Albanians in Montenegro seek autonomy

[Presenter] Albanians need to safeguard their unique features through a new mode of territorial organization, i.e. decentralization, and through setting up an Albanian-language administration, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Albanians, Mehmed Bardhi, has told our radio. Bardhi further clarified the assessment that Kosovo's independence would greatly help the Albanians achieve their aspirations in Montenegro, which had been voiced by Ferhad Dinosha and Bardhi after talks with Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

The ruling coalition does not view the Albanian demands as alarming. It recalls that Montenegro, as a civic state, grants equal rights to all citizens regardless of their nationality and religious affiliation. Adrijana Vukotic reports:

[Reporter] The issue of the status of Albanians in Montenegro is still topical as they live in territories in which they should be able to display their unique features through a new form of territorial organization: through decentralization, setting up an Albanian-language administration, the right to have a veto in parliament and others, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Albanians in Montenegro, Mehmed Bardhi, told our radio, adding that the Albanians in Montenegro should enjoy the status of autonomy.

[Bardhi] After all those years, after a signed agreement, a deal then signed by the democratic opposition and a section of democratic authorities, that is a section of the DPS [Democratic Party of Socialists] in 1997, many things have not been implemented. We were promised then that the municipality of Malesija would be a fait accompli, but this is not the case even today. [Paragraph as heard]

If we look at a bill on territorial organization of Montenegro, if this bill is adopted, then this will continue to be a Tuzi municipality, that is, as territorial organization. Hence I believe that this should not be postponed but regulated and we shall make a serious move in this direction. [Paragraph as heard]

[Reporter] Bardhi explained the statement that Kosovo's independence would be of great help to Albanians in Montenegro to achieve their aspirations.

[Bardhi] The Albanians in Montenegro are an inalienable part of the Albanian nation. We have a lot in common although we live in different territories and in different social systems.

It is certain that the Albanian problem, a serious problem, should be resolved in all parts of former Yugoslavia and not partially.

[Reporter] Representatives of the ruling coalition have reacted in the meantime.

DPS spokesman Predrag Sekulic urged Ferhad Dinosha and Mehmed Bardhi to explain what type of autonomy they had in mind when they demanded this status. He also stressed that Montenegro was a civic state granting equal rights to everyone regardless of their religion and nationality. Sekulic told Mina [news agency] that Montenegro was the only state in the region which managed to preserve multiethnic and multinational harmony despite the wars in its neighbourhood.

The Social Democratic Party [SDP] believes that minority issues in Montenegro should be resolved in line with European and democratic standards, SDP official Borislav Banovic said.

Commenting on the statements by representatives of Albanian parties in Montenegro, Banovic said he expected that these issues would be opened and resolved within Montenegro in a democratic way and through a democratic procedure.

(Bardhi) The Albanians in Montenegro are an inalienable part of the Albanian nation. We have a lot in common although we live in different territories....

These words clearly inform that there must be no autonomy for the ethnic Albanians of Montenegro. Autonomy granted, without the sinews that attach to the greater whole, leads only to further drift, harsher rhetoric and irredentism: See, KOSOVO. For Mr Bardhi, where an ethnic Albanian lives, are but mere "territories," not a republic, country or State having a recorded history and a Constitution whereby it defines itself. Autonomy with no attaching sinew can be used to overcome the law of State and Constitution. There will be no autonomy in Montenegro.

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