The activities that institutions of Republic of Kosovo and of Republic of Serbia seem not to have the guts to undertake neither in Prishtina nor in Belgrade and not even in the aristocratic atmospheres sealed with diplomacy in the lavish hotels of Vienna,

are being done by random citizens of the two neighbouring countries, precisely where the conflict was conceived – a place that has produced more history than it could be consumed and digested regionally – Kosovo and Serbia.

A face to face meeting between Kosovar and Serbian representatives in the presence of regional and European representatives with regards to discussions relating to the events and experiences from the last war in Kosovo; truth finding and establishment of the Truth Commission; was organised by NGO INTEGRA in cooperation with IKV Pax Christi of Holland in the premises of Hotel Victory on 12th of September – far away from the aristocratic atmospheres and palatable dinners served to the leaders of both countries.

‘Truth Finding – Which way now for Kosovo?’ is the roundtable organised as the final phase of the empirical research about the ‘Attitudes towards inter-ethnic relations and truth telling’. This event was attended by members of civil societies from Holland, Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sequence which captured everyone’s interest was the presence of public figures from political, judicial and cultural segments of Kosovo, who were eager to learn the formula on what on earth managed to convince Albanians and Serbs to discuss and face the truths of the war in Kosovo, while the leaders of two countries dig major holes to avoid these kind of meetings.

The truth of a conflict between two ethnic groups is an abstract and rather relative concept, which is prone to diametrically opposite interpretations of the parties involved in the conflict, who although cohabit in a common place, they share different values, beliefs and judgements regarding the past with its open wounds. The vacuum created from the freezing of interactions between these parties serves as an advantage for those who want to exploit the absence of these interactions in order to precipitate unpleasant situations where interethnic hatred serves as the key mineral that fosters this post-war society. However, these kind of initiatives (such as the one undertaken by INTEGRA) aiming to amalgamate the opposite interpretations in order to enable analysis and evaluations of the past between the two ethic groups are the most efficient mechanisms for bringing reconciliation and mutual respect between parties and should not be seen as adding salt to an open wound.

Visiting the newborn capital, that occupied the world media as well as the Serb ones last February, Belgradians seemed to be analysing the common interests with their Kosovar counterparts as far as the past is concerned; and they were trying to take the situation into a different dimension by exploring various avenues for cooperation in the future. Fully persuaded that truth finding and inter-ethnic reconciliation are the fundamentals of respect and empathy under the EU umbrella, the Kosovar representatives (including associations of war victims and NGOs) were agreeing that Serb as well as Kosovar nationalist propagandas ought to be buried in a sterile ground and further concentrate on the consolidation of the Truth Commission. The presence of the head of the Humanitarian Law Centre, Miss Natasa Kandic, a figure adored and hated in equal measure by the people of Balkans, fuelled the heat of the debate. The discussion reached its pinnacle when Miss Kandic began to share the experiences of truth telling from the other wars in the former Yugoslavia as well as suggesting techniques on how to tackle this issue professionally.

This NGO-INTEGRA-led research comprised of 73% Albanians, 24.9% Serbs and 1.3% included other communities in Kosovo, namely Bosniaks, Goranis, Romas and Ashakalis. Asked about the root of the problem between two ethnic groups in Kosovo, Albanians respondents pointed their finger towards Belgrade and it’s interference in Kosovo as well as the lack of interest among Serbs to integrate in the Kosovar society, claiming that these factors are the embryo of the problem, whereas the Serbs castigate the attitude of the Kosovar leaders and the lack of Albanian efforts for Kosovo Serb integration. There is a significant difference when the sources of history regarding the past are analysed. Looked from the Albanian and Serb prisms, the main sources are media (28.6%) and (48.8%), respectively, whereas family conversations (23.4%) and (3.4%) and finally books make up 31.6% and 21%, respectively. It is very evident that creation of opinions and ideas regarding the Kosovo war among Albanians is mainly based on family conversations, something which is not quite the case with Serbs.

The research teaches us an interesting fact that both parties of the Kosovo conflict support the idea of sharing their experiences to each other. However, only a small number of respondents were comfortable with actively taking part themselves.

Judged from the point of view of Albanian respondents, the main culprit that led to the Kosovo war is the Serb nation (78%), whereas according to Serb respondents the Albanian nation who need to get the blame (64.9%).

A somewhat compelling result arises when the credibility of the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is analysed. Not surprisingly 99.5% of Serbs respondents did not agree with the statement that ‘ICTY is doing a great work in discovering the truth and punishing individuals who have committed crimes during the war in Kosovo”, whereas among Albanians 22.7% agreed with the statement, 22% are neutral, 44.3% do not agree and 9.7% have no opinion.

The respondents were asked to give an estimate on how long it will take for the normalisation of relations between Serbs and Albanians and a clear scepticism is observed among the two parties as far as this issue is concerned. 28% claimed that the relations will never normalise, 30.9% claimed that it will take 3 – 10 years, whereas 32.9% said they don’t know. Only 5.3% demonstrated optimism stating that normalisation of relations will occur relatively soon within 1 or 2 years.

The results of the research brought together as a by-product the recommendations of the two working groups, where a specific focus was dedicated to the belief that the establishment of the Truth Commission will further deepen the efforts of truth telling. Now, it remains to see to what extent Serbs will integrate in Kosovo’s life, whether they will choose to live under the motto ‘I love my enclave’ and promote their freedom of movement from one enclave to another; it also remains to see whether Albanians will continue to scribble and erase Serbian words in official documents and whether they will continue to listen to Bijelo Dugme fearing that they might be overheard from their neighbours in their flat. 

Finally, remains to see what will happen with Genc, Dejan, Hana, Zorica – will they fight in front of internationals or will they pretend to be best mates?