Klinton and Tonibler: Kosovo’s war legacy enshrined in names
PRISTINA: With statues, American flags and streets named after US presidents, Kosovo’s undying gratitude for the Western military intervention that pushed the Serbian government out of the breakaway province is obvious at first glance.
But families also offered their own private thanks, with many naming their children born in the war’s shadow after the leading American and British political leaders who backed the NATO campaign 25 years ago. “It is a special honor to bear this name. I am proud of it,” said Klinton Gashi, a 24-year-old student at Kosovo’s defense academy named after former US president Bill Clinton. The name, he explained, was “a sign of gratitude for what Clinton and the American people did for us during the war”. The US-led campaign that began on March 24, 1999 ended a conflict that left more than 13,000 people dead — the vast majority Kosovo Albanians — in the final chapter of Yugoslavia’s bloody collapse.
Gashi and other members of Kosovo’s Generation Z are now maturing into adulthood with their lives so far charting Kosovo’s turbulent history that has been largely dominated by tensions with Serbia. To help manage the neighbors’ bitter relations and occasional unrest, a contingency of NATO troops remain stationed in Kosovo.
‘The most we could do’
Western politicians and diplomats also regularly pass through Kosovo, with many hoping to broker a lasting settlement between Serbia and the Pristina government that would normalize ties. Others simply come to enjoy a proverbial victory lap, where they are lauded in public and private for their contribution to the war. During one such trip, Tonibler Dajaku was able to see his namesake — former British prime minister Tony Blair — in person during a whistle stop tour of Kosovo. “We are a small country, with small finances. We can never repay our allies other than by naming our children after their leaders,” said the 20-year-old. “That is the most we could do. And that is very little.”
Pro-Western sentiment remains extraordinarily high in Kosovo, where aspirations to one day join NATO and the EU remain complicated by the lack of formal recognition of the Pristina government by several of the alliance and bloc’s members. “It is certain that without the intervention of NATO, none of us would not be here for this interview today. Nor would Kosovo be independent,” historian and diplomat Syle Ukshini told AFP.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the month of March remains a cherished spot on the calendar for many Kosovar Albanians. This year’s anniversary of the war comes as tensions with Belgrade remain high following the ban of the Serbian dinar currency earlier this year.
Kosovo remains overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians, but in the northern stretches of the territory near the border with Serbia, ethnic Serbs remain the majority in several municipalities. Despite its uncertain future, many in Kosovo have little doubt that the NATO intervention was a decisive moment during their violent past. “It would be a very difficult history for us as a nation, but also for the entire world, if the West sat idly by, not reacting against atrocities during the war,” said Gashi. — AFP