Part Two
Momčilo Trajković: I built that marketplace, the market in Pristina in Ulpiana across the new post office, I built that market. Then, for quite some time they were calling it Momina, like me, Momina Pijaca [Moma’s Market]. I built it while I was the manager of Ratar in Laplje Selo, I was a manager then. I went… we invested around one million marks in that market and after the war, the mafia came and took it away from us. It’s our property, they took the market away. Now I am trying to get it back and here, for 20 years we cannot get it back. We are, my workers, we made it. We made these shops, stands, we lived from that. Because then I, when I came as a manager, it was in ‘94, I decided that these people shouldn’t only sow wheat and corn, but I wanted for us to go into that extens… intensive production in vegetable farming. Those photos, I should find them here, they are here…
For the first time in the history of this village, it star… By the way, this area is suited for vegetable farming, but they are all… there were a few vegetables. Čaglavica used to produce vegetables on the River Pristevka down there, now when you go there where the new road is and then where the river is. Our gardens were there. We had our gardens and it was a huge production and they supplied Pristina. In order to water it, they would make a winch and then a horse comes, turns around and the water comes out, goes and waters the tomato, pepper, cabbage and so on, so on. Thus, Čaglavica is well-known for that. And that part next to the river used to be our land.
And then I, when I came as a manager, decide, because I have some friends in, near Backi Petrovac, they are into vegetable farming, from Vojvodina. And there I saw them and asked them to come and help us. And Slovakian women who live there came. That Backi Petrovac, that part around Novi Sad, Slovakians live there. Then they came here, like because of the business, they were sleeping at our people’s homes, they came with those special dibbles and that is… they were planting peppers. The whole, the whole hill was filled with peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, 30 hectares of potatoes.
And then we, when we started the agricultural busine… vegetable farming, then I asked those from the Municipality to give me space, and they gave me space where we built the market and then sold the vegetables.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: You are talking about the market in Ulpiana?
Momčilo Trajković: Yes, about the market in Ulpiana, that is our market. And I am telling you, they call it Momina Pijaca. They were calling it [like that] for a long time. And then after the war, they removed us. And then we acted upon that, we dictated the price because the market mafia is one of the strongest mafias. I got to know that when I started doing this, I didn’t know what that was. I go there, they come and buy the stands, rent them for a month, rent them for a year. And, and they started buying, driving somewhere and the prices, tomato, pepper, extremely expensive. And when we started producing. When I fill it, when my people fill the tractors, they fill the tractors up every morning with vegetables and go to the market. And we set the pr… for example, they sell it for one euro, we sell it for 20 cents.
And the mafia falls and they start threatening me and I face them. And by the way that market mafia [is] Albanian, because Albanians deal with that advance sale, there were no Serbs in the market neither then nor now, they weren’t in that advance sale. And some dangerous mobsters when they saw that I am not giving in, they come one day, my head office was in Laplje Selo that’s where my office was. They come to me and say, “How much does it cost to buy your whole production?” And I say damn it… I say, “Come tomorrow.” So that I can calculate all of that. And every year they were buying the whole production from me.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: One moment, was it a public enterprise?
Momčilo Trajković: It was a public enterprise then, yes. They buy the whole production. Everything… we don’t go to the market anymore. They come and load it, we only collect it, they carry it away. When they take it there, we charge the tax because it is our market. So we made an excellent alliance with them. Otherwise they… then they also [lowered] the prices for a bit. They balanced with prices for a bit because as soon as you have a monopoly on, then you can do whatever you want. And that’s how it was with that market.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: And in which years was that?
Momčilo Trajković: It’s in ‘94, 5, 6, 7, 8, until the bombardment.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Aha, let’s go a bit earlier?
Momčilo Trajković: Let’s go.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: You came to Pristina in ‘83.
Momčilo Trajković: In ‘83, I moved into the apartment in Pristina in Dardania. And otherwise until then…
Kaltrina Krasniqi: How was it in Dardania in ‘83?
Momčilo Trajković: So look, that was, that building was new. New building and in it were living, inhabited by old Serbs from Pristina, old Turks from Pristina and old Albanians from Pristina. They had houses where the cinema is today, before it was Omladina [Youth] Cinema, do you know, and that neighborhood, now those buildings. And when those buildings were being built, they, because the houses were old, they gave the apartments to those householders and they were all living in that building. Everyone populated the building. Only I and one more journalist were, we were, to say it like this, different. All the others were… they simply transferred the whole neighborhood into that building: old Albanians, old Serbs, old Turks. And that was very interesting.
