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OPINEWS

The silence that smells

Politiko 2026-07-17 09:53:05

Luciano Boçi
When a Serbian government minister declares that, if she were in Slobodan Milosevic's place in 1998, she would have "ethnically cleansed Kosovo", then we are not dealing with a linguistic gaffe.
We are dealing with the public rehabilitation of an idea that post-World War II Europe has sworn to never accept again.
The reactions were immediate.
Kosovo was declared persona non grata by Snezhana Paunovic.
The European Union condemned the declaration as incompatible with European values and the spirit of reconciliation.
Even prominent European figures demanded that Belgrade not pass over this scandal in silence.
In all this chorus of reaction, one voice was missing. The voice of the Prime Minister of Albania.
Albanian-Serbian history is not a history of diplomatic misunderstandings. It is a history filled with ideologies that, before producing crimes, produced words.
Before the guns came the memoranda.
The expulsions took place after the expulsion theories.
The mass graves were opened after Serbian “intellectuals” explained why Albanians were an obstacle.
Vladan Đorđević presented Albanians as primitive beings. Jovan Cvijić declared them “the most barbaric tribes in Europe”.
Vaso Đubrilović was not satisfied with theory. He drew up a plan to make the life of Albanians unbearable, until they left their lands.
Dobrica Ćosić and then Vojislav Šešelj kept the same spirit alive, until it became state policy during the Milošević regime.
So Paunović’s statement is not a coincidence or one that was born in a vacuum.
It is the last sentence of an old Serbian book with pages of ethnic hatred.
Therefore, silence on this is by no means neutral. Silence is taking sides. And Rama has taken sides with his silence.
Albania does not have the luxury of treating this statement as an incident, because it affects the historical memory of the Albanians of Kosovo and the Albanian nation.
Even more so when the European Union itself considers any rhetoric that justifies or promotes ethnic cleansing unacceptable.
One could say that the Foreign Ministry reacted. It is true.
But there are moments when the weight of words is not measured by the institution that utters them, but by the political responsibility of the one who remains silent.
The Prime Minister of Albania is not an ordinary official in the Balkans. His word has an essential role, especially when it comes to Kosovo.
The paradox is obvious. Edi Rama reacts often and quickly on issues ranging from debates on social networks to the smallest political controversies and personal squabbles.
But when a Serbian minister publicly states that he would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo, he chooses silence.
A choice that, as the days go by, is becoming louder than any statement.
Diplomacy requires prudence. But prudence is not synonymous with silence. Especially when you are not faced with a diplomatic blunder, but an attempt to relativize one of the darkest chapters of Balkan history.
Don't forget!
History teaches us that crimes do not begin with weapons. They begin with words. And just as often, they continue thanks to silence.
And Rama, with his silence, defined his anti-national side.