{{Short description|Civilian emergency services organization in Kosovo}} {{Use American English|date=November 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox organization | name = Kosovo Protection Corps | native_name = Trupat e Mbrojtjes së Kosovës | native_name_lang = sq | image = Flag of the Kosovo Protection Corps.svg | image_size = 200px | caption = Flag of the Kosovo Protection Corps | predecessor = Kosovo Liberation Army | successor = Kosovo Security Force | established = {{Start date|1999|9|20}} | dissolved = {{End date|2009|6|14}} | type = Civilian emergency services | status = Defunct | focus = Disaster response, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, demining, rebuilding infrastructure and communities | headquarters = Pristina | location = Kosovo | membership = | num_members_year = | budget = US$ 25.4 million (0.79%) | budget_year = | website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20071202122424/http://www.tmk-ks.org/new/english/fillimi/index.php Archived website] }}
The '''Kosovo Protection Corps''' ('''KPC'''; {{langx|sq|Trupat e Mbrojtjes së Kosovës}}, '''TMK''') was a civilian emergency services organization in Kosovo active from 1999 until 2009.
The KPC was created on 1999, through the promulgation of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Regulation 1999/8 and the agreement of a "Statement of Principles" on the KPC's permitted role in Kosovo.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNITED NATIONS - UNMIK |url=https://unmik.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/regulations/02english/E1999regs/RE1999_08.htm |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=unmik.unmissions.org}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=1999-12-23 |title=Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo - Serbia {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/serbia/report-secretary-general-united-nations-interim-administration-mission-kosovo |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en}}</ref> In effect, it was a compromise between the disarmament of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was stipulated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244,<ref>{{cite web |title=RESOLUTION 1244 (1999) |url=https://undocs.org/S/RES/1244(1999) |access-date=9 March 2017 |website=undocs.org |language=en}}</ref> and rejected by the Kosovo Albanians.
==History== thumb|Kosovo Protection Corps members thumb|350px|right|Vehicle plate for the Kosovo Protection Corps Immediately after the end of the Kosovo War in June 1999<ref>{{cite web |last=NATO |date=1999-06-09 |title=Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force ("KFOR") and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia |url=http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/a990609a.htm |access-date=2008-08-15}}</ref> and the dislocation of NATO forces in Kosovo, emerged the need for the definition of the KLA role in accordance with the new situation. UNSC 1244, approved in June 1999, included KLA demilitarization. Therefore, the same month, KFOR Commander, General Mike Jackson and Hashim Thaçi, as General Commander of KLA, who at the time was Prime Minister of the Provisional Government in Kosovo, signed the Kumanovo Agreement. Upon the completion of the demilitarization process, in 20 September 1999 the UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner signed Regulation no. 1999/8 for the foundation of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), which then was followed by the Declaration of Principles, signed by the KPC Commander and the KFOR Commander. After the formation of the KPC, Serbs claimed it was a new ethnic Albanian army and resigned from the multiethnic Kosovo Transitional Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=Serbs Resign From Kosovo Council, Citing New Corps |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-23-mn-13329-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=23 September 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Who's Killing Whom In Kosovo |url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/balkans/kosovo/whos-killing-whom-kosovo |website=International Crisis Group |date=2 November 1999}}</ref> Immediately following the approval of these acts, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) initiated the registration campaign of the former KLA fighters, lasting from July to November 1999. According to IOM documents the total registration amounted to 25,723 members.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/soeu-2010-580404/pdf |title=The Politics of Reintegration and War Commemoration. The Case of the Kosovo Liberation Army |author=Isabel Ströhle |journal=Comparative Southeast European Studies |volume=58 |issue=4 |doi=10.1515/soeu-2010-580404 |pages=493–494}}</ref> Around 5,000 former KLA fighters joined KPC.<ref>{{cite web |website=International Crisis Group |url=http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=1582 |title=What Happened to the KLA? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090808212832/http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=1582 |date=3 March 2000 |archive-date=8 August 2009}}</ref><ref name="sec">{{cite journal |author1=Andreas Heinemann-Grüder |author2=Igor Grebenschikov |title=Security governance by internationals: The case of Kosovo |journal=International Peacekeeping |date=2006 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=46–47 |doi=10.1080/13533310500424744}}</ref>
==Mission== UNMIK Regulation 1999/8 assigned the following tasks to the KPC: *Provide a disaster response capability to tackle major fires, industrial accidents or toxic spills; *Conduct search and rescue operations; *Provide humanitarian assistance; *Assist in demining; *Contribute to rebuilding infrastructure and communities.
