Kosovar Albanians are used to living their lives according to a traditional moral code that - among other things - guides the conduct of women in public. The arrival of organised prostitution shows that like so much else in the tormented province, that co. Two beautiful, blonde young women stand by a car park at one o'clock in the morning as the traffic dies down.
Only a few kilometres outside Pristina, on the road to Peja the women are offering their sexual "services".
Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, is turning into a comfortable nest for many young girls involved in the 'oldest profession in the world'. Elda, one of the girls "working" at the car park, is only She is from Albania and came to Kosovo only two months ago. A prostitute in Tirana, she came to Kosovo to "bring her experience to the Kosovar girls". Kosovar girls who want to get into it, should go ahead," she added. Prostitution was rare but not unknown in Kosovo before the war.
In Pristina, for example, a so-called "meeting house", the "Park Hotel", was owned jointly by a Serb and an Albanian. Serb policemen and paramilitaries as well as Albanian businessmen were regular customers. The Albanian owner, Sebajdin Rexhepi, was found dead in unexplained circumstances last year, while his Serb partner, known as Bata, has now left Kosovo. But prostitution in Kosovo is changing. Street prostitution, which is illegal, is on the increase as are the number of illegal "mini bordellos".
In Pristina there are at least three apartments serving as "mini bordellos". Usually only one or two prostitutes operate in such establishments, in pleasant surroundings and for significant sums of money.
