International experts debate Kosovo problem

The Kosovo status issue continues to draw interest from experts in the region and beyond. "Kosovo as a Global Problem" is a three day international conference opened in Belgrade on Friday by Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic. International experts debate Kosovo problem The conference, organized by the Belgrade University Faculty of Law, brings together more than 40 students from the region, as well as U.S., Russian, Cypriot and Turkish ambassadors to Belgrade, organizers say. One of the speakers Friday was Raphael Israeli, a professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern and Chinese History at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who said that when considering the status of Kosovo, "the process of the general Islamization of Europe" needs to be taken into account, as well as recent developments in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Israeli told the audience that the problem of Serbia's southern province should be viewed from the viewpoint of "the revival of Islam in Europe" and through the developments in Bosnia. "Another aspect are the developments in Bosnia, which is a precedent to what will happen in Kosovo and, I am certain, will happen in Macedonia as well. Bosnia is preparing for what will happen in Kosovo and Macedonia," Israeli warned. But away from the conference stage, a Hungarian historian sounded a more optimistic note. Jozef Juhas, considered to be the greatest expert for the Balkans in his country, believes that conflict situations in the region can be resolved only by the accession of the Western Balkans into the European Union. "From a short term perspective, I am quite a pessimist, but in the long term I am confident that the entire Balkans, in the EU's fold, will succeed to overcome traumas from the past and turn to a better future, just as Hungary had done following the Trianon accord in 1920," he told Tanjug. In his opinion, the great powers, first and foremost the United States, have been postponing since 1999 a solution to the status of Kosovo, but they have assessed now that further delay would be counterproductive. "Western countries want to put an end to an intractable problem, and they are proceeding from the position that ethnic Albanians are 'inside the property' and that they potentially represent a greater danger to peace in the region than Serbs, and that it was opportune to fulfill their demands," said the 52-year-old assistant professor at Budapest University. "Perhaps Albanians in Kosovo will not get everything they are demanding, but, I have learned that their expectations will for the greatest part be fulfilled."

International experts debate Kosovo problem

The conference, organized by the Belgrade University Faculty of Law, brings together more than 40 students from the region, as well as U.S., Russian, Cypriot and Turkish ambassadors to Belgrade, organizers say.

One of the speakers Friday was Raphael Israeli, a professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern and Chinese History at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who said that when considering the status of Kosovo, "the process of the general Islamization of Europe" needs to be taken into account, as well as recent developments in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Israeli told the audience that the problem of Serbia's southern province should be viewed from the viewpoint of "the revival of Islam in Europe" and through the developments in Bosnia.

"Another aspect are the developments in Bosnia, which is a precedent to what will happen in Kosovo and, I am certain, will happen in Macedonia as well. Bosnia is preparing for what will happen in Kosovo and Macedonia," Israeli warned.

But away from the conference stage, a Hungarian historian sounded a more optimistic note.

Jozef Juhas, considered to be the greatest expert for the Balkans in his country, believes that conflict situations in the region can be resolved only by the accession of the Western Balkans into the European Union.

"From a short term perspective, I am quite a pessimist, but in the long term I am confident that the entire Balkans, in the EU's fold, will succeed to overcome traumas from the past and turn to a better future, just as Hungary had done following the Trianon accord in 1920," he told Tanjug.

In his opinion, the great powers, first and foremost the United States, have been postponing since 1999 a solution to the status of Kosovo, but they have assessed now that further delay would be counterproductive.

"Western countries want to put an end to an intractable problem, and they are proceeding from the position that ethnic Albanians are 'inside the property' and that they potentially represent a greater danger to peace in the region than Serbs, and that it was opportune to fulfill their demands," said the 52-year-old assistant professor at Budapest University.

"Perhaps Albanians in Kosovo will not get everything they are demanding, but, I have learned that their expectations will for the greatest part be fulfilled."