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The Battle of Tetovo was the largest engagement during the 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia, in which Macedonian security forces battled Albanian insurgents of the National Liberation Army for control of the city. ==Prelude== Tetovo is a large city in Macedonia. Of which the majority are ethnic Albanians. Durin the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, over 2,000 ethnic Albanians marched through Tetovo demanding secession from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia and unity with Albania. Self-determination of an ethnic minority within a state was not a right under the Socialist Republic of Macedonia’s constitution, and protesting their lack of representation under the constitution of a new Republic of Macedonia, the Albanians of Macedonia boycotted the referendum on independence from Yugoslavia and were thus excluded from almost any representation in the new government.〔 Tetovo became headquarters of the new Albanian political parties, which were regarded as unconstitutional by the Republic of Macedonia. Tensions worsened, Tetovo, along with the city of Gostivar, took in and sheltered several thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees from 1992 until the end of the Bosnian war.〔(【引用サイトリンク】author=John Sparrow )〕 Prior to the NATO bombing of Serb forces in Kosovo, Tetovo became the rear supply base for the Kosovo Liberation Army,〔 and then later home to over 100,000 Kosovar refugees from the Kosovo war.〔 Gligorov’s plan to re-allocate the Kosovar refugees to Albania via refugee corridor through Macedonia had been abandoned, and the refugees began to gather in Tetovo, Gostivar and the western Albanian dominated towns during the late summer months. The KLA began to use the Tetovo hospital to treat the wounded combatants. As the ethnic Albanian unofficial capital in Macedonia, Tetovo was crowded with refugees from Kosovo and was deeply involved in the munitions supply to the KLA.〔 The Albanian-dominated town of Tetovo had been deeply involved in the Kosovo war since the spring of 1998, and a few of the top KLA officials came from Tetovo, such as Bardhyl Mahmuti.〔 Many educated Albanians in Tetovo under 50 years of age had attended Pristina University before it was purged of Albanian teachers by the Milosevic regime in the 90s. Before 1990 there had been no border of any kind for 50 years between Kosovo and what became the Republic of Macedonia.〔 The city of Tetovo and Gostivar were playing a key part in the war support efforts for the KLA in Kosovo. In 1997, Alajdin Demiri, the mayor of Tetovo, was jailed for raising the double headed eagle flag of Albania from Tetovo town hall and by 2000 the outbreak of hostilities in Tanusevci had spilled into the towns of Tetovo and Gostivar.〔 With the formation of an insurgency, the National Liberation Front (NLA) began seizing territory in and around the Tetovo area. Skirmishes between the insurgency and government forces became commonplace in other portions of the country. The Macedonian forces, numbering more than 3,000, held a limited amount of armour and artillery. Reportedly, they possessed a number of armoured personnel carriers, 105 mm and 122 mm Howitzers, ex-Bulgarian T-55 tanks. The bulk of their force consisted of reservists at the brink of conflict. These numbers were to rapidly rise in the following months as the military expenditures of Macedonia quadrupled to almost 7% of GDP which resulted in major purchases of military hardware mainly from Ukraine and Bulgaria. Also the mobilisation of special police forces like that of the Lions and Wolves unit. By the heighten period of the conflict the whole 1st mechanized brigade was stationed in and around Tetovo municipality. The NLA, on the other hand, had only an assortment of rockets, assault weapons, and mortars. A mainly guerilla force, however, they experienced the luxury of concealed positions in the mountains ringing the city. Weapons and supplies found their way from Kosovo to the frontlines over the Šar Mountains through horse caravans. Mounts Baltepe and Mount Kale were a major strong points, both of which held ancient fortresses left over from the Ottoman Empire. The rebels constructed a series of trenches and bunkers in defence. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Tetovo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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