U.S.-Kosovo Relations, Iowa City, Iowa, October 14, 2016

- I want to acknowledge our university and community supporters, the University of Iowa's International Programs, and the University of Iowa's Honors Program. They contribute vital time, talent, and logistics to our organization. I also thank the Stanley UI Foundation's Support Organization for their financial support, and I thank today's special sponsors, Bill and Pat Sueppel, Mace and Kay Braverman. Our programs are made possible by the financial support of these sponsors. I am pleased to introduce Valon Murtezaj. Dr. Murtezaj was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo in March, 2016. Dr. Murtezaj was appointed to the position after a long and successful professional and academic career. Professor Murtezaj is a permanent professor in the prestigious IESEG School of Management in Paris, being the first Kosovo Albanian lecturing on diplomacy and international negotiation in a world diplomacy center such as Paris. Please join me in welcoming Valon Murtezaj. - Thank you, thank you very much, Mr. Martin. I am really honored to be here with you and in front of this, if I can call it ordinary, extra-ordinary audience. So thank you very much for the opportunity to provide me to speak here in Iowa City Foreign Relations Council. I am for the first time in Iowa, Iowa City, but this is not my first time in United States. I was here several times before. - [Audience Member] Would you turn the mic up so I can hear you? - Yes. - Thank you. - Okay. So, prior to being appointed to this position, I did some other stuff as well. I began to, my studies with, my medical studies, I complete my medical studies. And then, kind of that was a study of how the heart of a human being beats. I tried to learn it more. Then, after that I went to do a Master's Degree in International Management and Organizational Management, and it helped me to understand a bit more how the heart of an organization beats. And it triggered me to go further, and finally I ended up to do some studies in doctorate level in Diplomacy and International Negotiations, and that helped me to understand a bit more on how the heart of the world beats. And this became an interesting journey, and sometimes I think I have some common fate with Christopher Columbo that wanted to go to India, but then ended up in America. And I don't regret at all, because I like the job I am doing and I am trying to contribute to the development of the foreign policy of the newest, among the newest countries in the world, Kosovo, Republic of Kosovo. Sometimes we call it a newborn, newborn country. So I hope some of you will have chance to visit Kosovo, that is a very small country, but with a good heart and a good spirit. I am gonna speak today, I will not try to be long, because I would like to give space for questions and answers, but I think it would be important to speak a bit about the background of some history of Kosovo, because I learned while traveling and being in different audiences that sometimes even some basic aspects related to Kosovo are not very well... People are not very much informed about Kosovo. Students in my classes in Paris, when I ask them, and they do come from all over the world, when I ask them, they are young, majority of them, they don't know where Kosovo is. Some of them, if they know something, they know that there was kind of conflict or war there, but nothing more than that. So that, now, that made me think that at any audience I speak, I have to give some basics about Kosovo as well, so I will do that. And every time I am here in United States, I feel very, very special, and I have reasons for that. I am here in the land of democracy and freedoms, and as we say in Kosovo, an old saying says, "Good friend is the friend in difficult times." And United States were such good friend in the difficult times for Kosovo. For me and each and every one citizen of Kosovo, one thing is for sure. Kosovo would not be free without the help and support of United States and the people of United States of America. Kosovo would not be able to exercise the will of its people without the help of United States. Kosovo has gone through very difficult times. You all know the recent history, attempt for a genocide designed and implemented by Serbian regime of Milosevic. At that time, in 1990s, but finally it was unsuccessful because of the intervention of the democratic world, leaded by United States, that prevented humanitarian catastrophe of an innocent population that asked nothing more, nothing else than freedom and justice and equal treatment. We are profoundly thankful for that forever. Thank you very much. Maybe to some aspects about Kosovo, where it is situated. Throughout the history, Kosovo peoples stood at the very first line of the front to protecting European values. We are located in Balkans, in the Western Balkans part of Europe, and I will bring two names in order to create an attachment to Kosovo. The first one is Saint Teresa. Mother Teresa that was canonized a few weeks ago in Vatican, and the mother of the world, mother of love. I don't know if you knew