Serbia's 'De Facto' Recognition Of Kosovo

Serbia has "de facto" accepted the existence of Kosovo but nationalist sentiment is preventing formal recognition, Albanian President Bujar Nishani said in an interview with Anadolu Agency.



"I believe that Serbia has recognized Kosovo's independence," he said, adding that the prime ministers of both countries have meet during EU-mediated talks as equals.



Serbian leaders have repeatedly said they will never recognize Kosovo's independence, which Nishani attributed to "nationalist and extremist groups" that are a minority but that "make the biggest noise".



Nishani said Kosovo - a former Serbian province of 1.8 million people, more than 90 percent of who are ethnic Albanians - "could not remain out of the process of separation from the former Yugoslavia" in the late 1990s.



Kosovan Albanians fought a war with Serbia in 1998 and 1999 during which more than 10,000 Kosovans are estimated to have been killed. Another 1,700 others remain missing.



Nishani, who was elected Albanian president in 2012, said he saw Kosovan independence as an "irreversible reality" that has contributed to a peaceful environment in the Balkans.



"Kosovo's independence was not an act directed against Serbia or the Serbian people," he said.



Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and is recognized by about 110 countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Turkey. Serbia, Russia and China are among those that have not recognized its independence.



This has brought a new reality and "has brought people who have fought severe wars together at the negotiation table," Nishani said.



European aspirations



Albania is among the clutch of Balkan nations that aspire to follow neighbors such as Croatia and Slovenia in joining the EU.



It is already a member of the NATO defense alliance.



Nishani said EU membership would help reconciliation and cooperation between Balkan countries, as well as consolidate democracy in countries that were communist regimes 25 years ago.



"I am sure that through this political and technical process, western Balkan countries will be closer to each other," he told Anadolu Agency in an interview conducted earlier this week at the presidential palace in Tirana.



Referring to an historic visit by Serbian Prime Minister Alexander Vucic to Tirana in May, Nistani said he had told the premier that "today's decision-taking and policy-making generations must overcome all inherited problems".



He said that Albania supported Montenegro and Macedonia's NATO applications and would be happy if other Balkan countries joined.



Albania, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro are EU candidates while Bosnia has signed an agreement as a prelude to EU membership and Kosovo is waiting to sign.



No Greater Albania



The Albanian diaspora has a significant presence in neighboring countries, particularly Kosovo and Macedonia, which has 2.1 million ethnic Albanians, but also, to a much lesser extent, in Montenegro and Serbia.



This has led to claims that Albania is seeking to create a "Greater Albania", something denied by Nishani who says Albania recognizes the 1913 demarcation of Albania's borders.



"I have considered the Greater Albania theory as a theory and platform that is directed against Albania and Albanians, to justify their isolation, to show them as a country and a nation inclined by aggressiveness and hate, something which is not true," Nishani said.



Such claims are being used to prevent the "engagement and the dynamism of Albania and Albanians".



Turning to Albania's "traditional" close relations with Turkey, Nishani said Turkey helped Albania join NATO and has been supportive in training the Albanian armed forces.



"Turkey has always played an important role in balancing peace in the Balkan region," he said.



Turkey is Albania's third largest economic partner and a significant ethnic Albanian community lives in Turkey. - Ankara