Written by Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist
The strategy of sweeping everything unpleasant under the rug until we enter the EU functions well for now. It’s true: there will be one hell of a clean-up once the celebratory trumpets fall silent, the fireworks are over, and the night sky goes dark again – as it always was, and as it should be.
The problem is that all those things swept under the rug already stink.
For example… Are we all, for the sake of EU integration, going to pretend there is no thin red line connecting Gjeloshaj’s fight against a non-Albanian woman running a school in Ulcinj with those unfortunate kids whom somebody taught to cover a police car in Tuzi with an Albanian flag, as a sign that they’re stronger than the state of Montenegro and its coercive apparatus? To be perfectly precise: in terms of creating an atmosphere that inevitably leads to some form of escalation.
Ethnic tensions are easily inflamed but very difficult to quiet. Provoking them for short-term political gain is not just malicious and harmful, but stupid – although those doing it don’t seem to understand that.
Albanians in Montenegro have lived through difficult times. The memories are still fresh. It wasn’t so long ago that the police, as though raiding a terrorist cell meeting, swaggered shamelessly into Ulcinj’s Old Town and detained people for singing Albanian songs. The national insults and humiliations have not been forgotten, nor should they be. It wasn’t so long ago that you could barely drive from Ulcinj to Podgorica without being stopped by the police simply because your car had Ulcinj plates. Nor are we far removed from the days when a police patrol stood at the entrance to Ulcinj, indiscriminately stopping vehicles to ask where exactly you had been – as though you lived in a ghetto and every leaving had to be reported to them. Nor was it long ago that an Albanian, unless he was some sort of Sejdo Bajramovic, couldn’t hold an important public office.
Fortunately, it’s no longer the case. May it never be so again.
The Albanophobia Gjeloshaj speaks of does exist. Do not lie to yourselves or to anyone else: it exists. Social distance toward Albanians is real and practically tangible.
But Gjeloshaj is doing something profoundly damaging both to Albanians and to every other citizen of Montenegro: he is inventing Albanophobia in a society where there is already more than enough genuine Albanophobia to go around. Why does he do it? Because there is no Albanophobia in the Ministry of Education’s decision to appoint a non-Albanian woman as principal of a school in Ulcinj.
What I would like to know, for instance, is this: if there was no Albanophobia in the failure to appoint an Albanian as chief of police in Ulcinj, how exactly is there Albanophobia in this appointment? Has the post of school principal suddenly become more important than the post of police chief? Have we become that enlightened and progressive overnight?
Every word wears thin when used too often and too carelessly. Eventually it means nothing at all. And Albanophobia is a serious problem and it must be named precisely.
Precisely and honestly. If you listen to Knezevic and Gjeloshaj, whose rhetoric is remarkably similar, the rights of Serbs and Albanians in Montenegro are under threat, and the Montenegrins are the ones threatening them.
Well… everyone except Montenegrins (and Croats) is in power in Montenegro. So how exactly are Montenegrins, who are not in power, oppressing Serbs and Albanians, who are?
And one more thing… How come Knezevic’s endless stories over identity issues are branded as “straying from the European path” and hybrid warfare, while Gjeloshaj telling the exactly same story, only with an Albanian refrain, somehow is not? Shouldn’t Gjeloshaj, as deputy prime minister, be following the government’s supposedly post-identity, get-us-into-the-EU-as-fast-as-possible agenda?
If I had to guess, I would say that both Gjeloshaj and the other Albanian party had their own candidate for the principal’s job in Ulcinj. Neither got it. And if I had to keep guessing, I would also say that Gjeloshaj has decided he wants to improve his election result in Ulcinj and intends to do so by pursuing the “I am the biggest Albanian here” strategy – which naturally includes portraying Albanian leaders from Ulcinj as hesitant and insufficiently patriotic. But of course, that cannot possibly be true. Surely Gjeloshaj has only the best intentions and what he’s doing merely looks disgusting – which is why, naturally, I am not saying any of this. And even if I were saying it, it certainly would not be because I had reliable information from insiders, but because I’m Albanophobic.
This, however, I will say: the deterioration of Montenegrin-Albanian relations is an extremely dangerous process from which neither Montenegrins nor Albanians stand to gain anything. Quite the opposite: both stand to lose a great deal. The greater party always bears the greater responsibility – something Montenegrins must not forget. The Montenegrin opposition, too, needs to be smarter. And let me say this as well: of course Ulcinj is an Albanian city. Its ethnic make-up, its culture and its history all testify to that. Anyone who cannot understand this has a serious problem with reality. Just as Ulcinj is also a Montenegrin city: because Ulcinj is a city in Montenegro, and Montenegrins live there and have left their mark on it. If that is difficult for anyone to understand, let them try obtaining a property ownership certificate for real estate in Ulcinj, or the certificate of Montenegrin-language proficiency required for employment, in Tirana or Korçë. And Serbs live in Ulcinj too, which means Ulcinj is a Serbian town as well.
Albanians are an old political nation. They have produced great leaders in Montenegro. Mehmet Bardhi, for example, a man whose hand I shake with a sense of honour whenever I meet him. Mehmet Bardhi defended his convictions at the cost of his own freedom. Mehmet Bardhi fought for Albanian rights from prison, not from the deputy prime minister’s office, not from an official car, and not over official dinners.
Albanians also had Ferhat Dinosha, one of the finest MPs the Montenegrin parliament has ever seen. In dangerous times, Dinosha spoke and acted with wisdom and courage. His rhetoric belonged to the tradition of the ancient masters of oratory, not to the hysteria of social-media posts. No, Dinosha didn’t react hysterically because, I assume, he knew it would be a clear sign of weakness. He was an amazing politician.
In the broader context, beyond Montenegro, Albanians today have Albin Kurti, who’s definitely one of the top politicians among active Balkan politicians. In countries populated by nations forever swearing by their pride while being led by vassals, Kurti has kept his pride, and he is no one’s vassal.
But if Gjeloshaj has ambitions to become the leader of Albanians in Montenegro, he will have to learn that “devious” and “wise” are not synonyms in either Albanian or Montenegrin. Just like the terms “brazen” and “brave” don’t have the same meaning.
But let me guess. Everything I’ve said, this whole text, is nothing more than an expression of my inherent Albanophobia.
Kështu është më lehtë.
It’s easier that way.
(The opinions and views of our columnists aren’t necessarily those of the CdM news team)
