Serbian Renewal Movement (Draskovic). Dusan Janjic, is also invited, as an
expert. On the Albanian side, the invitations go to: two representatives of the LDK, Veton
Surroi and Mahmut Bakalli.

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If three parties, out of four invited, reply positively to the invitation then this should be seen
as a satisfactory grounds for organizing the meeting.

On the organizers side, besides director Allen Kassof and executive director Livia Plaks,
American observers, "including individuals from Washington and other NGOs" are also
expected to be there.

Further on, the invitation also stresses the following: "As you know, Washington is very
much interested to encourage the dialogue and would be happy about this initiative". And, "if
all Yugoslav (referring to all sides!) representatives feel it would be necessary, then we would
also invite representatives of European organizations".

However, the meeting that should be held in New York, has no specific agenda, but rather
gives priority to "open and informal discussions of the participants". But, "at the same time,
we understand that it would be useful to focus on some specific issues, such as is the
educational system, the official use of languages and scripts, as well as the legal documents
and inscriptions. It is our experience that even in times when there is no agreement about
basic things, building up bits of trust could help", explains the invitation, including the fact
that if the participants would consider this meeting to be successful, then there could be talks
about the continuation of this initiative!

If PER will be successful to gather Serbs and Albanians to talk about Kosova, then this will
be an event to remember. So far, big peaceful initiatives and international conferences of
world's factors have continuously ignored the issue of Kosova. Anyhow, the New York
initiative should not be understood as the "international conference on Kosova" as the Kosova
Albanian leader has once stated, although such an initiative shouldn't be ignored. In fact, PER
was successful on knocking Milosevic's door and has had a mini opening night last summer
in Belgrade, and apparently it has the clear signal to hold this meeting. Just recently, in the
last meeting with the three leaders in Geneva, Christopher expressed his public interest about
Kosova, reminding that the Kosova issue, that started before Bosnia, has not been solved yet,
and should be discussed now. Christopher's opinions were accompanied by spokesman
Burns's and OSCE chairman Cotti's statements. Christopher has stressed that a meeting
between Belgrade and Prishtina would help find the solution. These American thoughts seem
to have been transmitted in the field, Prishtina and Belgrade, by many American delegations
that have come to the area. Both Rugova and Milosevic, in their own way, have "admitted"
that they could have a dialogue, and that they could even meet!

But, this whole elaboration in fact composes the framework of the timing which has been
imposed by the Americans insisting on the "outer wall sanctions" and counting on a very
important term: the next Serbian elections, as well as their proper presidential elections. The
wide spectre of time when this meeting should take place - "November-January", seems to be
connected to the elections. There are rumors stating that the American agreement with
Milosevic about Kosova could be done following the elections (it is believed that he and his
staff will be reconfirmed in government). Then, it would be easier to pressure, both sides...

Anyhow, the problem remains - Kosova must be approached somehow! This should be no
reason for Albanians to be overwhelmed. Nothing can change within one day, and especially
having in mind that conversations about inscriptions or bilingual ID cards could start and last
long. But, Serbs shouldn't be particularly euphoric either, for, they want it or not, they will
have Kosova on the agenda - and what's more, in New York! Ignored in all previous

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encounters, Kosova is being served as a dessert in the, as we call it, the "second round of
supper". And, people say, everything there has a bitter taste, for both Albanians and Serbs...

KOSOVA

THE PRESIDENT'S PROPHETIC COUNSELLOR

by ASTRIT SALIHU / Prishtina

There was a conviction in the past months that the new school year would start in the school
buildings. Now, that the school year is about to start, nothing remains out of all the words we
have been hearing lately. The thing that has not happened has been expected since the end of
the last school year, when the representatives of education in Prishtina had accused the
responsible officials in education for not showing any determination and will to exert
pressure in order to return back to school.

