 |
| Shaip Kamberi in a live interview with Zoom, screenshot. |
In the Serbian Parliament emerging from the December 17 elections, Albanians living in Serbia will be represented by one deputy. Mr. Shaip Kamberi, the newly elected deputy for another term, told VOA that his battle in the Serbian Parliament remains the same – to raise the various concerns and difficulties faced by Albanians in the Preshevo Valley. Meanwhile, researchers criticize Serbia for systematic discrimination against the Albanian minority, which they believe has changed the ethnic landscape in the region and is leaving deep traces on the political representation of Albanians in Serbia.
For Albanians living in Serbia, the results of the recent general elections in Serbia did not bring about any changes. With an expected political outcome, the victory of the Serbian Progressive Party led by President Aleksandar Vucic, the political representatives of Albanians living in the Preshevo Valley are now observing the direction the efforts for the formation of the new Serbian government will take.
About 58,000 Albanians living in the Preshevo Valley will be represented in the Serbian Parliament by Shaip Kamberi, re-elected as a deputy in this new legislature with around 13,500 votes.
Kamberi says that the recent developments in the Serbian electoral process, where the opposition is protesting the election results in the Serbian capital and international and local observers criticize the authorities for numerous irregularities undermining free voting, are warnings of a continuation of Serbia's current policy. According to him, this involves intentional delays to provide an epilogue to issues weighing on the region, including those related to the position of the Albanian minority in Serbia.
"In the morning, he plays the role of a firefighter, and in the evening, he plays the role of a fireman. We will see what his interest is, and his interest seems clear – to drag certain political processes in which Serbia participates, whether it's the EU's request for sanctions against Russia or the start of the implementation of the Franco-German plan agreed with Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Aleksandar Vucic is probably trying to buy more time, especially until spring when the EU elections will take place," he declares.
According to Mr. Kamberi, if Serbia does not change its approach to the European Union and dialogue with Kosovo, there will be no change in Serbia's approach to Albanians living in Serbia.
"These things are interconnected. If Vucic decides to move towards implementing the agreement with Kosovo, I believe that the approach to the Preshevo Valley will also change. But if he decides to postpone this, to continue the hostile, warlike rhetoric, it is difficult to expect that he will have a better policy towards the Preshevo Valley," says Mr. Kamberi.
Researchers say that difficulties, from the lack of economic investments to the non-recognition of diplomas and the so-called "passivization" process of the addresses of Albanians living in the three municipalities in southern Serbia, have already changed the ethnic balance and consequently the political representation of Albanians in this region.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, based in Belgrade, in a 2021 study documenting the phenomenon of "passivization," called it "a form of ethnic cleansing through administrative means." In the report "Albanian Minority in Waiting," this organization emphasized that Albanians in this region have shown a willingness to integrate, but Belgrade has not shown the same political will.
Serbian authorities deny these accusations.
"It is an unbelievable kind of discrimination that is talked about very little. Albanians have become the object of the policy of passivization, a depopulation method by the Serbian government, mainly by the current government of President Vucic. Therefore, his re-election, and that of his party, is bad news, indicating the continuity of these policies because there is no real willingness to solve these problems," according to Flora Ferati-Saschenmaier at the University of Göttingen.
Researcher Ferati-Saschenmaier says that the systematic removal of Albanians from civil registers under the pretext of address verification, especially in the municipality of Medvegja, has influenced a drastic reduction in the number of Albanian voters, and consequently, in this municipality, where President Vucic's party won 90 percent of the votes, the representation of Albanians at the municipal level has become negligible.
"In the electoral registers in the municipality of Medvegja, in Bujanovac, thousands of Albanians are missing who, even if they wanted to vote in Serbia in the December 17 elections, could not express their political will because they have been arbitrarily removed from the lists, with the aim of changing the ethnic structure. It means that effectively you no longer exist even though you live there, even though you have connections with the country, property; you are not a citizen of that country and cannot enjoy one of the fundamental political, civic, or democratic rights of that country," she says.
According to Mr. Kamberi, in Medvegja, out of 8 councillors who represented Albanians at the local level, this number has now decreased to 2 mandates in the municipal council, while from the previous 1000 votes in parliamentary elections, there are now only 220. But despite migration and passivization and a low willingness to vote in the third elections within three years, Mr. Kamberi says that the turnout of Albanians in elections in this region was significantly higher in the December 17 elections, although insufficient to secure more than one seat in the Serbian Parliament.
"Our struggle has been the same for a long time unfortunately because at no moment do we manage to find a correct interlocutor in Belgrade to discuss our problems and find solutions to those problems. My role will continue to be in raising awareness of the problems of Albanians, presenting initiatives, and especially contacts with the diplomatic corps, the international community, to sensitize them to the many problems that Albanians here face," says Mr. Kamberi.
Researchers like Ms. Ferati-Saschenmaier say that developments in the Preshevo Valley are not separate from developments in Kosovo. She says that the challenges faced by Albanians in the Preshevo Valley should be treated as part of a broader discussion on minorities, which should not be treated with a double standard.