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Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Kosovo Serbs sell their properties. Albanians in neighboring Serb controlled areas keep theirsWhether you are an ethnic Serb who left your house in Kosovo a year ago or you just plan to do it, it's time to think about your Kosovo property. Some of the Kosovo Serbs, who now live in Belgrade or in other major Serb towns outside the province, prefer to wait until the Yugoslav armed forces return. Americans can't stay forever, and when they leave we will take what was ours, they are thinking. A growing majority, on the other hand, tries to find buyers for their former houses and lands because they don't believe that Kosovo could be forced back under Serb rule anytime soon. On the administrative border between the breakaway province and the other parts of the Serbia, Albanians and Serbs are meeting three days a week to make deals for exchanging property rights. The papers are cosigned by notaries who watch the legal details closely. The transactions are usually made in the presence of British soldiers, who safeguard security on the administrative border. Such deals are''t allowed under the Yugoslav laws. It is forbidden for Serbs living (or for those who have lived) in Kosovo to sell their properties to local Albanians. Thus, we have an example of traditional legal procedures (as opposed to the state enforced legislature). In fact Serbs, by receiving money, are renouncing their claims to the properties they sell even if one day Yugoslav troops again occupy the breakaway province. How many Serbs from Kosovo have sold their houses so far? No one knows the exact number, but British soldiers say that near the check-point Merdare on the road between the provincial capital of Pristina and the Serb capital of Belgrade you can see hundreds of Serbs and Albanians meeting three days a week. Many of them are there with only one purpose - to make a property transaction. Prices vary according to the location and condition of the properties. Usually Albanians are ready to pay between $300 and $400 / sq.meter for houses and flats (1 sq.meter=10 sq.feet; all transactions are made in German Marks). The same practices are used for paying rents by the KFOR and UN servicemen to their Serb landlords who fear going to Kosovo to take their money. As a matter of fact, the Serb-held houses are passing to their former Albanian friends and close neighbors. The latter have been occupying the emptied properties since the KFOR entered Kosovo and the massive Serb exodus began in June 1999. In this respect the deals made on the border may appear highly symbolic. If you are an ethnic Serb and you have been forced to leave your home, it will not matter who now lives in your former house. The real problem comes from the other side of the border because within the legal vacuum that reigns in the province a local Albanian could pretend to take any emptied Serb house. For this reason and to avoid any further misunderstandings, Albanians prefer to buy the property rights from the former owners instead of fighting among themselves. At the same time former Kosovo Serbs are selling their houses in violation of the Yugoslav laws, tens of thousands of local Albanians in the nearby Serb territories under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic are struggling to keep their houses and businesses from state expropriation or confiscation. In the Serb regions bordering Kosovo (Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja) it is estimated that 70,000 out of 120,000 people are ethnic Albanians. Serb authorities are trying to expel them into Kosovo creating a new humanitarian crisis just months before local elections are expected to be held in Serbia. The tensions between local communities (the favored political game of the Milosevic regime in the past 12 years) have been rising outside Kosovo since the beginning of the year. and some Albanians have been discussing the idea of forming a new KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) for the Serb adjoining regions. Even in that explosive situation local Albanians who don't expect anything good from official Belgrade aren't inclined to sell their properties and migrate into Kosovo. They instead are hoping to be annexed by the KFOR in a greater Kosovo that will include their regions. NATO's appeals for them not to cherish the hopes of separation from Serbia are met with indifference. They (the western powers) have been telling us for many years that Kosovo will remain part of Serbia but now it is almost an independent state. Why should we stay calm if we can gain our liberty too? This is the mood that prevails among the Albanians in southern Serb territories. It's a dangerous mood that doesn't bode anything good on the horizon.
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