When I came there, since they are used to, to sit in front of the gates, in front of the house and talk there… that mentality and that custom transferred to the building as well. Both, they put the benches there, you can drink a coffee here, everything is (laughs)… that building was different from the others. And this is how people were close to each other.
Since I had a position, I and some Stihović, I say… one from Novo Brdo I think, one Albanian was a manager of this plant nursery, Vitija, yes. I remember, Vitija. I was an official, I was in politics, I don’t know how much you know… I was an executive secretary at the Committee of Pristina, and you know it was a time when if you had such a position then everyone would respect you, especially those who didn’t have any positions.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: When did you start doing that?
Momčilo Trajković: In ‘86, in ‘86. And he comes to me, “What should I do for you, Comrade Trajković?” It was like that. I say, “Listen, go and look, check out that in front of my building where I live, those people are so, you know, so good. Give someone to make, make, plant the trees.” And those trees now, I don’t know whether you know it, when you go, before that tunnel down, there are the buildings. All those trees I did on… I, it was my plan, I requested it, it was planted because of me. No one knows that, those who were living there knew it. And the rest of them don’t know it. That’s how it came to life, that… forest, simply, in front of that building.
And then here they, there were no problems at all. Everywhere they planted, somebody would come and take it out, and here they, they protected it, watered it and that grew up. It’s such a park today that it’s simply unimaginable. It’s that part of Pristina which…
Then I, I spent a little time in the house, because I was working. I came into politics in ‘86, 36 years old, I was an executive secretary of the Committee in Pristina, and then the Secretary of the Committee in Pristina and then I was, I became the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia. Thus, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia. What Kosovo is today, that is small, it was Yugoslavia then, it was a powerful country, it is not [like] Kosovo or Serbia today.
Deputy Prime Minister of the great, great Yugoslavia, like great Yugoslavia. For example what Dačić is in Serbia, that was me approximately.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How did you get into politics? How was it to be involved in politics at that time? What did it mean?
Momčilo Trajković: It was a crucial time, difficult time, time of discord, a time when the state, the institutions didn’t have an answer to a problem, to people’s problem.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: That started in ‘81?[1]
Momčilo Trajković: It started in ‘81 after the Albanian demonstrations in Pristina. Since, according to the Constitution of ‘74,[2] Kosovo was everything but a state. Albanians led, it was approximately as it was now during communism, it was like now. Considering also that what Belgarde is today, not Serbia, but Yugoslavia, is now America. There were communists then, and now they are nationalists and the ballist.[3] Thus, only the ideology has changed, otherwise, it is the same.
Since there were always more Albanians in Kosovo, they had everything in their hands. And they have been always choosing their Serbs, like they are doing now… now Vučić took away that so they don’t choose. Those who were Thaçi’s Serbs have now become Vučić’s Serbs. In a certain time, there were Serbs who served those Albanian politics, Albanian Communists. And if you are good, you can go, if not… it was like that. However, Milošević had his own Albanians later. That is the formula, that is the formula, and it’s simulated like that, the relations are simulated.
And people say, “Well, you see, Brotherhood and Unity.” But Brotherhood and Unity was one great simulation, simulation was among the elite. There were not many simulations among the common people. Among the people, people didn’t think much about Brotherhood and Unity, people thought about the relations between the neighbors. Albanians and Serbs have always lived next to each other, but never against each other. It’s that. And Albanians and Serbs were never fighting, even now after what happened in ‘99, Serbs and Albanians weren’t at war. The war was between some crazy armies. Thus, the people, the people only got hurt. People were a consequence, a victim.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How was it at the Executive Committee at the time when it had Albanians?
Momčilo Trajković: Albanians ruled back then, it was, it was, I went there in ‘86. Then there was Mahmut Bakalli,[4] Fadil Hoxha[5] up there in Belgrade, so everything, they had it. They are Communists and now they have Serbian poltroons around them and now they are acting out Brotherhood and Unity. And they represent… it was Tito’s policies, he had the best intentions for it to be. However, you know that the water clears up from its spring and everyone had to pay for that…
After ‘70 and… in ‘68, after ‘74 when Kosovo receives the Constitution, when it becomes almost everything, not like exists, but it’s not a state. It’s not a republic but it’s autonomy as if it were a country, they organize demonstrations in ‘81. And Serbs are anyway, there are some Serbs, Serbs thought that, since it is Serbia, they should be, they are Serbs, and they should be in charge as well, you know. And that was somewhere around until ‘66, after the fall of Ranković, a different time comes. Those who Ranković wanted to be imprisoned, they come to light and starts, now the balance starts.
