The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
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structured, <strong>and</strong> the monarch was given power in a constitutive, rather<br />
than a parliamentary monarchy. With the establishment <strong>of</strong> the principle<br />
“We are all Yugoslavs”, all supporters <strong>of</strong> a union <strong>of</strong> several states with<br />
equal rights were treated as enemies <strong>of</strong> the constitution. <strong>The</strong> constitution<br />
accorded only Serbs, Croats <strong>and</strong> Slovenes the status <strong>of</strong> “constitutive<br />
peoples <strong>of</strong> the state”; the others were not mentioned. Albanians<br />
<strong>and</strong> Macedonians who fought for their national rights were combated<br />
like terrorists or criminals, by force <strong>of</strong> arms. By decree <strong>of</strong> King Alex<strong>and</strong>er,<br />
the names <strong>of</strong> these peoples <strong>and</strong> their symbols were proclaimed abo -<br />
lished; only the name “Yugoslav peoples” was permitted. Thus, his<strong>to</strong>ric<br />
<strong>and</strong> traditional identities <strong>of</strong> various natures were denied, which led <strong>to</strong><br />
discontent amongst all peoples, including the Serbs.<br />
After having propagated the idea <strong>of</strong> “ancient Serbian terri<strong>to</strong>ry” for decades,<br />
Serb politicians could imagine Yugoslavia only as an enlarged Serbia.<br />
<strong>The</strong> recognition <strong>of</strong> independent Slovene <strong>and</strong> Croat nations, the<br />
respect for the rights <strong>of</strong> self-determinations <strong>of</strong> the Albanians, Macedonian<br />
<strong>and</strong> the non-Serbian population in Bosnia-Herzegovina was no long -<br />
er communicable in Serbia. <strong>The</strong> Albanians, whose ances<strong>to</strong>rs had been<br />
pushed in<strong>to</strong> the mountains in the sixth century by the Slavs, had settled<br />
in Kosovo in large number again shortly after the arrival <strong>of</strong> the Turks, <strong>and</strong><br />
many had converted <strong>to</strong> Islam. <strong>The</strong>y were considered intruders by the<br />
Serbs, <strong>and</strong> treated as such. <strong>The</strong>re were times in between in which these<br />
two peoples, in accordance with their leaders, respected <strong>and</strong> supported<br />
each other, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> course spoke both languages, Serbian <strong>and</strong> Albanian.<br />
<strong>The</strong> disagreement over the type <strong>of</strong> state, which had already led <strong>to</strong> dissonance<br />
at the time <strong>of</strong> the founding <strong>of</strong> the common state, could never be<br />
overcome. On the Serbian side was the desire for a modern state on the<br />
classical French model – “one state, one nation”; on the Croatian side,<br />
by contrast, was the idea <strong>of</strong> “national self-determination”. However, because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the mixed ethnic structure, no clear border between various nations<br />
could be drawn. In the discussion about terri<strong>to</strong>rial claims, the right<br />
<strong>of</strong> national self-determination was frequently projected in<strong>to</strong> the past. In<br />
the mind <strong>of</strong> the nationalists, the nations had already existed in their respective<br />
medieval kingdoms. <strong>The</strong>y derived their terri<strong>to</strong>rial claims from pre-<br />
Ot<strong>to</strong>man times, <strong>and</strong> dem<strong>and</strong>ed the res<strong>to</strong>ration <strong>of</strong> their his<strong>to</strong>ric rights.<br />
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