SCRIVI KOSOVO, LEGGI TRANSILVANIA E TRANSNISTRIA

La questione del Kosovo non si risolve certo con la sola nascita di uno Stato autonomo. Troppo semplice chiudere così uno Stato dove ancora crescono, si sviluppano, si potenziano, le linee della Panalbania. L’indipendenza del Montenegro ha sollevato meno clamore di questa: qui ci sono in mezzo gli interessi delle grandi potenze internazionali (Usa e Urss), ma in tutto questo quadro chi ha dimostrato le sue incapacità gestionali in politica estera è stata proprio l’Europa, la padrona di casa. Ancora oggi in Kosovo non si respira l’aria di un nuovo, giovane – e fresco – Stato nazionale. I serbi hanno paura a Mitrovica: Gli ortodossi, nei monasteri che restano – e che comunque hanno resistito all’ateismo di Tito – vivono guardandosi a destra e a sinistra. Due esempi tra tanti, Pec e Decane. Forse, sarebbe stato meglio scegliere, per un periodo sicuramente provvisorio, la prospettiva di un protettorato europeo. Il caso Kosovo rischia di far scoppiare una nuova crisi nel cuore della Ue. Le spinte autonomiste sono tante, ad iniziare dai Baschi in Spagna. Ma da non sottovalutare anche le spinte autonomiste della Transilvania in Romania.

Proprio Bucarest, ormai da tempo vicina alle linee americane, questa volta non ha seguito l’alleato di oltreoceano. Il governo romeno non ha riconosciuto l’indipendenza kosovara. Il segretario di Stato aggiunto degli Usa, Nicholas Burns, di corsa ha tranquillizzato i romeni, spiegando loro che non sarà uno stimolo alle spinte separatiste in Transilvania.

Dal quotidiano “Gazeta de Transilvania”, la stoccatina di Putin verso i romeni che li ha portati a dire “no” al riconoscimento del Kosovo:

Putin: “Proclamarea independenţei Kosovo ar putea afecta România”
Evenimentele din Kosovo crează un precedent care ar putea afecta şi România în privinţa Transilvaniei. Declaraţia a fost făcută de preşedintele rus Vladimir Putin şi transmisă în cadrul unui reportaj Euronews. În plus, o agenţie de presă bulgară scrie că autorităţile române resping independenţa kosovarilor, din cauza cererilor de autonomie pretinse de etnicii maghiari din Transilvania. „Rusia se opune categoric independenţei unilaterale a provinciei Kosovo, spune Putin. Asta va încălca legislaţia internaţională şi va avea consecinţe imediate pentru Balcani şi restul lumii. Există îngrijorări potrivit cărora Kosovo stabileşte un precedent pentru eventuale mişcări de independenţă în regiunea Abhazia din Georgia, în regiunea Transnistria din Moldova şi în zona Transilvania din România.” Acest comentariu a apărut la postul de televiziune Euronews, în cadrul unui material de analiză privind posibilele scenarii, după declararea independenţei Kosovo. Pe de altă parte, numele ţării noastre apare şi în stirile agenţiei bulgare Focus News. Potrivit acesteia, „România este îngrijorată de emanciparea teritorială a etnicilor albanezi din Kosovo, din cauza potenţialelor cereri ale comunităţii maghiare din Transilvania, în număr de 1,5 milioane.” Ziarul american San Antonio Express News susţine însă contrariul. România este dată ca exemplu pentru faptul că a reuşit să aplaneze conflictul cu Ungaria, în privinţa Transilvaniei: „De exemplu, Ungaria şi România, state membre NATO, au redus mult un potenţial conflict în privinţa Transilvaniei, o regiune românească, locuită în majoritate de etnici maghiari”. Poco più ad est, la Transnistria: la Moldavia risente anche della situazione a est del fiume Dnestr per il suo mancato sviluppo.  Zona sotto controllo dei russi, ha una spinta talmente tanto autonomista che ha coniato una propria moneta.

 Dettagliata, l’analisi del “Tiraspol Times” (quotidiano della Transnistria)

Pridnestrovie independence follows Kosovo’s

A week after Kosovo unilaterally declared that it wanted to be a separate country, Pridnestrovie seeks international recognition of its own independence based on the “Kosovo Precedent”. The move follows nearly twenty years of fruitless discussions with Moldova over the territory’s future. Any solution must be based on the free will of the voters, says a leading politician in Tiraspol.

By Karen Ryan, 25/Feb/2008

“If you recognize Kosovo, recognize PMR” reads a banner which civil society group Breakthrough unfurled before OSCE in Tiraspol

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) – A week after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence without the consent of the state it nominally belongs to, Serbia, civil society activists in Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria) are pointing out parallels with their own situation vis-a-vis Moldova.

Youth group Breakthrough, based in Tiraspol and with branches throughout the length of the unrecognized country, is saying that the precedent now exists for Russia to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – both bordering Georgia – as well as of Pridnestrovie, which separated from Moldova back when both were part of the Soviet Union.

Parliament agrees that Kosovo can be used as a model for international integration of Pridnestrovie. The potential recognition of independent Kosovo will imply the possibility of self-determination for Pridnestrovie, speaker of the unrecognized republic’s parliament Yevgeny Shevchuk said in an interview published in the Thursday issue of the newspaper Kommersant.

