Deconstructing the Serbian myths about Kosovo

In this Prishtina Talks presentation, the historian and academic Ardian Muhaj — a familiar figure in the media of Albania, Kosovo, Turkey, Italy and the United States for his expertise in Balkan and Mediterranean geopolitics — systematically deconstructs the Serbian myths about Kosovo, which in his view are the ideological pillar of Serbia's aggressive diplomacy against our state.

Muhaj argues that after the liberation of Kosovo and the declaration of independence, Serbia could not accept the reality and chose instead to encircle Kosovo diplomatically — an effort built precisely on those historical myths. That includes the way Serbs in Kosovo are used as instruments of the strategy, and the way the independence is contested in international courts, in the media and in diplomatic arenas, always fuelled by the same mythical narratives, created and cultivated over centuries.

In the central part, Muhaj examines some of the principal myths: that Serbs were the “ruling lords” of Kosovo before the Ottomans, which in his view ignores that the Byzantine Empire, the one the Ottomans overthrew, included these lands too; the myth of a Serbian origin for the name “Kosova”; the myth of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and its national-religious interpretation; and the myth of “the great Serbian migration” from Kosovo. Muhaj offers historical counter-arguments grounded in fact, shows how these myths were built in the nineteenth century as part of the Serbian nationalist project, and how they still work today as political instruments.

The lecture closes with the practical question: how Albanian historians, diplomats and institutions can answer this systematic propaganda, and why the scientific deconstruction of the myths remains one of the most urgent tasks of contemporary Albanian historiography.

Some of the points covered: 📌 The Serbian myths as the pillar of an aggressive diplomacy against Kosovo 📌 The diplomatic encirclement of Kosovo after the declaration of independence 📌 Serbs in Kosovo as instruments of the propaganda strategy 📌 The myth of Serbs as the “ruling lords” of pre-Ottoman Kosovo 📌 The real origin of the name “Kosova”, and the Serbian contesting of it 📌 The Battle of Kosovo in 1389, and its mythological interpretation 📌 The myth of “the great Serbian migration” from Kosovo 📌 What Albanian historiography owes to a scientific deconstruction

📍 Prishtina Talks