Creation of that Communist option. By the way, Montenegrins, Serbs so it goes from Tito, Tito is neither a Serb nor a Montenegrin but tempo, Dušan Mugoša, Miladin Popović. They created the Communist Party of Albania, you know. Mugoša, Popović, Miladin Popović and a certain number of Serbian Communists, they created it, they chose Albanian Communists. Who is going to be their partner, it was Fadil Hoxha, Xhavid Nimani,[6] Mahmut Bakalli. Mahmut Bakalli later, Velli Deva, that was the old group.
That Boro Vukmirović and Ramiz [Sadiku] were in that group. They were, they were murdered. You know how that was. And it all happened until ‘66. After ‘66, since they are like today, they took their positions in ‘45 those who were in the woods. Partisans. Those who were in the woods, came to power. Now is the same UÇK,[7] it’s the same, I am only saying that there are different ideologies. Those who were in the woods, doesn’t matter how much you know, what is important is whether you were there or not. Either someone wants to testify, to lie for you that you were there or you weren’t there.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Where were you in ‘81?
Momčilo Trajković: In ‘81, I was working at the Executive Committee of Kosovo. I remember, I remember it of course. I will tell you that. You could feel that, I was working at the Executive Committee of Kosovo, I had one friend, I won’t mention him, Albanian, a great friend of mine {puts a hand on his heart}. I don’t know where, I am saying this because there is no, I don’t know, what that can turn out to be, right, except that you use this with good intentions. But I don’t want him to have anything to do with that.
We were working together in the same office. First of all, they barely accepted me, it was very hard to find a job as a Serb, very hard to get a job. I applied to that Secretariat of Labor of Kosovo, for the position of expert assistant, lawyer. I sent the documents and I didn’t serve in the Army and the response comes before the Army to me, because I was the only one who had applied, saying, “You can’t, you were rejected, your request has been rejected because you didn’t have any competitors.” Can you imagine, and because there were no other competitors, they reject me, I write a complaint and go to the Army disappointed.
It was in ‘77, around the month of April, June, no, no, in June I went to the Army, it was in May. And I come back from the Army in April ‘77-‘78, April 28 and before that my wife calls me and tells me, “The decision arrived, they are asking you to go to work.” They were considering my complaint for a year, I was in the Army and when I came back from the Army, straight to work. When I arrived there, a friend of mine a supporter of Rugova, from Peja, your [guy], got a job on the same day. I and, we sit here, work, hang out, a bit older than me, he is four years older than me, and [we were] young, I was 28 years old then, we were young.
And me, now some information came to me about him, it was said that he participated in the ‘68 demonstrations, and back then, if you were a participant in the ‘68 demonstrations, all doors were closed for you. However, he came here from Peja and got a job here and came in. And nothing, I find that out and now we are sitting, talking, I know, he doesn’t know that I know and so on (laughs). However, I saw in him a good, good true Albanian. I will never forget when he (laughs) we saw each other recently and I always say how, but he was funny.
It’s weird, those those folk tales, legends, Albanian anecdotes, they are incredible. Only one day when you think about it, you can see where you are (laughs). He says to me, hear this out, believe me, I don’t know what I should swear to. In 1978, he told me while we were having breakfast there, sitting, drinking coffee, says, “Momo, let me tell you a joke” “Go on,” his name is Selim, “go on, Selim, talk.” He says, “Two Albanians are talking in the year 2000…” I swear to my mother (laughs) this is what the man told me, he told me this in ‘78. “Hey,” says the neighbor “come over,” he says, “Let’s have a tea,” and the other one says, “I would gladly but I am waiting for one Serb to cut some wood for me” (laughs and claps his hands).
Since then, Serbs don’t cut wood, but how much the situation has changed, how much it has changed, he told me that and once more he told me always, always when it rains, I think of him. He says, “What a huge head you have, every time you pass under the electricity, it cannot miss you.” The rain has to fall on the head and always when it does, I think of him, saying, “Selo, you were right.” However, I never told this to anyone, because, because we are, and I am like him. I am an open-minded person, I have an attitude, I love my people, love, I don’t hate others, I love and respect. I have a lot of friends and I saw that he was like me.
And later I am sitting secretary of the primary organization of Confederation of Communists there and I make, I don’t know, I had said something there, you know how it used to be back then. Because they are waiting in the corner for what you will say (laughs), right away, right away, the meeting of the party. I, and now he says let Selim schedule, at first Selim doesn’t want to schedule a meeting. “Meeting, what, about Moma, go away,” he says. And then one day, the meeting had to [be held]. And they started to attack me… and when Selim stood up (laughs), says, “Shame on you, how is it possible? Well, I am with Moma every day. The things that you are saying, that is not true.”
