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 

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. 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]

Letter to the Living and the Dead

Good morning, everyone, the living and my dear departed! Perhaps you are aware of what has happened in Kosovo last night as it fades away!? I have no words to tell you, I don’t know, in these moments I am speechless. I can only testify that the bombings began last night. Therefore, I believe that today in Kosovo is also the first day of the beginning of the true reign of our freedom, which we have shed so much blood for in history and continue to do so. This is also the first day of the beginning of the end of Serbian rule in Kosovo.

Serbian police on the streets of Kosovo – 1996. Photo provided by the author

Forgive me: I’m lighting a cigarette, maybe the hundredth in a row. The night has passed along with NATO’s international ultimatum to Belgrade. The ultimatum has turned into action. It is starting, March 25th. The explosions are not currently heard. They have stopped for now. I’m also filling another glass of Russian vodka. More to “drown” my personal state. On the other hand, I hate not this drink but its origin. All these years, Serbian businesses have filled the Kosovar market with this drink brought from the distant steppes of Russia. Just like they have filled it for several decades with “slivovitz.” But from now on, both “Russian vodka” and “Serbian slivovitz,” along with the occupation, will disappear from Kosovo. That’s all I can say.

I’m thinking with sadness: are you all alive, just as you were alive before 8:00 PM? And you others, who passed away yesterday, the day before, a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago, a century ago, what are you doing? Have you heard the explosions from where you are?

My dear ones: I put out the cigarette! I feel completely broken, as if I had traveled a mountain road without end all night. My legs ache. They ache so much, as if I had been walking all night without a destination. I lie down on the couch. Hope is keeping my head buried under the blanket. His ear drums are filled with cotton due to the loud blasts caused by the explosions. Etnik, it seems, is awake, and I hear his gentle purring. Well, I don’t want to disturb him. Let him stay in his angelic kingdom for now.

I’m thinking with sadness: are you all alive, just as you were alive before 8:00 PM? And you others, who passed away yesterday, the day before, a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago, a century ago, what are you doing? Have you heard the explosions from where you are? Perhaps you have even felt the impacts. Maybe you can’t even feel quiet, calm, as they say, where you are: in the afterlife.

Isolation

The morning’s first rhythms over the capital, like the beginning of the day, dissolve beneath the waves of deathly stillness. A few local Serbs go to their workplaces. They are mostly elderly Serbs. The others have been mobilized for war. Meanwhile, for the past few days, many Serbian families have evacuated their children from Kosovo to Serbia, and along with the children, they have evacuated their daughters, wives, and here and there, the elderly. As far as there are Serbs in Kosovo, the exodus has become almost massive. The others have been mobilized under arms.

Albanian fighters during anti-Serb resistance – Photos provided by the author

Their movement, like this, is not the first. In the past, whenever Serbs “noticed” dangerous political situations in Kosovo, even situations they themselves created for certain political and strategic effects, they quickly removed their families. Three or four days before the bombings began, our Serbian neighbors evacuated their homes and apartments, with people, various belongings, vehicles, etc.

We are completely isolated. We dare not move at all. We are surrounded everywhere by an unprecedented silence. This silence is undoubtedly bloody, although there is still no information about what happened during the night that has already passed. For now, we cannot even know what has happened all around. Few initial reports from various international radio stations mainly revolve around the start of the bombings and the strikes mentioned earlier. But there is no information about the consequences. Especially the human consequences. In Kosovo, there are no journalists who can reach and disseminate the news. There are no international observers, authorized officials, diplomats, etc. There are only Serbs, almost mad.

We are completely isolated. We dare not move at all. We are surrounded everywhere by an unprecedented silence. This silence is undoubtedly bloody, although there is still no information about what happened during the night that has already passed.

Few pieces of information that trickle in mainly come from the data of NATO’s Central Command in Mons. The initial international news is this: “…last night, a few minutes before 8:00 PM, NATO began to concretize its repeated promises. Tomahawk missiles were used to attack several Serbian positions.” According to the American television station “CNN,” three such missiles exploded near Pristina, then three near Belgrade, and five others near Novi Sad. The Serbian state television (RTS) broadcasts information controlled by the bombarded areas, accompanied by images of the struck areas.

10:37 AM: Morning. It has been about 15 hours since NATO’s attacks began. It is an absolute state of war. In the skies over Kosovo are NATO planes, while on the ground in Kosovo are Serbian forces. Albanians are caught in the middle. Most of them are unorganized and unarmed. The Serbs, on the other hand, virtually all of them, have been mobilized under arms. They move along the roads and alleyways armed with knives, Kalashnikovs, Scorpions, and more. Snipers are stationed on rooftops and in building corners. Serbian residents have placed identifying signs on their houses and apartments. These signs were put up quickly: names and surnames, the famous four “S”s, crosses, and black ribbons on their doors.

British soldier from the international forces in Kosovo in a basement where torture was carried out against the civilian populationduring the 1998-99 war – photo provided by the author

In the meantime, I’m thinking of making coffee. The electric power, which had been cut off in the evening (a few moments before the first bombs and missiles exploded), was restored around 9:00 AM. Belgrade’s Serbian television continuously broadcasts an “informational strip” on the screen, in which the news of the beginning of the “Western aggression” against the sovereign and independent “FRY” is constantly repeated. Among other things, I read: “…the airport in Slatina, Pristina has been hit, as well as the village of Hajvali, the main military barracks ‘Marshal Tito,’ etc.”

The sky has cleared up. Noon is passing with the cool rays of the sun. The Serbian war machinery, along with the squads of death, surrounds the capital. Pristina is encircled. Groups of police and soldiers are reported to have blocked all entrances and exits. This news was broadcast on Pristina’s Serbian television. Anyone who has attempted to leave Pristina has not succeeded. Thousands of people from many communities who had sought refuge here, and especially thousands of students, now share the fate of the capital’s residents. Since Wednesday at noon, local Serbs from Graqanica, Llaplasella, Caglavica, Devet Jugovic (villages around and near Pristina) have blocked the roads and control everyone entering and leaving the capital. They have set up roadblocks and are armed. Dictator Milosevic, as the supreme commander, has formally declared a state of war in his “Yugoslavia.”

The sky has cleared up. Noon is passing with the cool rays of the sun. The Serbian war machinery, along with the squads of death, surrounds the capital. Pristina is encircled. Groups of police and soldiers are reported to have blocked all entrances and exits.

12:00 PM: Midday of spring drags along with severe wounds over the capital. The century of genocide is perfected in the blood-soaked whirlwind of the last decade. Few citizens are forced to move to secure food or for exceptional cases. Some are compelled to change their places of residence, seeking safer shelter. But every exit from home, every movement weighs with the risk of life.

Mr. Shabani descends to the main entrance of the building. So does Fatmir, a former sports journalist of Radio Pristina. He accompanies his wife, Zojë (the granddaughter of the well-known patriot Ramiz Hoxha-Cërnica), who is heading to work. She is a medical professional and works at the renowned TBC hospital. However, the hospital is far away, to the west of the capital, in the Dragodan neighborhood. On the stairs of the building, from the upper floors down, like a descending shadow, an elderly lady was moving slowly (step by step).

Hope and Niku lie stretched out in absolute stillness. They are neither asleep nor awake…! Occasionally, leaving the notebook constantly open, I write things that I feel I must write. But in this state, not the words, but the letters become as heavy as the stones of a castle. I move from one room to another. I try to portray things in broad strokes. What interests me for now is the information bubble. But where can I find it? We are in a complete informational void. (Continues)

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Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"