1990s: proposals from last days of Socialist Yugoslavia to period of Kosovo War
Serbian politician Dobrica Ćosić initially proposed the "delineanation with the Croats and the Albanians" in 1990, stating that "Kosovo can not be preserved. It is realistic to delineate, while retaining the coal [mines] and sanctities", according to Bora Jović.[1]Branislav Krstić proposed partition in 1992, worked on further variants in 1993, and finally submitted a draft to the government in 1994.[1] His 1992 proposal included giving autonomy based on the Vance–Owen plan, while Serb and Montenegrin areas be integrated into the state.[1] In 1996, Aleksandar Despić expressed his thoughts on that Kosovo should be divided.[1]
During the Kosovo War in 1998, Dušan Bataković was the organizer of the proposal of "cantonization".[1] In 1999 that proposal was submitted to the French government.[1] It was not accepted by the international community.[1] That year, Bernard Kushner proposed the creation of Serb safety zones.[1]
Vice-President of the Serbian government Nebojša Čović proposed on 18 May 2001 that two entities, a Serbian and an Albanian, be established on Kosovo and Metohija. The Serbian entity would be under the protection of the Yugoslav Army and police, while the Albanian entity would have the highest grade of autonomy and stay under the protection of international powers.[1]
In 2002, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić stated that "Serbia has neither the mechanism nor the resources to reintegrate Kosovo into its legal system, or to create a form in which it will be under its sovereignty. The division of the province, therefore, is nothing else than an attempt to rescue what can still be saved."[3]
The policy of partitioning Kosovo and unification of Republika Srpska with Serbia was seen as offering "long-term security and stability for the region", according to Aleksandar Jokic (2003).[4]
In 2004, Anatol Lieven of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace stated that the "Partition of Kosovo is the most realistic solution, but the Albanians' insisting on independence will lead to a new conflict."[3]Čedomir Antić of G17 Plus said that the "Partition of Kosmet is not an ideal solution, but it is the maximum that can be obtained at this time."[3] Albanologist Miranda Vickers said that the partition of Kosovo would be the best solution.[3]
In 2005, part of the Serbia-Kosovo negotiation was the Serbian side's call for the establishment of Serb municipalities and constitutional and legal protection of Serbs.[5] UN Special Representative (UNOSEK) Jessen-Petersen and Kosovo speaker Daci reiterated the ruling out of partition.[5] Contact Groups' German representative Michael Scheffer also stressed that there should be no division.[6]CIA Deputy Chief of the Balkan Task Force Steven Meyer stated that "The Government of Serbia should not forget about a division of Kosovo, which no one in the international community would support, nor dismiss as a solution. Changing borders has never been the Holy Scripture of the EU and the UN."[3]Charles A. Kupchan of the Council on Foreign Relations said that "Giving northern Kosovo, Pristina will be freed from futile attempts to establish rule over a province intending to maintain ties with Belgrade."[3] Serbian intellectual Desimir Tošić said that he supported the option of partition, "but that now there is very little chance, because Serbia will never return to Serbia in the state of 1912, 1918 or 1945."[3]
In 2006, Sanda Rašković-Ivić, President of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija, said that "If both sides, both Serbs and Albanians, face the fact that for both living in cohabitation is impossible, and if the international community is faces the same fact, then a kind of partition of Kosovo would represent a solution for both sides."[3]Slobodan Samardžić, adviser to the Serbian PM, said that a long-term solution would be partition, "given the fact that the Albanians so far clearly do not want to live with the Serbs."[3][failed verification]
In 2007, political analyst Andrey Piontkovsky said that "Serbia needs to stand up for the partition of Kosovo with the argument that there are no international forces that can keep Kosovo Serbs safe in an independent Kosovo."[3] Law professor Timothy William Waters said that "The division is possible and it is possible that this is the right thing to do."[3]Erhard Busek said that "the partition of Kosovo is perhaps the least bad solution".[7]Ivor Roberts, the former British Ambassador to Yugoslavia, supports the partition of Kosovo, stating that "the Partition of Kosovo will please neither side, but the equality of pain is more likely to lead to stability than present Western plans which will undoubtedly destabilise Serbia, and through Serbia the whole region."[8]
Proposals in the aftermath of Kosovo's declaration of independence
On 17 February 2008, representatives of the people of Kosovo, without any Serb representatives, declared independence.
