No "Greater Albania" wave seen from Kosovo
TETOVO, Macedonia (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanian independence from Serbia will boost the confidence of Albanians in neighboring Macedonia, but prospects of EU membership will outweigh dreams of a "Greater Albania", political leaders say.
Albanians form a 90 percent majority in Kosovo, which is set to declare independence on Sunday. Macedonia's Albanians are a 25 percent minority.
Ethnic Albanian leaders say the best insurance against Macedonia breaking up in ethnic conflict as it nearly did in 2001 is the country's membership in NATO soon and in the European Union in a few years.
"Why talk about building or removing classical borders when Europe has drawn lessons from its old conflicts and decided to build a joint future for its states?" said Ali Ahmeti, head of Macedonia's main Albanian political party.
"We love this country as much as the Macedonians love it," he told Reuters. "Long-term stability in Macedonia will be achieved by solving the problem of Albanians living in Kosovo. It is a victory for us, too.
In 2001, Ahmeti led a 6-month uprising which came close to igniting full-scale civil war, before NATO and the EU brokered peace talks that resulted in more rights for Albanians.
Fears mounted during that period that Albanians were gearing up for a fight to unite all the lands they live in Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, with the republic of Albania. The mountainous borders between them are porous, and weapons left over from Albania's paranoid Stalinist dictatorship abound.
But opportunities offered by a common future in the EU and the NATO alliance seem to have overtaken the old dream of a single ethnic Albanian state.
An invitation to Croatia, Macedonia and Albania to join NATO at its April summit would be "a guarantee for peace, stability and security", Ahmeti said. Macedonia has EU candidate status.
OPPORTUNITY
Businessman Ridvan Pajaziti in Macedonia's capital, Skopje, said Kosovo's independence would be a boon for business at home.
"With two Albanian states as neighbors, Albanians in Macedonia would have more rights and economic gains," he said, adding it would also mean freer travel and more professional opportunities.
Landlocked Kosovo lies north of Macedonia, and east of Albania and Montenegro, where Albanians account for 7 percent of the 600,000-strong population. Albania and Montenegro could offer the new republic access to their Adriatic ports.
Ferhat Dinosa, head of Montenegro's main Albanian party, said Kosovo's quest for independence had played an important role in his community's decision to back Montenegro's own split from Serbia two years ago.
"We backed the independence of Montenegro because we were convinced it was the ante-chamber of Kosovo's independence," Dinosa told Reuters. "No serious political Albanian party in the Balkans speaks of such a thing (as Greater Albania)."
In Macedonia's ethnic Serb village of Pobozje, near the border with Kosovo, Serbian farmers were not so sure.
"I don't feel good. The border is too close. If something happens there, it can come here," said Trajan, 64, who would not give his full name.
"Kosovo will be independent, but this will be dangerous because they will take a part of Serbia and then they will want a part of Macedonia and Montenegro. This is going to happen in the next few years and we expect trouble," he added.
Despite their leaders' comments, some Macedonian Albanians still hope for an ethnic homeland. Along the highway linking Skopje to the mainly Albanian city of Tetovo, a graffiti artist has scrawled the words "Republika Ilirida", or Greater Albania.
"We want to see Kosovo become independent as soon as possible because it is going to benefit Albanians everywhere," said Luziana Beqiri, 28, who makes traditional costumes.
"We would love to unite. It would be good to be all together, to have no borders. But we do not really know. We fear that because these are big things and nobody wants war."
(Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Douglas Hamilton and Caroline Drees)
