Fehmi Ajvazi, an eminent author from Kosovo, has shared his book ‘In the Kingdom of Death’ published in Albanian in 2012 in Pristina, and in Romanian in 2019, and was translated from Albanian to English. Sindh Courier is starting its episodes for the readers

Fehmi Ajvazi author

[In March 1999, the Serbian regime blanketed Kosovo with a contingent of 120,000 regular police, military, and civilian paramilitary forces. Just about two weeks before NATO’s intervention in Kosovo began, the region was surrounded on all sides, while pockets of the interior (villages and towns) were hit with arrests, liquidations, and massacres. Kosovo became a reservation. A kingdom called the “Kingdom of Death” established authority everywhere! However, some areas were controlled by insurgent liberation forces, and in some places, Serbian forces couldn’t penetrate. Well, the hatred between Serbs and Albanians was the same, but the bullets were the same too: they brought death to everyone, and it was no problem for the “bullet” whether the target was Albanian or Serbian. I mean, the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army held some territory and kept it free! But about ten days before NATO planes launched their attack in their battle for Kosovo, Albanian insurgents managed to have the world’s most powerful force as their ally: the NATO alliance. However, no one had managed to master a pact with death.

Well, the hatred between Serbs and Albanians was the same, but the bullets were the same too: they brought death to everyone, and it was no problem for the “bullet” whether the target was Albanian or Serbian.

Just a few days before March 24th, the “Lady of Death” was the ruler of Kosovo, in reality, she was the ruler of the Albanian citizens of this extremely small territory! And for the third time in history, the state of Serbia wanted nothing more and nothing less than: the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. Over 1 million residents before March 24, 1999, challenged “this kingdom” by saying, “Here we are, your power is not the power of God!” I had decided to stay, not to leave. I was a journalist, but also a creator. And so, I had no idea what dilemmas lay in this direction, despite the open threats from the Serbs, and I knew well that they would try to wash their hands of us like Pontius Pilate! Regardless of every situation and circumstance, I sacrificed to be a witness to a time and a history without parallel! Yes, a witness…! And everything I have said and written about literary-historical conditions is in this book – a testimony. Therefore, this book is a source and my personal experience of a time I pray will never be repeated – anywhere. Just as I pray for the souls of those who did not come out alive in this “kingdom of death” in the third millennium! Read the truth about Kosovo…  Author]

Everywhere, there were significant reinforcements of Serbian police and military, which had greatly heightened the fear. People were feeling increasingly insecure, almost depressed. In fact, they didn’t feel insecure and depressed because of the possible NATO intervention; on the contrary, everyone was hoping for it to happen as soon as possible. So, they were eagerly anticipating the possible intervention. However, the great insecurity, which naturally was also creating great fear, was the understandable “concern” due to the significant presence of Serbian forces. All the fear was focused on one point: the possibility of massacres, not death from bullets. Everyone, without exception, was gripped by great fear. Something like a heavy, depressing cloud hung everywhere. Difficult hours were approaching, unfamiliar hours, ominous hours. Everyone, without exception, had become watchful. The situation was inexplicable in every aspect. Our Serbian neighbors (in Zhegër) had almost all been mobilized. They were ready to carry out orders they would receive from the Serbian war headquarters. They had come under wartime orders. Their clever pilgrim, the vulture, had shrunk excessively; it couldn’t seize anyone anymore.

A view of Zhegër region – Photo: Wikipedia

I couldn’t believe the extent of this enmity. It simply seemed impossible to me. In Zhegër, as in few other places, the relations between Albanians and Serbs had been stable, neighborly, without political clashes. For years and decades, despite the political situations, neighborly relations had not been overly strained. People, even though sometimes tense, had not been politically polarized to a significant extent; they had not become uncontrollably hostile, in other words, they had not clashed among themselves. However, even the Serbs in Zhegër were part of the occupying power. Their hands had penetrated various police, military, and administrative institutions. This “hand” was inserted openly and covertly, without much noise and in a conspiratorial manner.

