The delegation of US congressmen, who visited the Presevo Valley on Tuesday, stressed the importance of stability and prosperity in addressing issues between Albanians and Serbs. Keith Self of the Republicans and Suhas Subramanyam of the Democrats met with various officials, including the only Albanian MP in the Serbian Parliament, Shaip Kamberi, to get information and opinions directly from the ground.
"We have seen that there are real problems between Albanians and Serbia, as we have known. But we will also go to Kosovo to learn about the Serbian minority there. So we are visiting both countries to understand how minorities are treated and what their rights are," Self told reporters. Subramanyam cited the education system and the unequal development for Albanians in Serbia as one of the main problems of minority rights, while saying that the issue of deactivation of addresses was also discussed in the meetings.
“The reality is that Serbia, in order to move forward, needs to be able to address these issues,” the Democratic congressman said. Speaking to Radio Free Europe after the meeting, Kamberi said the congressmen “are convinced of the existing situation on the ground” and appeared confident that the problems in the Presevo Valley are receiving international attention.
"There is a wide range of problems – first of all that of integration into state institutions. The lack of Albanians in those institutions – starting from the police, borders, judiciary, i.e. in the bodies operating in the territories of our municipalities – not only violates the rights of Albanians to be directly represented, but also creates a situation where a minority, which constitutes 95% of the population here, does not trust those institutions," said Kamberi. He added that the authorities in Belgrade are using Russian and Chinese influence to supposedly prove that the West is not the only option, but, according to him, Serbia has no other alternatives than the European Union.
“The EU means accepting and respecting the rights of minorities, but the policy of this government has harmed not only the interests of minorities, not only the interests of the Albanian community, but also the long-term interests of Serbia itself,” according to Kamber. The visit of the US congressmen to Presevo – a city in southern Serbia, inhabited by an Albanian majority – comes after, earlier this year, the Foreign Policy Committee of the US House of Representatives approved a bill requiring the US Secretary of State to prepare a comprehensive report on the position of minorities in Serbia, with a special focus on Albanians in the Presevo Valley. The bill, initiated by Congressman Self, provides for the examination of several issues related to the Albanian minority in Serbia, including the passivation of addresses, namely the deletion of citizens from the addresses where they are registered.
It also addresses restrictions on the use of the Albanian language in public institutions, the non-recognition of diplomas from Kosovo, and the lack of Albanian-language textbooks. These issues were also mentioned in the US State Department's 2023 report on human rights in Serbia.
What do the citizens say?
Samet Maksuti from Presheva does not expect any changes after the visit of American congressmen.
"There are no jobs, no factories, people have nowhere to work. Many have migrated to Germany," he tells Radio Free Europe.
Sabit Rexhepi says that there are no problems in the city and that coexistence between Albanians and Serbs is good. “Politics threatens the rights of minorities, but we have no problems with each other,” he says. As for the eventual changes that the visit of the American congressmen may bring, he says that they depend on the politicians. “But I don’t expect anything better. As long as Aleksandar Vučić is president [of Serbia], there will be nothing,” says Rexhepi. A day earlier, the American congressmen stayed in Belgrade, where they met with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nevena Jovanović.
According to the ministry, the meeting discussed bilateral relations between Serbia and the US, the situation in the region, and the position of the Serbian community in Kosovo. A meeting with the Speaker of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, was also planned, but was canceled. On May 24, the US congressmen also visited Sarajevo, where they stressed their commitment to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are expected to continue their Balkan tour with a visit to Kosovo, where they will meet with the acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, and the acting prime minister, Albin Kurti, on May 27.
What is the position of Albanians in Serbia?
Members of the Albanian community living in southern Serbia, in the municipalities of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac, have often raised concerns about discriminatory practices by the authorities in Belgrade, while Kosovo Government officials have consistently supported their claims.
Kosovo has offered support in several areas, including agriculture, but has reported that Serbia has blocked some payments. Representatives of the Presevo Valley and the Serbian state reached three agreements in 2001, 2007 and 2013, which provided for the protection of the rights and integration of the Albanian minority, but their implementation has remained limited. The integration of Albanians into institutions is also part of Serbia's obligations in the framework of negotiations for membership in the European Union.
According to the latest census in 2022, over 60 Albanians live in Serbia, making them the fourth largest minority in the country. Meanwhile, Belgrade's decision to reinstate compulsory military service has caused concern among Albanians in the area, who say they have painful experiences from the past. In a 2021 report by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac are described as "hostages of relations between Kosovo and Serbia"./REL
