Berisha: US elections could reveal the power balance between Serbian and Albanian communities in the US

The President of the Albanian Cultural Association in Serbia, Demo Berisha, points out that both the Serbian and Albanian communities in the US will influence the results of the upcoming US presidential elections in November, and the results will reveal which of the two communities has greater influence.

Berisha notes that there are over a million voters of Serbian origin in the US, compared to about 800,000 of Albanian origin, but Albanians are more united when it comes to national interests.

"Specifically, regarding these elections, for the first time, the Serbian community shows signs of being an organized entity and has participated in all elections. Despite a certain level of assimilation, it exists, is organized, and is visibly so after the formation of the Ministry of Diaspora. This has shown that the Serbian diaspora can influence at a certain level because that is not a small number of votes," Berisha said for Kosovo Online.

As he added, Serbs in America register as the white race, not as a Serbian community, but they can influence election results because they have integrated into all American institutions.

"For us, this is extremely important because, in that case, they could also influence America's foreign policy towards Serbia and the relationship between Pristina and Belgrade," he added.
Berisha says that the Serbian community in the US has changed the candidates they support over time, and they will now surely vote for the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, if he remains a candidate until the end.

"I believe they will choose him because he had a more realistic policy towards Serbia compared to Biden, who was more guided by an emotional approach towards Pristina. It is known that his late son was decorated by Osmani and Kurti," he noted.

Berisha points out that, on the other hand, the Albanian diaspora is very strong in America and reminds that they have been there since 1946, especially since the 1970s when the SFRY opened up. He notes that a large number of Albanians, not only from Kosovo but from all Balkan regions, went to America at that time.

"When it comes to national interests, Albanians, unlike Serbs, regardless of where they are or which party they belong to, and despite Kurti's efforts to divide them, will support Biden in this case. We have a battle between the two communities, and my compatriots have much more money at their disposal compared to the Serbian community, which we saw in 1998 when the transatlantic brigade living in America came through Durres and joined the KLA," Berisha said.

He also mentions that America perceives the Albanian community as its citizens in the true sense and points to the statement of the American ambassador in Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, during the celebration of US Independence Day, who said that they fully count on Kosovo as a friend, while Albanians perceive themselves as the 52nd American state.

He states that this relationship is very important and emphasizes that members of the Albanian community will support the Democratic candidate Joseph Biden by 90 percent.

"This will reflect the relationship between the Serbian and Albanian communities, regardless of living millions of kilometers away from Serbia," Berisha says, adding that the Albanian community is slightly smaller than the Serbian community, numbering no more than 800,000, but they have a completely different mentality compared to the Serbian community.

He reiterates that the Serbian community has organized in recent years partly through certain churches and organizations, while the Albanian community has always been organized around national interests, which are completely different from those of the Serbs.

Berisha notes that it is extremely important what messages the Serbian community receives from Serbia.

"Serbia must maintain its presence in America's political elites through this segment as well. In any case, they can influence the results, and they need to be supported because they are necessary for us at this moment, and it would be really foolish to leave them to decide freely. We should demand their support because supporting Trump at this moment is supporting Serbia. Serbia needs to have relations with America that are not particularly bad at the moment, but should be better," he says.

He adds that the current American administration does not have a clear stance, which can be seen in the comments on the Srebrenica Resolution and the All-Serbian Assembly because the US ambassador in Sarajevo had one stance, Hovenier another, and the US ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, a third.

Commenting on the debate between the candidates in the US elections, Berisha says that replacements for both candidates are possible at this stage.

"Various proceedings are being conducted against one candidate to eliminate him and prove that democracy rules in the US, and such people have the right to run until certain verdicts are finalized. On the other hand, we have a person who, as we can see, is no longer physically fit. If he were sent for a medical examination, I am sure he would not pass. Both candidates can be questioned," he says.

He adds that the Democrats could nominate someone else instead of Biden due to his physical and mental health because many decisions are now made without his direct influence, and under the American constitution, the president's direct influence is required.

Regarding Trump, Berisha notes that he is the only American president who did not cause any new wars in the world, and he even had the idea that where there is war, American soldiers should withdraw and return home.