jo në emrin tim: an accessible explanation of Kosova and what's going on right now

In 1912 Albania gained freedom from the ottoman empire, during this fall of regime, Albania was in the process of unifying itself as a country. This time frame opened up our territories to the rest of the balkans, we were vulnerable. The region of Kosova was under-developed but beautiful with thriving family farms. The most recent settlers of the area, serbia, got ahold of it. The Albanian government couldn't do anything about it. Brutal occupation started. Ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, daily murders, rapes, the works. A lot of people were able to flee back to the rest of Albania or to other parts of the balkans, but it was difficult and borders closed quickly with the development of the kingdom of serbia (later renamed yugoslavia) forming in 1918. Speaking Albanian outside of the home was mostly a no no in occupied Kosova.

Practicing Islam was a no no as well. Our mosques were burned down. This was majorly a religiously fueled genocide, proven by our neighbors in Bosnia facing the same heinous experience. We resisted with our celebrations, with our culture, with our families. Things got worse. Yugoslavia got stronger. Albanians would get drafted in the yugoslavian army against their will. Going outside as an Albanian was practically a crime. Our kids were learning serbian and the Albanian language was only taught in the home for a long time. Attempting to cross borders was a torture roulette. Some famillies would be let through and the next would be shot and killed, the next family would have just their children killed then let through and then the next were all let through. It was a game for the serbs. They'd force parents at gun point to pick a child then kill the other. When they'd go burning down houses they'd force an Albanian to call their family out from hiding and then kill them all.. but the one that called to them, for fun. But dont worry, they'd sometimes shoot them too as they walked away. The serbs also spread poison gas through the few schools we did have. This rendered everyone that was exposed to it, dead or disabled for life. Then finally when the constant torture by the serbs was covered on news outlets, they called us actors. Footage of Albanians getting interviewed about the occupation had false translations, framing us as terrorists when in reality, what was being said were heartfelt traumatic stories. We had no help but the news coverage.

In 1998 our liberation army, UÇK, officially formed and we finally started fighting back. This gave serbia the ammunition to go full throttle and the brutal but slower ethnic cleansing of before, turned into a more obvious and quick mass genocide. People fled, the torture got worse and the displacement quicker. Humanitarian aid came to Kosova, refugee camps were set up in the mountains and neighboring countries. My parents and their 6 kids before me, then fled to one of these camps.

UÇK didn't stop fighting for us, they protected and defended, with less than a quarter of the troops that the serbs had, and almost no weaponry but old guns. They fought, and beautifully. We weren't gonna give up and it was obvious. This caused the relatively new 'UN' to intervene, as they had recently failed with bosnia, they had something to prove. They used us as a chess piece to prove their authority. Bill Clinton sent troops in to peace keep, and our country was bombed by America as a means to stop the war, then a ceasefire was put in place. From 1999 to 2008 we were in a limbo of a country, amidst a ceasefire. Protests for our freedom were happening, some wanted to reunite with Albania and the rest, knowing the low possibility of that reality, wanted our own borders.

On February 17th 2008, we were officially proclaimed our own Republic, with a flag that no Albanian saw prior to the UN's assignment of it. We were free, and all thanks to UÇK for initiating our rebellion, and fighting our way to recognition and finally freedom.

Fast forward to 2020 the leaders of UÇK were arrested and brought to the Hague, on the basis of having committed war crimes. serbian leaders were barely convicted, facing short sentences or none at all. slobodan milsovic (the president of serbia during the height of the genocide, and the biggest advocate for 'death to Albanians') committed suicide before being tried and most of the others still free without any judgement. But our UÇK leaders are being tried for only defending their people after 96 years of brutal occupation and ethnic cleansing. I love the world... On September 16, 2026.. Hashim Thaçi, Jakup Krasniqi, Kadri Veseli, and Rexhep Selimi. The leaders of UÇK, who are the main reason we are free from occupation and genocide, were convicted of war crimes at the Hague and got a collective sentence of 128 years. I'm sad and disappointed but not surprised. I believe that if our UÇK leaders were freed, this would've caused a reactionary push towards the UN to do something for the liberation of Palestine, which of course couldn't happen. I have hope nonetheless. For everything. For a unified Albania, for justice, and for a free Palestine.