In 2010, US diplomats warned that European 'vacillation and weakness" could entrench Serbian control over the northern part of the territory. "Failure to act soon means losing northern Kosovo and will reopen the Pandora's box of ethnic conflict that defined the 1990s", then US ambassador, Christopher Dell, wrote that year. "The time is right to end the years of drift on the north and to alter the dynamic of a hardening partition between the north and the rest of Kosovo.... The current situation is untenable and deteriorating. The aim is to stop the rot."[9]
Former EU Kosovo Envoy Wolfgang Ischinger, in August 2011, stated regarding the partition of Kosovo that in his opinion "such ideas are absolutely unacceptable". He added that without a solution of the conflict, a Serbian European Union membership "will not happen, it must not happen".[10]
In September 2011, James Ker-Lindsay, senior research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, stated that the partition of Kosovo is a logical solution. In an interview for Politika, he stated that Belgrade, in the next few months, might have a chance to fight for the division of Kosovo and the establishment of large autonomy for Serbs in North Kosovo.[11]
In May 2011, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić proposed the partition of Kosovo as a solution to the Kosovo dispute. He stated, "This is my opinion, although neither Belgrade nor Priština like it. However, I am a realistic politician and I don't see any other solution.... I think that the only realistic solution is that places where Serbs live stay in Serbia and that the other part where the Albanians live secedes. This is the only realistic way that can lead us to a quick solution.... Other solutions are a waste of time and years and decades would go in an attempt to solve those small issues".[12] Former Yugoslav President Dobrica Ćosić stated, "I have been talking and writing about Kosovo and Metohija in vain for 40 years now, proposing a democratic, just, compromise and permanent partition. This is the only way to overcome centuries-long antagonism between Albanians and Serbs... [and] stop the great Albanian expansion and create conditions for normal life of both peoples".[13]
In October 2011, former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Erhard Busek proposed partition and stated: "I agree that the dialogue is the only path, in scope of which issues which seem to be impossible at the moment should also be discussed, such as the division of Kosovo... I do not see why the international community would not agree on the division if Belgrade and Priština reached an agreement on the issue. All details of such resolution of the Kosovo stalemate could be agreed at some kind of 'Kosovo Dayton', with the international community as the guarantor of the accord."[14]Macedonian president, Gjorge Ivanov, supported the continuation of the Belgrade-Pristina negotiations and said that Macedonia is against the partition of Kosovo, as that may destabilize the region.[15]
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha stated in November 2011: "Dividing Kosovo is an absurd idea and respecting the borders of Kosovo is of essential interest for all the countries in the region."[16]
In January 2012 Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović said he did not support the idea to partition Kosovo because it could "open the door for similar solutions in other countries in the region".[17]
On 14–15 February 2012, a referendum on accepting the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo was held in the Serb-dominated regions of north Kosovo. The result saw 99.74% of voters reject the Republic of Kosovo's institutions.
In October 2014, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that the partition would be one of the better solutions and in the interest of both Serbs and Albanians.[18]
Steven Meyer, former Deputy Chief of the CIA's Balkan Task Force, believes that Kosovo should be divided along ethnic lines.[19]
Drawing the line
Hypothetical partition, with North Kosovo ceded to Serbia.
The partition of Kosovo along the line of the Ibar River has long been proposed.[20] Following the 2008 independence declaration, the Serbian government formally proposed partition in a proposal to the UN, seeking Serb-majority North Kosovo to be controlled by Kosovo Serb border customs, judiciary and police services, albeit under UNMIK administration.[21] North of the river is a predominantly ethnic Serb majority area, whereas south of the river is a predominantly ethnic Albanian area,[22] with several Kosovo Serb enclaves.
Miroslav Marjanović, a top intelligence agent during the 1990s and Kosovo War, in 2016 made public classified information regarding the Kosovo War, among which were DST telegrams from 1998 about the Kosovo Liberation Army and the evaluation that France and Germany were closer to agreeing on a partition of Kosovo into a Serbian and an Albanian part, with the Albanians receiving status similar to that of Republika Srpska. Among documents were also maps depicting the potential partition.[citation needed]
The 2013 Brussels Agreement between the governments of Kosovo and Serbia agreed to create the Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo. Its assembly will have no legislative authority and the judicial authorities will be integrated and operate within the Kosovo legal framework. The association was expected to be formed in 2015, but opposition riots and a petition signed by over 203,000 citizens slowed it down.[24] The Constitutional Court of Kosovo ruled that the formation of the Association was in compliance with the constitution of Kosovo, but that certain aspects of its proposed implementation were not.[25]
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a country in Southeast Europe with partial diplomatic recognition. Kosovo lies landlocked in the centre of the Balkans, bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest, and Montenegro to the west. Most of central Kosovo is dominated by the vast plains and fields of Metohija and the Kosovo field. The Accursed Mountains and Šar Mountains rise in the southwest and southeast, respectively. Its capital and largest city is Pristina.
Serbian enclaves are settlements in Kosovo outside North Kosovo where Serbs form a majority. After the initial outflow after the Kosovo War the situation of the Kosovo Serb communities has improved and under the Ahtisaari plan minority rights have been promoted.
