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User:Antidiskriminator/Drafts of articles/Persecution of Kosovo Albanians loyal to Serbia

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Persecution of Kosovo Albanians loyal to Serbia
Part of Kosovo War
TargetKosovo Albanians loyal to Serbia
Perpetrators Kosovo Liberation Army

The Persecution of Kosovo Albanians loyal to Serbia was organized by KLA in period 1996—1999.[1]

Persecution

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The KLA persecuted Kosovo Albanians who refused to support them or their violent means of struggle. The villagers who did not want them in their villages were "arrested" by KLA or forced to leave their village while students who opted for hunger strike instead for armed struggle were threatened.[2] Ibrahim Rugova, the Kosovo Albanian leader who was against violent methods of struggle, was labeled by KLA as being traitor of the Albanian national cause.[3]

Since 1997 the KLA started to send faxes to Albanian language newspaper taking responsibility for systematic attacks which targeted Serbs but also ethnic Albanians who were loyal to Serbia.[4] KLA labeled moderate Albanians who were loyal to Serbia as "collaborators".[5]

Aftermath

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when NATO forces followed with KLA captured Kosovo in June 1999, many Kosovo Albanians loyal to Serbia were among around 250,000 people who fled Kosovo.[6] According to some sources, thousands of Kosovo Albanians fled to Belgrade.[7]

Arrests and trials

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The president of Serbia proclaimed that "terrorism in Kosovo had been cut in its roots" when the authorities in Serbia arrested sixty Albanians in the end of January 1997 following a long stream of executions of Albanians loyal to Serbia, only to be soon denied by the reality.[8]

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office was established in 2017 for the trials of the crimes committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The crimes includes those against other Kosovo Albanians. In January 2017 several members of KLA were accused by Special Prosecutor for kidnapping and murder of one Kosovo Albanian, Haxhi Petreshi. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-podignuta-optu%C5%BEnica-za-ratne-zlo%C4%8Dine-protiv-pripadnika-ovk-01-16-2017

References

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  1. ^ (Hentea 2006, p. 94): "The KLA was also called the "fax organization" because it claimed credit for its actions by fax, and it began selecting its targets very clearly (police posts, military units, Albanians loyal to Belgrade), carrying out more and more armed attacks against the Yugoslav power."
  2. ^ New Routes. Life & Peace Institute. 1999. p. 6. To advocate nonviolence became dangerous: Albanians who have not wanted the KLA in their villages have been "arrested" by the KLA sometimes ejected from the village, students who went on hunger strike demanding negotiations were threatened
  3. ^ Official Journal of the European Communities: Debates of the European Parliament. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 1998. p. 154. The KLA is meanwhile accusing Dr Rugova of being a traitor to the national Albanian cause, and is taking advantage of the resulting confusion
  4. ^ (Arsovska 2015, p. 44): "Attacks continued at a steady rate, targeting Serbs and ethnic Albanians who pledged their loyalty to the Serbian administration."
  5. ^ United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1998). Repression and violence in Kosovo, March 18, 1998 ; Kosovo, the humanitarian perspective, June 25, 1998: two hearings before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, One Hundred Fifth Congress, second session. United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-16-057628-7. Many of the KLA's terrorist acts were also carried out against moderate Albanians loyal to Serbia, who were labeled "collaborators" by the KLA because they accepted and worked toward preserving the multiethnic structure of Kosovo.
  6. ^ Peace Research. Canadian Peace Research and Education Association. 2002. p. 93. the area of 250,000 people who were not of Albanian heritage (as well as some ethnic Albanians loyal to Yugoslavia).
  7. ^ The Middle East: Abstracts and index. Northumberland Press. 2005. p. 322. Though few Americans know it, thousands of Albanians led to Belgrade when NATO (and the KLA!) took over Kosovo.
  8. ^ (Arsovska 2015, p. 44): "After a series of executions of “loyal Albanians,” Serbian authorities arrested sixty Albanians in late January 1997. Although President Milošević claimed that "terrorism in Kosovo had been cut in its roots" the reality proved him wrong.

Sources

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