Vujinovic: The PDK would not reach Self-Determination even with Thaci

Security studies researcher Nikola Vujinovic assesses that if Hashim Thaci is not convicted in The Hague, his return to Kosovo would strengthen the Democratic Party of Kosovo and make the opposition louder and more respectable, but that the PDK, even with Thaci, would not be able to reach the level of popularity that Self-Determination currently has in Kosovo.

Thaci would, Vujinovic believes, by returning to Kosovo’s political scene, reconcile the warring factions within the PDK and stabilize the party, where the struggle for leadership, as he says, is being waged behind the scenes.

“But they cannot reach Self-Determination for the simple reason that Mr Kurti has shaped the political framework in Kosovo in such a way that hatred toward Serbs is the dominant theme, and Self-Determination truly excels at that, if I may put it that way. As a result, you cannot outdo that, because the next step is killing people in the streets, and I think that Mr Thaci, who was quite cooperative during his presidency and while he was prime minister, would not do that,” he says.

The thesis of Thaci’s return, he adds, is more a wish of the opposition to finally find a way to defeat Albin Kurti.

“These elections showed that, despite all the criticism and arguments, people still adhere to certain values that are most important to Self-Determination, primarily ethnic hatred toward the Serbian community and the exclusion of that community from the political system of the so-called Kosovo. It seems to me that Mr Thaci’s return would rest on the old glory of a KLA commander, but in the current moment of Kosovo’s political system, he would have nothing else to offer except to act as a brake on the complete collapse of an opposition that is going downhill at enormous speed,” Vujinovic believes.

The verdict against Thaci, who is charged with war crimes, is expected by summer, and our interlocutor believes it will be acquittal, because, as he says, that is the narrative the sponsors want.

“As with Mr Haradinaj, Mr Oric from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Mr Gotovina from Croatia. Quite simply, the story of the Serbian aggressor cannot be accepted if you are accused of crimes, because that would destroy Kosovo’s national myth, which is: we are victims of genocide, and a victim cannot commit crimes. If it were confirmed that a victim can commit crimes, that would then call into question the entire myth: why are you an independent state, when there is already one Albanian state in the Balkans,” Vujinovic concludes.