Ibrahim Rugova was a Kosovo Albanian political leader, scholar, and writer, who served as the President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and as President of Kosovo from 2002 until his death in 2006. He oversaw a popular struggle for independence, advocating a peaceful resistance to Yugoslav rule and lobbying for U.S. and European support, especially during the Kosovo War.
Kosovo during the 20th century history has largely been characterised by wars and major population displacements. The region formed a part of numerous entities, some internationally recognised, others not.
Kosovo Serbs are one of the ethnic groups of Kosovo. There are around 100,000 Kosovo Serbs as of 2014 and about half of them live in North Kosovo. Other Kosovo Serb communities live in the Southern provinces of Kosovo. After Albanians, they form the largest ethnic community in Kosovo (6–7%).
The political status of Kosovo, also known as the Kosovo question, is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the Government of Kosovo, stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia (1991–92) and the ensuing Kosovo War (1998–99). In 1999, the administration of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was handed on an interim basis to the United Nations under the terms of UNSCR 1244 which ended the Kosovo conflict of that year. That resolution reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Serbia over Kosovo but required the UN administration to promote the establishment of 'substantial autonomy and self-government' for Kosovo pending a 'final settlement' for negotiation between the parties.
NorthKosovo, also known as the Ibar Kolašin, is a region in the northern part of Kosovo, generally understood as a group of four municipalities with ethnic Kosovo Serbs majority: North Mitrovica, Leposavić, Zvečan and Zubin Potok.
The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and by the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.
The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, commonly known as Kosovo and abbreviated to Kosmet or KiM, is an autonomous province defined by the Constitution of Serbia that occupies the southernmost part of Serbia. The territory is the subject of an ongoing political and territorial dispute between Republic of Serbia and the partially recognised, self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, the latter of which has control over the territory. Its claimed administrative capital and largest city is Pristina.
Local elections were held in Kosovo on 11 May 2008, together with Serbia's parliamentary elections and elections in Vojvodina. UNMIK authorities have criticized Serbia organizing elections saying only the UN can organize elections in Kosovo. Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu accused Serbia of trying to challenge Kosovo's statehood.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move which Serbia rejects. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state and continues to claim it as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. Initially there were no relations between the two; however, in the following years there has been increased dialogue and cooperation between the two sides.
The Belgrade–Pristina dialogue is a series of EU-facilitated talks between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo. Serbia claims Kosovo as its southern province under United Nations administration, and rejects its independence. Kosovo considers Serbia as a neighboring state. The negotiations began in March 2011, three years after Kosovo declared independence. They are the first negotiations between the two entities since Kosovo declared independence in February 2008.
Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija is an elected political and coordinating body acting as a representative of Serbs of Kosovo.
A proposed Community of Serb Municipalities, or Association of Serb Municipalities, is a planned grouping of ethnic Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo.
The Serb List is a Serb minority political party in Kosovo. It was the dominant Serb party in Kosovo politics, claiming all ten of Assembly seats reserved for the community, from 2014 until all its members resigned and withdrew in 2022. The party retains close links to the Government of Serbia, led by the populist Serbian Progressive Party and President Aleksandar Vučić.
Oliver Ivanović was a Kosovo Serb politician.
Slaviša Ristić is a Serbian politician and figure in the Kosovo Serb community. He was for many years the president of Zubin Potok, a predominantly Serb municipality in northern Kosovo. He is currently serving his second term in the National Assembly of Serbia.
Zvonimir Stević is a Serbian politician. He has served several terms in the assemblies of Yugoslavia and Serbia as a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia. From 2008 to 2012, he held a high-ranking position in Serbia's Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija.
Dragiša Milović is a Kosovo Serb politician. He was the president of Zvečan, a predominantly Serb community in the north of Kosovo on the border with Central Serbia, from 2002 to 2013 as a member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). He was re-elected to the same position in 2021 as a candidate of the Serb List (SL).
Sadri Ferati is a politician in Kosovo. He was minister of local government in the Government of Kosovo from 2008 to 2010 and served in the Assembly of Kosovo from 2011 to 2017. Ferati is a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo.
Downes, Alexander B. (2006). "More Borders, Less Conflict? Partition as a Solution to Ethnic Civil Wars". SAIS Review of International Affairs. 26 (1): 49–61. doi:10.1353/sais.2006.0007. S2CID154496363.
Franks, Jason; Richmond, Oliver P. (2008). "Coopting liberal peace-building untying the Gordian knot in Kosovo". Cooperation and Conflict. 43 (1): 81–103. doi:10.1177/0010836707086738. S2CID144428922.
Hamilton, Daniel (2012). "Kosovo: time for partition". The Commentator. 7.
Majstorovic, Steven (1999). "Autonomy of the Sacred: The Endgame in Kosovo". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. 5 (3–4): 167–190. doi:10.1080/13537119908428575.
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