Gudzic: Albanian continuity in this region is artificially proven

The ultimate goal of Albanian intellectuals who initiated the petition for Kosovo to change its name to Dardania is to erase the Serbian character of Kosovo from memory through the name and narrative and artificially prove Albanian continuity in this region, historian Aleksandar Gudzic told Kosovo Online.

As he adds, this is not a new phenomenon and will continue to happen in the future.

“Albanian intellectuals are already advancing the thesis that Serbian churches and monasteries are actually Albanian and that they were occupied by Serbs at some earlier time. All of this aims to demonstrate ‘Albanian continuity and Serbian usurpation,’” Gudzic explains.

He points out that there is no historical evidence that Albanians are the direct descendants of the Dardanians, Illyrians, Pelasgians, or other peoples.

“Everything the Albanian academic community in Pristina and Kosovo tries to prove is unprovable,” Gudzic states.

He explains that there is an eight-century gap between the Illyrians and Albanians, as the Illyrians are last mentioned in the 3rd century, during the time of Emperor Diocletian, while Albanians are first mentioned in the 11th century in Anna Komnene’s “Alexiad,” where she refers to the ”Albanion region.”

“In those eight centuries, neither Illyrians nor Albanians are mentioned in any sources. I support the scientific position that Albanians are not the direct descendants of the Illyrians. At some point, they appeared in the Balkans and settled there, but we lack historical evidence of when this happened. They had a region under their control, but they are a nation that arrived much later than the Illyrians and is not directly connected to them,” Gudzic emphasizes.

Speaking about the Dardanians, he notes that they were a Paleo-Balkan people who, at some point, disappeared from the historical stage.

“It is not uncommon in history for some peoples to establish states or even serious empires and then suddenly disappear from the historical scene. The Avars are perhaps the most famous example. At one point, they ruled Central and Eastern Europe and parts of the Balkans, but then they vanished from history. Among the Serbian people, the saying ‘Disappeared like the Avars’ became common. Similarly, the Dardanians had a state in the Balkans, ruled parts of it, and eventually disappeared,” Gudzic explains.

Kosovo, he emphasizes, is the region most deeply tied to Serbian national sentiment, a sacred land.

“More than 90 percent of place names attest to the Serbian character of Kosovo and the Serbian presence there in the past. Over the last two centuries, the ethnic makeup of Kosovo has changed due to various international and internal circumstances. Serbs left Kosovo, and Albanians settled in the vacant areas. However, the place names, churches, and monasteries all testify to Serbian presence and history in Kosovo,” Gudzic concludes.