Serbs: 'We are defending Europe against Muslim aggression'

The spirit of Tsar Lazar, a medieval Serb leader who died fighting the Ottoman Turks in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, is never far from the Serbian psyche. The defeat has metamorphosed in folklore into a manifestation of the Serbian nation with Kosovo as its cradle.

The Tsar Lazar Guard is a Serbian paramilitary group which has threatened to start "a new war for the liberation of Kosovo". At its inaugural parade recently in the Serb town of Krusevac, 200 men appeared on the streets dressed in combat clothing reminiscent of the Tigers, a private army run by the notoriously brutal militia leader Arkan in the 1990s. Many were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with insignia of the disbanded Serbian special police unit, the JSO, and most claimed to be former members of the police or the army.

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Alexander, who would give only his first name, said: "All of our men are trained to use arms and protect themselves. Kosovo has always been part of Serbia and we are not prepared to see it become a part of a greater Albania. What the West must understand is that we are not just defending Serbia, we are defending Europe against Muslim aggression."

Kosovo is a card used by Serbian politicians in bargaining with the West. Recognising independence, they say, will drive Serbian voters into the hands of Milosevic-style nationalists and the country into the arms of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

The Serbian Radical Party has obligingly helped this argument by holding rallies and calling not only for the retention of Kosovo, but to step up the struggle for a "Greater Serbia", which will include the Republika Srpska now part of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republic of Serb Krajina, a self-proclaimed Serb state within Croatia which was abolished after the signing of the Dayton peace accord.

The Serb capital today is a different place from when it was bombed by Nato. Back in 1999 there were severe shortages and inflation climbed to 140 per cent.

Now, there are fashion shows, boutiques, bars and banks. But Serbia's economy remains in poor shape and joining the EU remains the holy grail, with full membership to be achieved by 2014 the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and the war which then engulfed Europe. Despite all the warnings of turning to the East, the Serbs know they need the West.

There is, however, a perception that the price demanded by the EU is being repeatedly raised. Extensive reforms have been carried out, and Slobodan Milosevic and others wanted for war crimes handed over to The Hague. But now, goes the refrain, there will be an additional charge Kosovo must be given up.

There seems little prospect that the scars left by history in the Balkans will fade away with the younger generations.

At a recent European football match in the Serbian capital between the German side Bayern Munich and Red Star Belgrade there were repeated chants that Kosovo will remain a part of Serbia. At the law school of Novi Sad University the mood was one of frustration and anger. "We have had economic sanctions, we have been bombed by Nato and we see our country is still getting divided up", said 21-year-old Elena. "How much longer will the West continue to punish us for Milosevic?"

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