Fehmi Ajvazi, an eminent author from Kosovo, has shared his book ‘In the Kingdom of Death’ published in Albanian in 2012 in Pristina, and in Romanian in 2019, and was translated from Albanian to English
[In March 1999, the Serbian regime blanketed Kosovo with a contingent of 120,000 regular police, military, and civilian paramilitary forces. Just about two weeks before NATO’s intervention in Kosovo began, the region was surrounded on all sides, while pockets of the interior (villages and towns) were hit with arrests, liquidations, and massacres. Kosovo became a reservation. A kingdom called the “Kingdom of Death” established authority everywhere! However, some areas were controlled by insurgent liberation forces, and in some places, Serbian forces couldn’t penetrate. Well, the hatred between Serbs and Albanians was the same, but the bullets were the same too: they brought death to everyone, and it was no problem for the “bullet” whether the target was Albanian or Serbian. I mean, the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army held some territory and kept it free! But about ten days before NATO planes launched their attack in their battle for Kosovo, Albanian insurgents managed to have the world’s most powerful force as their ally: the NATO alliance. However, no one had managed to master a pact with death. Just a few days before March 24th, the “Lady of Death” was the ruler of Kosovo, in reality, she was the ruler of the Albanian citizens of this extremely small territory! And for the third time in history, the state of Serbia wanted nothing more and nothing less than: the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. Over 1 million residents before March 24, 1999, challenged “this kingdom” by saying, “Here we are, your power is not the power of God!” I had decided to stay, not to leave. I was a journalist, but also a creator. And so, I had no idea what dilemmas lay in this direction, despite the open threats from the Serbs, and I knew well that they would try to wash their hands of us like Pontius Pilate! Regardless of every situation and circumstance, I sacrificed to be a witness to a time and a history without parallel! Yes, a witness…! And everything I have said and written about literary-historical conditions is in this book – a testimony. Therefore, this book is a source and my personal experience of a time I pray will never be repeated – anywhere. Just as I pray for the souls of those who did not come out alive in this “kingdom of death” in the third millennium! Read the truth about Kosovo… Author]
Someone said that NATO was attacking. But NATO was not attacking the inhabited neighborhoods, houses, or civilian objects. It was Serbian units that were positioned everywhere, strategically placed in various points in the capital, those who were bombarding civilian Albanian settlements in broad daylight. In the neighborhood where the grenades were falling, there were no Serbian families. A few days earlier, perhaps four or five days before the bombings began, Serbian forces sophisticatedly initiated the “peripheral encirclement” of the capital. This encirclement was established by increasing the number of police patrol groups, positioning them at more control points, and increasing the number of Special Forces, etc. They then roamed the streets and alleys, and various Serbian forces in civilian clothes joined them. The numerous motorized war vehicles changed the urban communication structure. Armored vehicles, anti-aircraft weapons, and Puch G-Wagens were positioned in the outskirts of the capital. Although the impression was created that this “positioning” was routine and for security reasons, part of the Serbian machinery was camouflaged near intersections, beside buildings, etc. The encirclement of the capital had intensified two or three days before the start of the bombings. On Wednesday, March 24, the day when the bombings would begin, everything became clear: the capital was not only filled with various forces, but it was also surrounded by all war machinery.
A few days earlier, perhaps four or five days before the bombings began, Serbian forces sophisticatedly initiated the “peripheral encirclement” of the capital.
We couldn’t tell where the shootings were coming from. There was no doubt that, given the geographical configuration of the “Bregu i Diellit” neighborhood, the shootings were coming from nearby. Serbian forces, using sophisticated and treacherous tactics, entered civilian buildings and, after expelling Albanian families, occupied their apartments with the intention of closely monitoring the situation and avoiding NATO’s massive bombings. In this way, Serbian military forces, so to speak, were hiding in the elementary school “Iliria,” which is located above the “White Apartments,” etc.
The shootings stopped after a while, but smoke and flames were coming out of the burning houses. Although I knew it was dangerous, I quickly went to the place known as “Xhambazët,” about 150 meters from my apartment, to see if I could really find some cigarettes to buy.
