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]

A month and a half after the start of the bombings, the river of refugees from Kosovo is still flowing. The Macedonian authorities have organized the placement of refugees mainly in areas where our compatriots live. Some of the refugees have been placed, upon the insistence (request) of our compatriots in Macedonia, in their homes. The Macedonian authorities are clenching the screw of society and the Macedonian state. This clamp stands in front of us: sometimes it tightens in fear of ethno-historical, sometimes it rotates and recycles through politics and ignorant culture. Without delving into a deeper analysis, this is not just a clamp but also a phenomenon that is being criticized everywhere. Various humanitarian organizations, international statesmen, civil organizations, institutes, analysts, international public opinion, media, publicists, are explaining the “Bllaca Phenomenon” with very critical rhythms, not to mention, with some of the harshest public tones. Why? Every day, from a fiery world, thousands of Kosovo Albanians who are being forcibly expelled by Serbian paramilitary gangs are stopped in clusters in this area, in order to prevent them from entering Macedonia. Dozens of exhausted and battered people, from both their condition and age, from inhuman violence, from crime and war, from cold and rain, and above all, from the long wait at the border, have simply died. They have died there, at the border. Hundreds of thousands of others, hungry and tired from the difficult journey, poorly dressed, traumatized by crime and violence, have experienced and are experiencing (as if Serbian violence weren’t enough) another painful and torturous ordeal instead of our entry into Macedonia being a humane moment.

BLACE, NORTH MACEDONIA : Ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo’s town Urosevac (Ferizaj) pass through the remains of the makeshift camp which hosted tens of thousands of refugees in the past days, at the neutral zone between the Yugoslav-Macedonian border in Blace, some 25 km north of Skopje on 14 April 1999.

Macedonia and the Macedonians are not offering us this moment. Therefore, the Macedonian clamp is a phenomenon that, more or less, renews the aggressive political-historical nature of the whole relentless Balkan enmity towards the Albanian community wherever they live.

According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, in Macedonia, 116,000 refugees have been sheltered, of whom 40,400 have been placed in refugee centers, while 78,000 have been placed in families.

Official Skopje moves at a snail’s pace. But even if official Skopje did not take a single step towards helping us, it is our brothers who live in Macedonia who want to help and shelter us. They not only came to the border to take us and voluntarily accommodate us in their homes, but they are treating us like family, like their brothers, with everything they have at their disposal. Here are the official figures in this regard: “According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, in Macedonia, 116,000 refugees have been sheltered, of whom 40,400 have been placed in refugee centers, while 78,000 have been placed in families. In third countries, 12,142 displaced persons have passed” (Daily newspaper “Flaka,” no. 6182/date: 17-18.04.1999, Skopje). Their help is extraordinary for us in every aspect. This help is not spontaneous; it is organized.

The “Mother Teresa” organization, which has been operating in Macedonia since its founding on January 26, 1993, has assisted Kosovo with about 4 million German marks. The state and the Macedonian administration, along with other state institutional mechanisms, are more concerned with our simple-procedural registration. They are more concerned with documenting the number of people who have entered and are entering Macedonia, rather than with our actual accommodation. What interests them more than anything are the information for each Kosovo Albanian, possible biographical data, the issue of providing addresses where we are staying, what we do, and what we are involved in, etc.

It is said that Serbian forces are suffering significant losses on the ground from NATO bombings as well as from UÇK strikes. There is also talk of desertions among Serbian forces and internal political disagreements in Belgrade. The news coming from Kosovo is unimaginable. In addition to the killing and massacre of people and animals, Serbian forces are using the pyromaniac practice of “scorched earth.” They are burning houses, fields, mountains, various objects, and vehicles. Therefore, the images that somehow reach the public are devastating and pyromaniac.

Now, the face of Kosovo is disfigured. My brother, Sami, has told me over the phone that our father and mother, after spending days and weeks in the villages and mountains of Karadak, unable to enter Macedonian territory, are currently sheltered in the village of Norça in Presheva. Thus, after failing to leave, they sought refuge with Aunt Redife (father’s second sister), who is married in this village. According to my brother’s account, in the meantime, our father was arrested by the Serbian police and brutally tortured by paramilitaries. Almost dead, he was thrown into a ditch on the Presheva-Llazhan road.

In addition to violence and terror against people, burning and looting appear to be their special priorities. Hundreds of thousands of houses, along with accompanying objects, are being looted and burned mercilessly.

My brother has also told me other news: two sisters (Sh. and M.), along with their husbands and children, managed to enter Macedonian territory a few days ago. I don’t know where they are accommodated. Uncle Avdiu, with his wife and five children, is currently sheltered in the upper village of Stubëll (Vitina municipality). In this mountainous village, it is rumored that more than 3,000 people, mainly residents of the area, have sought refuge. Other relatives are scattered here and there.

