Prizren citizens hope for better future

10/08/2007

Delays in the status process have dampened hopes in Kosovo's most culturally heterogeneous city. Nevertheless, some remain optimistic.

By Blerta Foniqi-Kabashi for Southeast European Times in Prizren/Korisha – 13/08/08

A woman sits on a step in Prizren, Kosovo. Delays in the status process have dampened hopes of an economic recovery in the province. [Getty Images]

Prizren, a historic city in Kosovo, remains the most culturally and ethnically heterogeneous municipality in the province. Large communities of Bosniaks, Turks and Roma live alongside the majority ethnic Albanian population. A significant number of Kosovo Serbs reside in protected housing complexes, enclaves and small villages.

"Prizren was the capital of Kosovo many years ago," says Ruzhdi Mucaj, who lives in nearby Korisha. Although proud of the town's heritage, he and other residents of the area are far from confident when it comes to the future. Many are struggling to make ends meet amid an impoverished economy and poor employment prospects.

"We can't find a job," Mucaj says. "For that reason, we're forced to work as farmers … We finished our duties for this summer, and now what can we do in the autumn and winter?"

The stalemate over Kosovo's status has deepened the feelings of pessimism, not only in Prizren but across Kosovo. As the prospects of a political settlement are deferred, so too are the hopes of an economic revival.

"I don't know what they are doing with our fate," says Mucaj's cousin Bashkim. "I think that we are an example [that should be seen] by the world."

The West should move quickly to recognise Kosovo's status, he says. "They shouldn’t wait to see what Russia intends, because Russia is an ally of Serbia and it is just one state."

Prizren's Serbs were targeted in ethnic attacks during the rioting that erupted in Kosovo in March 2004. Today, they say their lives are constrained – not so much by the threat of violence as by unemployment.

"We are not isolated. We can walk freely in the town, but we don't have a workplace," said one Serb man, who asked not to be identified. The authorities in Belgrade, he says, must do more to help the Kosovo Serbs and not content themselves with speeches and declarations.

"If they are representing us, they also should work for us," he told Southeast European Times.

Local officials urge patience and insist that things are looking up. The president of the Prizren municipality, Eqrem Kryeziu, says Prizren is reconstructing and gradually becoming a European city.

"Clearly you can see the changes in infrastructure, education, ambulances and in other areas," Kryeziu told Southeast European Times.

Unemployment levels are high, just as elsewhere in Kosovo, Kryeziu acknowledges, voicing hope that after status settlement more work opportunities will become available.

Some ordinary citizens share his optimism. "We believe in our authorities, and we think that after the settlement of final status, Prizren will become like Pristina," says schoolteacher Naim Gashi.

As with so many others, when Gashi speaks of a better life, he means work opportunities.

"I hope that we will open new factories, which can employee many persons," he says.

Medical student Nita Kabashi, meanwhile, hopes that in the future she can work in Prizren as a doctor. "I hope that we will have private hospitals in Prizren, because public hospitals don't have enough places for doctors. So I hope that I can find a job," says Kabashi, who expects to finish her studies this year.

"I believe that when I become a doctor, Kosovo will become an independent state," she says.

Turks in Prizren also see their economic prospects as tied to status. "We are very good now, but we see that better days are coming," said Lufti Ibish. He says he learned on television that the EU will help Kosovo towards integration in its structures.

The Turkish community in Prizren is socially prominent and influential, and the Turkish language is widely spoken even by non-ethnic Turks.

Prizren has a population of around 170,000, mostly Albanians. It is the administrative capital of the Prizren municipality, which has an estimated population of about 221,000 inhabitants, both in town and in 76 villages which are a part of the municipality.