If the Balkan winds pick up, blowing the embers of the Yugoslav conflagration into Serbia's southernmost province, a bloody massacre far surpassing anything yet seen in Bosnia-Herzegovina seems inevitable. Kosovo is a fascinating land--rich in tradition, shrouded in mystery--where ancient blood feuds planted deep within the craggy rocks of the mountainous villages can only be washed away by the torrents of hatred. It is a Serbian stronghold inhabited by a 90 percent ethnic-Albanian majority.
According to the 48-year-old president of Kosovo's Albanian parallel government, Ibrahim Rugova, "it seems inevitable that Serbia will decide to 'purify' Kosovo of all ethnic Albanians. When it happens, the world will witness a large-scale slaughter of at least half of the two million ethnic Albanians living here." He and the majority of ethnic Albanians who follow him are demanding complete secession and independence from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. They say they will negotiate for nothing less.
Serbs say they will never let go of Kosovo--the crown jewel of their culture, the seat of the Serbian Eastern Orthodox rite, and the location of hundreds of precious twelfth- and thirteenth-century monasteries.
Serbs have historically seen themselves as the defenders of the Christian world against the infidel Muslims, and the prophecy is still carried out today in Kosovo. Foremost is the story of the Battle of Kosovo, drilled into the head of every Serbian schoolchild through homily, song, and epic saga. Six hundred and four years ago, on Saint Vitus Day, the army of Serbian Prince Lazar faced the powerful forces of the Ottoman sultan on the "Field of the Blackbirds," just a mile outside of Pristina.
Confronted by the Mother of God on the eve of the battle, Lazar was offered the choice between a temporary Serbian empire on earth or an everlasting one in the heavens. By choosing the latter, he accepted a defeat that ushered in 500 years of Turkish dominion over Serbian lands. It was during this half-millennium of occupation the Albanians in Kosovo and many Serbs and Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina converted to Islam.
But myths can be hazardous in the Balkans, and this one in particular continues to convince Serbs that they must avenge that fateful day in 1389. "If the Serbs succeed in 'cleansing' Albanians from Kosovo, all they will be left with is a purified myth," says Rugova.
CAMPAIGN OF TERROR
The escalation of the campaign of terror has directly coincided with the rise to power of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
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