Kosovo Albanians in the context of "Hashim Thaçi"

Peja (Albanian indefinite form: Pejë, pronounced [ˈpɛj]) or Peć (Serbian Cyrillic: Пећ, pronounced [pêːtɕ]), is the fifth most populous city in region of Kosovo and serves as the seat of the Peja Municipality and the District of Peja. It is located in the Rugova region on the eastern section of the Accursed Mountains along the Peja's Lumbardh in the western part of Kosovo.

In medieval times, the city was under Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian rule. After its integration into Serbian territory, it became the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1346. The Patriarchal monastery of Peć is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo. Under Ottoman rule the city became a district capital with mosques and civil architecture. From the end of the nineteenth century until today, the city has been the site of nationalist aspirations and claims for both ethnic Albanians and Serbs, often resulting in tense inter-ethnic relations and conflict.

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related ethnic conflicts, wars of independence and insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia). The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching the six entities known as republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia (now called North Macedonia). SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to rising nationalism. Unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries led to the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in a massive number of deaths as well as severe economic damage to the region.

During the initial stages of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) sought to preserve the unity of the Yugoslav nation by eradicating all nationalists in the governments of the republics. However, it increasingly came under the influence of Slobodan Milošević, whose government invoked Serbian nationalism as an ideological replacement for the weakening communist system. As a result, the JNA began to lose Slovenes, Croats, Kosovar Albanians, Bosniaks, and Macedonians, and effectively became a fighting force of only Serbs and Montenegrins. According to a 1994 report by the United Nations (UN), the Serb side did not aim to restore Yugoslavia; instead, it aimed to create a "Greater Serbia" from parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Other irredentist movements have also been brought into connection with the Yugoslav Wars, such as "Greater Albania" (from Kosovo, idea abandoned following international diplomacy) and "Greater Croatia" (from parts of Herzegovina, abandoned in 1994 with the Washington Agreement).

The Kosovo War (Albanian: Lufta e Kosovës; Serbian: Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It was fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian separatist militia known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The conflict ended when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened by beginning air strikes in March 1999 which resulted in Yugoslav forces withdrawing from Kosovo.

The KLA was formed in the early 1990s to fight against the discrimination of ethnic Albanians and the repression of political dissent by the Serbian authorities, which started after the suppression of Kosovo's autonomy and other discriminatory policies against Albanians by Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević in 1989. The KLA initiated its first campaign in 1995, after Kosovo's case was left out of the Dayton Agreement and it had become clear that President Rugova's strategy of peaceful resistance had failed to bring Kosovo onto the international agenda. In June 1996, the group claimed responsibility for acts of sabotage targeting Kosovo police stations, during the Kosovo Insurgency. In 1997, the organization acquired a large quantity of arms through weapons smuggling from Albania, following a rebellion in which weapons were looted from the country's police and army posts. In early 1998, KLA attacks targeting Yugoslav authorities in Kosovo resulted in an increased presence of Serb paramilitaries and regular forces who subsequently began pursuing a campaign of retribution targeting KLA sympathisers and political opponents; this campaign killed 1,500 to 2,000 civilians and KLA combatants, and had displaced 370,000 Kosovar Albanians by March 1999.

The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and by the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu (who was not a member of the Assembly). It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.

The legality of the declaration has been disputed. Serbia sought international validation and support for its stance that the declaration was illegal, and in October 2008 requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. The Court determined that the declaration did not violate international law.

A municipality (Albanian: komuna; Serbian: општина, romanized: opština) is the basic administrative division in Kosovo and constitutes the only level of power in local governance. There are 38 municipalities in Kosovo; 27 of which have an Albanian ethnic majority, 10 Serb and 1 Turkish. After the 2013 Brussels Agreement, signed by the governments of Kosovo and Serbia, an agreement was made to create a Community of Serb Municipalities, which would operate within Kosovo's legal framework. Since 2013, the agreement has not been fulfilled by Kosovo's authorities, calling upon its constitution and territorial integrity.

The District of Prizren (Albanian: Rajoni i Prizrenit, Serbian: Призренски округ, romanized: Prizrenski okrug) is one of the seven districts of Kosovo. Its seat is in the city of Prizren. According to the 2011 Census, it has a population of 331,670 and an area of 2,024 square km (around 20% of the total area of Kosovo). Albanians form the majority of the district (85%). However, the district of Prizren is home to the biggest Bosniak and Turkish population in Kosovo, who make around 10% of the district's total population.

Kosovo Serbs (Serbian: Косовски Срби, romanized: Kosovski Srbi) are a recognized ethnic minority in Kosovo. According to the estimates, the population of ethnic Serbs is around 95,000, constituting 5% to 6% of the total population; they are the second-largest ethnic group in Kosovo after Albanians.

The medieval Kingdom of Serbia and the Serbian Empire included parts of the territory of Kosovo until its annexation by the Ottomans following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, considered one of the most pivotal events in Serbian history. Modern Serbian historiography considers Kosovo in this period to be the political, religious, and cultural core of the medieval Serbian state. In the 16th century, the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć was re-established and its status strengthened. At the end of 18th century, the support of the Patriarchate to the Habsburgs during the Great Turkish War triggered a wave of Serb migrations to areas under the control of the Habsburg monarchy. After the independence of the Principality of Serbia to its north, Kosovo came increasingly to be seen by the mid-19th century as the "cradle of Serb civilization" and called the "Serbian Jerusalem".

The Albanian language is composed of many dialects, divided into two major groups: Gheg and Tosk. The Shkumbin river is roughly the geographical dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it.

The Government of Kosovo (Albanian: Qeveria e Kosovës, Serbian: Влада Косова / Vlada Kosova) exercises executive authority in the Republic of Kosovo. It is composed of government ministers, and is led by the prime minister. The prime minister is elected by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. Ministers are nominated by the prime minister and then confirmed by the assembly.

Albin Kurti is the current prime minister of Kosovo. His government, approved by the assembly and installed on March 22, 2021, consists of Albanians, as well as ministers from Kosovo's ethnic minorities, which include Bosniaks, Romani, Turks and Serbs. Although the government includes representatives of ethnic minorities, it is dominated by the Albanian majority, who have most influence on the decision-making.