There, at the Xhambazët crossroad, the children from the poor families of the Muhaxhirëve neighborhood had been selling cigarettes on the street for years. How many times I had bought cigarettes from them in this decade, only God knows! I was going, but I wasn’t sure I would find any. I had nowhere else to look for cigarettes. Surprisingly, two or three children were still on the street selling cigarettes even in this war situation. Clearly, although the bombings were continuing incessantly, these Albanian children, like the Serbian boy in the neighborhood, were trying to do “a little business.” I bought three packs of “Monte Carlo” cigarettes, worth 20 German marks. Ah, that’s how the children’s market worked: sometimes you take it, sometimes you don’t. I took them, without any resentment about the price.
March, 31st
The news is staggering. Terrifying. The refugee crisis is engulfing Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and more. The Albanian Golgotha has already begun. According to a plan that Belgrade seems to have detailed well, the ethnic cleansing is now including Pristina and its surroundings. The ethnic cleansing is taking place violently, in a terrorist manner. Piece by piece, neighborhood by neighborhood, hundreds of thousands of Albanians are being forcibly displaced. Every day. Various paramilitary and military formations, systematically, are ordering the expulsion of Albanian residents from one neighborhood to another, from one housing quarter to another, using methods of intimidation, violence, plunder, arrest, liquidation, and more. Alongside the aggressive displacement, there is also a special propaganda-speculative war.
The time is 17:00: The news comes in like thunderclaps! Reports spread of the arrests of tens of hundreds of city residents, as well as the establishment of concentration camps (concllogore). Similar to Bosnia. The Serbs are exploiting the situation eagerly, acting on the ground: to eliminate and eradicate as many Albanians as possible. The news agency “Kosovapress” reports: “In the Gërmia neighborhood of Pristina, the police have ordered Albanian residents to vacate their homes. Those who have left are stranded on the streets, and their fate is unknown. A train has been filled with people, and many residents from the Kolovica neighborhood have set off towards Belgrade. The Serbian army and police are stockpiling weapons even in the gardens of children in the capital of Kosovo.”
The ethnic cleansing is taking place violently, in a terrorist manner. Piece by piece, neighborhood by neighborhood, hundreds of thousands of Albanians are being forcibly displaced.
Please note that this text appears to be a piece of news or a report related to a specific historical or fictional context, and it may not represent real events. German Defense Minister Rudolf Sharping announced today to the global public that Serbs are establishing concentration camps in Kosovo. However, despite the significant danger, people are reluctant to leave their homes. On the other hand, Belgrade is disseminating information suggesting that Albanians are leaving Kosovo due to fear of NATO bombardments. Leaving one’s homeland is not and has not been our tradition. If evacuation were our intention, we would have done it before the airstrikes began, meaning before March 24th. Here’s a significant fact: The Red Cross of Macedonia reported on March 22nd that only 1,700 individuals from Kosovo with valid documents have crossed the border. The flow of Albanian residents fleeing to Macedonia, according to this institution, has reached 10,587 so far. However, these evacuees are mainly from border areas, mostly from the vicinity of Han i Elezit and Kaçanik. Even their departure is justifiable. Recently, this border region has been embroiled in fierce fighting between UCK forces and Serbian forces. The displacement has intensified on a large scale. Thousands of people from Mitrovica, Vushtrria, Llapi, and Central Kosovo are reportedly being forced towards the railway point near Dragodan and the railway station of Fushë Kosovë. From there, they are heading towards the border area of Han i Elezit. The Dukagjin and Drenica regions are being evacuated towards Albania and Montenegro. Settlements in villages and towns are being encircled by three types of armed formations (regular army, police, and paramilitaries).