that, but she is of Kosovo origin. It happened in Kosovo when she decided to dedicate her life to service to the God and to the poorest of the poor. It was a very small church in Letnica, the place, very small place, in Kosovo, when in young age, she decided to dedicate her life to the service. Human values of peace and freedom have been influenced and impacted by the work and passion of our first president, Ibrahim Rugova. In the world, he was known as Gandhi of Balkans for his peaceful resistance during 1990s in that time, and his main role was internationalization of the issue of Kosovo. And he managed that very well successfully. He created very good ties with the government of United States and that was the key momentum so the Kosovo issue to try to begin to find its final solution. Both of them, Saint Teresa and President Rugova are at the pantheon of the good and world peace and humanity, and as a small nation, we are proud of them. As mentioned earlier, Kosovo is among youngest states of the world, the youngest in Europe. Sometimes we call it newborn. Declared independence on 17th February in 2008. Constitutionally, the Republic of Kosovo is a democratic, secular, multiethnic republic guided by principles of nondiscrimination and equal production under the law. Kosovo is a multiparty democracy. The constitution makes provision for the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo in a way such as a unicameral assembly with 120 members, a head of state, president of the republic, a government consisting of a prime minister and ministers, and judicial institutions, constitutional court, supreme court, district courts. Kosovo has a total area of 10,887 square kilometers, so it's a small country. It has four neighbor countries. Macedonia to the south, Albania to the south and west, Montenegro to the northwest, and Serbia to the north and east. The capital of Kosovo is Pristina with around half million inhabitants. I understood similar to Iowa City. But it's much, much quiet here comparing to Pristina. The traffic, in particular, in the morning and in the evenings, you should avoid because it's really a mess. The population in Kosovo is 2.2 million, around that. Majority of population are Kosovo Albanians, 93%. Then, other communities, including Serbs, Bosniaks, Turks, Gorani, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, so these are the communities that live in Kosovo as well. An interesting figure is that Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe. 50% of the population are under 20 years old, while around 65% are under 35. This is good and this is bad at the same time. It's good as a potential, but sometimes it becomes a weakness if you don't have enough jobs for these people. Kosovo has its state symbols, flag, seal, and anthem. It's here, but you cannot see that. I promise I will send a flag here, so you to include that in the future. And all of which reflect multiethnic character. The flag of the republic bears the geographical shape of Kosovo in gold, there is some gold in Kosovo, on a dark blue field, which means democracy and European integration color, surmounted by six white five pointed stars that do represent the communities living in Kosovo. The official currency is Euro, GDP is low. 3,000 Euros, approximately. We are aiming to increase it. Today, Republic of Kosovo is recognized as sovereign and independent country, recognized by 112 states from all continents, and this continues. I am very happy and proud to say that United States were the first country to recognize Kosovo, just few minutes after our representatives declared independence in 17th of February, 2008. These states include all neighboring countries, except Serbia, and furthermore, Kosovo is recognized by 23 out of 28 countries, members of European Union. Some basic information about the historical background. Kosovo is part of former Yugoslavia. In the constitution of Yugoslavia of 1974, which was the last constitution, Kosovo was autonomous province that had representation at federal level. That means, among other rights, the autonomous province enjoyed jurisdiction over their territory at the same level as the republics. So, putting it in other words, Kosovo was a republic in everything but the name. When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991-1992, several republics declared their independence as separate states, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia, and Kosovo, and Serbia. Republic of Kosovo is one of these seven states that emerged out of the dissolution of the Yugoslavia. The problem began in 1989, when a regime of Milosevic made destructive and illegal political changes which destroyed the autonomy of Kosovo. This step was part of an overall campaign to securing Serbia's domination over the Yugoslav Federation at that time. In a relation to Kosovo in March, 1989, Serbia, with force, made Kosovo Assembly to accept changes in the constitution that removed this autonomy that was given in 1974. This led to massive demonstration of Kosovo Albanians, I remember that time, I was young guy. Many of them were killed and got to prisons. Furthermore, this