The Kosovo Protection Corps had no role in defense, law enforcement, riot control, internal security or any other law and order tasks.<ref name=":0" /> The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, the head of UNMIK, exercised direction, funding and administrative authority over the KPC. The Commander of KFOR, the NATO peacekeeping force, was in charge of exercising day-to-day supervision of the KPC. The KPC had 5,052 members,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tmk-ks.org/new/english/pertmk/per.php |website=KPC |title=KPC's History and Mission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202122459/http://www.tmk-ks.org/new/english/pertmk/per.php |date=2007 |archive-date=2 December 2007}}</ref> and a budget of {{Euro|link=yes}}17.6 million ({{Usd|25.4 million|link=yes}})<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tmk-ks.org/new/english/pertmk/per.php?id=3 |website=KPC |title=Budget |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728111909/http://www.tmk-ks.org/new/english/pertmk/per.php?id=3 |date=2011 |archive-date=28 July 2011}}</ref> representing about 0.79% of GDP.<ref>UNMIK {{cite web |url= http://www.unmikonline.org/docs/2007/Fact_Sheet_apr_2007.pdf |title= Fact Sheet: Kosovo In April 2007 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080306191951/http://www.unmikonline.org/docs/2007/Fact_Sheet_apr_2007.pdf |archivedate= 2008-03-06 }} {{small|(126 KiB)}}: 2006 GDP according to the International Monetary Fund is € 2.227 billion (preliminary estimate).</ref>
The KPC's first commander was Agim Çeku, who resigned from the organization in 2006 to become Prime Minister of Kosovo.<ref>{{cite book |title=Conflict, Crime, and the State in Postcommunist Eurasia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812208986 |date=2014 |page=263 |editor1=Michael Jonsson |editor2=Svante Cornell}}</ref> KPC deputy commander Sylejman Selimi, a former KLA leader, replaced Çeku as commander.<ref>{{cite web |title=For Kosovo's Former Fighters, a New Battle Begins |website=Balkan Insight |date=14 January 2019 |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2019/01/14/for-kosovo-s-former-fighters-a-new-battle-begins-01-14-2019/}}</ref> The KPC was divided into six regional "Protection Zones," each with a regional commander.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Robert Muharremi |author2=Alisa Ramadani |title=Transforming a Guerilla Into a Regular Army: From the Kosovo Liberation Army to the Army of the Republic of Kosovo |date=2024 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9783031628177 |page=51}}</ref> By 2001, each had an explosive ordnance disposal team, and there was a further centrally controlled team, making a total of seven teams.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol7/iss2/10/ |title=Kosovo After the UNMACC and Beyond |journal=Journal of Mine Action |author=Steven E. Saunders |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=38 |date=2003}}</ref> There have been allegations that KPC was involved in criminal activities, illegal policing, killings and terrorist attacks against Serbs.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Aidan Hehir |title=Kosovo, Intervention and Statebuilding: The International Community and the Transition to Independence |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135169213 |page=135}}</ref> UNMIK police officers claimed that KPC officers arrested for crimes were released on the orders of top regional KFOR commanders.<ref name="sec" /> In June 2001, several senior officers in the KPC were removed for suspicion of aiding the ethnic Albanian insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pugh |first1=Michael Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6oEHPO7vCUkC&pg=PA126 |pages=126–127 |title=The United Nations & Regional Security: Europe and Beyond |last2=Sidhu |first2=Waheguru Pal Singh |date=2003 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |isbn=978-1-58826-232-5 |language=en}}</ref> Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Đinđić, in his last interview before his assassination, opposed transferring security responsibilities to the KPC.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 March 2023 |title=Odustao je od iluzija, ali ne od borbe za Kosovo i Metohiju |url=https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/542263/zoran-djindjic-20-godina-ubistvo |website=Politika |language=Serbian}}</ref> In August 2003, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Nebojša Čović accused the KPC and the Albanian National Army of being behind an attack on Serbs in Kosovo.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-08-25 |title=Undermining Kosovo's future - Serbia |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/serbia/undermining-kosovos-future |access-date=2024-03-31 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en}}</ref>
Kosovo Albanians considered the KPC a potential nucleus of a future Kosovo army.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=James Ker-Lindsay |title=The UN and the Post-intervention Stabilization of Kosovo |journal=Ethnopolitics |date=2012 |volume=11 |issue=4 |page=397 |doi=10.1080/17449057.2012.697652}}</ref> Finnish politician Martti Ahtisaari presented his proposal regarding the final status of Kosovo, where he suggested the dissolution of the KPC and the establishment of a lightly armed Kosovo Security Force (KSF). Due to a Russian veto, the United Nations Security Council did not endorse his proposal. Kosovo declared independence in February 2008. In January 20, 2009, KPC ceased its operations.<ref name="re">{{cite book |title=Historical Dictionary of Kosovo |author=Robert Elsie |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810874831 |date=2010 |pages=158–159}}</ref> Kosovo's Assembly passed the 'Law on the Dissolution of the Kosovo Protection Corps' in June.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Vesna Bojičić Dželilović |editor2=James Ker-Lindsay |editor3=Denisa Kostovicova |title=Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9781137296252 |page=203}}</ref> The organization disbanded on June 14.<ref name="re" /> It was succeeded by the KSF.<ref>{{cite web |date=21 January 2009 |title=New Kosovo Security Force Launched, Belgrade Wary |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/New_Kosovo_Security_Force_Launched_Belgrade_Wary/1372900.html |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{cite web |url= http://www.unmikonline.org/regulations/1999/re99_08.pdf |title= UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/8 on the Establishment of the Kosovo Protection Corps |access-date= 2007-10-27 |archive-date= 2016-03-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180416/http://www.unmikonline.org/regulations/1999/re99_08.pdf |url-status= dead }} {{small|(84.8 KiB)}}, September 20, 1999. *[http://www.nato.int/kfor/kfor/kpc/images/kpc_stru_reg.gif Structure of the Kosovo Protection Corps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051031131352/http://www.nato.int/kfor/kfor/kpc/images/kpc_stru_reg.gif |date=2005-10-31}} {{Commons}}
{{Kosovo topics}}
Category:Government of Kosovo Category:Emergency services in Kosovo Category:2000s in Kosovo Category:1999 establishments in Kosovo Category:2009 disestablishments in Kosovo Category:Kosovan paramilitary organizations