Can the European Union Resolve the Life-Cycle of the Conflict in Kosovo?
resisted being part of the Slav-dominated State and their ‘long-standing cultural values’ (Azar 1986: 30) were not met. Albanians rebelled
throughout the subsequent years such as in the 1920s and after 1945
when SFRY was created, with resistance being crushed by Serbian and
communist forces respectively (Vickers 1998: 99-100; 141-143).
In 1968, the Albanians organised demonstrations requesting the use of
the Albanian flag, education in schools and university in the Albanian
language and insisted that Kosovo become a Republic (Mertus 1999:
290). The new SFRY Constitution of 1974 granted Kosovo an almost
equal status with the six other Republics of the Federation (Malcolm
1998: 328). The Constitution prohibited Serbia from interfering in Kosovo’s internal affairs (Vickers 1998: 178). In the 1981 demonstrations
(the beginning of the end of the SFRY) Albanians demanded that Kosovo
become the seventh republic of the Federation and were met with violence (Mertus 1999: 29-30).
From 1981 until the end of the war in 1999, severely oppressive measures were taken by Serbian forces against Kosovo Albanians (for example, secondary schools, university and media in the Albanian language
were closed) (Wallensteen 2007: 169). Serbia dissolved Kosovo’s Parliament in 1990. However, its members declared independence in 1991
- but that was not recognised except by Albania (Milano 2003: 4). The
pacifist movement of the ‘Democratic League of Kosovo’ from 1990
until 1999 did not manage to change the situation on the ground as the
Serbian repression continued (Malcolm 1998: 328). In 1996, the Kosovo
Liberation Army began its fight for independence which increased the
killing and atrocities by Serb forces against civilians. (Schnabel, Chandra 2000: 4). In 1999, peace talks in Rambouillet, France failed as Serbia
refused to sign the peace agreement (Herring 2007: 225). This triggered
a third-party intervention, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) bombed Serbia for 78 days (Cox 2002: 168).
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