was just a starting point of a new era of Serbian oppression and brutality in Kosovo, which ended with an armed conflict in 1998 and 1999, with many killings and attempt of ethnic cleansing. More than 12,000 people have been killed. Around 2,000 people are still missing, and around one million people deported out of Kosovo. I was one among these deported and discriminated people and I know very well what does that mean. This led to the involvement of international community, leaded by United States, and the application of and entire arsenal of tools available for crisis management, including a NATO intervention. This was for the very first time that NATO intervened as organization in a country, and in particular, in Europe. In fact, this was the very last and the one mean in order to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe to happen in Kosovo. As mentioned earlier, on 17th February 2008, democratically elected representatives of the people of Kosovo declared Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state, and at the declaration of independence it's noted that this act reflect the will of our people and is in full accordance with the recommendations of the U.N., United Nations, special envoy President Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland and Nobel Prize Laureate for peace, and his comprehensive proposal for the status settlement. Some background on that, the declaration of independence was justified on legal, moral, political grounds and was also a result of a U.N. led international process for determination of Kosovo's status. The U.N. Secretary General's special envoy, President Martti Ahtisaari mediated this process for two years, 2005, basically three, 'til 2007. Kosovo participated fully and in good faith at this process. At the end of the negotiating process, President Ahtisaari proposed independence for Kosovo, which would have been supervised for an initial period by the international community, pending implementation of this plan that he proposed. In other words, this plan is known as Ahtisaari's Plan. The U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon fully endorsed that plan and proposal for the independence of Kosovo. Kosovo's declaration of independence was an expression of the genuine will of its people and for the benefit of all of its citizens. It was an inescapable necessity dictated both by the history of brutal repression inflicted upon the people of Kosovo, including the tragic loss of many civilian lives and their expulsion on a massive scale from their homes and country, and by the natural need for the right to freedom and self determination. Furthermore, Kosovo declared its independence in compliance with a political process led by the United Nations as envisaged in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10th June, 1999. In 2009, international court of justice ruled that declaration of independence is not in violation to the international law. As mentioned earlier, current political system of Kosovo is a democratic and secular multiethnic republic, guided by principles of nondiscrimination and equal protection under the law. Constitution of Republic of Kosovo was adopted on 2008 and entered in force in 2008. According to the constitution, Kosovo is an independent, sovereign, democratic, unique, and indivisible state, and is state of citizens. So it's U.S. model of the country. The Republic of Kosovo is a multiethnic society consisting of Albanians and other communities governed democratically with full respect for the rule of law through its legislative, executive, and judicial institutions. Kosovo is a democratic republic based on the principle of separation of powers and the checks and balances among them. The president of the Republic of Kosovo represents the unity of the people, Assembly of the Republic exercises legislative power, and president is legitimate representative of the country internally and externally, and is the guarantor of the democratic functioning of the institutions of Republic of Kosovo as provided at the constitution. The government of Republic of Kosovo is responsible for the implementation of the law and the state policies and is subject to the parliamentary control. Judicial power, as another branch, according to the constitution, is unique and independent and is exercised by courts. The highest level of the courts is constitutional court, which is independent and protects constitutionality and is the final interpreter of the constitution. Basis of the economy corridor in Kosovo is market economy with free competition. And finally, constitution of Republic of Kosovo provides that Kosovo shall respect international law and internal agreements and legally binding norms of internal law have superiority over the laws of the republic. Among the most important aspects for the protection of the rights of minority communities and their members is affirmative actions, positive discrimination, and the decentralization program. This provides a lot of rights to the communities. The right to govern in local levels. Kosovo is organized in two levels, a local