The Autonomous Republic of Adjara

As I walked past her in Batumi, one woman carrying a shopping bag stopped in front of me and gazed at my tourist map, and then my eyes. The hopeful and excited look on her face said, "THEY'RE HERE!"

This seemed to be the trend during my time in Batumi, a Black Sea-side resort town in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, the Republic bordering Turkey that is officially part of Georgia. Batumi and Kobuleti, two tourist destination cities on the coast, have been eagerly awaiting tourists from the West for many years, but it really hasn't been until this year that it had any attraction that would bring Western tourists en masse. While investments are rolling in and construction is 24/7, the signs of what Batumi once was are everywhere. The delay in development was not helped in that it was governed by an authoritarian dictator for many years who treated Adjara as his own country--not part of Georgia. It also did not help that for many years before that it was barricaded from the Western world by the Red Wall that was the Soviet Union.

By the looks of Batumi today, you would not guess that even 5 years ago, electricity was rationed off to only a few hours a day and most homes around the city still had straw roofs. Yet, as I was boarding the Mashrutka (minibus) to return to my 8 hour overnight sleeper train (for a trip that would take 3 hours anywhere else) back to Tbilisi, an old Russian man explained all of this to Misha and myself. Batumi had come a long way, and I'll tell you why.

For the longest time, Adjara, like Georgia, had been under Soviet Control. When the fall of the wall came around, a new fellow, Aslan Abashidze, came to power. Because of Georgia's general lack of a strong and cohesive government, and its desire to appease its separatist provinces so long as they stay part of Georgia, Abashidze could rule Adjara as if it were his own country. He collected taxes on the border with Turkey, had a standing militia, and was essentially distinct from Georgia. Naturally Abashidze was not the best ruler (later, he was charged with embezzling over 98 million lari and murdering a civil servant). When the Rose Revolution happened in Georgia, deposing long time leader Shevardnadze and putting in Sakashvili, it wasn't long before the new leader tried to get Adjara under control. Sakashvili eventually got Abashidze to flee to Moscow. While military tensions were high, not a single shot was fired.

So finally, this beach town long a favorite of Soviet tourists could open itself up to the world. The lonely Sheraton there had long been a symbol of the potential for tourism, but it wasn't until this very year for anything substantial to be built, including a new chic Radisson and a Kempinski hotel. Boardwalks, restaurants, attractions, and renovations that make the city look like a tropical, Parisian, St. Petersburg-ian paradise, juxtaposed against the relative poverty surrounding such new buildings make Batumi a very apt location to study budding development in a post-Soviet zone.

Last year when Misha went, most buildings were either mossy unfinished skeletons of a time when development was more prominent and promising.

Today, development is a reality and the skeletons will not be skeletons for long. While most tourists come from Turkey, Iran, Armenia, and Azerbaijan still, there is a slow trickle of French, German, British, and Americans backpacking in.

During the day, an old woman stopped Misha and I--not wanting to give us a homestay surprisingly; she just wanted to know where we were from and it we were enjoying Batumi. When I said I was an American, she blessed me and "spat" on me in that my Big Fat Greek Wedding kind of way. I was welcome in Batumi.

ICJ Decision: Thoughts

July 22, 2010 marked a historic day for Kosovo when the International Court of Justice declared that Kosovo's Declaration of Independence was not illegal under international law. That night, the streets were riddled with Kosovo and Albanian flags, as youngsters partied, now having a new excuse to go to clubs on a Thursday night.

Yet, what are the implications? I sat in a cafe, watching the live proceedings on Al-Jazeera in English with my classmates, and one fascinating Serbian intellectual (who used to hang with Derrida and Foucault). The proceedings could bore anyone to sleep. Regardless, we all got beers and smoked cigarettes as if it were a sporting game. Barnaby Philips from Al-Jazeera gave commentary from a top the Grand Hotel Prishtina as if he were giving a play by play in football. The Hague looked like something out of Kafka: tall, menacing wood panels, with green felt adorning the judge's stand, and men dressed in large black robes with lace kerchiefs, an old man reading the proceedings as other judges remain silent.

Suddenly, it says on the screen that Kosovo's Declaration of Independence was legal. Cool. But we are skeptics in the audience. No statement on status? No statement on independence itself?

