Bob Dole’s Trip to Yugoslavia

BOB DOLE
(R - Kansas)SH 141 Hart Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: WALT RIXER
SEPTEMBER 20, 1990(202) 224—5358

YUGOSLAVIA
YUGOSLAVIA FLEDGLING DEMOCRACY TO OLD-LINECOMMUNISM
DOLE REPORTS ON “EYE OPENING” SENATEVISIT TO KOSOVA

DURING THE AUGUST RECESS, I LED A SENATE DELEGATION ON AN EYE-OPENING TRIP TO FOUR COUNTRIES IN EASTERN EUROPE–YUGOSLAVIA, BULGARIA, ROHANIA AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA..- AS WELL AS THE SOVIET UNION. EACH COUNTRY WAS FASCINATING IN ITS OWN RIGHT — EACH STRUGGLING WITH FUNDAMENTAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ? BUT, I THINK ALL OF US IN THE DELEGATION WOULD AGREE THAT NO COUNTRY PROVIDED US WITH A MORE DIVERSE AND PROFOUND EXPERIENCE THAN YUGOSLAVIA. INDEED, THERE IS SERIOUS QUESTION WHETHER YUGOSLAVIA. AS A COUNTRY, WILL LONG EXISTS. RIGHT NOW, IT IS A CONGLOMERATION OF EIGHT DISPARATE REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS PROVINCES, AND EIGHT MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS, HELD TOGETHER WITH THE GEOPOLITICAL EQUIVALENT OF BALING WIRE. TWO OF ITS REPUBLICS — CROATIA AND SLOVENIA — HAVE ALREADY STRUCK OUT ON THE PATH TOWARD DEMOCRACY AND FREE ENTERPRISE. ONE OF ITS REPUBLICS REMAINS MIRED IN THE HARD-LINE COMMUNISTS MOLD. AND, THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN BELGRADE SESMS INCREASINGLY IRRELEVANT TO THE REAL CRITICAL POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS AND PROBLENS A? THE REPUBLIC LEVEL; IT SEEKS TO PUT TOGETHER AN ECONOMIC STRATEGY TO MOVE PROM COMMUNIST STATISM TO FREE MARKETS, A PROCESS TEAT IT HOPES WILL SOMEHOW SERVE TO BIND TOGETHER THE WHOLE COUNTRY. LAST BASTION OF TOTALITARIANISM TRAVELLING PROM INCREASINGLY DEMOCRATIC CRÔATIA TO COMMUNIST SERBIA, AS WE DID, Is LIKE TRAVELLING THROUGH A TIME-WARP — BACK TO TEE DAYS BEFORE THE DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION BEGAN TO SEEP THROUGH THE COMMUNIST BLOC; BACK TO THE DAYS WHEN BWTAL DICTATORSHIPS OF THE CENTER RULED WITH AN IRON HAND OVER PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE DOMAIN. NOW, LET ME MAKE CLEAR: WE DID NOT GO TO YUGOSLAVIA TO MAKE THE CASE FOR
ANY ONE REPUBLIC, OR ANY ONE ETHNIC GROUP. WE WENT TO LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT EVENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA, AND TO DELIVER THE MESSAGE THAT THE UNITED STATES WAS SQUARELY ON THE SIDE OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREE ENTERPRISE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF YUGOSLAVIA.