However, this seemed not to be quite clear to the public and forced Xhavit Ahmeti, Rugova's
advisor for education, to come out in public and say it out loud - there is no return to the
school buildings. As he puts it, "the return is not as easy, as someone would think (!!!)".
However, there is an anthological note of optimism in his statement when he continues saying
one general political truth: "There is no doubt, this will happen one day". If we don't go back
to our buildings soon, at least we can be proud of the fact that our president has a prophetic
counsellor who has a clear vision that "someday we'll go back to our school-buildings".

This statement speaks of the requests that the representatives of education have made to the
public. They don't have to be convinced of such statements, but only believe in them.

The president's counsellor is not worried at all by the decreasing trends of, not only the
quality in education or the drop-out rate, but also the impossibility to continue working in
abnormal conditions. He even sees the positive sides of this situation, because according to
him, "we have, at least, gained an experience of how to work in these conditions imposed by
violence". This posture of the counsellor of the president seems to prepare us for a long-term
labor in these conditions. The more years, the bigger the experience; the more experience -
the better the work. This seems to be the logical equation of his statement.

Simply, his interview to BUJKU is full of data that has nothing to do with reality, unless the
actual situation in education is understood by its representatives as an unchangeable reality.

Thus, Ahmeti thinks that "regardless of whether we go back to the school buildings or not,
the preparations for the new school year have been made and I believe that we are about to
finalize them". After he mentions the technical-hygienical preparations, the purchase of
necessary equipment, the preparation of the pedagogical documentation, the publication of
school-texts, he says something untrue: "...that the educational institutions are consolidating
their staff with new qualified people". All indicators so far prove the contrary, and the public
has been informed about it. Despite all the untrue things that the president's counsellor has
said, nevertheless, in his interview there is one big truth: there is no return to school
buildings. However, as he puts it, this truth doesn't come out in this form, it is rather
accompanied with different political calculations that fade the truth.

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INTERVIEW

ILIR ZHERKA, JURIST

MILOSEVIC DOESN'T WANT AMERICA AS A MEDIATOR

Interviewed by LINDITA IMAMI / Washington

Among the staffing innovations in the coming presidential campaign in America, Albanians
found a place under the sun. Ilir Zherka, an Albanian/American jurist was appointed
Director of the Sector for Contacts with Ethnic Groups of te Clinton-Gore campaign. He is
already known to KOHA's readers as the only Albanian/American in the US Congress, where
he works as counsellor to Congressman George Miller. He visited Kosova just recently, as
member of the delegation of the Congress that inaugurated the USIS office in Prishtina.

KOHA: What is your new task and would you describe what you are actually doing?

ZHERKA: I am head of the sector in charge of contacting ethnic groups in the Clinton-Gore
campaign. My first task is to organize and mobilize the ethnic communities to give support to
President Clinton. First of all I must consolidate the national committees of these groups in
order to disseminate the message of the President addressed to the members of the respective
communities so they would later convey the same message in their media. The other part of
my work is to collect information from ethnic groups, which is later presented to the
President. The White House has created this and other similar posts with the conviction that
the president has done quite some things to gain support of the ethnic groups. These
communities have different ethnic and religious origins, but all agree with the fact that the
USA must support democracy wherever, including young democracies. On the other hand, the
Republicans don't share this opinion. They believe that the USA should abandon the UN and
withdraw US military forces from UN operations. They also believe that the American
engagement in international issues should diminish. The president and the ethnic groups are
against these thoughts. My task is to make these opinions known.

Ethnic groups have a strong identity of the community and family and share the opinions
about the protection of the elderly and children. The Democratic Party and president Clinton
have a long history of promoting and protecting these values. Programs such as MediCare, or
social insurance, assistance to the young or loans for university students, public education are
only some of the programs that bring strength to the communities. There is also the
community police, i.e. the bill proposed by Clinton to employ 100 thousand policemen within
communities that will cooperate with the community leaders in order to prevent crime. These
are only some of the examples of how the president has defended the values supported by
ethnic groups. A part of my mission is to disseminate this information.

KOHA: How successful has the president been so far working with ethnic communities?

