VZCZCXRO9678
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTI #0116/01 0461531
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151531Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6695
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000116 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE 
DEPT OF JUSTICE FOR OPDAT, ICITAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KV AL
 
SUBJECT: THIS WEEK IN ALBANIA, KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL (FEBRUARY 
8-15, 2008) 
 
¶1.  (U) The following is a weekly report prepared by Embassy 
Tirana's local staff to provide political and economic context and 
insight into developments in Albania.  This special edition focuses 
on the average Albanian's impressions and expectations of an 
expectecd declaration of independence by Kosovo this weekend. 
 
--------------------------------- 
SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT FOR KOSOVO 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) HISTORY REWRITTEN, JUSTICE DELIVERED:  As the day approaches 
for an expected declaration of independence for Kosovo, Albanians of 
Albania feel that history is about to be rewritten.  The process has 
been longer than anyone expected, but momentum was never lost. 
Albanians here have the impression that closing the book on Kosovo 
opens a new chapter in the history of the Albanian people, 
correcting a centuries-old injustice and giving self-rule to 
Kosovars. 
 
¶3.  (U) Albanians, including those outside Kosovo, consider 
independence the most important event in their collective national 
history of the last one hundred years.  The partition of Kosovo from 
Albania in 1913, which turned it over to Yugoslav rule, was 
considered by Albanians everywhere an historic injustice.  While 
most of the world became aware of the plight of Albanian Kosovars in 
the late 90s, for most Albanians those tragic events were only 
another chapter in the history of Kosovar oppression and struggle 
for self-rule. 
 
¶4.  (U) Every Albanian in the region was affected by this history. 
As Albanians here in Albania lived under the isolation and 
repression of their own communist dictator, Kosovar Albanians were 
protesting Serb rule.  The anti-government protests of Kosovar 
students in Pristina in 1981, a hunger strike by minors of Trepca in 
1989, and continued state oppression until the NATO conflict were 
all images that deeply affected the perceptions and understanding of 
Albanians.  Now, across the region, Albanians are relieved that 
Kosovar citizens will have the right to determine their own path for 
the first time in one hundred years. 
 
¶5.  (U) The average Albanian was closest to the Kosovar issue during 
the 1999 crisis.  The atrocities of the Serb army and paramilitaries 
pushed about half a million Kosovar refugees across the border, 
sheltered by regular Albanian families throughout the country. 
Their first-hand reports of the tragedies brought the anguish 
directly into Albanian homes.  However, when Kosovo was freed of 
Serb units, the refugees returned home almost without exception to 
rebuild their homes and their lives in Kosovo.  Notably, few 
remained behind. 
 
¶6.  (U) A side effect of Kosovar history has been the perceptions 
created regarding Europe.  The Great Powers' partition of Kosovo 
made Albanians suspicious of European intentions.  In contrast, 
President Wilson's 1913 stand on the side of the right to 
self-determination for small nations raised U.S. stock in the mind 
of Albanians, an anecdote still well-remembered and often raised by 
Albanian leaders in discussions of U.S. policy toward their country. 
 
 
¶7.  (U) MOVING PAST 1999:  Albanians accept what Serbia has chosen 
so far to avoid:  that their future lies with EU integration.  But 
the widespread feeling of gratitude over Kosovo is paid to the U.S., 
which consistently sustained momentum for independence.  The EU, 
which has set the Western Balkans on a path to membership in its 
exclusive and lucrative club, represents its future, but Albanians 
uniformly believe that without U.S. involvement Kosovo's 
independence would never have been realized. 
 
¶8.  (U) AN END TO GREATER ALBANIA:  The independence of Kosovo, 
along with what Albania hopes to be a quick path to NATO membership 
and an eventual path to the EU, puts "Greater Albania" on the trash 
heap of history. Proud to support the independence of their national 
kin, Albanians here do not have a sense that unification will join 
that solidarity.  Polls consistently show that the overwhelming 
majority of Albanians have no passion for unification.  One hundred 
years of living apart have had an irreversible impact, creating two 
distinct identities among ethnic Albanians, differences which have 
led to a sense of otherness that both easily admit and a sense of 
separateness further enforced by the fact that elites on both sides 
of the border look with suspicion on the idea of unification. 
 
--------------------------------- 
CELEBRATIONS AND EVENTS THIS WEEK 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Though average citizens wait with excitement for a 
proclamation of independence, this is not expected to translate into 
 
TIRANA 00000116  002 OF 002 
 
 
large crowds in the streets.  The government has planned no events 
for this weekend, and has already called on all to show restraint. 
However, hundreds are expected to descend upon Pristina this weekend 
to be present for the historic occasion.  Others plan to stay glued 
to the television, following live coverage from Albanian newscasters 
in Pristina.  While there were initial rumors that Prime Minister 
Berisha could go to Kosovo on independence eve, official reports now 
say that the visit has been postponed.  Albanian police authorities 
in Tirana say they expect spontaneous gatherings in the streets and 
have taken measures to ensure the orderly proceeding of any such 
celebrations. 
 
----------------- 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK 
----------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) Prime Minister Berisha, during a meeting with the Mayor of 
the Kosovar city of Gjakova: "The Albanian spirit and culture are 
the common and inalienable values of our national identity. 
Therefore, Independence Day will bring happiness to every Albanian 
family in the world.  Every Kosovar must rise to the level of a 
contained and legitimate celebration, as the eyes of the world have 
already turned to their victory.  Independence must be handled with 
dignity, an obligation to sacrifices the Kosovar people have made in 
the last century, and celebrations must be an expression of 
gratitude to all well-wishers, wherever they are in the world, who 
supported with sympathy the Kosovar cause." 
 
WITHERS