And like that, Selim and I became… my father loved Selim very much, here we came to him, he loved him incredibly, not to say as much as me. For sure he loved me more than Selim, but there, Selim to tell you today, he loved Selim greatly. Because Selim is one true supporter of Rugova. True Albanian, that true Albanian, who, who should be respected. Not a common Albanian, but, well Albanian to respect. Thus, he is a man of character, moral integrity, openness and respect, that’s it.
And, I am Albanian, I, my people this, my people, and we that, always talk about that, and always with, with such man one can, you can talk much better than with those who are acting out some Brotherhood, Unity and so on, and so on. And then, when I became the Deputy Prime Minister, I start telling one story of mine and Selim, Selim didn’t like it. And he got mad at me. But now I will tell you another thing. It is very interesting, until now I, only tonight, I won’t cry, I will try not to cry. I become the Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of Serbia…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Which year was that?
Momčilo Trajković: It was ‘90. Then, since the Albanians are leaving jobs, the police leaves, Albanians leave. Serbia decided to suspend autonomy, and I am at the head of those policies. Thus, I am at the head of the policies in ‘90 when Serbia decided to suspend autonomy. And I come in, my office was in Belgrade. And then the decision was made for my office to be both in Belgrade and Pristina. I was a good friend with Jusuf Zejnullahu.
Jusuf Zejnullahu was the last Albanian supporting Milošević. Have you heard of Jusuf Zejnullahu? He was Prime Minister then. He was the last Albanian who in some way, when Milošević called me to appoint me as the Deputy Prime Minister, I told him, “That will be our final end with Albanians.” Because [there were] a million and a half Albanians, Serbia doesn’t have anyone to enforce its policies and appoints a Serb. So that is the end. I say we, because of that we don’t want to, we don’t want to say now, “Here, take the republic!” We said that to Milošević.
I was sitting with Milošević like I am sitting with you, for a year we were extremely close. Until we had a fight. I had a conflict with him later on and then I came as the manager of the cooperative. From being the Deputy Prime Minister to being a manager of the cooperative. And I come to Pristina and everything, for things to calm down, to see what to do next, but no. Albanians don’t accept {waves his hand} those kind of Milošević’s policies and leave, confront, at the beginning. And now, I come to Pristina.
My office is on the second, on the second floor of that building {shows with a hand} where the Parliament is now. Now the Government is in that big building, but it was there before. And now they are asking how everything is going on, I come, how the things are in the building, first of all, where the services are, where the ministries are, what is the situation. And every day, I am receiving the report from the service. Because I am the Deputy Prime Minister, that is a powerful man. The police, everything is under my control, I have it all. And I come one day, I received the report, everything, how things are in the building, “Everything is okay,” [he] says, “There is just one, one who is making a problem. “Who is making a problem?” “Some Selim Nikçi.” {claps with a hand}.
He says, “They want to [throw him out].” I say, “You can’t touch him. I will talk to him.” And nothing, later I tell my secretary, and Selim [was] there in the office where the two of us used to work, yes (laughs). I tell Selim, I mean, the secretary, “Give me, call Selim for me.” She calls Selim, he says, “I am not coming.” Good. He says he is not coming, he is from, there from the Working Service, State Security, this and that. I say, “No, leave him, I will go there.” And I get up, look (smiling). I go there, in the office where the two of us have been working together for so many years (laughs).
He gathered the Albanians, those who work {moves his hand in a circle} there, some Heset Mazrekaj, who was, what was he, he was a public attorney, Heset Mazrekaj. He was Sema Uka, little lawyer, one little, one, he was up to the lock {shows the height with a hand}. Selim says when this Sema comes in, and Selim and I hired him here, he says when Sema enters, he opens the door {waves his hand suddenly} as if some big man is about to enter (laughs) but, he says, “Well look at you,” he says, “Up to the lock, you open the door” (laughs). And I come in, “Good afternoon.” They are silent.
“We don’t accept you, we don’t want any contact” {waves his hand}. “We don’t accept the Serbian policies.” I open the door, one step back and I say, “Pu pu pu {onomatopoeic}, I am not a deputy minister, here, I am not a deputy minister, I came here as your friend, Moma Trajković.” We are sitting and talking, I tell them, “You see what time [has come], these are huge decisions, you cannot stop this. Do your job, I am here.” Because we were working together. “I will protect as much as I can. You do your job, come to work, go.”
