According to official documents, it all started because the government of Serbia didn't agree to "stop genocide on Albanians on Kosovo and also refused NATO offer to let their soldiers come to Kosovo and control the situation" . That would be the first time in modern history that one country was attacked because it refused an ultimatum and actually protected its own integrity.
We shall see that that constellation was nonsense and that actually NATO
But, let us examine that stand :
They said, this was all initiated by mass killing of 20 Albanians by Serbian forces, in March of 1999. The abduction, however, proved that those 20 bodies were dressed in civil clothes after their death. Also, an official report from international team said that those were UCK terrorists that were killed in a battle with Serbian police, then dressed in civil clothes to present Serbs as mass killers .
Also, US official military magazines wrote that UCK (so-called "liberation army of Kosovo" ) was financially baked from drug mafia and foreign governments (specially from Albanian officials). The idea was to create "great Albania" that would divide Orthodox states in Balkan that would be US new playground for further actions in Southern Europe. The goal was to create potentially unstable Balkan region so that US administration could create stronghold in the hearth of Balkan by its continuous military presence.
By carefully balancing and playing the game of "carrot", the US could control Eastern Europe from Little Asia to Adriatic Sea, directly. And the consequence would be paralyzed Central and Eastern Europe - cut transportation routes, unstable region for financing, and the untouchable US position in the Balkans.
As You can clearly see, Kosovo is central part of Balkan and thus represents the most important stronghold on the peninsula. By holding it Serbs do have their roots and history, and if Albania gets it it gets strategic position to easily attack FYR Macedonia.
During the history, Serbian state expanded from today Herzegovina to South, to Byzantine Empire. That's how it gets its culture and Orthodox Christian religion. The main area of ancient Serbian Kingdom was Kosovo, Raska (both in today Serbia) and Skoplje (today Skopje, FYRM). The population was mainly Serbian with Greek minorities.
During turkish occupation, because of constant turkish raids, Serbian people started also moving to North, but till 20th century Kosovo and Skopje region remained with Serbian majority.
The turks have lost most of their power after 18th century so that most of Balkan nations regained their independence. In the beginning of their struggle for independence, they were mostly united. As an example, there was an idea of creating NEW BYZANTION led by Rigas Faereos and George Petrovitch. Also existed th Pan-orthodox movement for unification of Churches led by Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. All these strivings died because of the strong influence on Austria that did not agree with plans to have strong neighbour. So that Austrians gave Rigas into turkish hands knowing he would be killed, and also killed George Petrovich by their spies.
But, as we discuss the Kosovo problem, the main problem was the war that took place between Austria and the Turks in the 17th century. The Serbs from all over (including Kosovo which has been 80% populated with Serbs) took place in battles by joining Austria. As the campaign of Austrian forces was unsuccessful, the Serbs were to be left to turkish terror of revenge. The Serbian population was so afraid for their lives that they have organized mass exodus from Kosovo, which has been depopulated, and by 1690 the Serbian population was only 45% of the former.
The Albanians came to Serbian ghost towns and populated Kosovo's left provinces. But, they were helped by Turks to terrorise the Serbs and to create unstable situation in the region in order to prevent Serbs from coming home again. They were ideal group for the purpose because of the low cultural level and the lack of organised centre around which they could form national identity and the will to form their own state.
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