According to Halil Matoshi, the political leadership of Serbia is trying to remain in power by monopolizing the saying “Kosovo is Serbia.” By lying Serbs the political elite has started to believe its own lie. Their pain for the loss of Kosovo appears to be mixed with fear and neither Vucic nor Nikolic have the courage to say “Kosovo is gone, let us save our face!” This paranoia could be seen during the visit of the Albanian PM Edi Rama, who in fact did nothing heroic or patriotic with his statement that Kosovo ‘s independence is an irreversible truth, except for his duty in his own manner.
However, it became clear that Rama has not learned the Brussels lesson of the “dry” language when Albanians face Serbs, yet, writes Halili, recalling that former Ambassador, Lulezim Peci, lost his job for stating the same thing that Rama did. His duty was not tell a historical fact but to silence it stating only that Kosovo and Serbia have a European perspective.
According to Matoshi, Edi Rama had a debt to pay back at home: the nationalist wing in Tirana made pressure on him not to go Belgrade while those who told him that he should, also added that he should request from Serbia to recognize Kosovo. “Therefore he was doing his duty, and unlike for Lulzim Peci, it worked for him, because the context after the drone incident requires hot heads, iconic sentences, red and black flags in hands of wild men with Balkan pride. So he became dear to Kosovars immediately. So his calculation was paid off, even though he might receive some minor remark from Brussels.
So Rama had to do something also for the crowds, his voters, especially now after the return of Albanian abandoned nationalism which is becoming a collective hysteria. “Aleksandar, this is a fact,” he said in Belgrade, however Aleksandar like a spoiled child, with too much sensibility or fear, allegedly kept saying “Edi, why did you do this to me?” Serb Expansionist nationalism which grew into fascism in the nineties has produced many “Delije” who continue to see Serbia from the imperial optics and Serbs as “heavenly people.” So Serbs might be told privately as Daniel Serwer said that independence of Kosovo is an irreversible truth, but in public, their pride has to be pampered by stating that Kosovo and Serbia should look towards the future.
But in Presevo, Edi Rama became one with nationalist crowds. He did not distance himself from the slogans for Greater Albania. Rama should have made an open statement against that poster in Presevo by saying the truth to the population of Presevo, just as he said it to Vucic. Otherwise, this would mean that he was abusing with Kosovo’s independence during his visit in Belgrade, and that his statement was only nominal, writes Matoshi.
