Nikovski: Protests expected, Albanians are not giving up the “Greater Albanian dream”

Former North Macedonian ambassador to Albania Risto Nikovski assessed that the protests by Albanians over the Hague verdict were expected because, for them, the convicted KLA leaders are “liberators”, and he also notes that their message is clear – they are not giving up the “Greater Albanian dream”. However, he points out that destabilization or a new war in the region is not possible because the United States does not want it.

Explaining several dimensions that, in his view, these protests have, Nikovski said that such reactions are logical or, at the very least, expected, because the convicted KLA leaders are “liberators” to Albanians.

“That is the first element which is not ethical, but is understandable and expected,” Nikovski told Kosovo Online.

He also assessed that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, much like the Hague Tribunal, are a political institution that has no legislative framework of its own and adjudicates according to political practices and rules.

In addition, he noted that the convicted KLA leaders were previously the main partners of Western powers, which have now “thrown them under the bus”.

“We see pictures of Bill Clinton embracing Hashim Thaci, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton... And, you know what happens in politics – they used them, they became an obstacle to them and they threw them under the bus. The same thing actually happened with Slobodan Milosevic, who was the main factor in the Dayton Agreement. Milosevic ‘de facto’ pushed that agreement through, he sacrificed the Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina in a way... Or Gotovina in Croatia, the same thing happened,” Nikovski explains.

In addition, he emphasizes that the verdict convicted individuals, but not the event itself, which was “absolutely illegal”.

“The event was absolutely violent, a form of terrorism, and the court did not convict it. In a way, the court convicted the leaders and they should be held accountable, but it ‘de facto’ verified the illegal, secessionist war against Serbia and gave it a legal basis,” Nikovski said.

Asked what messages are being sent by the protests and whether they could further destabilize the region, he answers that destabilization or a new war in the region is not possible because the United States does not want it, as it has been the dominant factor since the breakup of Yugoslavia.

“With wars and unrest, they would bring the Russians back. And if there is one thing the Americans want, it is for the Russians to be as far away from the Balkans as possible. Therefore, a new redrawing of borders in the Balkans is not possible, and that is the positive aspect of all these developments,” Nikovski said.

He noted, however, that the message from the Albanians is clear – they are not giving up the “Greater Albanian dream”.

“Rama and Kurti, especially Rama, clearly and publicly state that they have Albanian territories in Macedonia. What is that? Pure irredentism. And those are their dreams which, I think, for now have in a way been set aside because of US policy. Macedonia is next after the events in Kosovo. The goal of the Albanians is to reconfigure it from within, through the so-called Ohrid Framework Agreement, which is plan B following the events of 2001,” Nikovski warns.

He added that the developments in Kosovo in 1999, in the three municipalities in southern Serbia, Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, in 2000, and in Macedonia in 2001 were part of the same scenario.

“It was a Greater Albanian project supported by the West, by the world's leading power, with the aim of making Albanians the main factor in the Balkans, because they are their main and only strategic partner. They do not trust the Slavs or Greece, and that is why the Albanians came forward and remain their main partner, and they were also the only ones who fought Milosevic, who was their devil at the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia,” Nikovski concluded.