You see, the Court only decided on the legality of a DECLARATION of independence, not on Kosovo's status as a nation, or legality as an independent state. From the ICJ:

56. … The Court is not required by the question it has been asked to take a position on whether international law conferred a positive entitlement on Kosovo unilaterally to declare its independence or, a fortiori, on whether international law generally confers an entitlement on entities situated within a State unilaterally to break away from it. Indeed, it is entirely possible for a particular act ⎯ such as a unilateral declaration of independence ⎯ not to be in violation of international law without necessarily constituting the exercise of a right conferred by it. The Court has been asked for an opinion on the first point, not the second.

So, essentially, this was a question on a declaration, not on the rights assumed to be exercised under it.

Yet still, the BBC, Al-Jazeera and other news stations immediately slate the event as Kosovo's Independence is a legal matter itself.

Some concerns:

I wonder now, if other nations will use this as a prompt to actually declare independence, under the assumption of having a legal precedent, when in fact, the legitimacy of their statuses could be rather flawed. Meaning to say, if the declaration is legal and they take it as an exercise of the declaration is legal, what could this mean for the future of their states? To be honest, how feasible is it for the Basque region to declare independence? Did the ICJ open Pandora's box?

Next, Serbia shot itself in the foot if it was expecting a statement on status of Kosovo by asking the wrong question. They, instead, got a Kosovo Favored 10-4 response that Kosovo's declaration was legal. Naturally, asking a question on the status of Kosovo might have been premature, especially when it is such a tenuous topic in Serbia at the moment. If they have voted on the status of Kosovo, and it was favorable, would the country go into serious political discontent? Already, there is an economic system in place that is heading towards what Greece looks like, and they choose to focus on the status of Kosovo, instead of perhaps putting European integration ahead of status...

As one Serb told me upon the declaration, she was happy for Kosovo. Kosovo deserved this, but she wept for her own people. As she said, they keep on concentrating on Kosovo when we are already a poor country. They won't let it die and it is killing our nation and preventing us from joining the EU and perhaps salvaging ourselves. I want to change things in Serbia, but I'm losing a battle. Serbia, even with the ICJ decision still chooses to ignore their statement and pursue this cause of Kosovo when it is not worth it. Its a huge waste of Money. I hope to tell my children someday that I helped change Serbia, but if this hard-liner attitude keeps up, I may just tell them I left Serbia for their sake.

I weep for Serbia, not because they lost this battle, or even for losing Kosovo, but because they won't give Kosovo up and concentrate on other issues that are more in their power to change.

How Facebook Ushered Me into the World of Diplomacy

Why did I get a Facebook initially? To easily contact old friends. To socialize. To share the party photos from the night before. To take all of those ridiculous quizzes like, "Which State Are You?" or "What type of Kisser are you?" To "find myself" in those years of teenage identity crisis. 

Yet in the news, I see people using Facebook to start revolutions.  

This is clearly not the Facebook that I, as an American, know. In other parts of the world, Facebook is a political, diplomatic, business and social hub. The politics can get so intense that my sister's Turkish host father will not let his 17 year old use Facebook yet.  Revolutions in Iran start as a result of Facebook. China has recently banned Facebook. The power is so huge; it is beyond seeing the drunken picture of your friends the day after a party. 

As you well know, recently I visited Kosovo for a JADE Junior Enterprises Conference. I was the only American to attend this conference and I did not meet any other American students in the area (some lovely Canadians...). As a result of this conference, I may venture to say that a decent percentage of Kosovar Youth are now my friends on Facebook—for a country isolated for so long, young people are eager to use their IT and English skills to reach out to the world.

You also know that I recently went to a part of Turkey heavily populated by Kurdish people. As a result of being in Kurdish Turkey and Kosovo within three days of each other, I created a Facebook Photo Album called, “Kurds and Kosovo,” probably just because it had catchy alliteration, but I didn’t think much more into it than that.

Then it began….slowly. The Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had mentioned something in his response to a Facebook message I had sent, inquiring why I put Kurds and Kosovars in the same album. My Turkish friend asked why they were put in the same album. 

Call me ignorant of ethnic pride (I’m about as mixed ethnically as a mutt!), but I soon woke up the next morning to comments from a Kosovar detailing—on EVERY Kosovar photo in the album—the difference between Albanians and Kurds, historically, ethnically, linguistically, and geographically. The tone was a little unsettling and after realizing that I had accidentally friended this person without knowing them (in the long line of friend requests from Kosovar students I had met), I deleted all of the comments and removed the culprit from my friends. 

