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Last Updated: Oct 6, 2008 - 5:44:04 AM |
Ironically, with a more than 90 percent Muslim population, Kosovo has
so far been recognized as an independent state mostly by European
countries and only by a handful of Islamic ones. It is curious that a
tiny Pacific country, Samoa, with about 215,000 inhabitants, recognized
Kosovo, while it has not been recognized by Indonesia, which is, with
its 230 million people, the most populous Muslim-majority country.
Something similar is happening these days at the annual session of the
UN General Assembly.
The 192-member assembly -- many of them with Muslim majorities and
member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) --
approved a recommendation of its general committee to put on the agenda
the request of Serbia for an advisory opinion of the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) on whether Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of
independence is in accordance with international law. All UN member
states will be asked to vote on the Serbian move. Only a simple
majority is needed for the case to be forwarded to the ICJ in The
Hague.
Both Serbia and Kosovo have started a diplomatic battle at the UN
headquarters. Their presidents, Boris Tadic and Fatmir Sejdiu, are
already there. Tadic is seeking UN support for Serbia’s bid to
challenge Kosovo’s independence before the ICJ, and Sejdiu is defending
the independence of his country and trying to win more international
recognition. The United Sates has already disassociated itself from the
assembly’s decision. Other Western countries backing Kosovo’s
independence are making efforts to stop Serbia’s proposal from passing
in the General Assembly. If they fail, it will be a result of not only
Russia, but also many African, Asian and Arab countries that are still
opposing or hesitating, for different reasons, to recognize Kosovo’s
independence.
Serb leaders using history
Serbia’s diplomatic struggle is aimed particularly at such countries,
most of them members of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Islamic
Conference. Serbian leaders and diplomats are wisely using
controversies that are associated with Kosovo’s case, and particularly
the factor of “precedent” -- i.e., that Kosovo’s independence could be
applied to separatist movements in many other countries, especially
after the recent conflict in Georgia. Serbia skillfully uses the old
sentiments of many Asian and African countries toward the former
Yugoslavia and its president, Josip Broz Tito, as well as the ignorance
in many countries of the so-called Third World about developments in
the Balkans after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Serbian Foreign
Minister Vuk Jeremic visited Cairo two weeks ago, requesting support
from the Arab League for Serbia’s attempt to take Kosovo before the UN
and trying to prevent the recognition of Kosovo by some Arab countries.
In his speech at the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement
in Tehran in July, he reminded participants of the importance of
Belgrade, where the first movement’s summit was held and stressed
particularly the words “our Tito,” as if Tito belongs only to the
Serbs!
We Bosnians know best what that ignorance meant when we were
approaching Muslim countries, particularly Arab states, seeking their
support and help in the first days of the Serbian aggression. There was
a disbelief that the Yugoslav army -- mostly commanded by Serb generals
-- which had been supplying Arab countries with sophisticated weapons
and equipment and was considered very friendly by the Arab military
establishment, could do something wrong to Muslims. At that time, 1992,
almost nothing was known about the situation, not even that there was a
Bosnia in Yugoslavia, and even less about Kosovo, inhabited mostly by
Muslims. Thus, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi publicly wondered, “What
do those Muslims want, when Serbs are such good people?” He was saying
this when thousands of Bosnian Muslims had already been tortured and
slaughtered by Serbs. Egypt was particularly suspicious toward the
struggle of the Bosnians, as it is today toward the independence of
Kosovo.
Had it not been for some people and some countries, this attitude would
have continued and Bosnia and Herzegovina would have been deprived of
the later extended fateful aid and political support. Turkey was one
among those countries and among the individuals not belonging to
politics was Ekmeleddin I.hsanog(lu, who was, at the time, head of the
OIC’s Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA). It
so happened that the ministerial meeting of the OIC was held in
I.stanbul in June 1992 -- two months after the aggression against
Bosnia started. There was confusion among Muslim countries regarding
the developments in former Yugoslavia, more than in the Western world.
Being aware of the nature of the intention of Serbian leader Slobodan
Milosevic to transform Yugoslavia into a Greater Serbia, expelling or
eradicating from it all non-Serbs, the Turkish government had a hard
time including the Bosnian issue on the agenda, due to the suspicions
of other OIC member states. Dynamic Minister Hikmet Cetin and brilliant
intellectual Professor I.hsanog(lu were specially engaged in that
regard, bringing to the conference Haris Silajdzic, then the head of
Bosnian diplomacy.
Having respect for different conditions and circumstances, I find some
similarities between the position of Bosnia in 1992 and of Kosovo in
2008, at least in regard to the approach of the Muslim countries. The
best proof that the attitude of individual Muslim countries and their
organization, the OIC, toward Kosovo could be different is being given
again these days by Turkey and -- what a coincidence -- I.hsanog(lu,
now the OIC secretary-general.
Turkey among first countries to recognize Kosovo
Besides the US and major EU member states, Turkey was among the first
countries to recognize the independence of Kosovo, less than 24 hours
after its declaration on Feb. 17. The OIC secretary-general expressed
solidarity with the people of Kosovo the next day, adding: “The Islamic
(nation) wishes them success in the new battle awaiting them, which is
the building of a strong and prosperous state capable of satisfying its
people. There is no doubt that the independence of Kosovo will be an
asset to the Muslim world and will further enhance joint Islamic
action”.
However, the OIC did not see it as such an “asset” at its summit in
Dakar, Senegal, just a few weeks later. Turkish diplomacy did not
succeed in its initiative at having an article of clear support for
Kosovo’s declaration of independence included in the declaration of the
summit. The conference expressed only “a need to be in solidarity with
the Kosovar people,” leaving the issue of the recognition of Kosovo to
individual member states. The OIC could not go further at its
ministerial meeting in Kampala, Uganda, in June, either. As in Dakar,
the Muslim countries opposing the recognition of Kosovo have been led
by Egypt. So far, only six Muslim countries have recognized that
youngest European state.
Now, facing the possibility that the ICJ could get the green light from
the UN to issue an opinion on the international legality or illegality
of its declaration of independence, Kosovo is depending on the US and
European states. In lobbying for Kosovo they will be joined only by a
few Muslim-majority countries, such as Turkey and Malaysia. Regarding
the OIC, it is not likely that it can give joint support to Kosovo.
While receiving the head of Kosovo diplomacy, Skender Hyseni, in the
middle of September, Professor I.hsanog(lu reaffirmed the OIC’s support
for the Kosovar people. He could do no more, having to talk and work in
accordance with the irresolute and compromising declarations of the
OIC. He has a very complex role to take. It is true that the European
Union could not reach a unified approach on the recognition of Kosovo
either, but 20 out of 27 of its member states have recognized Kosovo.
In the OIC, it was done by six out of 57 member states.
I doubt that the eventual acceptance of Serbia’s initiative in the UN
General Assembly could make Kosovo’s independence questionable, but I
wonder what will happen if tomorrow Kosovo requests to become an OIC
member state.
*Hajrudin Somun is the former ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to
Turkey and a lecturer in the history of diplomacy at the Philip
Noel-Baker International University in Sarajevo.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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