Albanians and bullets

What is it with Albanians and bullets?  And not just bullets, but guns, violence, and general mayhem?  Is it rooted in Islam, a worldview which has used violence, in both its early days and now, in order to expand?  Is it based in the fact that the US State Department has been, for well over a century now, pro-Arabist, and therefore supportive or at least accommodating, of Islam, and hence, Albanians?  Is it the centuries-old blood feuds among Albanians that they just can’t shake off and which will take many more centuries before they abate?  Why are Albanians so quick to take offense, and in doing so, so quick to pick up the gun?

I ask these questions because the latest example occurred this past weekend in Macedonia.  In the lead-up to the spring parliamentary elections, the ethnic Albanian party, the Alliance for Albanians, led by Arben Taravari, has decided to side with other ethnic Albanian parties in Macedonia in opposition to DUI, led by Ali Ahmeti, the party borne out of the so-called “National Liberation Army,” which started a war in Macedonia in 2001. Within the Alliance, however, there is the former leader, Ziadin Sela, who disagrees with Taravari and wants the party to side with DUI and their junior partner, SDSM.  So, what happened over the weekend?  A bullet was found in the yard of Taravari’s home in Gostivar to send a signal.  This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in Macedonia.  And it will not be the last time.

Granted, the vast majority of Albanians – wherever they live – are peaceful and just want what most people want: to live and raise and their families and work and have a holiday every now and then.  But it just seems to me that, when one looks at the number of incidences throughout history – and especially when I look at Macedonia these past 30 plus years – that often the first thing for Albanians to do at the slightest provocation or at the first hint that they won’t get their way – their first inclination is to violence, and not just good old-fashioned fisticuffs, but violence with guns and bullets.

One of my more vivid memories upon coming to live in Macedonia was at a gym in Skopje, Atleta.  Another guy was spending an inordinate amount of time on one piece of equipment, and so I then made a comment about this, and he, taking instant offense, threatened to go get his gun.  And yes, he was an Albanian complete in track suit, gold chains around his neck, reeking of cigarettes.  To be fair, that was almost 30 years ago, and fashion has changed, though if he is still alive, I’ll bet you he’s still wearing that track suit with gold chains and reeking of cigarettes, though no longer going to the gym.

The greatest example of Albanians loving the bullet, however, is Ali Ahmeti, a major loser in the Kosovo war.  He did not reap any of the rewards that senior “Kosovo Liberation Army” leaders did after the war, so he did the next best thing: he started his own war in Macedonia.  His original intent was to split the country in two.  In an interview entitled “A Troubled Dream” with David Binder in Newsweek on March 22, 2001, Ali Ahmeti said “Our aim is solely to remove Slav forces from territory which is historically Albanian.”  Ahmeti has never denied that quote though both his own revisionist history and that of his fans and handlers now state he was murdering and wounding and kidnapping and torturing Macedonians in order to give more rights to Albanians.  Though they don’t quite state it like that.

Even today, from time to time, Ahmeti and those he has groomed – like Artan Grubi – will occasionally threaten violence if they don’t get their way.  And here’s something you can count on: if DUI is not in the next government – for whatever reason – they will threaten more violence.  In fact, if VMRO wins the majority of seats and has the first right to form a government, DUI will threaten violence even before that new government is formed.  DUI, and others like them, have made their careers, their power, and their wealth, through violence.  It is only a matter of time before that violence eventually engulfs them.