ZHERKA: His attempts are historic and now more than ever have the ethnic groups become
part of the Democratic Party. He is the first president to even attempt to contact the ethnic
groups to this extent. And the result is that the White House has a person in charge of the
work with the ethnic groups. There have been meetings between the representatives of the

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ethnic communities with senior officials at the White House. Thus, when Albanians
organized the demonstrations in March, we were allowed to enter the White House and meet
the officials. Such meetings were made possible for other ethnic groups too. We are
convinced that if President Clinton continues with his positive policy towards the ethnic
communities as well as with his foreign policy, he will gain the majority of the votes in the
new elections.

KOHA: What are your relations with the Albanian-American community, and how active is
our community in American politics?

ZHERKA: Actually I am working with different leaders of our community trying to organize
a national committee for the Clinton-Gore campaign. Albanians are becoming ever more
political and have contributed in electoral campaigns. They have met members of the
Congress and the next step they must take is to register and vote.

The Albanian-American community has supported president Clinton's campaign in Chicago,

Detroit and other towns.

KOHA: However, the Albanian community is also supporting Dole's campaign. How worried
are you about the division of votes among the community?

ZHERKA: Our community is same as the others. There are different opinions about who will
be the best representative for the community. They think, and maybe they are right to think
that since they make a small group, they would need the consensus of both parties to change
something regarding the Albanian issues. As a result of this opinion, the community is
working with both parties. This is very good. Such a policy was evident on a national level
and the Albanian community has contributed in both electoral campaigns, Clinton's and
Dole's. I understand this posture, as an Albanian-American. However, as head of the sector I
manage, I have, at the same time, made my choice. I believe that Clinton is a better choice for
Albanians, and that he deserves to be reelected. I believe that he has done more than any of
his predecessors for the Albanian issues, including investments, assistance, cooperation,
military assistance to Albania, the outer wall sanctions regarding Kosova and the opening of
the USIS office in Prishtina. Clinton's administration has done extraordinary efforts about
Kosova. It is true that President Bush first expressed the "Christmas warning" but it was
President Clinton that restated it and remained faithful to his statement. The sanctions against
Serbia still remain just because of Kosova. The administration has it clear that the issue of
Kosova is essential for the peace and stability in the Balkans. When it comes to President
Clinton's efforts regarding the Albanian issues, he deserves to be reelected.

KOHA: You were member of the delegation of the American Congress headed by
Congressman Engel that recently visited Prishtina. What are your impressions?

ZHERKA: I felt back home. I was given the chance to go back to my birth place and see the
people I had left 27 years ago. I was very disappointed with what I saw, the hospitals, the
schools, hopeless and disappointed people. I was also shocked with the absence of the young.
The cafes were full of either kids from 16 to 18 or people over 40. There almost none in their
20s or 30s. I was shocked by what I perceived.

All were happy about the USIS in Prishtina, however this is only the first step and we stressed
that this office is not an embassy and that the USA must do more in order to solve the

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problem. We told everyone that peace in the Balkans can't be reached unless Kosova's
problem is solved.

KOHA: The delegation also met with Milosevic in Belgrade. On your way back, you had
written that during the meeting, Milosevic had given the impression of a cold war dictator
and manipulator.

ZHERKA: Our delegation was expecting something more productive from the meeting with
Milosevic, since he accepted to meet his biggest criticizer at the Congress, Eliot Engel. We
were wrong. He immediately said that everything was OK in Kosova and that there are no
violations of human rights. We had it clear that the meeting wouldn't be productive and that
we would have a taste of cold-war communism, where a leader doesn't care much about his
integrity and credibility because he controls the people and he doesn't pay much attention to
what the world thinks about him. This was clear, as it was also clear that he was not willing to
treat the key problem of Kosova, self-determination. It seems that he wishes to treat the
problem through non-controversial things such as is education, e.g.. However, he also
expressed his willingness to meet with Rugova even in the presence of a third party, which
differs from his previous opinions, but also doesn't mean much progress. As a matter of fact,
he has lost the control over Kosova. The more he refuses this truth, the more problems he will
face in the future. I directly expressed him my opinion that both sides needed help from
another party that would mediate, and the delegation expressed the willingness of the USA to
be the mediator. Milosevic refused the American intermediation in Kosova for, according to
him, Kosova is Serbia's internal affair.