levels, municipalities, and the central level, the government. Ladies and gentlemen, a few more words about Kosovo. Where we are, what we do, what we aim for. We are totally committed to European integration path. European family is Kosovo's family. As a newborn country, we have progresses and we have challenges, as well. Republic of Kosovo is undertaking all the measures through its government to make all the reforms needed in order to attract investments, foreign direct invenstments that would have an impact generally in the economic development and job creation, which is, that are such needed in Kosovo in order so young, talented people to be employed. Kosovo's vision is that of peace, dialogue, and collaboration and good neighborly relations with all. We have good neighborly relations with all our neighbor countries except Serbia. However, we are trying and working a lot towards normalizations of relations. Actually, there is a dialogue, negotiations happening in Brussels, with the mediation of European Union. Several agreements have been made. However, we are not very happy with the implementation of the agreements by the side of the Serbian government. It seems they have not yet understood that Kosovo is an independent state, recognized by such many countries. Recognized by all democratic world. We need recognitions from few other EU members, such as Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece, Cyprus. When you ask them why you don't recognize Kosovo, they don't have anything to deal with Kosovo, but they have some internal issues. And they say we are afraid that we create precedence. For example, Spain with Catalonia, and so on. But this is not right and just to make this comparison, because Kosovo was so generous in its own path. And there is no risk at all if these countries would recognize Kosovo. We have many things, in fact, to do in our path toward Europe and we are late because of the history and the issues well known now. As in any post-war, post-conflict society, rule of law and corruption are evident in some aspects, however, I am happy to say that in recent times, a fight against corruption is more and more evident. More people are prosecuted, including high level officials. Of course, this is not enough. Much more needs to be done, but we are committed to do that. Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a world with difficult times, in times where conflict is becoming a growing industry and where the range of conflict is large. Scenes we see every day in Syria and Iraq and elsewhere in the world are those of horror and terror. Thousands of innocent people die in the most inhuman way. Millions are displaced and homeless. We see every day the destructivity of Russia in many contexts, and I think this has to stop, and we must stand together against terrorism and violent radicalism, because this is the battle between the good and the bad, and I'm sure that the good will win, because we stand and we will stand together. Kosovo is a valued member of the global coalition against terrorism and violent radicalism and extremism. In 2016, no foreign fighter from Kosovo joined ISIS. And this is a success because of the strong and closed communication and collaboration with the countries such as United States and other countries of the democratic world. Kosovo's vision is to be member of the NATO. At this point, Kosovo is ready to advance relations with NATO and soon some good steps are gonna happen. Finally, our young people, because young people are majority of the population, as I mentioned, are very talented. They are becoming more and more well educated. There are so many educated here in United States as a result of your generosity, and the American people generosity, the American government. Many scholarships have been provided to Kosovo students and all of them are successful when they are back to Kosovo. They are good entrepreneurs, they inshade their companies and business and NGOs and we are proud of that. Beyond that, we are witnessing successful stories of theirs every day in Kosovo, and elsewhere in Europe. At all fields, culture, sports, music, art, academy, and science. Just to describe the situation of Kosovo, since three, four months, we were not able to play soccer in international arena, because we were not members of UF or something called FIFA. But now we are members of that, and good, talented footballers, soccer players, are doing good in their initial stage. We are proud of that. Many fans go follow them in all stadiums, not only in Kosovo, but abroad. The young people are our best guarantee that one day Kosovo and its people will be equal members of European family. We need European visa free regime in order so young people to be able to travel and to be exposed to diversity and cross-cultural environments and to see how the world operates and functions. Our success is joint success, and I have to repeat it again, and I am totally convinced we could not be here where we are now without the huge support from the democratic world and United States in the first place. You helped us to become free, now you are supporting us to grow