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Subj:Open Copy of Letter to Gilman and Lantos
17 July 2002
Representative Benjamin Gilman
2449 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3220
Dear Congressman:
I write out of concern, deeply troubled by the fact that you, together with Representative Tom Lantos, introduced on 27-28 June 2002, House Resolution 467:Independence for Kosova (sic, the legally recognized name is Kosovo). ...
Subj:Open Copy of Letter to Gilman and Lantos
Date:7/18/2002 9:58:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From:exec@oea.serbian-church.net
To:info@oea.serbian-church.net
Sent from the Internet
17 July 2002
Representative Benjamin Gilman
2449 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3220
Dear Congressman:
I write out of concern, deeply troubled by the fact that you, together with Representative Tom Lantos, introduced on 27-28 June 2002, House Resolution 467:Independence for Kosova (sic, the legally recognized name is Kosovo). It can only be assumed that this was a result of your recent participation on 28 April 2002 in the Albanian American Civic League and Foundation?s 12th anniversary dinner in New York City. Senator Joseph Biden was the keynote speaker, while you and Representative Lantos attended as honored guests for this "salute to Albanian freedom".
The premise of your Resolution, Sir, is entirely false as you predicate the need for Kosovo independence based on what you deem similar situations in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia. The parallel is inadequate, at best. Also, and even more importantly, the present policy of the United States government stands in diametric opposition to independence for Montenegro, as further subdivisions only serve to undermine regional stability. Kosovo is no exception.
Relative to the same, I enclose a very telling response to Venton Surroi?s 10 June 2002 presentation at the United States Institute of Peace by Fr. Sava Janic, titled, State-building or Simulation of Democracy in Kosovo. Essentially, Surroi attempted to displace blame on UNMIK for everything from corruption to bureaucracy, and failure to allow the ?Kosovars? to build their own stable society. Yet Surroi displays total indifference to human rights issues. Can there be any discussion on independence until the basic rights of all peoples in Kosovo are fully guaranteed and secured?
On the contrary, there continues to this very day, an extremely troubling pattern of intentional destruction of Serbian Orthodox churches and shrines, desecration of cemeteries, harassment and intimidation, etc. Please be referred the following enclosed articles. Ironically, these disturbing developments were initiated during the course of the 10-14 June 2002 Arlie House convocation, wherein Albanian and Serbian leaders from Kosovo were brought to Washington, DC to discuss institution building, and the Helsinki Human Rights hearing of 19 June 2002 on Kosovo, and have yet to subside:
13 June 2002: Serb Orthodox Cemetery in Orahovac Found Desecrated;
22 June 2002: Stoning of the Patriarchate Monastery Continues;
24 June 2002: Serbian Orthodox Cemetery Near Pristina Found Desecrated;
26 June 2002: Another Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo Damaged;
1 July 2002: Religious Treasure from Kosovo and Metohija Appears on Black
Market;
2 July 2002: Serbian Kosovo is being Wiped off the Face of the Earth;
2 July 2002: Kosovo: More Attacks on Orthodox Graveyards and Monasteries;
14 July 2002: After the Holy Liturgy Albanians set on Fire the Serb Monastery in
Zociste (with photo depicting graffiti ?Thaci UCK?);
14 July 2002: A Prayer in the Ruined Monastery (and accompanying photos);
16 July 2002: Prayer under Police Protection; and
17 July 2002: Monks Still Not Allowed in Zociste Monastery.
If such systematic terror is being carried out in the very presence of international peacekeepers, what then will stop Albanian extremists from visiting total destruction upon everything non-Albanian in an independent Kosovo? Independence will only serve to honor cultural genocide through such flagrant violations of human and property rights.
Further, concerning House Resolution 467 that which was executed against the Albanians of Kosovo by the Milosevic regime was indeed deplorable. However, it is equally deplorable that the violent decade of the 1980?s is completely overlooked. It was precisely during this period that there was extreme Albanian on Serbian violence, and a forced exodus of the non-Albanian populations. All of which caused the 1974 autonomy of Kosovo to be rescinded, and ultimately gave rise to Milosevic himself. Independence for Kosovo will be a reward for the violence, ethnic hatred and cleansing of the 1980?s.