Photo from the War Time Refugees Museum in Kosovo

In addition to violence and terror against people, burning and looting appear to be their special priorities. Hundreds of thousands of houses, along with accompanying objects, are being looted and burned mercilessly. According to my brother’s information, our village, Zhegra, has also started to burn systematically. The village has about 800 houses. Earlier, on the second day of the bombings, in the early morning of March 25, Serbian forces had already begun a rampage to clear the village. During this morning, they killed 13 fellow villagers, including my elementary school teacher, the history teacher, Milazim Idrizi.

On that same day, Serbian forces started setting fire to houses and other accompanying objects one after another. People had fled in horror, on foot! In yesterday’s conversation (03.05.1999), my brother Sami told me, among other things, that perhaps around 200 houses and other objects in the village have already been burned. Before setting them on fire, Serbian forces, as well as Serbian civilians, are looting and confiscating various technical and motorized vehicles. Our Serbian neighbors, my brother said, have started committing an irreparable atrocity: they have begun to divide our various assets among themselves: yards, houses, gardens, fields, etc. (Additional note: Four days after the start of the bombings, according to my brother, our house was also burned. We had not built it for long, from the ground up…)

May, 5th

Our house has been burned down, just like tens and hundreds of other houses. Consequently, looting and burning are no longer new occurrences in Kosovo. Indeed, killers and perpetrators often transform into arsonists. How? To heighten the criminal sensation of murder and massacre against the enemy-victim, they concurrently intensify this feeling with the pervasive presence of smoke and the flames of fire.

They have not only burned down our house but also my modest library, which I’ve diligently enriched over the years with books, newspapers, magazines, photographs, personal notes, and more. Unlike a house, which can be rebuilt one day (as a response to the need for shelter, beyond the material damage), half of my biography no longer exists (my personal biography). In other words, half of my identity. This fact is akin to having a part of your body removed in an accident or during an operation. But it’s even more profound: it’s like having a piece of your soul extracted.

Crosses and circles, our land is ablaze. Fields and mountains breathe beneath the shroud of firearms and napalm. They breathe under the canopy of artillery and bombs, the shadow of knives, and the cover of kidnappings and beatings. People captured by various police and military units, by paramilitary-civilian groups, are executed on the spot. It’s reported that some are incarcerated or interned. Women, some of them endure rape, and afterward, they are either murdered or set free. Others are raped and then subjected to brutal massacres. Some people, after enduring various forms of torture, are forcibly displaced. Abandoned on Earth by both God and Man, some of them flee, some are confined within their homes, while another portion hides and isolates themselves in the mountains, riverbanks, valleys, and more. Thousands of individuals are surrounded in villages and cities.

The image that torments the soul and heart, an image that cannot be erased from my mind and eyes: God, what has happened and what could happen at any given moment to my dearest ones, to our dearest ones, to all those who still haven’t managed to escape!? Since March 24th, Kosovo has been under God’s mercy in the sky and the Serbs’ mercy on Earth. Serbs, as always, do not recognize God’s grace, let alone God, without recognizing the land and human existence. The current portrayal of Kosovo attests to neither God nor the human essence’s benevolence but rather to the quality and barbaric ethnogenesis of humanity.

Where I am now, how can I feel at peace? I miss the summer landscape and the moon on the fifteenth night, along with the life-affirming breath of spring. Here, where I am, I miss the faces of children, the faces of young people, the faces of men who don’t know what to do with themselves in the face of barbaric forces that burn their homes, violate their wives, and murder and massacre mothers, children, and wives, etc. Here, where I am, I miss the venerable faces of Kosovo’s elderly. They (wherever they are) are now bent, weighed down like snow-covered branches. They are burdened by the cruelty of violence and the crimes perpetrated by Serbs against us. Although our venerable elders remain unbroken, they cannot endure without falling to their knees.

In these moments, as I write these lines in the book, what I learn about the current situation in Kosovo comes from eyewitnesses, information from various UÇK channels, various media outlets, statements emanating from NATO’s headquarters in Mons (Belgium), and more. Oh, this information is woefully limited in comparison to the horrors and terrors unfolding minute by minute in Kosovo. Some photographic-media glimpses from within Kosovo’s territory serve as the sole living mirrors that fill the void of images and the sorrow of war’s realities in our eyes: some reflect despair, while others depict fear. Hence, everything is divided in half: life, people, seasons, dreams, children’s smiles, flower colors, bird songs and flights, moist pastures, homes, books, photographs, journeys, memories, years, centuries, freedom. In one word: land and sky together.

Simultaneously, deportation has intensified to unprecedented levels alongside violence and massacres. Officials from UNHCR in Geneva recently stated that in just the past few hours, approximately 7,000 refugees have been deported to Albania and Macedonia. UNHCR official Kris Janoski announced that 9,974 people have been accommodated in Germany thus far, 2,345 in France, and 2,032 in Norway. The Serbian formula for massacre, deportation, and depopulation follows a certain logic: the cleansing of Kosovo’s land from the human element, akin to the concept of the “scorched earth,” implying geographical devastation. (Continues)

_____________

Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"