The Kosova issue – a historic and current problem

The Kosova Issue – A Historic and Current Problem is a collection of communications presented at the symposium organized in Tirana on April 15–16, 1993, by Albanian scholars from Albania, Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, as well as by foreign scholars.

The communications included in this volume address important questions regarding the political history of the Albanian population in Kosova and in other Albanian territories in Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Based on historical sources, the contributions shed light on the historical presence of Albanians in these lands, on their cultural and spiritual unity with Albanians in other regions (with whom they shared the same historical challenges), and on the tragedies they experienced after the arbitrary inclusion of their territories within the borders of neighboring states following the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) and the decisions of the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1913.

Several papers in this volume examine the unprecedented genocide committed against Albanians from 1913 to the present day, the efforts to assimilate them, and their persistent struggle for national rights — a struggle often marked by violent suppression, from the time of occupation to the present.

Consequently, it is only natural that the Albanian question — that of a large non-Slavic community unjustly included within the former state of Yugoslavia — as shown in the materials of this volume, would constitute the key issue in the Yugoslav crisis. For this reason, only a just resolution of the national question of Albanians in the former Yugoslavia would make possible the establishment of stability in the region and foster a spirit of understanding in the Balkans.