Ali Krasniqi

Ali Krasniqi is a Kosovar Roma writer and activist, who came to prominence at the start of the Kosovo conflict commenting on the emergence of the "Egyptian" element among Roma in the province.

Quotation

"It is public knowledge here, that the Ashkali are those Roma who have been Albanised in earlier times so that now, their mother tongue is Albanian. I knew that a certain meeting of Egyptians was held in Belgrade in early October, 1990, related to the celebration of one of their holidays, at the Egyptian Embassy, and that there was also present besides the 'Council of Egyptians' from our country; those from Ohrid in Macedonia. For we Roma, this event was very painful. Hitherto we fought for our own affirmation, and today, individuals are assigning us to other identities. From that time we have consistently appealed to the Serbian authorities, in order to obtain for we Roma from Kosovo, the status of nationality and thus avoid that division among us."

References

*http://www.geocities.com/~Patrin/kosovo.htm en icon
*http://perso.orange.fr/balval/Kosovo/Galjus.htm fr icon
*http://www.kath-zigeunerseelsorge.de/3_Zum_Thema/Balkan.htm de icon