Finally, as an American citizen, I am greatly dismayed that you, Sir, as a Representative of New York, present a Resolution that could potentially serve to institutionalize?through our Congress?the known presence of international terrorists in Kosovo, should independence be granted. If we are to fight terrorism for the sake of our Homeland and global security, then we must be prepared to acknowledge the same and deal with it truthfully and without reservation, Kosovo notwithstanding.
Conclusively, the only logical and plausible solution is grant wide autonomy to Kosovo within the framework of the common democratic state of Serbia and Montenegro. Otherwise, proposed legislation such as House Resolution 467 only serve to sanction terror and further subdivide Europe.
Sincerely yours,
Fr. Irinej Dobrijevic
Executive Director
Enc: (13).
Cc: Representative Tom Lantos
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Congressional Record article 2 of 2 Full Display - 9,272 bytes.[Help]
H. RES. 467: INDEPENDENCE FOR KOSOVA -- HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN (Extensions of Remarks - June 28, 2002)
[Page: E1175] GPO's PDF
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HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, since the cessation of NATO's 1999 conflict with
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in Kosova remains under a United Nations
mandate. But progress in Kosova is being held up by its lack of independence and
its inability to determine its own fate. For that reason, I am introducing,
together with the gentleman from California (Mr. LANTOS), a resolution
expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States
should declare its support for the independence of Kosova.
The Kosovars, the United Nations, NATO and the international community are
now making efforts to rebuild Kosova, revitalize its economy, establish
democratic institutions of self-government, and heal the scars of war.
Under President Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav government dismantled
Kosova's political structures, replaced ethnic Albanians with Serbs in most
jobs, enabled Serb-owned firms to take over Albanian-owned companies, and
forbade Albanians from purchasing or improving property.
As a result of this systematic persecution and discrimination, today the
unemployment rate in Kosova is currently between 60 and 70 percent, increasing
the likelihood of Kosovars either entering criminal networks or working abroad
in order to survive. The perpetuation of these economic difficulties heightens
the potential for continued instability in the region.
The only way to address the problem of the chronic instability that plagues
the region, and the way towards a genuine, long-term political and economic
stability of Kosova and the region, lies not only in the physical and social
reconstruction of Kosova, but in considering Kosovar independence as a solution.
Unless massive job creation is facilitated by guaranteeing the security of
foreign investments through an independent Kosova, the impact of these economic
difficulties could prove detrimental to U.S. interests in the region.
Three years after the war's end, Kosova is already responsible for 93
percent of its budget, with 7 percent supplied by foreign donors, underscoring
its commitment to growing a market economy, not an aid economy. Under the
Yugoslav constitution of 1974, Kosova was equivalent in most ways to Slovenia,
Croatia, and the other republics. In its position as an ``autonomous province,''
Kosova, in practice, exercised the same powers as a republic. It has its own
parliament, high courts, central bank, police service, and defense force.
Through its definition in 1968 as a part of the Yugoslav Federal System, it
gained representation at the federal level.
When Slovenia and Croatia demanded independence, similar arguments were made
by Western governments against recognizing those countries. However, eventually
the same Western governments did recognize not only the independence of Slovenia
and Croatia, but Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia as well, having discovered
that independence for those nations involved not so much a change of borders as
a change in the status of existing borders. The lines on the map remained the
same, but their status was upgraded from republican to national. It is fitting
that the Kosovars are allowed to follow the same path towards independence.
Accordingly, it is time for the United States to abide by its recognition
that a right to self-determination exists as a fundamental right of all people
through declaring its support for the independence of Kosova.
Mr. Speaker, for the information of my colleagues, I insert a copy of H.
Res. 467 at this point in the RECORD.
