The Drama of the UÇK Fighters: Losing the Flag of Victory in Peace
By dr. Mujë Buçpapaj
Keywords: Kosovo, UÇK, national unification, red and black flag, post-war peace, state-building, international intervention, Special Court, national identity.
1. Introduction
On August 7th in Prishtina, the Organization of Kosovo Liberation Army Veterans (OVL-UÇK) organized a protest in support of the former UÇK leaders currently detained in The Hague. This protest is much more than an act of solidarity: it is a call for remembrance, an effort to restore the dignity that history is being denied.
The victory of the Kosovo Liberation Army in June 1999 marked a historic turning point for the Albanians of Kosovo. However, this victory was not crowned with the realization of the main objectives of the war – the full liberation of the territory and national unification. Instead, a period of peace supported by international intervention began, characterized by political compromises, assisted state-building, and changes to national symbols. This article aims to critically analyze this transition and highlight the contradictions between the war’s goals and the post-war reality.
2. The Symbolism of the Flag and the Role of the UÇK
The red and black flag was not merely a national symbol but also a flag of war and unity. It served as a mobilizing tool and gave moral and cultural legitimacy to the UÇK’s resistance. Its anthem and political discourse were oriented towards national unification and the full liberation of Albanian lands. The acceptance of another flag after the war, without any symbolic connection to the Albanians, represents a deliberate break from this legacy and the national ideology of unification.
3. Conditional Peace and Territorial Compromises
After the end of the war, the UÇK did not continue to establish state authority in the northern part of the country. The region beyond the Ibar River remained under Serbian influence, creating a permanent state of limited sovereignty. Additionally, Kosovo lost territories in later agreements with Montenegro and North Macedonia. These concessions were the result of a new political approach that emphasized international recognition, often at the expense of national interests.
4. Imposed Structures and Fragmentation of Statehood
The Ahtisaari Plan and Kosovo’s Constitution introduced elements such as self-government for Serb-majority municipalities in the north, establishing an internal structure that undermines the functional unity of the state. These forms of extreme decentralization have reinforced ethnic divisions and have endangered, and continue to endanger, Kosovo’s territorial integrity.
5. The Special Court and the Discourse of Equating with the Occupier
The establishment of the Special Court for war crimes exclusively against UÇK members is one of the most controversial developments. While crimes committed by the Serbian army have not been prosecuted equally, this court has contributed to delegitimizing the liberation narrative and weakening the figure of the fighter as a national hero. This has long-term consequences for historical memory and the construction of state identity.
Serbia’s Position Towards the UÇK and the Instrumentalization of the War Narrative
Since the end of the Kosovo war, Serbia has constructed a persistent criminalizing discourse against the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK), portraying it not as a liberation force of an oppressed people but as a criminal and terrorist organization. This stance has been integral to Belgrade’s efforts to relativize its responsibility for war crimes committed by the Serbian army and police in Kosovo and to build an alternative narrative of the conflict. In this context, the persecution of former UÇK leaders at the Kosovo Special Court in The Hague, based on a wholly one-sided accusation of “UÇK crimes,” has created a sense of institutional delegitimization of the liberation war, which, directly or indirectly, serves Serbia’s interests. While Serbia has not yet handed over any military commanders responsible for war crimes in Kosovo, the proceedings against former UÇK leaders are perceived by a large part of Albanian society as an unfair equivalence between aggressor and victim, helping Serbia regain international legitimacy. This situation increases feelings of disappointment and betrayal and strengthens the belief that international justice is being used not to establish peace and truth but to produce new political compromises that harm Kosovo’s freedom cause.
6. The Lost Historical Moment: 1999
The year 1999 represented a golden opportunity for Albanian national unification. With unprecedented international support and an isolated and discredited Serbia, it was the ideal moment for coordinated action among the UÇK, the Albanian state, and Western allies. Inaction during this period resulted in the de facto division of the Albanian nation and the transformation of Kosovo into a prolonged international protectorate.
7. Identity Impacts and the Discourse of the “Kosovar Nation”
The discourse on a distinct Kosovar identity emerged as a consequence of external pressures and a lack of a clear national vision from political elites. This effort to separate Kosovar identity from the Albanian one, although artificial, has influenced the political and cultural division within the Albanian community. In this context, excluding the red and black flag from the public sphere symbolically represents a stripping away of history. Recent desecrations of the national flag and the monument of our hero Skanderbeg are the result of Serbo-Russian influences as well as this long-term political stance.
8. Strategies for National and International Political Action. Reorganizing the UÇK Fighters as a Moral and Strategic Factor
The UÇK fighters, representing an invaluable historical and moral capital, cannot remain spectators in the debate about Kosovo’s and the Albanian nation’s future. They must return to the public stage not as nostalgic figures but as a responsible political and social institution defending the ideals of the liberation war. This requires building a national platform based on the values of sacrifice, integrity, and unity, clearly articulating rejection of further compromises that endanger sovereignty and national identity.
9. The Governments of Kosovo and Albania: From Technical Management to National Vision
The governments in Prishtina and Tirana must free themselves from the “international approval” complex as a primary political decision criterion. Kosovo can no longer be a state that is merely “administered” awaiting recognition from Serbia; and Albania cannot remain a passive observer of processes directly affecting the national interest. The two Albanian governments should establish a Joint Strategic Council for National Issues, which addresses security, economic integration, educational cooperation, and diplomatic coordination of Albanians in the Balkans as a whole. Moreover, Albania should articulate its opinion on the necessity of national unification as a matter of regional security and stability in a measured but clear manner.
10. Uniting the Albanian Factor in the Region: From Fragmentation to a Common Front
Albanians in North Macedonia, the Preševo Valley, Montenegro, and the political diaspora in Greece and beyond must build a joint strategic platform, not only as a matter of minority rights but as part of a nationwide project. Creating an Assembly of Albanians of the Region, as a consultative and coordinating forum, would significantly strengthen the Albanian voice in international processes and help internationalize the issue of national unification as a peaceful, democratic, and Euro-Atlantic project.
11. The Albanian Diaspora and Lobbying in the USA
The Albanian diaspora in the USA, Europe, and elsewhere represents an extraordinary diplomatic, economic, and cultural potential, which remains underutilized in a coordinated manner. It is essential to establish a National Agency for Albanian Lobbying in the Diaspora, aiming to:
• Build networks with American and European lawmakers,
• Present national unification as the ultimate solution for stability in the Balkans,
• Promote informed debate in academic, security, and foreign policy circles in the USA,
• Propose democratic models of national unification (in the spirit of European unifications, such as Germany after the Cold War).
In this context, it should be emphasized that the USA is not against legitimate national aspirations, as long as they are clear in purpose, structured, and supported by Western values of democracy and stability.
Therefore, Albanians should not fear articulating their national ambitions even in Washington—with dignity, maturity, and strategic conviction.
12. Conclusions and Recommendations
This article concludes that the transition from war to peace in Kosovo has not been exploited to consolidate a functional state with a national vision. The loss of the flag in peace is not merely symbolic; it also represents the loss of purpose. To restore identity coherence and strategic direction, a profound political and cultural reflection is necessary, as well as a revision of relations with internationals in relation to national interests, increasing lobbying with our strategic ally, the USA. National unification remains a legitimate and necessary goal for stability and peace in the Balkans.