5 minutes agoWilliam Walker: Developments after Recak led to Kosovo independence
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)The American diplomat and friend of Kosovars, William Walker, has remembered Kosovo 20 years ago, stressing the importance of the international echo of Recak's Massacre. Walker was the first international person to call the 1999 Recak Massacre “genocide committed to Albanians”. In an interview in Zone B, he himself said yes [...]
Walker was the first international person to call the 1999 Recak Massacre “genocide committed to Albanians”.
In an interview in Zone B, he himself said that if things were to act differently, perhaps after 99 was not going to develop as they did.
I came out of American foreign policy here. As soon as I saw Recak, I said I'm going to sue him and I'm going to show that Serb forces did it”.
It's just a guess, but I really think it was something about that moment. Each of the international community was worried about what had happened earlier in Srebrenica and what happened in Recak was in all newspapers around the world and something had to be done”.
“If it hadn't happened, I believe the international community in some form would push [Slo Slobodan] Milosevic to grant a limited autonomy to Kosovo and that would still be under Belgrade's control, but with a little more cosmetic changes a small autonomy. [Slo Slobodan] Milosevic would accept this”.
“[Slo Slobodan] Milosevic made some very big mistakes. First he refused to sign the Rambouillet Agreement, and the second tried to get me out and she brought the press, even from Japan, and Recak was on the front page of New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Those who remembered Srebrenica refused to look on the other side and the same thing happen again”
Walker said he had not anticipated things that would come after Recak's Massacre, but that developments following this event brought independence to Kosovo.
He has even recalled the moment he had to leave Kosovo, with which he said he apologized to Albanians leaving them.
“God help you. I said it with all my heart. At the meeting with mission staff, the Albanian staff mainly, I wanted to tell them that we were leaving and leaving them vulnerable and that there were a few very bad days coming. I knew the bombing was coming, that [Slo Slobodan] Milosevic would not turn himself in and that there would be too many killings”.
What I wanted to say to the Albanians there was sorry to tell you that we're leaving, I'm sorry to put you in a very bad situation, and I apologized to”
While 20 years later, William Walker says Recak has changed greatly and that Kosovo has undergone changes and that there is progress.