USA/KOSOVA

STRENGTHENING OF THE LOBBY OR A FAILED ATTEMPT?

by LINDITA IMAMI / Washington

The National Albanian-American Council was established last week in a meeting of the
Albanian community in New York. The purpose of this association will be to lobby in
Washington and it will represent the interests of the Albanians. This meeting served to elect
the provisional board of the Council that counts 9 members and voted the Regulations of the
organization. According to the latter, the National Albanian-American Council (NAAC) "will
undertake activities to advance the relations between the USA, Albania, the Albanian ethnic
population in the Balkans and the diaspora, it will promote their mutual ideals and interests in
accordance with viewpoints of its members and it will not receive any instructions or funds
from the Republic of Albania or any other foreign government". This organization, say the
Regulations, is not a committee of political activities and will not contribute funds to any
candidate or political party in the USA".

In order to understand the importance of the organization, we spoke to some members of the
Council and the community. According to Sami Repishti, chairman of the NAAC, the main
goal of this organization is to spread the truth on Albania and the Albanian-American
relations, because according to him, there are many American medias that do not present the
situation in Albania as it is. "One of our main tasks in Washington, will be the protection of
the rights of Albanians in Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro and Çamëria (Greece). The

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present situation in Albania has upset us very much, and this is why we hurried to register the
organization officially, open an office in Washington and start the contacts with the American
authorities in order to ease the problems that Albania could face because of this temporary
deterioration of Albanian-American relations", said Repishti.

Asked whether this organization will try to influence the American legislative process, as the
other lobbying groups in Washington, Repishti said that NAAC will also work with the local
authorities wherever there is an Albanian community. The purpose of the organization is to
create an atmosphere of credibility in Washington in order to convince the American
authorities that they are dealing with a serious organization that makes the correct
presentation of the situation in Albania, Kosova, Macedonia, Southern Serbia, Montenegro
and Çamëria. "It is extremely important to have the Albanian problem presented in
Washington based on facts, principles that advance peace, stability in the Balkans and to be
supported by a big wish to strengthen the democratic institutions wherever Albanians live".

Based on a communique published last week, NAAC has contacted other Albanian-American
associations and has gained full support, however Repishti declared that some associations
didn't give their support claiming that NAAC threatens their activities. Repishti assures that
each organization has its own identity and NAAC will be there to assist and not replace them.
It will depend on us whether we have the strength and capacity to represent in Washington the
interests of the Albanians", concludes Repishti.

Rrustem Ibraj, LDK's chairman for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and at the same
time member of the Board, states that this organization has the full support of the LDK, and
that its members will be mobilized to contribute to keep the office continuously open. "We
are happy about this office and as a community we should forget our differences and give it
full support. This is the most serious initiative that needs our support". He also stated that this
office has the full support of the LDK in Chicago, Detroit and other towns where the
Albanian population is concentrated.

Sinan Kamberaj, editor of "Illyria" magazine says that this office deserves the full support of
the community, because "...if there is nothing else we can do, the Council will at least convey
the opinion of the community and will neutralize the blows coming from the most extremist
circles of Albania's neighbors. This office will be successful only if it has full moral and
material support of the community".

Nicholas Pano, professor of Illinois University is one of those who fully supports the office:
"I believe it is very important for us to create and increase the Albanian permanent presence
in Washington. The office would actually complement the work of the Albanian embassy and
would be of great value if it has adequate staff and funding".

There are also announcements about the opening of new offices in Washington, such as is the
Office of Kosova or the one of the Albanian American Civic League (DioGuardi), and
organization which is actually representing the voice of the Albanians from Macedonia and
that is trying to exert some pressure for the institutionalization of the UT.

