Kosovo -illegal but legitimate- a new country in Europe

The Assembly of Kosovo on February 17 declared the disputed territory independent from Serbia, calling it "an independent, democratic and sovereign state". Kosovo self-proclaimed leaders and members of parliament approved a declaration of independence which called for the creation of a "democratic, secular and multi-ethnic republic, guided by the principles of non-discrimination and equal protection under the law". Kosovo is now overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians with small minorities of Serbs and other ethnic groups with total population estimated (2000) between 1.8-2.0 million.

The United States and several key European Union powers formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state on February 19, one day after the Assembly of Kosovo unilaterally declared Kosovo's independence from Serbia. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement on behalf of the United States which "formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state". The US President George W. Bush wrote a letter to Fatmir Sejdiu referring him as a president of Kosovo: “On behalf of the American people, I hereby recognize Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state. I congratulate you and Kosovo's citizens for having taken this important step in your democratic and national development” and had "responded affirmatively" to a request from Kosovo to open diplomatic relations with the US.
Also Monday, the EU's General Affairs and External Relations Council concluded that the decision to recognize Kosovo's independence would be left to each EU member state, "in accordance with national practice and international law". Great Britain, France, and Germany recognized Kosovo's independence. Other countries including Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Poland also said they had initiated national procedures to recognize Kosovo.

Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, and Romania said they would not.
Spain opposes to Kosovo's independence in the fear of prospective secession of some independence-minded regions in Spain, ex. the Basque area. "The Spanish government is not going to recognize the unilateral act proclaimed yesterday by the Kosovar assembly", Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said.
Slovakia, which has a sizable Hungarian minority, said the move will encourage ethnic tensions. "Slovakia does not see a way to recognize Kosovo", Slovakia's Foreign Minister Jan Kubis said.
Cyprus is alarmed at any move that could imply that the breakaway Turkish Cypriot part of the island, which is not internationally recognized, could win diplomatic legitimacy.
Romania has a problem with Hungarian minority heading for autonomy.
European reaction reflected a similar pattern around the world, as Kosovo's move appeared to be a litmus test of attitudes in Asia toward secession. China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka criticized Kosovo while Taiwan and Australia welcomed the declaration.

The Serbian government, which immediately denounced the unilateral declaration as illegal, said it would never recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Serbia deems the succession as null and void and in violation of "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the United Nations Charter, Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), other relevant Security Council Resolutions as well as by international law in force". The Serbian Interior Ministry on Monday filed treason charges against Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, President Fatmir Sejdiu and Speaker of Parliament Jakup Krasniqi, for their role in organizing the Assembly of Kosovo's Sunday declaration of independence from Serbia. Thaci, former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in prison on terrorism charges in 1997 by a Serbian court.
Russia has also rejected Kosovo's declaration, warning that such unilateral action without the approval of the United Nations sets a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" around the world. On February 17, the UN Security Council failed to reach a consensus due to the position of Russia and China on the situation during an emergency session requested by Russia.

Should Kosovo be recognized as an independent state?
The commitments the U.S., European States and Russia made in the Helsinki Final Act, suggest that Serbia's territorial integrity must be respected, as does Security Council Resolution 1244, which created the international protectorate over Kosovo and laid the legal groundwork for the final status process. Russia further claims that 1244 only authorized a UN administration – and therefore the planned handover to an EU supervisory mission is illegal. Since the resolution is still in force and has not been superseded by any other Security Council action, the Kosovo Assembly’s action is in violation of Resolution 1244. Security Council resolution 1244 doesn’t actually say anything about creating a new state, and prudential interpretative principles as well as the general purposes of the UN Charter would probably counsel against reading in an extraordinary right to alter the borders of another state. The US and majority European view is a replay of the justifications surrounding NATO’s original intervention in Kosovo: that did not have the Security Council’s sanction either. Their strategy was to declare the moral necessity of what they were doing assuming the position towards the Kosovo war - 'illegal but legitimate', as well as to the newly hatched country Kosovo.