Okay, we sort of agreed there, I went, and since, every, every Thursday government meeting in Belgrade. I have to go there on Thursdays… I come again, on the desk [there is] a report, who is making a problem? Selim Nikçi (smiling). I say, “Don’t touch him. Don’t {waves his hand} touch him.” I go again, when I came for the third time, I received a report that Selim Nikçi {waves his hand} was sent away to his home. Since you know, you can be the Deputy Minister and President but the services have the assessments, you know, they don’t wait for some of the politicians to react, they react.
They react simply due to protection and Selim is [sent] home. {deep breath} Oh dear Lord, and what now I, what now [we are] like two brothers, two brothers you know and now I, I am now Selim’s executioner. Not me personally, but the policies {points to himself}. Whom should I… I call Selim in order to see him. He has some green old Stojadin,[8] I go with my official car until one point, from there I will go out and walk and then we will talk in your car. And right there in front of the building, he used to live where I was living, we stop. I get out of the car, walk for a while so that they don’t see me, you know. I sit in his car and we are sitting, we start talking.
“Are you insane?” I tell him. “Your wife has left the job” or she was made to leave it, now I don’t know what happened. “You have left the job” {counts the examples on his fingers} “How will you survive?” “I don’t want to be a traitor of my people.” This is what Selim told me. “Who is the traitor of your people, come tomorrow, come to work. I am there. Sit there, be there for a few days, go. If somebody asks, I let you,” and I left. Nothing, we were crying together then, me and him, we cry together, I am telling you (smiling), just crying like two friends. We are friends, close friends, my father loves him as much as he loves me, you understand. By then my father had already died, my father died in ‘86, two months before I got into politics, my father died.
And my father, he really wished for his son to be successful, the poor man didn’t live to see what happened to me later, how was and… and I thought Selim would come. Never did that dog {points with his finger} like this under quotation marks “qen” [in Albanian: dog] he didn’t come. It was that, and later when we were in the street, when I go on the one, when he sees me, he won’t meet up with me. During the war, since I helped a lot of people, they know it, I won’t say it now but, during the war, [I helped] a lot of people, first in my building… {waves with his hand} But then I was Milošević’s opponent, I was Milošević’s opponent. I am, I left Milošević, left in ‘91.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: What happened?
Momčilo Trajković: Well, we fought over Kosovo. I disagreed with democratic processes there in Serbia. I was a powerful man, thus, I disagreed. Otherwise, I should have become the President of Yugoslavia, I was pre… prepared to be the President. In my book {points in a direction}, that’s written, [there are] shorthands where I was recommended as a member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia. And when Lilić was the President of Yugoslavia, in fact, I was supposed to be the President of Yugoslavia.
I left Milošević, I told him, “Listen, I am going to graze in Čaglavica. My father has left me four hectares of the land.” And I left him and never saw him again. And then I became the manager of the cooperative, everyone was wondering is it possible. And then since we had no other means to support us, I opened a kiosk in the center of Pristina. Right across the Grand, below Avala. I had a kiosk at which I was working. And work, the kiosk was working during the night.
[Interview got interrupted due to technical difficulties]
Kaltrina Krasniqi: So, you opened a kiosk where?
Momčilo Trajković: Yes, Avala. That is one, KEK is now where, down there, {points down with his hand}. That plateau where, there, but there we had it all until after ‘99, until the month of June, when they took it, took it away from us, stole everything. And I was so, but okay, and then I helped a lot of people during the war.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Don’t talk until the war, let us talk about that for a while, you were, how do you say that, you were in a position.
Momčilo Trajković: Yes.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Important official. How was it for you, what was the atmosphere when all of that changed? At the beginning, you said it was a Communist state…
Momčilo Trajković: Well, from the Communist, from, from nationalist-communist Albanian, it became nationalistic Serbian politics, afterward Milošević came. Then Milošević came.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: How did you feel when your friends were fired or were?
Momčilo Trajković: I am a witness to that. In the beginning, Albanians, in order to oppose Milošević’s policies, they were leaving their jobs. The police, no one forced the police to leave, Kosovo’s police then. They were leaving the police. Demonstrating against policies. However, later, I was already in a fight with Milošević. We were, for example, I was in a huge conflict with Miloševć and some Kecman, who was somewhere in June, not June, but September, I think September 3 when there was a general strike of Albanians. He was closing, putting locks on stores.
