Are Greater Albania and Greater Serbia the solution for peace in the Balkans and why does the West not allow it?

The idea of creating Greater Albania and Greater Serbia was old and had been around since the 19th century, more precisely since the Berlin Congress, the interlocutors of Kosovo Online explained. However, as Prof. Dr. Momcilo Pavlovic said, Greater Albania and Greater Serbia created major problems, above all Greater Albania, while political scientist Nenad Kecmanovic says that this idea undoubtedly has some rational commercial basis.

The director of the Albanian Post, Baton Haxhiu, mentioned in a letter to Serbian journalists and politicians that "he was personally an ardent supporter and soldier of the idea of border correction and the unification of all Albanians in one state", even though, as he states, he was well aware that border correction would have a domino effect throughout the region. As he added, as an Albanian nationalist, he had been interested in Albania and the Albanians, regardless of what would happen to Macedonia, Montenegro, or Bosnia, and that for him, if the price for a greater Albania had been the creation of a greater Serbia that would be completely acceptable.

Prof. Dr. Momcilo Pavlovic, a historian, reminds that the idea of Greater Albania and Greater Serbia is old and adds that it is now presented in a more modern way in the context of the current crisis.

"Greater Albania is destabilizing the entire Balkans, and there is no need for great knowledge or experience. It is not only a question of Serbia in its south, but also North Macedonia, which would face those Albanian demands, and Montenegro, and on the other hand, the Serbs would validly have an additional argument to raise the Serbian question, which has not been resolved either on the territory of Bosnia or in other breakaway Yugoslav republics," he said.

By the way, as Pavlovic says, this idea of Greater Albania and Greater Serbia originates from the 19th century, more precisely from the Berlin Congress, and has continued to be present in different times and in different forms until today.

"Generally speaking, in the eyes of historians, Greater Albania and Greater Serbia create major problems, above all Greater Albania. To be realistic, those theses are those of the 19th century and they are more or less aspirations. Don't forget that Adem Demaci, the political father of Albin Kurti, spoke about so-called natural Albania, referring to the united areas where Albanians live, and that goes all the way to Nis and Leskovac, those southern parts of Serbia," Pavlovic said.

On the other hand, as he says, there is a real Albanian issue in the Balkans and it has been resolved at different times, in different ways, but, he adds, there is also a Serbian issue.

He states that today the issue of both Albanians and the Serbs is territorialized only in the Kosovo region and that we are witnessing a crisis in which the West has been wholeheartedly involved since the end of the nineties.

"Now the West is struggling with how to justify its action and how to ensure the independence of Kosovo in a way to humiliate Serbia and to get Serbia to agree to the fact that Kosovo gets independence, without it being a consequence of aggression, but of reality.

Historical realities arise and disappear through different actions, both by Serbian and Albanian actors, but also by events on the international level.

Therefore, the conflict in Ukraine further strengthened Serbia's argument that it defends its territorial integrity and sovereignty, that aggressive attacks cannot affect territorial changes..." he stated.

Pavlovic explains that Greater Serbia is a product of Austro-Hungarian propaganda and that it has been going on since the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century.

He states that in the current circumstances, Greater Serbia would threaten the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other breakaway Yugoslav republics, and, as he notes, on the other hand, the Serbian issue has not been resolved in a comprehensive and unified manner.

"The Albanians are supported and incited to create an independent state, and on the other hand, the Serbs in Bosnia, who are as numerous as the Albanians in Kosovo, are persistently pushed into a mini-Yugoslavia, into some kind of federation, and they persistently express some of their aspirations for independent development and life," he adds.

On the other hand, Pavlovic notes that those two issues - the Kosovo and Serbian issues in Bosnia never overlapped; to say that there is an Albanian issue, and there is a Serbian issue, can we, in accordance with international rules, overlap and see what are the points of convergence and what of separations.

If the solution to the Serbian issue were to be started based on Greater Serbia, Pavlovic says that we would end up in a situation where the surrounding countries would be destabilized and a big problem would arise.

"In order to prevent this, only the broader integration of the entire Yugoslav space, don't forget that it is a unique space of mixed nations and standards, only a wider state, international framework, can pacify that space."

The only item of agreement between the Serbs and Albanians is European integration, whatever they mean by that, why don't those European peacemakers, and mediators, start from that item that the area of those Yugoslav states plus Albania should be integrated into the EU, and then let the Union dictate its standards through politics, economy, culture... in the sense that there are no borders, guaranteed property, personal, religious, cultural and all other rights, that people can trade freely, and travel freely," Pavlovic believes.

According to his opinion, this would relax relations in the entire Balkans, and especially in the area of the former Yugoslavia, because, as he adds, those people lived as much as they lived separately, they also lived together under different state frameworks, whether it was part of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian empires or Yugoslav states from 1918 to the nineties.

Regarding the aspirations to create Greater Albania, Pavlovic says that they are natural rights and that this aspiration cannot be denied to the Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians, or Greeks.

"It is a natural tendency, but when you put that natural tendency in a historical context, whether it is the war conflict of 1914 or before that the conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in 1886, 1887, and 1888, then the Second World War..., you have a problem to realize your aspirations," he adds.

Pavlovic also reminds that the Yugoslav communists were thinking in 1945 and 1946, especially before the adoption of the constitution, that, as they said, "the areas of Kosovo and Metohija" should be annexed to Albania, but with the condition that Albania joined the Balkan federation.

"There were different options, different ideas, but the reality is the interference of foreign forces that destabilize rather than stabilize these areas, influence that these aspirations are suppressed in one way or another, and then stand out in propaganda as destructive, warmongering, depending on the winners and losers in the war," Pavlovic said.

He adds that, as a rule, these wars are not caused by the Balkan nations themselves, but by political aspirations; tensions are always supported from outside, and in these conflicts, cross interests, there was a mutual quarrel, hatred, crime, action, and reaction.

"Every crime sought revenge and that is one chain in which we move from the 19th century to the present day," Pavlovic concludes.

Political scientist Nenad Kecmanovic says that the idea of an enlarged Albania with Kosovo and Greater Serbia that would be enlarged with Republika Srpska is an old idea that undoubtedly has some rational commercial basis.

However, as he says, although Serbia would receive more people and territory in that exchange than Albania, Kosovo is the source of Serbian spirituality and statehood and is not for profane trade.

"National and spiritual symbols and myths are not values for exchange, and because of that higher meaning, I don't believe that anyone would give them up at any price. However, it is not bad to mention the Kosovo-Serbia parallel to the collective West as an illustration of their double standards," Kecmanovic says.

Clarifying the double standards, Kecmanovic indicates that the West believes that Kosovo must leave Serbia, and Republika Srpska must remain in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Perhaps the real answer to their double standard, as he points out, is our double standard: Kosovo and Metohija must remain in Serbia, and Republika Srpska needs to stay a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, Kecmanovic believes that Kosovo and the Republika Srpska are not comparable because while the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the constituent people, the Albanians in Kosovo are a national minority.

"Perhaps the best answer was once given by Milorad Dodik - 'if Kosovo remains in Serbia, than Republika Srpska is ready to remain in Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina.' If Kosovo leaves Serbia, Republika Srpska also leaves Bosnia and Herzegovina,'' Kecmanovic concluded.