FactSheet:

• Kosovo is presently the territory with probably the worst human rights record in the world: 250,000 Serbs have been ethnically cleansed since 1999, about 1,500 killed; about 150 Christian churches and monasteries destroyed. This cannot be rewarded with independence.
• Maj-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, now retired, commanded UN troops during the Bosnian civil war of 1992, wrote the following on April 6th 2004 in the article for the Canadian National Post entitled "We Bombed the Wrong Side": "The Kosovo-Albanians have played us like a Stradivarius. We have subsidized and indirectly supported their violent campaign for an ethnically pure and independent Kosovo.We have never blamed them for being the perpetrators of the violence in the early '90s and we continue to portray them as the designated victim today in spite of evidence to the contrary. When they achieve independence with the help of our tax dollars combined with those of bin Laden and al-Qaeda, just consider the message of encouragement this sends to other terrorist-supported independence movements around the world. Funny how we just keep digging the hole deeper!".
• The famous Quebec Advisory Opinion rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes two types of self-determination: internal and external. The Albanians have one state already as the expression of their right to self-determination; that state is The People's Republic of Albania. The Albanians in Serbia therefore have status of a minority. Thus they have the right to internal self-determination only.

********************

• 30+ destroyed churches and monasteries in the Kosovo Kristallnacht
  17-18 March 2004
  Prizren

1. Holy Virgin of Lyevish - Bogorodica Ljeviska (14th century)
2. Church of Christ the Savior (14th century)
3. Cathedral of St. George (1856)
4. Church of St. Nicholas (Tutic’s church, 14th century)
5. Church of St. Nicholas (Runovic’s church, 16th century)
6. Church of St. Kyriake (14th century)
7. Church of St. Panteleimon (14th century)
8. Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (14th century)
9. Church of St. Kyriake, Zivinjane, near Prizren
10. Holy Archangels Monastery (14th century)
    *Serbian Orthodox Seminary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius
    *Bishop’s residence in Prizren
    Orahovac
11. Church of St. Kyriake, (1852), Brnjaca, Orahovac 1852
    Djakovica
12. Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (16-19th century), with the parish home.
13. Cathedral church of the Holy Trinity (two bell-towers which survived the 1999 mining were razed to the ground. Kosovo Albanians remove all material from the site)
14. Church of St. Lazarus, Piskote, near Djakovica
    Srbica
15. Devic Monastery (15. century) burned to the ground with the tomb of St. Ioanichius of Devic opened and desecrated. Fire was burned in the tomb of the saint.
    Pec
16. Church of St. John the Baptist (Metropolia, with the parish home)
17. Church of Virgin Mary, Belo Polje nr. Pec, burned again and desecrated
18. Church of St. John the Baptist (Pecka Banja)
    Urosevac
19. Cathedral of St. Uros the Emperor, Urosevac
20. 
    (According to the Athens media at least two more Orthodox churches which were under the protection of the Greek KFOR have been left unprotected. Initial information say that these two locations have been destroyed
    Kamenica
21. Church in Donja Slapasnica, Kosovska Kamenica
22. Church in Talinovci, nr. Gnjilane
    Stimlje
23. Church of St. Archangel Michael in Stimlje
    Pristina
24. Church of St. Nicholas (19 th century), Pristina town
    Kosovo Polje
25. Church of St Nicholas, Kosovo Polje, burned and desecrated
26. Church of St. Katherine, Bresje nr. Kosovo Polje, burned
    Vucitrn
27. Church of St. Elias, Vucitrn
    Obilic
28. Church of St. Michael in Obilic
    Kosovska Mitrovica
29. Church of St. Sava, Mitrovica South
    Podujevo
30. Church of St. Elias, Podujevo

***************************************

Sources: Jurist, WH, IHT, US Serbian Orthodox Church