Skopje, Macedonia

Just to the south of Kosovo, is The Republic of Macedonia, one of the six provinces of the former Yugoslavia.

The capital and largest city if Skopje, which is just over the border with Kosovo and where we spent our second night of the trip.

Porta Macedonia

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers of War

Our first famous Macedonian...Alexander the Great

Our second famous Macedonian?  The ethnic Albanian Mother Theresa, born right here in Skopje.

Skopje, like much of the ex-Yugoslavia is undergoing a huge construction boom.  Here's a new ministry building designed in the classical Greek style.

One expects to see Greek style statures, but we get this?

Stone Bridge built in 1451 and spans the Vardar River which runs through the center of Skopje.

Oops, we didn't pay for parking.

Luckily, we found the ticket, called the number and they guys were over in five minutes.

Total cost to get the boot removed?  Around 15 American dollars.  Who says Eastern Europe isn't inexpensive.

A bit of history.  This area of of the world was, for many years, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.  The region historically called Macedonia includes the current Republic, parts of Albania, Bulgaria and Greece.  Therefore, it has a number of ethnic Albanians and Bulgarians. It declared its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in late 1991 and it was peaceful as there were few Serbs in this area.  However, during the Kosovo War, Macedonia was drawn in as many refugees flooded into Macedonia from Kosovo to the North.  Last random piece of information.  Macedonia's accession to the European Union has a huge obstacle and that is its name.  Because Greece has a province called Macedonia it doesn't has conflict with the name Macedonia for the name of the country.  Therefore for political purposes the country is known as FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Our stay in Skopje was short, and felt like a "get the stamp in our passport" kind of stop over.  One highlight was that wee did make some Turkish friends.

Driving Through Kosovo

Looking at the map of southern ex-Yugoslavia, one sees the names of all these countries that were in the news a few decades ago.  Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia.....and now we were here!!!  So this trip became a bit of a lesson in recent history and prompted me to do some research and to really learn about what happened here in this area.  These are some pictures of what I saw...and some things that I learned.

Leaving Montenegro, theoretically headed to Kosovo, but accidentally headed towards Albania.

We drive past a couple of men working on a flipped trailer so we stop and say hello!!

Here's where things get interesting.  First stop, Serbia.

So, in my research, in a nutshell this is the story of Kosovo.  Yugoslavia was made of up six provinces, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.  Serbia being the most populous and therefore the most "powerful."  To dilute its influence, Serbia was subdivided into two semi-autonomous regions within Serbia, one in the north which had a number of Hungarians and Kosovo in the south with a majority of ethnic Albanians.  The Albanians of Kosovo, for many various, wanted to become their own country and come out from under the thumb of the Serbs. A couple issues, first being, no country wants to voluntarily lose territory.  But Serbia was worried that the ethnic Serbs within a new Kosovo would be a minority and thereby subject to discrimination and other potential atrocities. In addition, the Battle of Kosovo, a battle Serbs fought against the Ottoman Empire in 139 was actually fought on the soil of Kosovo, on the Kosovo Polje (The Plain of Kosovo), which although the Serbs lost, became the genesis of the Serbian nation.  This plain, NW of the capital of Pristina is also the location of Gazimestan.

Gazimestan is also the location of an important speech given by Slobodan Milosevic (we've all heard that name) in 1989, then president of Serbia.  In essence he stated that the Serbs are a strong people, who have been divided and taken advantage of and had their power diluted.  He stated it was time to rise and in the most incendiary statement of all,

"Six centuries later, now, we are being again engaged in battles and are facing battles. They are not armed battles, although such things cannot be excluded yet. However, regardless of what kind of battles they are, they cannot be won without resolve, bravery, and sacrifice, without the noble qualities that were present here in the field of Kosovo in the days past. Our chief battle now concerns implementing the economic, political, cultural, and general social prosperity, finding a quicker and more successful approach to a civilization in which people will live in the 21st century." 

In essence, Milosevic wanted to have all Serbs live in one nation, that being Yugoslavia, and with Serbia as the dominant ethnic group and dominant province/nation within the nation at the expense of the others, such as Slovenes, Croats, Albanians, etc.  This eventually led to the Croatian War, the Bosnian War and in 1999, the Kosovo War.  The Kosovo War was chronologically the last one, but we visited Kosovo first.  The first Yugoslav (read Serbian) strikes against Kosovo occurred in 1998. Kosovars were driven from their home and expelled.  I'm not sure of the details but basically the Serbs were trying to run the ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo. If I read it right, what the Serbs did was force Albanians from their homes, destroy the homes but not kill the Albanians, thereby not technically committing genocide. By March/April 1999, NATO forces began bombing the Yugoslav army and in June, the Yugoslav army withdrew and the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces (KFOR) entered. In 2008, Kosovo declared itself an independent country separate from Serbia.  Some countries have recognized it, Serbia as well as other countries facing potential breakaway provinces (Russia, China & Spain) have not recognized Kosovo as an independent country.  Peacekeeping forces still are present.

The flag of Albania is often seen, although it is NOT the official flag of Kosovo

Throughout recently war torn countries of the ex-Yugoslavia, new buildings are popping up all over the place.

As we started from the NW into Pristina we drove through the Drenica River Valley (the heart of the fighting here during the war) and saw many memorials on the side of the road.

Near Gazimestan, although we didn't know it at the time.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)

This KLA memorial near Pristina.  Everyone here has a death year of 1999.

No pictures of the still remaining UN Peacekeeping forces and their compounds scattered throughout and around Pristina but here's one piece of evidence they still are here in Kosovo.