HE ROLE OF THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY IN PURSUING THE ALBANIAN NATIONAL INTEREST

Abstract

Complex processes which enabled Albanians to gain full control over a unifi ed and centralized Islamic Community in the Socialist Yugoslavia are presented in this work. Islamic Community’s decision to align its organization with the state’s organization model provided by the Constitution and to establish its central bodies on the basis of equal representation of all council territories which coincided with the administrative boundaries of the republics of that time enabled the Albanians to obtain absolute majority in the bodies at the highest level. For years the established domination presented no problem because the Albanian representatives were cooperative and unwilling to challenge the supremacy of the Muslims, but when the disintegration crisis of the state began to unravel, it resurfaced with a dramatic twist. Abandoning its initial neutrality, the Islamic Community in the fi rst phase openly supported one side demanding disintegration of the state and in the second phase, breaking up of Serbia’s territorial integrity and creation of an independent Kosovo. These activities clearly indicate that the Albanian factor had acted premeditatedly when taking control of the Islamic Community as a whole and that it had taken advantage of favourable historical circumstances using the Islamic Community as a lever to pursue the projected national interests that were to be materialized through the final status of Kosovo and Metohija.