Week Six: Visit to Albania
I have not crossed many borders in my life. Still, the checkpoint seemed extremely easy. We pulled up in the car, they scanned the passports, then we went on our way. I expected to be at least asked which one of us had the American passport. 90% of the population of Kosovo identifies as Albanian. This, combined with the fact that Kosovo is a landlocked country, means that many Kosovars go to Albania when the weather gets hot.
Standing on the top of a mountain, you can see for miles around you. From the Castle of Kruje, it would be easy to spot invaders approaching through the mountains or valleys. Not to mention, you practically break your neck or twist your ankle walking on the smooth stones at a steep incline to get up there. I can imagine would-be invaders struggling with heavy weapons up those stones, only to reach the top, exhausted, to meet a heavily fortified castle and defenders who have seen them coming for hours, if not days. Still, they did it. The influences of different cultures, different conquerors, all throughout the Castle. A mixture of Western European and Ottoman styles, Orthodox crosses and mosques. This particular castle hosts a museum to Skanderbeg, a national hero throughout Albania, Kosovo, and beyond. He is a hero venerated for fighting off the Ottomans.
While historically intertwined, the more recent history of Albania and Kosovo diverge. While Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia during the Communist era, Albania was an independent communist country more closely aligned with Russia and China. They had their own version of the cultural revolution, with a museum in Schoder called the Site of Witness and Memory commemorating the lives lost or forever altered by this period. The dialects of Albanian differ from Albania and Kosovo as well. The Albanian in Albania has strong Italian influences, and the couple of words I have managed to pick up in Pristina did not help me much.
In a post-conflict society, history matters. You cannot simply walk in to the situation and impose an administration. How far back do we have to go to understand the root of current conflicts in Kosovo? To the Ottoman period, where many of the troublesome borders where established? To the post-WWI era, when Albanian-majority Kosovo was given to the Kingdom of Serbia? To the Roman empire, when Illyrian culture began to take root? I often wonder how much of the current conflict is due to current policy failings, and how much is a result of historical trends rippling across times. What is clear is that without an approach informed by the history of a place, no real change can occur.