and develop, and we are thankful for that forever. Finally, just to conclude, some words about Kosovo and Iowa collaboration. Partnership and friendship between the two states, Iowa State and Republic of Kosovo, is excellent. Iowa did support a lot Kosovo in many arenas. National Guard of Iowa was directly involved to contributing in creating peace and secure environment in Kosovo. Furthermore, they were involved in much more community and humanitarian projects in Kosovo. Collaboration between Iowa and Kosovo today is strong. From a military based collaboration, we now have elevated to something called whole of Iowa to the whole of Kosovo collaboration. Many exchange visits, including that of the highest officials and other activities have been implemented so far in many fields, in education, in economy, agriculture, have been made concrete activities and projects. Iowa in concretely the College of Law and University of Iowa have supported a lot minister of foreign affairs in terms of international law, building the capacities of young diplomats and civil servants to deal with the sensitive and delicate issues on regard to international organizations and international law. Few days, I met an intern, or how you call it, extern, doing externship in Kosovo. She is Ina, and I was impressed by her work, and I met another young guy from Iowa, Aaron, just a few days after I took my new appointment and I remember him, and now I had the pleasure to meet him again yesterday and today here in the conference in the global forum. So thank you very much, I want to use this opportunity again to express my deep thankfulness for all what United States and the people of United States have done to support Kosovo. Thank you very much. - So here's a couple of questions, two questions on the same card here. What is the main business in Kosovo? What do most people work in? And then, what is the main religion in Kosovo? - Good questions, thank you. We are trying to find what would be the best way and which would be the best business in order so the people of Kosovo, in particular young people of Kosovo, to be dealt with, and I think in the times we are living in, small business and medium, small and medium sized companies would be the solution for the growth and economy development of Kosovo. So far, there are many people working in the government sector and in the private sector. Reconstruction, gastronomy, and there is a huge potential for tourism, as well, but not all types of the tourism, but hiking, mountains, skiing for some period, would be some arenas where we should focus our efforts to develop these fields. And IT, as well. Kosovo's young people are very talented. We hear every day for their successful stories in different worldwide competitions in the field of IT. And this is gonna be another field of development, because that has many advantages, as well. Through IT projects and technology, people can stay home, live in Kosovo, and at the same time, be part of the global world. So serving and providing services, and working for different companies that are maybe situated or located in other places of the world. So this could be, more or less, the main fields. Of course, I have to say, that there is high unemployment rate, unfortunately. It's around 30%, and this is a big problem. Though maybe some of this percentage is because there is some informality, as well. But anyway, however we calculate that, still it's too high. And this is and this should be the priority in the coming decade, I think, so to tackle this issue. On regard to which is the main religion, I said this last night in my speech there. If you would have asked me to name the most important or the main value that Kosovo has, and if you would have forced me to name just one value, I would say religion, religious tolerance. Majority of the people are of Muslim, but we have three majority religions. It's Muslim, it's Christian, and it's Orthodox. Albanian community has always three religions. Orthodox community is much smaller, but Christian, Catholic, and Muslim are majority. But I have to say here, the religious practicing is very moderate. So no one remembers ever, ever, a conflict between the religions. We have many pictures where all three religious buildings, let's say, a mosque, a Catholic church, and an Orthodox church are living close by. We have some towns in which all these three religious buildings share the same space, and we are proud of that, and we will cultivate that. It was in early 20th century, a saying, there is a rhyme, in Albanian language, but I will try translate it in English. Because all the times, in order... So other countries to occupy Kosovo, they wanted to create tensions between the religions. But the slogan, the biggest slogan was "Don't look to the mosques and the church, "because the religion of Albanians is Albanism." This is kind of, so this was the way how we survived and we never fought between each other in religious terms. Everyone knows the conflict in 1990s was ethnic based, and it was because of the Serbian regime that was discriminatory for 10 years, from 1989, as mentioned earlier, 'til 