What do you know about... Kosovo?

[u/MarktpLatz]

This is the thirty-second part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Today's country:

Kosovo

Kosovo is a partially recognized state in the balkan. It belonged to the Ottoman empire from the 15th until the beginning of the 20th century. After being part of Yugoslavia for most of the 20th century, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008. It has been recognized as a country by 111 nations, but Serbia refuses to recognize it as a souverign state. Notable european countries refusing to recognize Kosovo include Spain (because of separatist movements in Spain), Greece and Russia (there are several more, you can check the list linked).

So, what do you know about Kosovo?

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Major thanks to /u/our_best_friend, who took care of these threads during my absence.

[u/ThoughtDisordered]

That their independence has about as much legitimacy in Serbia as Crimea joining Russia does in Ukraine. ^{Although there was that matter of Kosovars not being treated nicely at all by the Serbian Government...}

[u/MRCNSRRVLTNG → u/[deleted]]

As for extermination, Albanians never wanted to exterminate Serbs.

Do I need to remind you who was killing and forcing whom out under the Ottomans? Who was the absolute majority before the Ottomans invaded?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Serbs are Illyrians though, or rather they are mix of Slavs and local Balkanite tribes. And besides, that was over 1400 years ago. The notion of nationality was non-existent even up tp 19th century. You are really reaching quite hard now. It's silly.

[u/MRCNSRRVLTNG → u/[deleted]]

Need I remind you who was killing Illyrians and forcing them out of the Balkans during Slavic migrations? Who was absolute majority before slavs invaded?

Uhm..? Illyrians were one of many assimilated tribes due to being a minority and everyone who lives in the western Balkans can be traced back to Illyrians. Elementary history.

[u/MRCNSRRVLTNG → u/[deleted]]

They didn't exterminate them, Serbs left of their own and under "encouragement" by Serb government

Yes, every time. Serbs have lived in x, y, z for hundreds if not over a thousand years, but their government made them leave all those places.

fed them news about Albanians raping Serbs with glass bottles and more.

It was a pretty big story when Albanians tortured an elderly Serb with a glass bottle. Serbs didn't want to leave Kosovo, quite the opposite.

[u/MRCNSRRVLTNG → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, thousands. Lol. If you want to reach that far at least pack your bags and head for Ukraine.

Where did I say thousands? Good reading comprehension buddy.

It was. And it was false.

You're wrong, but I wouldn't expect /u/Hrulj to know anything about it anyway.

He was transferred to Belgrade for further investigations at the prestigious Military Medical Academy, but a medical team there reported that his injuries were not consistent with a self-inflicted wound. The team, which included two doctors from Belgrade and one each from Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Skopje (thus representing four of Yugoslavia's six republics), concluded that the injuries had been caused "by a strong, brutal and sudden insertion or jamming of a 500 ml. bottle, or rather, its wider end, into the rectum" and that it was probably physically impossible for Martinović to have done this to himself. The team argued that the insertion "could only have been carried out by at least two or more individuals."

...

Martinović later recanted his confession, claiming that it had been forced out of him during a three-hour interrogation and that he had been promised that his children would receive employment in exchange for the confession. His son told the press that his father had been attacked simply because he was a Serb: "Friends are telling us [that] Albanian irredentists did it in revenge. ... They don't care who the victim might be. As long as it is a Serb."

You're welcome.

Like pretty much entire Serb mythos of Kosovo. Serbs didn't want to leave. Their leadership scared them into believing returning Albanians will kill them and rape them with bottles so they packed and left.

I love how I see you repeat this garbage on every discussion about Croatia as well. Serbs couldn't be scared away by the Ottomans, Austrians, Germans, Ustashe, yet the Serbian government magically made them all flee. Get over yourself idiot.

[u/Kutili → u/[deleted]]

Serbs basically ethnically clenased themselves amirite?

[u/[deleted] → u/Kutili]

According to him we got so efficient at it, it must be true