Insulting Discretion Against Albanians, Serbian Policy Warning

This form of public discurs in Serbia, where irreverent and offensive terms are used against Kosovo Albanians, has already been converted into “cultural” or “abnormality”, which “is neither nor others in the literal sense of”, says sociologist Shemsi Krasniqi.

Just over the past month, Serbian Technical Government Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, in six communiquettes of this ministry, has named Kosovo Albanians with the offensive term “siptar”.

In many cases, even in direct public presentations, he has used this irreverent term against Kosovo Albanians, despite a court's decision in Serbia, earlier described this term as “fairly incorrect and offensive”.

In fact, the term “shiptar” is deformation of the Albanian “ “Albanian”, as all who belong to the ethnic ethnic entity of Albanians call themselves.

But, deformation of the word "Albanian" in Kisiptar, there is negative cootation in Serbia, as connections with primitive and uncivilized people, people who have descended from the mountain, manual workers, etc. The use of the term “siptarʹ in the Serbian language is considered offensive to Albanians.

“fascist discursion” holding Serbia hostage

Publicist Milazim Krasniqi, professor at the Department of Journalism at the University of Pristina, tells Radio Free Europe, that the continued use of vocabulary with offensive and derogatory terms from politicians in Serbia to Kosovo Albanians, indicates that in Serbia there has not been a denotification and defiscating of public and political discrus.

According to him, this discurs, which politicians are rarely using, remains dominant in Serbian landscapes and as such reflected in other media there. That is his opinion for two reasons.

The first, as he says, Kosovo -- facing internal problems -- has entered a phase of what he calls political autism and propaganda.

Kosovo has not created counter-invasion mechanisms and denouncing this fascist disk that comes from the media and Serbian politics. On the other hand, the European Union has entered a cycle of its internal crisis, including the Brexit problems and then the pandemic (of the Coronavirus)”.

“So it has lost focus on the Western Balkans and on reports between Serbia and Kosovo. In a way, it is immune to this way of political and media communication in Serbia and simply does not draw the attention of”, Milazim Krasniqi stressed.

He added that such a situation poses great danger because, as he says, all those with memories from the last 80th and 90th centuries, especially after Slobodan Milosevic's arrival in power in Serbia, remember that the entire conflict in the former Yugoslavia had begun at the toughness of militant discours. This discurs, according to him, had gone from the media to politicians and later “had prepared the psychological and political ground for the massacre that took place in the former Yugoslavia”.

Sociologist Shemsi Krasniqi, professor at the University of Pristina, speaking of Radio Free Europe, considers politicians in Serbia to be normal using irreverent terms against Albanians.

But, according to him, despite social reports that have and may currently have peoples between them, they have no right to create hate languages against each other. On the contrary, he says, the situation is complicated for more when politicians use the language.

This, he estimates, produces numerous consequences because politicians serve as a model for the people who run it, and they continue to become entrenched in their prejudices in relation to the other people.

This is what happened in Serbia. Unfortunately, Serbian politicians, for decades, have used irreverent expressions in relation to Albanians. This is then installed among the population and citizens, and then it creates a kind of gap, a large type of barrier that is very hard to overcome. This holds them back too, because they are wrongly positioned in our relationship and cannot understand the reality. Without realizing reality, we cannot solve problems”.

To solve problems and initiate some kind of progress, development, a certain normality, the problem needs to be understood. Meanwhile, they are producing the problem, rather than understanding and solving the problem”, Shemsi Krasniqi stressed.

Seal: “Shiptar”, do not grieve

Declarations with offensive terms of Volin had resumed on 2 October, following the joint gathering of two governments -- of Albania and Kosovo -- held that same day.

Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, had declared that the ambition of both governments is to remove the border between the two countries and that an agreement between the two governments leads in the direction of the Durres port being transformed into Kosovo port.

But, in a communiqué of Serbia's Ministry of Defense Technical Protection, Voulin calling Kosovo Albanians with the term "interpretative" “shitar”, had it that what is given to the latter, cannot prevent Serbia. Vulin has also stressed that Prime Minister Edi Rama is continuing with his efforts to create a “Greater Albania”.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama had immediately reacted, who has called on Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, to condemn the entity's statement Vulin.

Rama addressing Vuciqi, has stressed that he wishes the Vulin's statement to be a “joke otherwise this would be a desperate display of miserable thinking“, which the Serbian president must condemn “without any doubt “.

The seal had reacted to Prime Minister Rama, again to the irreverent “spherari”, saying they “are an intermediate people who have given Esat Papa Toptan, who would not compare Rama to”.

Esat Papa Toptan, who mentions the vulin, has been a general in the Ottoman Empire and Albanian politician at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. In Serbia, it is perceived as a traditional friend of Serbs, meanwhile in Albania as one of the biggest traitors, due to co-operation with Serbia during Albania's occupation in the Balkan wars.

Also, on October 2nd, Kosovo Foreign Affairs Minister Melza Haradinaj- Stublla had sent a letter to ambassadors of Quinti's countries, where Aleksandar Vulin's xenophobia statement against Albanians deserves strong punishment because of the shameful and chauvinist movements of the government of Serbia”.

The seal on October 4th also uses the term “sphery”.

In line with Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin's communiquette recently, on 5 October, has turned to Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs Melza Haradinaj- Stublla with the words: “if Haradinaj-Subla is ashamed that he is APUsiptarka Rancho, he should not be angry at me”.

On May 4th 2019, Vulin had declared to the Serbian daily “Vecernje novosti”, that by the term “siptar” he calls the Kosovo Albanians and that he does not call Albanians living in central Serbia and Albania.

This is the term they use for themselves and I don't know why he would be offensive”, the vulin said.

Did he violate Serbia's Law?