H. RES. 467
Whereas the United States and the international community recognize that a
right to self-determination exists as a fundamental right of all people;
Whereas Kosova was constitutionally defined as a sovereign territory in the
First National Liberation Conference for Kosova on January 2, 1944, and this
status was confirmed in the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia adopted in 1946, and the amended Yugoslav constitution adopted in
1974 preserved the autonomous status of Kosova as a de facto republic,
Whereas prior to the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Kosova was a
separate political and legal entity with separate and distinct financial
institutions, police force, municipal and national government, school system,
judicial and legal system, hospitals and other independent organizations;
Whereas Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic rose to power in 1987 on a
platform of ultranationalism and anti-Albanian racism, advocating violence and
hatred against all non-Slavs and specifically targeting the Albanians of Kosova,
Whereas Slobodan Milosevic subsequently stripped Kosova of its self-rule,
without the consent of the people of Kosova;
Whereas the elected Assembly of Kosova, faced with these intolerable acts,
adopted a Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1990, proclaimed the Republic
of Kosova, and adopted a constitution on September 7, 1990, based on the
international legal principles of self-determination, equality, and sovereignty;
Whereas in recognition of the de facto dissolution of the Yugoslav
federation, the European community established principles for the recognition of
the independence and sovereignty of the republics of the former Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kosova fully satisfied those principles as a
de facto republic within the federation;
Whereas a popular referendum was held in Kosova from September 26-30, 1991,
in which 87 percent of all eligible voters cast ballots and 99.87 percent voted
in favor of declaring Kosova independent of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia,
Whereas, from the occupation of Kosova in 1989 until the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) military action against the Milosevic regime in 1999,
the Albanians of Kosova were subjected to the most brutal treatment in the heart
of Europe since the Nazi era, forcing approximately 400,000 Albanians to flee to
Western Europe and the United States;
Whereas in the spring of 1999 almost 1,000,000 Kosovar Albanians were driven
out of Kosova and at least 10,000 were murdered by the Serbian paramilitary and
military;
Whereas Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the International War Crimes
Tribunal and extradited to The Hague in June 2001 to stand trial for war crimes,
crimes against humanity, and genocide in Kosova, Bosnia, and Croatia;
Whereas the United Nations established Kosova as a protectorate under
Resolution 1244, ending the decade long Serbian occupation of Kosova and
Milosevic's genocidal war in Kosova;
Whereas Kosovar Albanians, together with representatives of the Serb,
Turkish, Roma, Bosniak, and Ashkali minorities in Kosova, have held free and
fair municipal and general elections in 2000 and 2001 and successfully,
established a parliament in 2002, which in turn elected a president and prime
minister;
Whereas 50 percent of the population in Kosova is under the age of 25 and the
unemployment rate is currently between 60 and 70 percent, increasing the
likelihood of young people entering criminal networks, the source of which lies
outside of Kosova, or working abroad in order to survive unless massive job
creation is facilitated by guaranteeing the security of foreign investments
through an orderly transition to the independence of Kosova;
Whereas the Kosova parliament is committed to developing a western-style
democracy in which all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, are granted full human
and civil rights and are committed to the return of all noncriminal Serbs who
fled Kosova during and after the war; and
Whereas there is every reason to believe that independence from Serbia is the
only viable option for Kosova, after autonomy has failed time and time again:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
(1) publicly support the independence of Kosova and the establishment of
Kosova as a
[Page: E1176] GPO's PDF
soveieign
and democratic state in which human rights are respected, including the rights
of ethnic and religious minorities, as the only way to lasting peace and
stability in the Balkans;
(2) recognize the danger that delay in the resolution of Kosova's final
status poses for the political and economic viability of Kosova and the future
of Southeast Europe;
(3) work in conjunction with the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, and other multilateral organizations to facilitate an orderly
transition to the independence of Kosova; and
(4) provide its share of assistance, trade, and other programs to support the
government of an independent Kosova and to encourage the further development of
democracy and a free market economic system.
Representative Benjamin Gilman (R-NY-20th)
2449 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3220
Tel: 202.225.3776
Fax: 202.222.2541
E-mail through web site: www.house.gov/Gilman (constituents only)
Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA-12th)
2217 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0512
Tel: 202.225.3531
Fax: 202.226.9789
E-mail: CA12Lantos@mail.house.gov
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