The man then sent me an e-mail, saying that as a Yale student, I would never have titled an album “Kurds and Kosovo” without more “profound intentions” and that he took it that I was claiming Kurds and Albanians were of the same ethnic group. He went on to give me a history of how the Albanians were there for a longer period of time and were their own distinct ethnic group. In short, he was offended.

In my manner, I felt guilty. I sent him a very thought out response, explaining to him that, as a Yale Student, my intentions were no more profound than alliteration and the fact that I had been in the two places within each other. We aren't super humans! I changed the name of the album at his request and apologized for the misunderstanding, explaining to him how I would be returning to Kosovo in the future for study and work hopefully because of the good impression I had. I mentioned that, as the ethnic mutt of an American I am, I apparently didn’t fully grasp the ethnic conflicts he had experienced. I did write a note about how I thought he should have messaged me to clarify the situation before posting his comments all over my album though!  

He e-mailed back, apologizing whole-heartedly, explaining that after years of Balkans ethnic wars, he had taken me as an enemy of Albania. He explained how grateful he was that I wanted to come back and that he was very sorry for acting on such a strong instinct instead of using his reason. I could see where he was coming from. He explained that he too was a naturalized US citizen (though not the ethnic mutt like me!) and his brother had served in Iraq. He was very grateful to America and had studied at CUNY. He also stated that Yale students "weren't super humans, but close to it! ;)" 

I e-mailed him back and thanked him for his honest response. I was amazed at what just happened and I told him. What a soft diplomacy experience we had together! I couldn’t believe it! I asked him if I could tell our story on the blog and he said he would be honored.

The experience helped me realize the tremendous political potential of Facebook. The next day, I told my friend that I solved a soft diplomacy crisis on Facebook. She said, “Why Facebook?” Exactly.

Wake up world! If you thought your Facebook relationship status started heated conflict, imagine what it does in Iran. But also realize how powerful it is in cultural understanding, exchange, and creating even stronger ties after wording mishaps.

My status later stated "Danielle Tomson: has been enlightened on the diplomatic powers of Facebook. Welcome to the rest of the world...." I don’t think I got so many “Likes” from internationals on that status than any other I had before…

 

 

A Snapshot of Kosovo on 12 hours of Sleep... in 4 days

I am broken. The struggle bus has a flat tire. I am officially going to my bed and praying the sheets are not going to make me break out in a rash. 

But all this aside. I am more excited and inspired than I have been since.... well maybe ever. 

Why? My experience in Kosovo. 

I will go into this later, but I wanted to leave my community with a glimpse of the people, the nation, the spirit, and the nature of this self proclaimed "Newborn" country. 

Flying back on a delayed jet, with no working camera, and little sleep, with a pilot who was probably a fighter jet pilot at some point by the barrel turns we made, I was seated next to a Turkish/ Albanian looking guy. He did not have the typical "Former Republic of Yugoslavia" look about him. He grabbed a Turkish newspaper and politely sat a seat away from me. He offered me chewing gum after our meal and that broke the ice (this is a trick I always use!) Turns out his father was Turkish but his mother was Albanian. He was living in Prishtina with his family. His wife is Bulgarian and their son's name is Edward. He owns two toystores. One in Prishtina and one in Istanbul. He traded in Istanbul and Hong Kong. His dream is to open a Toys "Rooys" or Toys 'R Us in Kosovo. He worked for 10 years without much money but the past 3 years have made it up. He is fluent in Albanian and Turkish, with decent English. He may have a Turkish passport, but he loves Kosovo as his own country and loves American for what it has done there and what it represents: multicultural, multifaith, strong democracy, entrepreneurial values. 

After four days of meeting with the ministers of this country (most under 30, as 70% of the pop is under 30), young business people from all over Europe with JADE Junior Enterprise Network, and witnessing Kosovo, this story is a great picture of what Kosovo is becoming and is: multicultural, multifaith, a recent democracy, with stronger entrepreneurial instincts than what most American have. Plus they love American--Bill Clinton street intersects with Mother Teresa Street in the center of town. 

Welcome to the best kept secret in political science, business, and the developing, post-conflict world. That no one knows about. 

Now we do.