But, Serbia's Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, calling Albanians with the irreverent term “-sniptari” is “ignoring the court's decision in Serbia, under which this term “is politically incorrect and offensive”.

Serbia's Defence Ministry has not returned answers to Radio Free Europe's question, whether it has done the minist vulin legal offence, calling Albanians in the irreversibly term “sphery”. The answer to this question has not even been provided by the Office of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality in Serbia.

But, former Commissioner for Protection of Equality in Serbia Brankica Jankoviq, who had brought about 6 years earlier the assessment that the painters in Serbia, Informer and Telegraf have violated the Law for Preventing Terrorism, because Albanians called “shoper”, tells Radio Free Europe that it is incompatible that it is a violation of the law. According to her, making criticism of things you disagree about in politics is okay, but not even using the offensive disk.

There is no reason for us to use any expressions that offend” in expressing our attitude, Jankovic stressed.

It commemorates that the Court of Appeals Act in Serbia is being executed in this case.

This court, in late 2018, has confirmed the Supreme Court's first instance in Belgrade against the Informer picture. In its reasoning, the court had clarified and sanctioned the use of the term “sidtar” as hate language.

The indictment had been filed by Anita Mitic, then activist with the Youth Initiative for Human Rights. She says this court ruling was a major step for society in Serbia to stop stigmatising their neighbours and spreading hatred.

But the bias is not enough for society to change. It is imperative that society want to change, want to establish contacts with Albanians. The first and fundamental step in this would be to stop calling you disparaging names”, Mitic said.

She added that she is not surprised by the Serbian minister's statements, because, according to her, she has acted in the past.

Katerina Golubovic, chairman of the Nongovernmental Committee of Human Rights Lawyers (YUCOM), tells Radio Free Europe that he does not expect either Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, and none of his political subject, the Serbian Progressive Party, to react to such discours.

Aleksandar Vulin, in fact, is following Vojislav Seheshel's policy. When he says quarterstarari/Kosovo Albanians, he is in fact not addressing them at all, but addressing his electoral body. He is someone who continues to build his policy on just what Vojislav Seselj has done, and that is the war-inciting and hate policy”, Golubovic stressed.

Vuciq: Pristina everything you do for internal politics

Regarding Serbian Defence Minister Alegandar Vulin's statements, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has reacted. Through a scripture at Twitter, he has stressed that such statements “are evidence that Serbia has not yet changed its fascist policies towards Kosovo”.

But, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, at a news conference in Belgrade on Monday, questioned by reporters about reactions by Pristina and Tirana officials for language, with which Minister Voulin was served, has avoided the direct response.

He has stressed that he has not followed all the statements that have come from Tirana and Pristina, because, according to him, “people from Pristina, everything they do, they do for internal politics”.

“then, someone from here answers... It is important that Albanians know that there is no iron hammer with which someone will strike us on the head so that we can give them what they want and that they daily insult Belgrade and Serbia and attack our children in Kosovo”, Vucinq stressed.

Voulin is not the only government of Serbia office to comply with Albanians with offensive terms. Even Marko Djuric, director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, through an official communiqué, in April 2019, had called Kosovo Albanians derogatory “Syptari”.

Serbia's prime minister, Ana Brnabiq, was barred from entering Kosovo last month after having declared that in talks with Pristina, Belgrade has jobs with “people coming out of Mt”.

In many cases, other Belgrade officials, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, in public discourse have also used offensive terms for Kosovo's political leaders, calling “kriminela”, <x2mederians”, last resort”.

Meanwhile, despite the court's ruling in Serbia that sanctions the use of the offensive term “-syptari”, the landscapes there even further, use the term “sphert” on their foreheads.

Before a new radicalisation of Serbian politics?

Through the toughness of the discours, with offensive terms for Albanians, according to Professor Milazim Krasniqi, Serbia's officials are recycling several models which he used in the last 80s.

According to him, at the time, the toughness of the discus was associated with the installation of an incident against any member of the Serb community. As he says, the Kosovo and international authorities should be careful in the face of evental situations that may follow the rigors of political discourse.

“Exploitation of this discus means that we can be before a new radicalisation of Serbian politics in the direction of Kosovo, which can also have elements of political violence. For this reason, Kosovo institutions and the international community should be aware and alert to these actions, to political media discours, but also to potential actions that Serb extremists can take to destabilise Kosovo”, Milazim Krasniqi said.

Sociologist Shemsi Krasniqi says that based on what is heard by Serbian politicians in relation to Kosovo, including harsh discours and disparaging terms against Albanians, Serbia has still remained hostage to political thinking of the 1990s.

Serbia needs a clarification on cultural, ideological and political understanding, because they continue with some fanaticism to maintain those attitudes and positions, which they have had since Milosevqi. In fact, we know that a large part of the Serbian political establishment are the descendants of Milosevich. They don't realize that time has changed, they've changed ages. It is another time and must change both the language and the discurs”, Shemsi Krasniqi stressed.

On the other hand, there is also the term “combinations” that is offensive to Serbs. But this term is not present in the public discourse, either in the media or in politicians and state officials.

Professor Milazim Krasniqi calls this offensive term to Serbs on the part of Albanians as quite positive. As he did, Kosovo has gone through a difficult process of decontamination of nationalist and extremist discours.

In 1999, according to regulations issued by UN Secretary General Bernard Kouchner's Kosovo Special Representative Bernard Kouchner, this type of discurs was criminalised and sent to prison for everyone, including journalists, who promote racial, religious and interethnic hatred.

Also, according to him, after the March 2004 riots, there was an assessment that the media were guilty of violent riots and, according to the publicist Krasniqi, had worked hard within the journalists' community to avoid hateful discours as well as offensive terms against other non-communal communities. He has expressed the opinion that after 2004, Kosovo is definitely disconnected from that type of discurs”.