1999, basically. - When you and other citizens of Kosovo were deported, where were you sent and what happened to you all? - Thank you for that. I walked, I was forced to walk for more than 72 hours from a city in Kosovo, and I moved to Albania. And we were many thousands of people, walking, and deported, in an organized manner. So we were told which path to take, which streets to walk, and where to end up. And I remember that very well, but thanks to God and to United States and to the democratic world, that didn't last long, and then we returned back after a few months. So I was in Albania, and you made me think of something. So, sometimes when I speak to my audiences of students coming from all over the world in Paris, and elsewhere, any audiences like this, when I remember those times, really it was unimaginable that one day I will be able to speak in front of these audiences and to do the job I am doing. Yeah. - There's a couple of questions asking about the reason for the large percentage of people that are so young, under 20 and under 35, and this questioner asks that is it the fact that older people left, or were executed by the Serbs, why has that happened? - No, it's not about that. But, in the past, usually, and I'm talking more for Albanian community, since the majority is 93% are Albanian, had more kids, family had more kids. So usually, 3, 4, 5, sometimes more. But this is not the case nowadays. There are many social changes nowadays, so the number of children in the families is going down, and in 20, 30 years, we will not be able to speak for the same racial, let's say, of the population, but so far it is, it's like that. Yeah. - How does your experience as an educator influence your role in diplomacy and foreign affairs? - I hope I am doing something good in my ministry of foreign affairs. Really, this is a difficult to explain because I cannot escape my academic thoughts and views and experience, and I joined politics because I thought I would be able to contribute in some aspects, in some fields that are missing in Kosovo, the expertise is missing. So I am international negotiation person, and conflict management person. Kosovo, at this point of development, is basically doing nothing more than that, than international negotiation and conflict management aspects. So, for the coming years, I think I will contribute on that. Though it's difficult, sometimes journalists ask me questions and I have dual meanings for some aspects, and as a professor I say this, as a deputy foreign minister, I say that. So trying to, I'm trying to integrate these two hats, but it's not that easy. It's not that easy. - This question asks, what has been the response of Kosovo to the refugee crisis, specifically the Syrian refugee crisis? And does Kosovo have a national army? - Thank you for the questions. Kosovo was not, has not faced the, any refugee crisis or refugees coming from Syria and Iraq. It was because we were not in the best route for the refugees so to move towards Europe. So they were in Greece, Macedonia, then via Serbia and Hungary, they aimed Germany and northern countries of Europe. And if that would have happened, Kosovo is generous, and we have our past, but I will be very sincere, the capacities are very limited. And I just mentioned the reasons, high unemployment rate, capacities, services to be provided, you need a lot of them, so... But the situation is as I described, so no huge, massive refugees came to Kosovo. Yeah, related the army? Yeah, thank you very much. So far, we have units called Kosovo Security Force, okay? And these have been trained very well according to the NATO standards. Iowa National Guard did an excellent job in this, in some parts, in training. Many of our young cadets and young people have been trained here in United States. We are ready to transform this force into Kosovo Armed Forces, and we are working closely with NATO and we are trying to find the best momentum to do changes in the constitution, and we want to do this in the consensual basis, because this army is gonna serve for all the communities and all the people of Kosovo. So, we will have, we are working to have consensus from Albanian MPs, Serbian MPs, other minority MPs, and I think soon we will have that transformation. We believe that we will be a valued member of NATO in the future, and we will contribute to any situation in the world and to try to support people in need. - I think that's gonna be it. We'll conclude our program now. On behalf of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, please give a big thank you to Valon Murtezaj. I want to thank our, again thank our sponsors, the University of Iowa's International Programs, the University of Iowa's Honors Program, the Stanley UI Foundation Support Organization for their support, and we also thank today's special sponsors, Bill and Pat Sueppel, and Mace and Kay Braverman. And we thank City Channel 4 for making our programs available to viewing audiences. And Valon, as a small token of our appreciation, we present you with the coveted Iowa City Foreign Relations Council Mug. We are adjourned, thank you very much.