As my final week wraps up here, I've been trying to think of which ways to approach writing the stories that are slowly coming together. Today was quite a reaffirmation that things remain uncertain for many Kosovar Albanians living inside Serbia. I went to the Presevo Valley, to interview Riza Halimi-- Presevo's former mayor and now MP in the Serbian Parliament.
Presevo is a municipality which is in Serbia and borders Kosovo-- the majority of the people living inside the Presevo municipality are ethnic Albanians-- essentially, it's an Albanian enclave in Serbia. I went from Prishtina through Gjilan in the east of Kosovo, and got through the Kosovo-Serb border check surprisingly hassle-free. The KPS officer took a look at me, then glanced at my passport, then the press pass, and was wide-eyed by the end of it, but didn't say anything. As the bus pulled through the border check, about eight US Army-KFOR soldiers on patrol stood right outside my window waving at me, after which I silently giggled like a school girl to myself.
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Then, after driving for about 15 minutes through blindingly thick fog and seemingly hitting every one of those treacherous potholes on the hillside roads, the bus descended into Presevo Valley and eventually into the center of the town. Everything about the place is much like any other Albanian town inside Kosovo-- qebaptore and mishtore shops lined the streets, and a mosque occasionally appeared. The only things that gave it away were the Serbian license plates and cyrillic on the sign posts.
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I have yet to translate much of the interview I had with Mr. Halimi, but the general feeling I got was that even if Kosovo gets its independence in the next few months, the Albanians in Presevo won't be a part of the new state. Enjoining Presevo municipality to Kosovo won't happen, according to the rough translation I had from his assistant, Mentor. Extremist elements, such as Serb paramilitary groups or the Albanian National Army, also didn't seem to pose a threat to the stability of the area. When I asked Mr. Halimi about how he dealt with being the only Albanian MP in a Serb parliament, he shrugged his shoulders, turned the sides of his lips downwards, and spoke with his eyes averted away from me. Mentor translated that he gets jeered at in session by the radicals whenever he tries to speak.
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It's a strange thing that independence is just not that easy. More thoughts on that later, as it's my last Friday night here, and I am obliged to go do the local thing: have coffee, then tea, another coffee, a few pejas, and smoke-- passively.
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potholes and fog
bus on the border