Albanians didn’t come, they were striking, the lock you know, {shows with a hand} for the first time I fiercely opposed it. I told him, “You can’t.” And I remember, I gave a statement, at Tanjug, I gave a statement fiercely, I criticized it. And then they came after me, they came, those, those who were recently with Albanian Communists. For instance, one Papović, university president Papović, he is a child, child of Dervish Rozhaja. Dervish raised him as a professor and as a communist. For him to come out as one of the most determined against Albanians. I left after that, and afterward it began, and then the expulsions came, sure.
Then, then it, it started. And it came, people were expelled from work.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: So, you were there in two very important, important moments in ‘81, and you were very young.
Momčilo Trajković: Yes, then I was, I got diabetes then. Here, for example, since then I am diabetic, blood pressure, I am sorry. Since then I have blood pressure, I will never forget it.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Do you remember that day?
Momčilo Trajković: How can I not remember, I and Selim were going. We got a task, we got a task to go and calm down the demonstrators, to prevent. Yes, it was exactly, yes. The Party gives the task, and Selim and I go there. And when we came into that crowd, Selim begs me and says, “Please, don’t say a word of Serbian.” It was in ‘81. “Don’t speak Serbian,” you know. And really, I was quiet, I see someone because he has to, no one, no one, no one was honest enough to dissuade you. Nor could they dissuade you. You should go and convince people who are already into something like that.
And that was it, it was one, one really confusing situation. Then, Albanians were trying to justify it, [saying] that Serbian State Security Service had organized it. I think that makes no sense. Firstly, at that time, Serbian Communists, leading Communists and Albanian Communists were brothers. And Tito, that was Yugoslavian, it wasn’t Serbian politics. It was Yugoslavian politics then. Demonstrations in ‘81 weren’t calmed down by Belgarde, that is Serbia. There wasn’t even Milošević then. But the Federal Police did it.
Stane Dolanc and in Ajvalija was huge, huge barrack of the Federal Police, which was. And Slovenians and Croatians from all the republics and provinces were there to prevent it. However, justifying that, well, you will frequently find, this excuse that they were doing it, that Serbian State Security did it. I think that is not true, it is not true that Serbian State Security was oriented in that way and it wasn’t in charge. The Federal State Security was in charge, who had everything in control. And that was, and it sued because that was right after Tito. After the death of Tito, it was finally, I mean somehow…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And then you had a task to talk with the students?
Momčilo Trajković: Yes, a task to go, to go there. I, that is why Selim told me, “Don’t speak, don’t speak Serbian, speak Serbian.” But, but it is, it is therefore, the importance of the state, importance of the institutions. As soon as you come down to this, it’s over. Institutions weren’t functioning, I will tell you more, for example, the problem was in the system itself, system was, the system of separatism in Yugoslavia, so then and Albanian separatism, and Slovenian and Croatian were in institutions. The Constitution was, Constitution in ‘74 defined such relations, and the Constitution wasn’t enforced as it should have been in order to prevent. Thus, who is guilty, the Constitution from ‘74 is guilty and his lack of enforcement, because, if that constitution was enforced in the right way, it wouldn’t have come to that. And so, the institutions weren’t functioning, and then they started fighting with the people, with misguided people.
I remember if a child writes down KR [Kosovo Republic] on the desk, Albanian kid, student, writes KR on the desk, right away whole families isolate. I rose up then, I have a discussion about that, “With traditionalism against separatism.” What is it about, in fact in that way you deliver, expand that movement. Institutions must exist, let us see what that is about. So, that is, that is, that was the problem. And that is, that is, to be honest, we have to be honest here. I talked with Azem Vllasi recently, and he is now, then saying that, he is saying that now.
That Albanian Communists were never sincere during the formation of Yugoslavia. Albanian Communists are in my every, even the Albanian Communists, as well as Albanian nationalists, they had a task to do what is today. Maybe not in a way how it came to be but to create it. The goal was the Republic of Kosovo, and from Fadil to Azem they were, they were fiercely against it, lie fiercely against it, in fact, when all that was over, they were all bragging how they all participated in creating that kind of politics.
Thus, there were no, there were no sincere relations in that. That gave a chance to Serbian chauvinists and nationalists to say, “You see what this is about?” And for them to offer nationalistic Serbian chauvinism as a response to separatism, and neither of them are solutions. That is, that was the problem {slams his hand on his leg}. Now, because that is, that Prizren League,[9] that is set up. Like all, all nationalistic, nationalistic movements have their goals. In the same way, the Albanian nationalist movement had their goal.
