Kosovo is the oldest part of Serbia, dating as a country, from prior to the 10th century. It is the religious, cultural and historical heart of Serbia. This bond of Serbians to Kosovo is immensely stronger than anything that Americans can easily imagine. Think about what Plymouth Rock, Boston, Williamsburg and others mean to the culture and history of the United States and multiply that by a hundred times or more. 

The Serbians in Kosovo fought and brought to a standstill the invasion of the Ottoman Turks into eastern Europe. they did, however, lose to the Turks and became part of the Ottoman Empire until freed after WW I when Kosovo became part of Yugoslavia which was created out of the states of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia. A small number of ethnic Albanians lived in Kosovo dating from the time of the Turkish occupation. During which time, also, many ethnic Serbians were forcibly converted to Islam. Most Muslims in Yugoslavia are descendants of Croatians and Serbians converted in this way.

During WWII the Nazis, along with armies of puppet governments in Croatia and Albania fiercely attacked and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Serbians throughout Yugoslavia and forced into exile many hundreds of thousands of Serbians and others from all parts of Yugoslavia.

When the communists under Tito took over Yugoslavia, Tito, a Croatian, refused to let many of  the Kosovar Serbians return to Kosovo and instead, encouraged the Albanians to settle there. Many Albanians immigrated to Kosovo during this period, both legally and illegally. With the high birth-rate of Albanians, (roughly 5-1 versus others), immigration of Albanians into Kosovo, and a process of 'ethnically cleansing' Serbians from Kosovo through intimidation and other means, the population shifted from a small percentage of ethnic Albanians to the estimated 90% rate of today. It should be noted that there are approximately 200,000 ethnic Albanians in Serbia proper.

The remaining Serbian population in Kosovo continued to suffer under the Albanians who were given a high degree of autonomy by Tito. Milosevich used this to his advantage and gathered support from Serbians throughout all of Yugoslavia by promising to remedy the situation in Kosovo. He withdrew Kosovo's autonomy and repealed a tax which subsidized much of the ethnic Albanian population. In this environment was formed the KLA, whose stated intent was to break Kosovo away from Yugoslavia by any means and form it into a 'Greater Albania' along with Albania, and parts of Macedonia and Montenegro which had significant ethnic Albanian populations. The KLA was funded by Islamic fundamentalists in other Islamic countries as well as from traffic in drugs. Our State Department listed the KLA as a 'terrorist organization'. The KLA began attacks on Serbian establishments, Serbian civilians and ethnic Albanians who opposed them. Milosevich responded with more police, military troops and some very dubious para-military forces. Much killing and attacks from both sides escalated the situation.  The number of people killed on both sides was in the thousands, (a horrible number, but not classifiable as genocide by either side).

With Milosevich an obvious villain and tendencies to regard any people under oppression as being the 'good guys', the KLA won the propaganda war and public opinion was aroused to 'do something'. The result was the so-called 'negotiations' between NATO powers and Slobadan Milosevich. The 'agreement' brought forth at Rambouillet was, to the Serbians, an attempt to bring about the stated aims of the KLA and they in no way could ever agree to that. The KLA themselves refused to sign it, (since it demanded that they disarm), until it became obvious that Serbia would never do so and they, (the KLA), had nothing to lose and more propaganda points to win by signing.

When NATO began bombing, the Kosovo Albanians began to flee. It is evident that much of this was forced on them by the Serbians, and it is also apparent that much of it was simply due to people fleeing from a war zone. In this respect, It should be noted that some 50,000 or more actually fled into Serbia proper and a large number into Montenegro and Macedonia, both  mostly Serbian provinces.

There were many in Serbia who protested against Milosevich. Recall the days when thousands of students carried out a continuous protest in the streets of Belgrade. The Othodox Church leaders came out against him and Metropolitan Pavle, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, came to this country and spoke to Congress condemning him. Few here paid any attention. Few also paid attention when Croatia 'ethnically cleansed' the ethnic Serbians out of the Krajina region of Croatia causing some 500,000 regugees in Serbia. Had NATO not attacked Yugoslavia, it is likely that he would have been out of power within a fairly short time and perhaps a more moderate government installed. Instead, the bombing has caused almost all opposition against Milosevich to be dropped or at least forced underground for the time being. He is far stronger now than he ever was. The only apparent solution for NATO to this war, in light of the Serbians' refusal to submit to this aggression, is for Serbia and its people to be totally destroyed. They were the fiercest guerilla fighters against the Nazis in WWII and I doubt that they will be any less so against occupying NATO, (read mostly American) troops. I don't believe that they will give up easily even after their country is destroyed.

The above is the best that I recall from my reading and understanding of the situation in Kosovo. If there are any errors, then I will welcome corrections and will post them as I receive them.

I am particularly interested in making the information on this page as accurate as I possibly can. If you have _documented_ information to support or to refute what I have said here, please send to me at dwrighsr@alltel.net. 

David Wright