Macedonia: Commentary says US to help creation of "natural Albania"
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - February 5, 2009 Thursday

Text of report by Macedonian Albanian-language newspaper Fakti on 3 February

[Commentary by Fadil Lushi: "Greater Albania, a Worn-Out Notion"]

Dear readers!

In this article, I will make an effort to present my views in such a way so as not to be perceived as folk-patriotic, historical, Ballist [WWII anti-communist and nationalist fighters, some of which collaborated with the Axis powers in Greece and former Yugoslavia; the organization advocated that all Albanians should live in a single state], or descriptive. On the contrary, I would like my article to be perceived as a journalistic approach to the notion of Greater Albania.

Greater Albania as a political notion has existed since the London Conference [London Conference of Ambassadors of 1913], in which the artificial borders of Albania were determined. It is a pseudo-scientific and pseudo-political notion and, at the same time, a concept that has been continuously glorified, but also "humanized and emancipated" to the extent that it has been victimized. This political concept, being a product of the chauvinistic views of the countries surrounding Albania, has been used whenever the Albanian people made an effort to review the decisions of all sorts of peace conferences and other events, such as the Conference of Versailles, Conference of London, and so on. It was also used as a tool during the politically rigged trials in Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosova [Kosovo], Serbia, and elsewhere. The demonstration of 1968, 1981, and 1984, as well as the wars in Kosova and Macedonia in 2001 were condemned as having had the aim of creating Greater Albania. The enemies of Albania have resorted to this notion whenever they felt the danger that autochthony and geographic heritage could be reviewed, even though they are aware that it has never been part of the Albanian political agenda. This is because a name like that would never suit the long-term policies of any independent region. To say Greater Albania means to include lands that are not rightfully Albanian. And, seen in this way, it is a very dehumanizing and de-emancipating idea. This idea cannot enjoy support internationally and cannot be part of the vocabulary of the countries that aspire to join Euro-Atlantic structures.

The main universal value of the Albanian people living in various villages of the Illyric [Balkans] peninsula is not the aspiration to create Greater Albania.

On the contrary, it is the idea of political and geographic unification around an ultimate centre.

The Albanians, who are scattered across several countries, are the only nation with a single language, culture, history, and identity, but is geographically denigrated and its country is surrounded by land inhabited with its own people. For this reason, the Albanian nation is right to continue to demand its lost, that is, usurped lands. This journey should be perceived as a creative journey, just like the journey of Abraham. It should be a humane and emancipating path. It is a path that leads to the creation of natural Albania in order to put an end once and for all to the ambiguities of the aforementioned notion. The creative path of a people should never be obstructed because it is a natural and human path. Participants on this path should be all those who have a stake in our past that has been accumulated since the London Conference. Its opponents will perceive this Albanian path towards Natural Albania as an irredentist, chauvinistic, nationalist, and utopian excursion on their part. But, this creative journey has the aim of finding the chief treasure - the land that has been usurped by bloody hordes and gangs.

The creation of Natural Albania is inevitable because of objective reasons. And, one of these reasons is the integration of Albania in NATO, followed by the process of the independence of Kosova, construction of the Durres-Kukes-Morine road (not by accident, it will be concluded in 2013), discreet US support, rejection of the NATO invitation for Macedonia, Greece's diplomatic problems over the issues of Cameria, and graves of its soldiers in the territory of Albania, and the issue of the Presheve [Presevo] Valley [in southern Serbia], which continues to be a problem for Serbia. The integration of Albania in NATO is an expression of political stability in the Balkans.

On the other hand, the euthanizing of Macedonia in the political as well as in the geographic aspect will intensify even more the creation of a new country with natural borders in the Balkans. Macedonia's intolerant and denigrating policy has for some time been unable to harmonize its rhetoric with the European political trends especially towards its neighbours, with which it has a number of unsolved problems, such as the language, church, history, and the name. And, not by accident, these policies, which are at odds with the European diplomacy, will continue to delve in the ruins of capricious, conspiratorial, biblical, antique, and megalomaniac ideas.

The creation of Natural Albania will not depend on any of its neighbours. It will not depend on the leading figures of the Albanian institutional politics in Tirana, Prishtina [Pristina], or Tetove [Tetovo] because they secretly do not want this unification, as that would spoil their political career plans. By all means, this process will enjoy the moral and material support of all those who approve of this idea, especially of the United States. If the notion of Greater Albania has been worn out, the notion of Natural Albania cannot be abused, denigrated, or misinterpreted. It can not be misinterpreted because it is our moral and national heritage and our conscience. The notion of Natural Albania is not a myth, story, or a lie. It is simply a historical reality and a new Albanian reality in the Balkans.

Source: Fakti, Skopje, in Albanian 3 Feb 09
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