Politics, Tito managed to, Tito managed “to buffer” it {waves his hand} in some way. But Tito didn’t have a system, Tito’s system was himself. The moment he was gone, they were gone, and the system was gone, institutions were gone and then it had to fall apart greatly. But unfortunately, it fell apart in blood. What happened in Bosnia, what happened in Croatia, what happened in Kosovo, that is a big tragedy.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And your children went to school in Dardania?
Momčilo Trajković: Yes.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Was that school divided into two…
Momčilo Trajković: Earlier when they were going, it was, and later it was divided.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Yes.
Momčilo Trajković: It was later divided but later, once at the beginning they were going together. Together, well that was never together, it was never together, but it was, there was some sort of tolerance. I was in econ, I encountered Albanians for the first time when I was in high school, in high school. That’s when I first, until then I, I lived in Čaglavica, Albanians have never lived there.
And that’s a big problem, why haven’t I learned the Albanian language, and yet I live here. Thus, when I was, when I was in high school, Albanians were studying in Albanian then but they, we had pre-military training, that they, we were studying that together in Serbian {waves his hand}. It wasn’t obligatory for me to know the Albanian language. Albanians were at least, in that pre-military training, or when they go to the Army, you know, when they go to the Army, they learn a language. Me as a Serb, it wasn’t a requirement.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And was that strange for you?
Momčilo Trajković: Well, it wasn’t strange for me, it wasn’t strange. That’s Yugoslavia, Serbia and that is, that’s how I, that’s how I have imagined it, you know. And then I encountered Albanians more seriously at the University. In the ‘70s, but then, when language was a means of fighting one another. Then they, then it started that Albanians don’t study Serbian, and Serbs don’t study Albanian. Then it was, there was discrimination already, the well-known demonstrations at the Faculty of Law, I was there in ‘71. You know…
So language was a means of fighting. And then, incapable like that, of communicating using the language you go to institutions in which, yes Serbian is respected in the system, respected. You know, there is a translation here and there, but one who knows Albanian, who is bilingual. Albanians know both of them, they have a reward, I don’t know, you get it in your payment, it is rising in that way. But a Serb who knows both of them, and for him as well, but there were fewer Serbs who knew both Albanian and Serbian.
Kaltrina Krasniqi: And why do you think that was the case?
Momčilo Trajković: How?
Kaltrina Krasniqi: Well, because of that, for example, Albanians were mostly studying Serbian although they had schools in the Albanian language…
Momčilo Trajković: Well, they were, they were in the Yugoslavian and Serbian system. They were, they are far. They were for all this time, since the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, they were oriented towards the Serbian language. Serbs were not oriented in that, especially Serbs who, like us. I, I am, now I am going to talk about, please, to come back to Orahovac, to tell you, it is very important for this part and for Čaglavica. To see what a great friendship that was.
And as if, so the pre-military training, so that is, those were the sessions that were preparing one for the military, before the military. So we are all getting ready, but it’s all in Serbian, it wasn’t like, it was like that, it was an advancement. Thus, I encountered Albanians in pre-military training, we were together in one class, Albanians and Serbs, and that military officer gives us a lecture on weapons, on the Army, and so on. When we go into the Army, into the military, Serbian is spoken there, that is Croatian, that is now {waves his hand} Montenegrin and so on. Slovenian and so on..
Thus, Albanians and all non-Slovenes, they had to learn [it] in order to communicate with a Slovene state, with institutions. But they could communicate on a local level in their language and so that was already a problem. And…
Kaltrina Krasniqi: And tell me, what was the atmosphere in the ‘80s? Did the situation change after the demonstration in ‘81?
Momčilo Trajković: Well, since then. Then, then it starts, those are simulated fights against Albanian separatism. It’s the year ‘81, separatist movement showed in that way, those are political judgements. You know, what is now, that, the others will they are different, {waves his hand} I am speaking now from that aspect, today, I can speak in a different way about it, but how was that looked upon at that time.
That is a separatist movement that wanted to take advantage of Tito’s death, to push this, to ask for a republic and so on, and so on. And now, the Federation of Communists, the central committees are discussing it, however no one touches the essence of the problem, you know. What I was talking about a moment ago, so they simulate that fight, however, on the other side, that, that nationalism, even when it is alluring, that, when it talks about how unjust it is, how you know, to win the masses. Since it wasn’t successful, unsuccessful fight of Communists, at that time, {raises his fist} Yugoslavian, Serbian, Croatian and these Albanian here against separatism, here among the Serbian people, dissatisfaction awakes.