They did it cleverly, as they say. Even my Serbian fellow villagers had historically supported their political and police power, just as they had been doing in recent years in various forms and ways: gathering information, monitoring entries and exits in the village, cooperating with the police and secret services, and so on. At times, they even became part of the governing bodies, part of the administration, the police, and the political parties, etc. Almost all Serbian political entities formed in Serbia had their branches and sympathizers in Zhegër. Even the radical extremists of Seselj. During the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, some young Serbs (from Zhegër) had volunteered there.

I returned to Pristina, more saddened than ever. I returned burdened with the weight accumulated in my heart and soul, with the concern that the storm was approaching

Our fellow villagers saw them wounded, their hands and feet bound with white bands, saw them walking down the streets limping, and for some, it was rumored that they had been involved in the fight against the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), etc. Although it was never publicly acknowledged, the political and nationalist role of the Serb Dushan Ristiq from Zhegër is said to have been extremely delicate. A “politician” in daylight and a “missionary” in the shadows, Ristiq is believed to have been one of the apostles of Greater Serbian nationalism in the war for “Greater Serbia.” Belgrade media occasionally wrote that Dushan Ristiq (a former high-ranking communist figure in Kosovo), who was dismissed from all functions in 1981, played a central role in the revival of Serbian nationalism in the late 1980s, in the preparation and outbreak of the “Yogurt Revolution,” and thus in the rise to power of the ultra-national-communist leader, Slobodan Milosevic. Additionally, during the years 1993/95, without mentioning other forms of repression in the distant and near past, a coordinated action of administrative-police authorities for arms took place in Zhegër and its surroundings.

Read: Tale of a Heart Shaped like a Stone – A Bouquet of Poems from Kosovo

Almost no house in Zhegër (the village has over 830 houses) was left without being inspected under the pretext of “finding” weapons. Armed or unarmed, people (mostly males) were summoned to police stations in Zhegër and Gjilan, and most of them were arrested. Pressure, violence, torture were unforgettable. Two heads of households, Salih Isufi and Mehmet Hajrullahu, died, unable to endure the mental and physical torture. Salih’s house was no more than two hundred meters from my own.

Zhegër – Photo: Wikiwand

The situation was undergoing a fundamental change. And as the situation was changing for the worse and unexpectedly, our Zhegër neighbors seemed to be trying to seize the “lost time” of not openly arming themselves: they were rapidly radicalizing. When the bus entered the village, I immediately understood that they (our neighbors) were moving in uniforms. They were not alone; there were other armed and uniformed Serbs whom I did not recognize. I saw them from the bus window as they moved up and down the village roads and pathways. They looked agitated like wolves. Why, and against whom? In the village, there was no one else but Serbs and Albanians, so who were our neighbors getting ready to fight against? Moreover, in the village and its surroundings, there were no active formations of the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) and no frontlines. Speaking of the KLA, it should be noted that its General Staff had explicitly prohibited the use of any form of violence against civilians of any community, even against Serbian civilians. NATO, on the other hand, if it were to attack, would do so from the air and primarily against pre-determined administrative targets and various military installations, as well as against regular military and police forces. So why were our neighbors marching around armed in the village? The message had been delivered. During the last weekend I spent in the village, everyone told me that the Serbs were very tense and patrolling up and down the village (day and night) and keeping watch.

“They say they are preparing to fight against NATO,” my fellow villagers told me, among other things, with whom I found time to sit and talk. They also told me that our neighbors had indeed become very agitated in recent days. Above all, from many things I understood, I also learned something: our neighbors had called for the defense of their homes and the village, not by regular police and army forces, but by paramilitary units of Seselj and Arkan. About 7-8 buses full of paramilitary forces were stationed in the village. Most of them had taken up residence in the houses of our neighbors. My Serbian neighbors had given dangerous signs. Omens of vultures. Perhaps, they too would join the ranks of the “dance” of crime and genocide? Who knows…! However, maybe there will be some Serbs here and there who, in one way or another, will not accept to join the dance of crime and genocide. Who knows, time will tell…

I returned to Pristina, more saddened than ever. I returned burdened with the weight accumulated in my heart and soul, with the concern that the storm was approaching. I left behind not the material and spiritual world of my blood and roots, but their physical world, their being, threatened like never before. Everyone, without exception (those who were in the village), was now inside the ominous circle of threat, even though within this threatening circle, we were all already. (Continues)

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Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"