yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
protest against the sacking of the provincial leadership and in defense
of Kosovo’s autonomy. Albanian intellectuals signed a petition
against curbs on the province’s autonomy in February 1989; miners
at Trepča revolted on February 20. At an emergency session of the
federal assembly, Lazar Mojsov, head of state, disclosed an irredentist
staff document on the creation of a Kosovo republic. The “document”
was actually a printout picked up in a Pristina street and
distributed to federal officials by the Tanjug news agency’s house
service. 355 Although a fabrication, the document was used as a pretext
to impose a state of emergency. 356
The sfry presidency imposed the state of emergency in Kosovo
in March 1989. The federal government under Ante Marković showed
no resolve in dealing with the Kosovo question. Although federal
officials were accused by Serbs of neglecting the Kosovo problem,
the Serbs did not object to the fact that the federal government was
silent about the methods used by the Serbian government to enforce
its policy there. The opinion prevailed at the federal level that a concession
to the Serbs in Kosovo would appease the Serbian appetite
for other parts of Yugoslavia—a calculation that failed to take into
account the increasingly aggressive character of Serbian behavior.
On March 28, 1989, Serbia promulgated amendments to the Constitution
of Serbia severely restricting the autonomy of Vojvodina
and Kosovo, a move that provoked disturbances in Kosovo in which
twenty-two Albanians and two policemen were killed. By abolishing
autonomy and then appointing his henchmen in Vojvodina and
Kosovo to key positions, Milošević managed to obtain the two votes
he needed to paralyze the federal presidency. 357
355 Politika, March 3, 1989 .
356 An interview with Husnija Bitić in 2008 .
357 Each of the six republics and two provinces had an equal vote in the presidency, which
made decisions by majority vote . By securing the votes of Vojvodina and Kosovo, as well
as those of Serbia and Montenegro, Milošević could block any policy in the presidency .