Thus, those who were [there] in ‘81, certain number of people were convicted, the situation is like that, those who created everything, and it’s still like that. And then a little compromise appears when they, when Mahmut Bakalli and Fadil Hoxha fell down, when Azem Vllasi, Azem Vllasi and these new Communists, young Communists took over the old Communists. They blamed them for being for separatism and supporting it, and they will somehow make the situation better. However, they couldn’t improve the situation. And then it appears, Serbian movement appears, Serbian resistance and rallies begin, populism. Thus, suddenly populism comes on. And I form as a politician during the populism.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And do you remember this from ‘87 when Milošević came to…?
Momčilo Trajković: I will tell you know. Because, about that, I talk about that, I, I, I appear as the politician at the time when people, Serbian people appear on the surface, when, until then everyone was silent. People will not be silent, and then, silent, {coughs} and then from a good intention, to really point out to the problems, Serbian nationalism, those nationalists take advantage of that position, that people are in the streets and then they come in.
And it starts, and goes to another extreme. So, all of a sudden you have, instead of solving the problem, you have two extremes. Until yesterday Albanian separatism, demonstrations, who is not satisfied with what he has, and he has a lot, that is not put down, that provokes the other side who is kind of dissatisfied with the Albanian side, in fact going to another extreme. Enters into, into institutions, like, pressures institutions that that bring Milošević on the surface and further on what happened proceeds.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: That wasn’t considered separatism at that time when Serbs were somehow with that…?
Momčilo Trajković: Serbs are not separatists, so, you know separatists are those who want to separate part of the territory {waves his hand}, you know that. And these were, these were unitarians, they are unitarians, they are, they want the province to be abolished, to be uniquely Serbia. You know, not to have an autonomous province because you know, like, like the other extreme. And those two extremes have created the problem. And then, then it appears, then the Albanian resistance appears, that, and there is, a huge role, a huge role historically had, had Ibrahim Rugova, whom I personally knew.
[1] On March 11, 1981, a plate was broken at the student canteen expressing dissatisfaction with poor student conditions, after which many students joined flipping tables. The event sparked a widespread student-led demonstration. The demands for better food and dormitory conditions was emblematic of the Albanian demand for equal treatment in Yugoslavia.
[2] The 1974 Yugoslav Constitution was the fourth and final constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It came into effect on 21 February 1974. Kosovo and Vojvodina, the two constituent provinces of Serbia, received substantially increased autonomy, including de facto veto power in the Serbian parliament.
[3] Balli Kombëtar (National Front) was an Albanian nationalist, anti-communist organization established in November 1942, an insurgency that fought against Nazi Germany and Yugoslav partisans. It was headed by Midhat Frashëri, and supported the unification of Albanian inhabited lands. Members of Balli Kombëtar are referred to as ballist.
[4] Mahmut Bakalli (1936-2006) was a Kosovar Albanian politician. Bakalli began his political career in the youth organization of the League of Communists of Kosovo, eventually becoming its leader in 1961. As he rose through the ranks, he was elected to the Central Committee of the party’s Serbian chapter, and to the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia’s Central Committee.
[5] Fadil Hoxha (1916-2001), Albanian Communist partisan leader from Gjakova, who held a number of high posts in Kosovo and Yugoslavia, including the rotating post of Vice President of the Federal Presidency, the highest leadership post in Yugoslavia under Tito, in 1978-79. He retired in 1986, but was expelled from the League of Communist on charges of nationalism.
[6] Xhavid Nimani (1919-2000) was a political figure of the communist period. Born in Prizren, he joined the Yugoslav communist movement in 1941 and was a member of the party’s politburo for Kosovo in 1948. In 1961-1963, he was the party’s organizational secretary in Kosovo and, from 1963-1966, was a member of the Executive Committee of the Party in Serbia. In 1967, he became vice president of the Yugoslav Federal Parliament. From 1974-1981, he was president of the presidium, i.e. President of the Province of Kosovo.
[7] Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës – Kosovo Liberation Army, was an Albanian guerrilla paramilitary organization that sought the separation of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia during the 1990s.
[8] Stojadin, popular nickname for the car Zastava 101. Zastava 101 was an automobile company located in Kragujevac, Serbia, that produced cars based on Fiat for the Eastern European market. The company has become the branch of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014.
[9] Alb. Lidhja e Prizrenit. Alliance of Albanian beys founded in 1878 as a reaction to the decisions of the Treaty of Santo Stefano and the Congress of Berlin which redefined the borders of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring countries. The League asked for Albanian autonomy in the Ottoman Empire and awakened demands for self-determination.