However, some members of the community think that the creation of more Albanian
organizations is causing confusion among the Albanians. According to an analyst of Albanian
issues, the creation of another Albanian organization is actually an indicator of division. The
Albanian community, he says, is not organized and some would want to become it's leaders.

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There are also reserves towards the activities of the new organization, he says, for the
members of the Board proper don't have it yet clear what will the role of the organization be
or how will it function. On the other hand, there are interviews and statements to the press
claiming that this is a serious organization, although it can fail even before starting, says the
analyst that requested to remain anonymous.

Professor Pano seems to support this ascertainment, for he considers that two or three offices
in Washington would mean a risk of having them doing the same thing at the same time. "It
would be good if the resources are distributed in the way that the potential is used as
efficiently as possible. Otherwise, there would be a totally unnecessary waste of potential. I
hope that the offices will have a good cooperation".

All the persons we contacted believe that these are only the first steps towards NAAC. There
will be a small fund, a small office, and an employee working part-time. The existence and
the activities of the office will depend much on the support the community will offer, for this
could be the only funding source of NAAC.

But, only thing shouldn't be forgotten, and this is that the Albanian community in USA is
actually assisting the government of Kosova, the different delegations coming from Albanian
lands, the campaigns of American politicians, different (Albanian) cultural foundations, the
Albanian media and a series of different activities. In such a long list, despite the good will,
financing the activities of the office will much depend on the good will of the Albanian
businessmen.

KOSOVA

THE WEDDING OF IGBALLE AND RACHEL

by KOHA / Prishtina

The European Parliament will be discussing the possibility of legalizing homosexual

marriages. And no more than that. Discussions and even demonstrations about this problem
remain quite old efforts of homosexual groups to legalize their psycho-physical desires. Even
though allowed in some countries, nevertheless the societal repulsive reaction towards these
groups is still strong and definite. Finally, what really boiled up the blood in the USA was the
legalization of gays in the army, approved by Clinton's decree in 1993. After he won the
elections, he allowed for the first time the recruitment of homosexuals in the strongest army
of the world.

Only the most careful followers of the yellow press and, maybe, a small army of
psychologists and sociologists has heard and read about the marriages of lesbians, very rare
cases of publishing and making official the prohibited relations in the civilization we know.
As it regards us Albanians (or even the Balkans), this was impossible. Any attempt to legalize
the relations of homosexual partners is equal to the biggest social blasphemy.

Homosexuals here were and are referred to with repulsion. But, just recently Kosova has
become the first territory of the former Yugoslavia to be crowned with a lesbian marriage.
Unbelievable?

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An E-mail message that arrived to KOHA was full of "romantic" information on the unusual
wedding of two women.

Titled "One flower doesn't mean spring, but just see what happened", and with a triumphal
conclusion that this opened the path towards the legalization of the unacceptable relations, a
letter written by Zorica Markesic - probably a leader of a feminist organization from Novi Sad
- describing the "cute" homosexual party, was and remained the shocking information that
was read or commented by someone.

The wedding of two lesbians happened in Novi Sad, Vojvodina. Igballe, an Albanian and
Rachel an Englishwoman got married.

And, the rumor is that on 2 August 1996, Igballe from Prishtina got the strength, in one
"pure" women's meeting, to exclaim the joyful and official "yes" to her love for Rachel. It is
said that the ceremony had no formalities but the love letters the brides or rather the grooms
wrote to one-another. Naturally, followed by acclamations, tears of happiness and ovations of
hope for the popularization and melting of the "conservative" ice on this (never that elastic)
segment of human rights.

When it comes to the best men and maidens. The sacred task to witness the crowning of this
love belonged to Nela from Zagreb and Marta from Kosova. It is said that the happiness
reached its culmination when the bouquets, following the determined "yes" in front of the
marital altar, flew into the hands of the brides/grooms to be. Then started the homosexual
party. It happened!

"It was thundering and lightning", Zorica writes, "but no one cared about the rain that was
pouring on us. The dream that had come true remained as well as the wish for its
continuation. My jacket and tennis shoes are still drying out on the radiator..."

Any comments?

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