Joe Biden: “I rise at this moment to deplore the ongoing, brutal Serbian repression of the people of Kosovo and to lay out…”

“I rise at this moment to deplore the ongoing, brutal Serbian repression of the people of Kosovo and to lay out principles for American policy to deal with the crisis. Analysts have known for years that the Serbian province of Kosovo is a potential tinderbox for the entire southern Balkans. Approximately ninety percent of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian, known as Kosovars. Because of emigration to--not from--to other parts of Serbia and because of a low birth rate, ethnic Serbs now constitute only about 7 percent of the province's population, down from a quarter of the population in the early 1970's. Kosovo is revered, as you know, Madam President, by Serbs as the cradle of their culture. Near the provincial capital Pristina lies Kosovo Plain, the site of the epic battle of June 28, 1389 in which medieval Serb knights and other Europeans were defeated by the Ottoman Turks, who remained in control of much of the Balkans into this century. Many of the holiest monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church lie within Kosovo's borders. The ethnic Albanians also have long historical ties to Kosovo, tracing, in fact, their origins to the Illyrians who inhabited the area in ancient times.”