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Arifi: Albanians in the Presheva Valley lack the support of Tirana and Pristina

2023-09-15 20:58:31, Kosova & Bota CNA

Arifi: Albanians in the Presheva Valley lack the support of Tirana and Pristina

The mayor of the municipality of Preševo ??and the chairman of Alternative for Change, a political force in municipalities with an Albanian majority in Serbia, Shqiprim Arifi

Shqiprim Arifi, the mayor of the municipality of Presheva and the head of Alternative for Change, a political force in municipalities with an Albanian majority in Serbia, is in Washington these days, and he is presenting to American officials his concerns about the situation of Albanians in the Presheva Valley. Mr. Arifi talked during the live TV show Ditari with his colleague Keida Kostreci.

Voice of America : During your meetings here in Washington, one of the main issues you discussed was the erasure of addresses or as it is being called passivation by the Serbian authorities. What steps have been taken by local authorities like you in this regard, so to address this concern?

Shqirim Arifi: First of all, this is the second time I am in America, and the first time when I was in 2020 just before the pandemic was interesting because the State Department was not so informed about passivation. From that moment on, these three years have moved a lot in relation to passivation in terms of preparing to recognize the phenomenon of passivation, which means that Albanians in the Presheva Valley selectively, i.e. only Albanians and not Serbs, are passivated, so are suspended from their address that they have always had. From that moment they are deprived of the opportunity to be a citizen in that country and their property and civil services are at risk, as well as their identity in that country. From 2020 onwards, several documents have been drawn up, for the first time in the report of the State Department from 2021 we have the phenomenon of passivation of the mentioned addresses, from 2022 we also have the phenomenon of passivation mentioned in the report on human rights. In the European Union last year, we managed to make a resolution which strongly condemns the passivation of Albanians in the Presheva Valley, but also asks Serbia to clarify why this is done to Albanians in particular. So a lot has moved but the results on the ground are still zero because at the moment we have ten thousand Albanians already passive and this phenomenon will not be stopped by Serbia because you have to understand that wherever there are Albanians we are hostages and victims of the dialogue . So a dialogue that goes against Kosovo, goes a lot to the detriment of the Presheva Valley. A dialogue that goes in favor of Kosovo would also go in favor of the Presheva Valley. At the moment when the dialogue is going against Kosovo, we are also continuously being harmed. So passivation is an issue that I also asked the American envoy (Gabriel) Escobar to stop, to put a moratorium on this phenomenon in Serbia towards the Albanians and now we are waiting to see what will happen.

Voice of America : Since you mentioned the dialogue and how this dialogue directly affects the situation of the Albanians in the Valley, how could there be a way to benefit from this process for the Albanian communities?

Shqirim Arifi: Relevant question because the request of the Albanian leadership in the Presheva Valley for decades, now two decades after the Kosovo war, has been to build a logic of reciprocity between the Serbs in Kosovo and the Albanians in the Presheva Valley. All the achievements made by the Serbs in Kosovo at the level of their rights, we also have the same achievement, here the policy of Kosovo has totally failed in the last 20 years, but especially these last two years. This is because two years ago we still had hope to become part of the dialogue, to become the subject of the dialogue, it was our strong demand but also an implicit acceptance by the internationals, especially in the United States or even in the European Union. But from 2020, the form that the dialogue has now taken in the last two years under the leadership of (Albin) Kurti, the issue of the Albanians of the Presheva Valley is not even discussed anymore and it culminated at the moment when the Ohrid agreement was decided. At the moment when the Ohrid agreement was decided, the issue of the Presheva Valley ended, because in this agreement there is no mention of the principle of reciprocity and the Presheva Valley is not mentioned at all, and in this form it is no longer of great interest to the international community. to enter the Valley in this dialogue. So we only suffer now from the dialogue, we gain nothing more. because in this agreement there is no mention at all of the principle of reciprocity and the Valley of Presheva is not mentioned at all, and in this form, even among internationals, it is no longer of great interest to include the Valley in this dialogue. So we only suffer now from the dialogue, we gain nothing more. because in this agreement there is no mention at all of the principle of reciprocity and the Valley of Presheva is not mentioned at all, and in this form, even among internationals, it is no longer of great interest to include the Valley in this dialogue. So we only suffer now from the dialogue, we gain nothing more.

Voice of America : As a political representative and as a representative in the local government in the Valley, how can you influence the government of Serbia internally? Has there been any progress in this direction in your efforts within Serbia?

Shqirim Arifi: You made me laugh a little because you look at a Kosovo or a Europe that can't do anything to Serbia, let alone a municipality. We are approximately 100,000 Albanians there, we have been discriminated against for 30 years now, Serbia's policies have not changed just because the war has been fought in Kosovo, because those discriminatory policies have continued in our country. We have no power, no army, no lobbying, no support from Pristina or Tirana to deal with Belgrade. There is no will in Belgrade, we are living in a totalitarian state, in an extended hand of the 90s that leads that state, the same politicians who have been leading Serbia for 30 years. These are the same ones who have waged wars in the Balkans and discriminated against and massacred the Albanians, so what should we do to Belgrade? We have no power to influence there, the only option for us is the United States and the United States continuously supports us with projects and lobbying, and if the United States were not in Presheva, we would have disappeared as far as Pristina is concerned. So, in this context, it is once again more important that Kosovo has a leadership, a government that is a sincere partner of the United States, which does not tell them that they are naive, but instead aligns with them against Serbia and against Russia in the Ukraine war. At the moment the reality is different, currently the government of Kosovo is naive to Washington and somehow leaves our partners in Washington and in the European Union doubting where Kosovo is based.

Voice of America : However, the inclusion or not of this issue certainly depends on other elements, also on the international community, and as you said, you are also making these efforts. In this direction, whenever these worrying issues are mentioned, one of the needs that is always mentioned is that of coordination with Kosovo and Albania. How do you see this at this moment?

Shqirim Arifi: Once again I want to emphasize, a Kosovo as strong as possible in the international arena is a guarantee for a Presheva Valley as protected as possible under the administration of Serbia. At the moment, a paradox is happening because Serbia is in some way a victim in the international arena, which is strange, and it is a state that is presenting itself as the most democratic state. Kosovo is the most democratic country in the region, perhaps even in Europe. It is very important for us, for us who are in danger of becoming the second Chamber, like the Presheva Valley, who are in this position, we are in danger of becoming the second Chamber, and it is very important that Kosovo and its governance be the first point with attention in the Presheva Valley, to factor the Presheva Valley, because the Serbs in the north of Kosovo are factored because Belgrade has factored them, no one else has factored them. We have not been factored by anyone, for this reason I may sometimes be misunderstood, but I am trying to clarify that my criticism is internal and constructive towards Pristina. Criticism of Serbia will not stop because we are internal critics, we continue to criticize, but once again I say that criticism comes with power and we do not have the power to change Belgrade and no one should expect that.

Voice of America : Briefly, for a practical matter such as the recognition of diplomas, has there been progress in this direction?

Shqirim Arifi: Not at all, Serbia is not interested in this issue. We have a big 'brain drain' because our young people come with bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees to the Presheva Valley, who are not accepted and end up as waiters or simple employees in the Presheva Valley, so they don't find themselves and then they flee to Europe or America, wherever. Here, too, both Pristina and Tirana have responsibility because they will be able to work in a way of harmonizing the diplomas, balancing the Kosovo diploma in Tirana which is then accepted in Serbia, they have not done this either. It means we are discriminated, we are passivated, we are belittled, we are the second class of society in Serbia, from Serbia and this does not change, but we are also neglected and totally forgotten by our brothers and sisters in Pristina and Tirana .