Sir, - Michael Delmonte's letter (September 16th) is incorrect in its entirety. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia seceded from former Yugoslavia under a Yugoslav constitutional clause which allowed for the secession of any republic provided that "the other republics agreed" - which makes the secession of the first three illegal. The right to secede applied to the republics with no reference to their national composition. Since the province of Kosovo and Metohija is, constitutionally, a part of the republic of Serbia, there is no question of its secession.
Mr Delmonte is obviously confusing the right to secession with the right to self-determination. Constituent nations have a right to self-determination, national minorities do not. This fact was used by the Croat authorities in 1990 when they changed the constitutional definition of the republic of Croatia from "the republic of Croats, Serbs and national minorities" to "the republic of Croats and national minorities", thus effectively depriving the Serbs of the right to self-determination, primarily in Krajina where they were a majority. Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina had this right also, but their referendum, in which they voted overwhelmingly to remain in Yugoslavia, was ignored by the international community. Under all previous and current Yugoslav and Serbian constitutions, Albanians, together with Hungarians, Rumanians, etc. were always a national minority, and as such do not have a right to self-determination, even though they may be a majority in any given area of Yugoslav/Serbian territory. This criterion is applied to all national minorities worldwide.
In ancient times, the Balkans were inhabited by various tribes/ nations: Illyrians, Celts, Tracians, etc. Albanian claims to be of Illyrian descent may be true, although some historians place their origins in Asia, from where they were supposedly brought by the Western Roman Empire to fight the Eastern Empire based in Constantinopolis. What is important is that, regardless of their origins, the idea of an Albanian nation did not arise until the mid19th century, and they did not have a state until 1912. And whereas Kosovo and Metohija were a part of a Serbian state since the 12th century, no Albanian state ever existed on this territory. As for the use of the term "Kosovars", this is laughable if applied just to the Albanians, since all nationalities living in this region are referred to as Kosovars, much as the Muslims, Serbs and Croats living in Bosnia are referred to as "Bosnians", and those living in Herzegovina as "Herzegovenes".
Finally, the Serbs are not "having another go at ethnic cleansing". While some form of accommodation has to be arrived at with the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija, as in Northern Ireland, this can be achieved only by negotiation, not by the gun and the bullet. The negotiations between Mr Rugova and the Serbian authorities are proceeding, with some encouraging signs, so far not publicised. In the meantime, as in any other sovereign country, Serbian authorities are conducting justified action against an armed resurrection. - Yours, etc., Zivko Jaksic, Serbian Information Bureau,
Grange Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.