Madam, - Donal O'Dowd writes (February 20th) that Kosovo is the cradle of Serb civilisation. That is one of the claims made for Kosovo. Another is that Albanians, as descendants of the Illyrians, were "there first".
None of this matters. The fact is that independence represents the will of the vast majority of the people who live in Kosovo now. The idea that Kosovo could ever return to Serb rule is self-evidently absurd.
Constitutional lawyers may debate whether Kosovo meets the criteria for nationhood and historians may argue the rights and wrongs of the past. The reality is that independence is the only practical and moral outcome. Decades of brutal suppression of the majority Albanians, culminating in a murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing, disqualified Serbia from ever again holding dominion over Kosovo.
This is the reality that much of the international community has belatedly recognised. It is also a reality that is tacitly accepted by a substantial majority of Serbs. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O'REILLY, Stable Lane, Crofton Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.