Is Europe pushing Kosovo into Erdogan's arms?

In Kosovo, his speech caused shock. In a campaign for local elections in late October, opposition party leader Vetevendosje Albin Kurti swore in the case that they would win. If we come to power, he told his supporters, we will end Islamophobia.

At first glance, the speech makes sense: 90% of Kosovars are Muslims, who have practiced Islam in a liberal and moderate form. But Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who make up 92% of the population, have been strongly pro-Western thanks to the 1999 Nato bombings in Yugoslavia that ended decades of Serb oppression in Kosovo and paved the way for declaring independence. Bill Clinton Avenue is located in downtown Pristina.

Eighty years after the war, Kosovars are increasingly choosing other ways. They are frustrated by high unemployment rates, widespread corruption, and Europe's efforts to keep them isolated. Focused on the “The first American” [set.i translators: America First was Donald Trump's slogan, the United States has weakened engagement.

As a result, the new generation of Kosovo leaders are marching towards power with nationalist populist slogans, and most recently, they have started testing the Islamic charter to expand the base of supporters. Kurti's party, Vetevendosje, has won 27% of the vote in the June 10th central elections, becoming the most voted party in Kosovo.

Vetevendosje is getting help, too. While the EU and the United States are retreating, Turkey, Qatar and others are filling the abandoned void. Under these controversial conditions, in recent years, the Kosovo government has rewarded Turkey with billion-dollar contracts -- from the airport to the sale of electricity distribution services at a very small price. In exchange, Turkey has invested in building mosques and restoring sites where Turkish culture is in Kosovo, promoting Erdogan's neo-strong aspirations. Qatari, an early supporter of Erdogan's rise in power, is believed to be one of the largest sponsors of political parties in Kosovo to be following Erdogan's Islamic-oriented political line.

Albin Kurti, a former non-violent activist student, became spokesman for The KLA during the war, and then founded Vetevendosje in 2004, which makes verbal and physical attacks on internationals and against Kosovo authorities for political and social failures in his country. In his early period, he attacked UN and EU missions for failing to stop Kosovo leaders from robbing the state. Although the EU mission had exclusive powers to investigate, persecute and prove the guilt of people for war crimes, organised crime and corruption, it failed to apprehend the large <x0weights. ”

In time, Kosovars lost confidence in international and local leadership, while Vetevendosje's popularity grew. Copying the way Erdogan was established in power, Kurti led the campaign by portraying Europe as cruel, and anticosovare.

The EU has hurt itself by refusing to give Kosovars the opportunity to travel visa-free to Europe, and by keeping Kosovo as the only country in the region that does not have that right. Young Kosovars see this rejection as a refusal to accept more Muslims and as a fall of Western interests from the Balkans.

The EU has linked the visa regime to Kosovo's anti-corruption efforts and, more directly, to resolving the border problem with Montenegro. Benefiters of this are anti-Western parties in Kosovo.

It is no surprise that Vetevendosje has taken an aggressive stance to prevent the problem of the border [demarketing]. They have interrupted any parliamentary discussion through tear gas to the hall, and by accusing supporters of the deal as national traitors. Just last week, Kosovo sentenced four members of Vetevendosje, including one MP, to drop a dock grenade in parliament last year, trying to stop the demarcation vote. And, finally, we have the arrest of Albin Kurti and the two other members for failing to appear in court about dropping tear gas last year.

The EU must recognize this situation. It must lift the visa regime for Kosovo and should help Kosovars make elections based on their needs and aspirations, not on frustration and fear. /Roll: Periscope.