According to the order given, settlements (neighborhoods, residential buildings, houses) are being emptied, and people are thrown onto the streets. The scenes of displacement are unimaginable; Serbian armed forces are acting aggressively, behaving like madmen, threatening, indiscriminately beating anyone in their path, arresting, killing, and eliminating people of different ages. In addition to all this, they subject women and girls to violence and plunder. Two residents, Ajet Muharremi and another named Hajdin from Fushë Kosovë, were reportedly shot on the spot after refusing to leave their homes. Another resident, Xheladini, is said to have been abducted with his wife, Hamide, and massacred. No one knows where their bodies were disposed of. Various Serbian forces employ a degenerate, masochistic system of crime: first, they massacre their victims, and in the end, they shoot them to death. When they finish their gruesome work of massacre and killing, they burn and attempt to dispose of the bodies. In the realization of the genocidal crime process, the Serbo-Chetnik orgy generates frustration, macabre pleasure, numbness, hatred like that of a rabid dog, cruelty, and other forms, all serving the purpose of depopulating Kosovo. What kind of work is this?!
The flow of Albanian residents fleeing to Macedonia, according to this institution, has reached 10,587 so far.
NATO airstrikes have not stopped. Even UCK units, as reported by the radio of the “Free Kosovo” war, have intensified their attacks on all fronts, but their resistance has become difficult due to the large-scale displacement of the population. Besides the front of the war, UCK has thousands of people on foot seeking refuge in the mountains, in fact, seeking salvation in the areas it controls.
The absence of food
My perception of time is within the realm of the lifeless world! The time is 8:13 minutes. March has passed, and today is Thursday, April 1st. Morning has broken breathless and rainy, with warm rays of sunshine. But the departure of winter, not a small one, challenges the arrival of spring. The layers of winter cold throughout the month of March hindered the arrival of warm currents to usher in the new season. Thousands of people, for days, weeks, and months on end, have been staying in the mountains, under the open sky, in the regions of Drenica, Dukagjin, Llap, Karadak, and so on. Now, we know nothing about our families. Neither I nor Shpresa. All we know is that the sister of F’s wife, along with her husband and two children, has left the apartment where she lives in the Ulpiana neighborhood, and what’s true about her departure is that paramilitaries have looted her, and they have not spared her life.
We have run out of some foods, as well as beverages. By the way, we no longer have milk for Niku, and instead of milk, we make him biscuits with either tea or warm water and sugar. We have no fruit or vegetables left, and the potatoes are gone. We have a few beans left, and there are two kilograms of rice. There are only two of us, but if we continue to be confined and constantly threatened for more days, we will soon run out of essential supplies. They will be exhausted. However, we still have salt, macaroni, and flour. Shpresa mainly bakes bread. I try to smoke one cigarette every two to three hours. Etniku is well, appearing healthy. But not the wife, who is barely coping with the situation. Worry and fear have worn her down. Nevertheless, we have started to talk to each other a bit more than in the early days of the bombings. We have grown somewhat accustomed to the situation we are in. But even when we talk, usually, we do so in complete silence and in a low voice, always trying to avoid negative thoughts, images, and assumptions, evil fantasies, etc. However, I have tried several times during these days to make sure Shpresa does not feel completely ruined and hopeless. After all, we are grown-ups, and these are trials and sacrifices. I have told her a few times, and I will certainly say it again in the days to come: “As it is written, so it shall be. This is our fate. In God’s hands!” I don’t think she doesn’t understand what I’m saying, why I’m saying it…
No. She has not said, not even once, “Why didn’t we leave in time to avoid the bombings here in Kosovo?” She has respected my decision not to leave before March 24th, which means she is a woman who has shared her fate with me. And this constantly gives me strength, although I must admit that she does not have it easy at all to cope with this situation, which is absolutely unbearable. More than for myself, I care that she feels as challenging as possible, as little worried as possible, as optimistic as possible in the face of the situation because the whole thing, nevertheless, will pass, and one day not too far away, we will cast this horror beyond the end of the world. (Continues)
Click here for Part-1, Part-2, Part-3, Part-4, Part-5, Part-6, Part-7, Part-8, Part-9, Part-10, Part-11, Part-12, Part-13, Part-14, Part-15, Part-16, Part-17, Part-18, Part-19,
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[The book ‘In the Kingdom of Death’ is being reproduced in episodes with the consent of the author]
