Location: home
Mood: reflective
Energy level: 68 %
Background music: Josh Groban
Passport. It is one of the biggest differences between me and locals. Mine is an EU passport. It has value.
A couple years ago there was a campaign All different, all equal. THAT ideology for sure hasn't reached this region yet. To be born in Finland is like to win in a lottery. I get usually great service at border crossings in Balkans, as every country wants to join EU. The other option for good treatment is that I'm just too cute. I had to recently check if Finns need a visa to Republic of Korea. And we don't. It's so easy to be a citizen of European Union. But it's not so simple all the time even for us privileged. The current situation of Kosovo makes my life complicated sometimes. When I need to go to Serbia, for example. Well,... actually that is the only example.
It goes like this: if I need to go to Serbia, I can't go directly from Kosovo unless the last entry stamp is Serbian. There is a simple reason for this. As Serbia doesn't recognize Kosovo's independence but considers it to be part of Serbia, it does naturally not recognize Kosovo's entry stamps either. If I don't have Serbian stamp it means I have entered Serbian territory illegally, which is BAAAAAD. Makes sense this far. If I have some other stamps, like Montenegro, that are issued after my latest Serbian stamp, in case I need to go to Serbia I have to first go out from Kosovo to some other country and then enter Serbia from “outside”. It's really logical. Coming from Serbia to Kosovo is ok, there's not even border control as technically you don't even leave the country. The only thing at the border is a some sort of “inner customs” check.
Another issue which makes me sweat at Serbian border is how they treat passports with stamps of Kosovo. Currently I have ten of them so I'm every time freaking out when I hand out my passport. I have read from some sources that it's not possible to enter Serbia if having any stamps of Kosovo. True or not, that's not the case in real life. I have heard a horror story of a border police ripping off the pages with those stamps (which is really scary as it would invalidate the passport) but as I don't have any primary source I consider it as an urban legend. Nevertheless, the border police may ask some questions that make you sweat before s/he cancels the stamps. Cancels them by either crossing them over with a pen, stamping over them with a stamp of Serbia, or by using a special “canceled” stamp and stamping Serbian stamps next to canceled stamp of Kosovo. The last one I have witnessed myself, others heard. My stamps are still safe. I try to be clever – last time arriving Serbia by train from Croatian border I put my train ticket between the passport's pages which had only Croatian stamps and hoped that the border police won't check all the pages. She checked the information page, stamped and then started checking some of the other pages. I noticed a minor lift of an eyebrow when she reached one page so it must have been the first stamp. Entries to Serbia: four. Number of canceled stamps: zero. Luckily, most of my Kosovo-stamps are in the last two pages. I wouldn't like to be there if they opened those pages!
In my case traveling is still easy and simple, like kindergarten. Ask how it is for locals -for Kosovar Albanians- and then we start to talk about true obstacles.
I went to a meeting in Slovenia in June with my Kosovar friend. We flew there because he couldn't go by land. Why? For simple reasons. Shortest route would be Kosovo-Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia. But – and this is the crazy part – no access to Serbia for Kosovar Albanians (and I mean completely blocked, totally no-no). Take a detour and go around Serbia then! Kosovo-Montenegro-Bosnia&Herzegovina-Croatia-Slovenia? One little problem in this scenario too: no access to Bosnia either for Kosovars as Bosnia&Herzegovina doesn't recognize Kosovar travel documents. Go around B&H then! It would be nice to take a bus along the beautiful Croatian coast. But – Kosovars need a visa to Croatia, and still it wouldn't work. If you look at the map of Croatia carefully you will see how the tail of Croatia cuts in south. That's the place where there is Bosnian seaside. And it' maybe 10 minutes ride in Bosnian territory. The only options would have been to go to either Montenegro or Albania, take a boat to Italy (where they need visa), and go from Italy to Slovenia. Or Macedonia-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary (only three visas needed). That would be ridiculous especially when the meeting was just two days. So we took a plane.
At Ljubljana International Airport in Slovenia we went through passport control. Or I went. A border police opened my passport, looked at it for less than a second, closed it, gave back, smiled and said “Kiitos”. He even thanked me in my language. How great is the idea of free movement inside EU! Then it was my friend's turn. He showed his visa (which he naturally needed for entering Slovenia, not the easiest procedure). The border police started to ask questions with very rude tone. “Where are you going? Why? When will you leave? Show the return flight ticket.” I came back to the desk and asked if there is a problem. He is with me. So he got a stamp to his passport, thank you, goodbye. I felt bad. Why I should be treated like I was when this young boy had to take and just accept all that mean behavior, and convince the other country once again that he has all the right to step with his feet in to this piece of land?
I started to make a list of all countries in the world that thanks to the fact that I happen to be a Finn I can access without any visa procedure. And next column for Kosovars. Sad statistics. For example Europe – I can go anywhere except to Russia without a visa. And a Kosovar without a visa? Nowhere – in the whole world – except Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania. And no access at all to Serbia, Bosnia&Herzegovina and Russia (China could be in this list too, I'm not sure). How fair is that?
To be fair, life is not that simple for Serbs of Kosovo either. To some places where Serbs from Serbia don't need visa, Serbs who live in Kosovo are still required to have a visa, though they have Serbian documents. Serbian documents. From Serbia. Just because they happen to live in this area.
Getting a visa. In an easy case, such as Slovenia, you need only two trips to Prishtina. Before that make sure to collect all the necessary documents, such as your original invitation letter from Slovenia. Fill the application, get a passport photo, get an insurance, pay the application fee. Tadah, next day you have a visa. IF the embassy hasn't decided to refuse that. Without any special reason. And guess what? If they do that, it will also be recorded. When applying again, better not to have any refused visas in your “account”. And a hard case may require several trips to Macedonia. Applying, interview, collect a visa. It used to be possible to enter Macedonia without passport if there was a proof of going to the embassy. It's not possible anymore, so getting a visa means staying in Macedonia. OR as I've understood in the worst case you may need to go to the embassy in Belgrade. In Serbia. Where you can't go. At all. How fair is that?
Through my empiric studies and discussions I have recently discovered that the whole world, at least the whole Europe, seems to hate Albanians. I'm curious to see if this all this visa-related hassle is any easier for Albanians of Albania. If it's easier, I'm happy for them. If not, it shows one aspect of the horrible idea that we lack the respect of humanity towards them. And it's happening right before our eyes. Inside Europe, towards other Europeans. How sick is that?
Disclaimer: The situation here is not unique. Similar things are happening elsewhere too. Like between Armenia and Azerbaijan (Entry to Azerbaijan will be refused e.g. to citizens of Armenia and to all foreign citizens of Armenian descent and ancestry and those with Armenian names and surnames, as well as any products made in Armenia and with Armenian labeling... or any evidence of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh (Wikitravel)). Georgia (Abkhazia)-Russia. China-Tibet. Wild guess that also Chechnya-Russia. How much hatred can fit into this planet?
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