THE TRUTH WE DISCOVERED IN SERBIA — ESPECIALLY IN THE ETHNICALLY ALBANIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVA — WAS A HARSH TRUTH, INDEED. IN FACT, SERBIAN AUTORITIESD THEIR BEST TO KEEP US OUT OF KOSOVA ENTIRELY. THE SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER IN BELGRADE, AT THE VERY STAR? OF OUR MEETING, TRIED TO SET LAST MINUTE AND UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS ON OUR TRAVEL TO PRISTINA. HE WANTED US TO TAKE A GOVERNMENT ?HOST? WITH US, IN EFFECT A ?POLITICAL WATCHDOG? TO INTIMIDATE THOSE WITH WHOM WE WERE MEETING. WE REFUSED TO GO UNDER ANY SUCH CONDITIONS; WE STRESSED THAT WE WERE AX INDEPENDENT DELEGATION AND THAT WE VIEWED THESE LATE-HOUR MANEUVERINGS FOR WHAT THEY WEREs ATTEMPTS TO KEEP US PROM GOING TO KOSOVA. WHILE IN BELGRADE THAT MORNING, WE LEARNED FROM EMBASSY STAFF ON THE GROUND IN PRISTINA. THAT THOUSANDS OF ALBANIANS WERE ALREADY WAITING FOR US IN THE STREETS CHANTING, ?USA, USA. ? WE ALSO LEARNED THAT THE POLICE WERE FORCIBLY DISPERSING THESE PEACEFUL CROWDS AND THAT TEAR GAS WAS BEING USED. KOSOVA NIGHTMARE WHEN WE FINALLY GOT TO KOSOVA NONETHELESS, WE FOUND OUT JusT WHY TilE SERBIANS TRIED SO HARD TO KEEP US AWAY. THEY DIDN?T WAN? US TO SEE THAT THE PEOPLE OF KOSOVA LIVE IN A POLICE STATE. BUT, WE SAW: EXACTLY THAT DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY DROVE OUR BUS AT BREAKNECK SPEEDS INTO PRISTINA. WE COULDN?T HELP BUT NOTICE THE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE RUNNING ACROSS THE FIELDS TO WAVE TO OUR BUS. AND, WE COULDN?T HELP BUT NOTICE POLICE WIELDING GUNS MID CLUBS CHASING THESE PEOPLE, AS WE GO? CLOSER TO PRISTINA, WE SAW MORE PEOPLE AND MORE POLICE. AND. ALTHOUGH WE ENTERED THE CITY BY WAY OF BACK ROADS. WE WERE STILL ABLE TO SEE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN THE STREETS; AND, WE WERE STILL ABLE TO SEE CLOUDS OF
TEAR GAS. ONCE WE ARRIVED IN DOWNTOWN PRISTINA. THE CROWDS HAD BEEN CLEARED AWAY FROM THE HOTEL IN WHICH WE WERE HOLDING OUR MEETINGS. ONCE THERE, WE MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ALBANIAN COMMUNITY. INCLUDING DR. IBRABIM RUGOVA, THE LEADER OF THE ALBANIAN DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS. DR. RUGOVA PRESENTED US WITH A DECLARATION, SIGNED BY THE LEADERS OF THE ALBANIAN COMMUNITY, WHICH ADVOCATED DEMOCRACY AND PEACEFUL CHANGE AND STATED THEIR OPPOSITION TO THE USE OP VIOLENCE. IN THIS MEETING WE LEARNED THE FOLLOWING:-
–A YOUNG MAN WAS BRUTALLY BEATEN THAT MORNING BY TEE SERBIAN POLICE; WE BROUGHT HIS PHOTO BACK WITH US, ALONG WITH PHOTOS OF PEOPLE WHO WERE BEING LED AWAY BY POLICE, PEOPLE WHOSE ?CRIME? WAS WAITING TO SEE OUR DELEGATION, PEOPLE WHOSE ?CRIME? WAS RAISING THEIR HANDS UP AND MAKING A ?V? SIGN
–ALBANIAN RADIO AND TV PROGRAMS AND STATIONS HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN. 6,000 ALBANIANS HAVE BEEN FIRED BECAUSE OF THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS AND OPEN
SUPPORT OF DEMOCRACY.
- -ALBANIAN DOCTORS HAVE ALSO LOST THEIR JOBS AND HAVE BEEN REPLACED BY SERELANS WHO CAN?T COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR ALBANIAN PATIENTS,
–AN ALBANIAN LABOR LEADER IS IN SAIL FOR CALLING A STRIKE. THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. THE ALBANIANS IN KOSOVA DO NOT HAVE FREEDOM OP ASSEMBLY, DO NOT HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, DO NOT HAVE FREEDOM OP THE PRESS. YET, THE HARD-LINE SERBIAN AUTHORITIES DENY THAT THE RIGHTS OF ALBANIANS ARE BEING VIOLATED. INSTEAD, THEY CLAIM THAT NO MINORITY HAS MORE RIGHTS THAN THE ALBANIANS IN YUGOSLAVIA. MOREOVER, THIS LINE WAS ECHOED BY THE PRESIDENT OP YUGOSLAVIA AND OTHER FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN BELGRADE. WHILE IN PRISTINA, WE ALSO MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SERBIAN