Speaker of Parliament Yevgeny Shevchuk, 39, asks why Pridnestrovie’s citizens can’t have the same rights to democracy as other citizens in Europe.

” – If they recognize that territory and declare that it is the Albanian nation’s right to self-determination, a question will arise: why don’t Pridnestrovian citizens, who also live in Europe and have held independence referenda, have this right?” he said.

Government sees “new model”

The government of Pridnestrovie, which is home to 550,000 people, said in a statement issued by the PMR Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Kosovo should be “a new model for conflict settlement.”

Pridnestrovie’s more than 17 years of ‘de facto’ independence should be recognized internationally, it also said. However, on the other side of the Dniester river, the foreign ministry of Moldova rejected Kosovo’s independence declaration, and said it had “no application to our region.”

Moldova and Pridnestrovie has been arguing over the future of the territory since before the break-up of the Soviet Union. Moldova initially declared independence on the basis of its “historical and ethnic area”, neither of which includes Pridnestrovie. It also declared the World War II Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to be “null and void”, even though this was the only document which originally had bound Moldova to Pridnestrovie as part of a secret division of Eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Later, Moldova apparently changed its mind, laying claim to all of Pridnestrovie although the territory has never been part of Moldova in the past and has no majority Moldovan population. Pridnestrovie’s population is resoundingly opposed to being absorbed by Moldova. Following attacks on Pridnestrovie in 1992, Moldova failed to bring the area under its control and Pridnestrovie has ruled itself as an independent country ever since. No other nation has yet recognized its current status.

Hoping for international recognition

For the better part of the past two decades, talks between Moldova and Pridnestrovie have failed to bring the two sides closer. Now, the smaller of the two – Pridnestrovie – sees a future which is based on the will of the people, and looks to Kosovo for a model for how such a new country can obtain a certain level of international recognition.

The Speaker of Pridnestrovie’s Parliament, opposition leader Yevgeny Shevchuk from the Renewal party, said: “We believe that a new era started and a new system of international relations was formed the moment part of a country, based on a series of historical developments, decided to live independently, and this country can gain recognition.”

In a message of support from Canada, Quebec sovereigntists support the will of the voters in both Kosovo and Pridnestrovie to freely choose their own future in freedom and democracy.

” – A people decides to become a country and other countries recognize that fact,” the Parti Quebecois’ Daniel Turp said last week. “And in this case what is special is that Serbia is against the independence of one its component parts and … other countries ignore this objection.”

Transdniestria seeks recognition of its ‘de facto’ independence

Already a ‘de facto’ independent country for almost 18 years, Transdniestria now seeks formal international recognition of this status. The request by the republic’s Foreign Ministry follows Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, which was recognized by the United States and major European powers. Under international law, Transdniestria asserts that it has a better legal basis for independence than Kosovo.

By Karen Ryan, 21/Feb/2008

Youth in Tiraspol, the capital of ‘de facto’ independent Transdniestria, step up their demands for recognized statehood

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) – The government of Transdniestria (officially: Pridnestrovie) welcomed the international recognition of Kosovo’s statehood as proof of “a new model for conflict resolution” in which the will of a people for self-determination would now be taken into account for determining the future of a disputed territory.

On the border between two larger states, Moldova and Ukraine, the landlocked Republic of Transdniestria – which is also known under names such as Transnistria or Transdniester – declared independence in 1990, one year before the existence of the Republic of Moldova which nevertheless maintains a territorial claim to the territory.

Already functioning as a separate country

With its own currency, flag and constitution, Transdniestria has governed itself as a separate, independent country for the past seventeen years. However, despite this ‘de facto’ independence, no country has yet recognized Transdniestria’s current status as an entity separate from Moldova.

As reported by DPA, a statement from Transdniestria’s elected government described Kosovo’s declaration of independence, and widespread international acceptance of the declaration despite Serbian objections, as a precedent applying to the conflict from Moldova.

” – There is no other alternative, but an early recognition of Pridnestrovie as an independent state by the international community,” the announcement read in part, referring to the unrecognized country by its official, constitutional name. “The Kosovo model should be used in the resolution of all (similar) conflicts.”

” – Full and unabridged independence (for Transnistria) can be the only resolution that can bring peace and stability to our region,” the statement concluded.

Predictably, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry swiftly rejected Kossovo’s independence out of hand, calling it “a dangerous precedent … with no application to our region.”

Never part of Moldova

Transdniestria, which is mostly Russian-speaking and has a population which is two-thirds Slavic enclave, is opposed to forced integration inside the ethnically Romanian Moldova. Independence is supported by Transdniestria’s Moldovan minority as well. In a referendum held in 2006, and observed by international election monitors, some 97% of the voters supported independence while 94% opposed any form of common state with Moldova.

There are few historical ties between the two sides. Prior to World War II, Moldova was part of Romania while Transdniestria was an autonomous republic inside the Soviet Union, with Tiraspol as its capital.

In Ukraine, immediately north of the ‘de facto’ independent Republic of Transdniestria, political leaders noted a that Kosovo would be precedent-setting for Transdniestria, a territory which was formerly part of Ukraine but which has never been part of any independent Moldovan state at any time in its history.

” – The world now has a serious precedent that disregards the Helsinki agreements, which guaranteed the sanctity of national borders,” Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych said in Ukraine after Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence.

~ di myblocknotes su Lunedì, 25 Febbraio, 2008.