Kosovo’s Independence

By Thomas Noonan

Kosovo’s road to independence has not been an easy one and is still an ongoing struggle to this day,
Over 100 years have been spent fighting for independence and even now still have little recognition.
Having a strong connection to the region of ethnic Albania, the people of Kosovo declared their
independence of 17th of February 2008 , This was received in a very negative way by the majority of
eastern European nations. The steps taken by Kosovo achieve this have been controversial and will
have a lasting impact on the region. The region has always had a unique demographic and this has
been shown through the key dates in the nation’s history, from early 1900s to declaring
independence in 2008, to the present day.

Kosovo has always had a unique ethnic and cultural identity in southern Europe, always not quite
fitting into the country that they are incorporated in. After being ruled by the Ottoman empire for 4
centuries and the conclusion of the Balkan wars between 1912 and 1913, Kosovo was incorporated
as an autonomous region of Serbia as was stated in the treaty of London. This remained until World
War II when Italy controlled the region as a connection to Albania rather than being a part of Serbia.
This was preferred by the majority Albanian Population due to the ethnic connection they already
shared with Albania. The smaller Serbian population however was strongly against the incorporation
to Albania. From world war 2 they were included into Yugoslavia, they had greater autonomy but
also had it revoked when it was becoming apparent that they wanted independence. In 1998 Serbian
Police engaged with the Kosovo Liberation army that resulted in thousands of Kosovars being driven
from their homes. From 2000 NATO intervened and set up a government for the region however
they still had little autonomy within Serbia. This turbulent history of the region led directly into the
events that occurred on the 17th of February 2008, and the resulting consequences of the decision.

For the Albanian majority within Kosovo the declaration of independence on the 17th of February
2008 was seen as a big victory, However the Serbian population did not take well to the declaration.
After the official declaration of independence, a meeting was held in the capital Pristina and was
attended by 109 of the 120 Kosovar board members, With the 11 Serbian minority members
boycotting when the news broke. Kosovo’s independence came about due to the failed plan for the
region that was submitted by the Serbian president at the time Boris Tadic. The regions Kosovar
assembly organised all actions in Kosovo from that point till now. The assembly was founded in 2001
to give a better representation of Kosovo at a national level and to this day still contains Serbian
members. The first nation to recognise Kosovo as independent was Costa Rica on the 17th . This was
then followed a day later by France, the UK, Australia, and the USA. The most recent recognitions of
Kosovo are from Bangladesh and Barbados coming in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The reaction
throughout the former Yugoslav nations was mixed. Riots occurred in the Serbian capital and the
Croatian embassy was attacked due to a Serbian flag burning being posted online the day earlier.
This day is of significance to the peoples of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and the Sahrawi Arab
Democratic republic. All of which are also self-declared independent nations with limited recognition
internationally. The significance of this day remain positive for many in Kosovo despite some of the
events that followed and will be impactful to different people from many different areas of the
world.

The road of independence has become a fair bit tougher for Kosovo in recent years with revoked
recognition as well as difficulty entering major European agencies. 3 years after officially declaring
their independence, Kosovo had become recognised by more than half of the members in the United
Nations. This however was the peak as from 2017-2019 12 nations have revoked recognition of
Kosovo due to increasing political relations with Serbia. Kosovo has tried to join the United nations
as well as Interpol. Their united nations request was vetoed by Russia on Serbia’s behalf due to
Russia being on of the ‘Big 5’. Interpol is the organisation that deals with international police
matters. Kosovo has so far attempted to join Interpol on 3 separate occasions and lost a vote count
on each occasions, They are eager to become a part of the organisation due to the ability that they
will gain in convicting Serbian loyalists causing social unrest throughout Kosovo. The Serbian
government has been working tirelessly to organise new relationships with a range of different
countries to drop the Kosovo recognition to below 50% of UN member states. The recent years
haven’t gone according to plan for Kosovo and this is a struggle that will continue until an eventual
deal can be organised with the Serbian Government.

Kosovo has had a long and complex road to independence. Through being included in different
national identities to being ruled by multiple political ideas and having an important role in the
worlds recent global conflicts. The history of the region and the continued bias against the ethnic
Albanian population led to the inevitable events that took place in 2008. The struggle to maintain
control of the region since then and the declining recognition numbers point a worrying path for the
future of Kosovo. Kosovo has faced a troubled past but continues to look to the future in new ways
whilst fighting to maintain control of their territory