COMMUNITY IN KOSOVA, INCLUDING CLERGY FROM THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH. WE MADE IT CLEAR THAT WE DID NOT COME TO KOSOVA TO ADVOCATE A PARTICULAR VIEW OR ETHNIC GROUP, BUT TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF KOBOVA AND FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF YUGOSLAVIA. IT WAS CLEAR FROM OUR MEETING WITH THE SERBS OF KOSOVA THAT TENSIONS AU HIGH AND THAT THE POLICE-STATE ATMOSPHERE IS WEARING HEAVY ON THEIR COMMUNITY, AS WELL. AMERICAN ARRESTED OUR DELEGATION HAS BEEN BACK FOR TWO WEEKS AND NOTHING. HAS CHANGED; COMMUNIST REPRESSION LIVES ON IN KOSOVA. BUT, IT IS NOT ONLY DIRECTED TOWARD THOSE WHO LIVE THERE, BUT TOWARDS AMERICAN CITIZENS, AS WELL. UPON OUR RETURN, WE LEARNED THAT ON THE DAY OUR DELEGATION VISITED PRISTINA, A 19 YEAR-OLD AMERICAN WAS ARRESTED BY SERMAN POLICE IN PRISTINA–SHABAN KASTR.ATI WAS BORN IN THE UNITED STATES; HIS MOTHER IS CROATIAN AND HIS FATHER IS AN ALBANIAN FROM KOSOVA. SHABAN WAS VISITING HIS GRANDPARENTS AND ON AUGUST 29- -THE DAY OF OUR VISIT- -WAS RIDING IN A CAR WITH HIS RELATIVES WHEN THE CAR WAS PULLED OVER BY POLICE WHO DEMANDED IDENTIFICATION. WHEN TEE POLICEMAN SAW SHABAN?S U.S. PASSPORT, HE STRUCK HIM AND ARRESTED HIM. SINCE THAT DAY, SHABAN KASTRATI HAS BEEN SERVING A 60-DAY SENTENCE IN A PRISON NEAR PRISTINA, UNDER WHAT OUR STATE DEPARTMENT BELIEVES ARE FALSE CHARGES. ALTHOUGH OUR AMBASSADOR HAS DELIVERED PROTESTS TO THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT,
THESE DIPLOMATIC PROTESTS HAVE YIELDED NO RESULTS. ACT ON ALBANIAN RESOLUTION NOW POUR MONTHS AGO SENATOR PELI AND I COSPONSORED A SENSE OF CONGRESS RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST THE ALBANIAN POPULATION IN KOSOVA. IN JUNE, THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE REPORTED THE RESOLUTION OUT. IT HAS BEEN ON THE CALENDAR EVER SINCE, BUT SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES HAVE BLOCKED ACTION ON IT. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT ON THIS RESOLUTION. NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE A STRONG AND VOCAL STAND IN SUPPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN YUGOSLAVIA. NOW IS THE TIME TO CHOOSE SIDES- -NOT AGAINST ANY OF THE NATIONS WHO HAKE UP YUGOSLAVIA, HUT AGAINST COMMUNIST TYRANNY. WE HAVE TO THINK NOT ONLY OF THE SUFFERING PEOPLE OP KOSOVA, BUT OF SHABAN KASTRATI, AS WELL. ALBANIANS, CROATIANS, SLOVENES AND SERBS ALL DESERVE THE FREEDOMS THAT COME WITH DEMOCRACY. AND AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO TRAVEL TO YUGOSLAVIA DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR RIGHTS RESPECTED. THE SITUATION IN KOSOVA IS WORSENING. SEVEN SENATORS GOT A FIRST-HAND LOOK AT THE GRIM REALITY OF LIFE IN KOSOVA. THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT IS RUNNING A POLICE STATE WITH THE ACQUIESCENCE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF YUGOSLAVIA. THE UNITED STATES CANNOT SIT THIS OUT ON THE SIDE-LINES, WE HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO TAKE A STRONG STAND IN DEFENSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS OP ALBANIANS AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF YUGOSLAVIA. IN THE COMING DAYS, I WILL BE IN TOUCH WITH THOSE SENATORS WHO DO NOT WISH THE CONGRESS TO VOICE ITS CONCERNS ABOUT THE TRAGIC HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN KOSOVA. BUT, I URGE MY COLLEAGUES, ESPECIALLY THE SKEPTICAL ONES TO GO TO KOSOVA - TO SEE FOR THEMSELVES–THE GRIM REALITY THERE. SIX SENATORS TRAVELLED WITH ME–NONE WERE AWARE OF THE SITUATION IN KOSOVA PRIOR TO OUR TRIP–ALL RETURNED GRAVELY CONCERNED ABOUT THE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES THERE AND WITH THE VIEW THAT THE UNITED STATES MUST SPEAK OUT CLEARLY ON THIS TRAGEDY.