Kosovo – From Occupation to Liberation: a Historical Perspective From the Balkan Wars 1912/13 to the War of Kosovo 1998/99

The purpose of the research paper is to study examines Kosovo’s political, economic, social and cultural developments under Serbian occupation from 1912-1913 to 1998-1999. The scientific novelty. The paper highlights the key factors that led Kosovo Albanians to initiate armed resistance during the period 1998-1999, demonstrates that this conflict was a consequence of systematic discrimination against Albanians. It’s will enable to better understand the historical trajectory of Kosovo from its occupation in 1912-1913, to its eventual liberation in 1999. Conclusions. The London Conference of 1912-1913, was the main determinant of the fate of the territory of Kosovo. This is due to the fact that from this conference the territory of Kosovo remained under the rule of the state of Serbia, until June 1999 when it was finally liberated, to then declare independence on February 17, 2008. Serbia, through various programs, including the Serbian academic program Vasa Cubrilovic, aimed to depopulate Kosovo from Albanian residents. To achieve this goal, the Serbian state, under the mask of the SCS Kingdom first, then in the Yugoslav Federation, took some key actions, among which: 1. Denationalization of the ethnic Albanian population; 2. The agreement on depopulation of Kosovo, and 3. The colonization of Kosovo by Serb population. In 1960s illegal movements in Kosovo began to intensify, which consisted of mainly youth organizations aimed at seceding Kosovo from Yugoslavia and joining Albania. The intensification of this activity gave an impact on the organization of student demonstrations of 1968 in the territory of Kosovo. As a result of these demonstrations: 1. The University of Prishtina opened in 1970, 2. The national flag for Albanians was allowed, 3. In 1974, Kosovo gained autonomy, thus being recognized as the autonomous Socialist province of Kosovo. In 1989 Kosovo lost the status of an autonomous Socialist Province. The abolition of Kosovo autonomy in 1989 paved the way for the development of extreme nationalism in Yugoslavia, with a special emphasis on Serbia, while the key figure of this nationalism from which Kosovo first suffered was Slobodan Milosevic. This step of 1989 to prompted Albanians to create separate institutions in Kosovo, which acted as separate from Serbia, which went so far as Kosovo in 1991 declared itself a Republic within Yugoslavia. Until 1997, Kosovo was pursuing a non-violent passive resistance, but seeing that this policy was not bringing positive results, the Kosovo Albanians formed the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) military guerrilla, through which from 1997 to 1999, violent resistance against Yugoslav state structures that were committing crimes and massacres in Kosovo has also begun. The crimes and massacres committed by the Serb-Yugoslav side, led to the start of the NATO bombing in Kosovo on March 24, 1999, which became a key factor for the liberation of Kosovo from Serbia.