KOSOVO

Kosovo (Albanian: Kosova, or Kosovë, Serbian Cyrillic: Косово), officially the Republic of Kosovo (Albanian: Republika e Kosovës; Serbian: Република Косово / Republika Kosovo), is a partially-recognised state in Southeast Europe, subject to a territorial dispute with the Republic of Serbia. Defined in an area of 10,887 square kilometres (4,203 sq mi), Kosovo is landlocked in the center of the Balkans and bordered by the uncontested territory of Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest and Montenegro to the west. It possesses varied and diverse landscapes for its size by climate along with geology and hydrology. Most of central Kosovo is dominated by the vast plains and fields of Metohija and Kosovo. The Albanian Alps and Šar Mountains rise in the southwest and southeast respectively.

Kosovo was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century. In the late 19th century, it became the centre of the Albanian National Awakening. Following their defeat in the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans ceded Kosovo to Serbia and Montenegro. Both countries joined Yugoslavia after World War I, and following a period of Yugoslav unitarianism in the Kingdom, the post-World War II Yugoslav constitution established the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within the Yugoslav constituent republic of Serbia. Tensions between Kosovo's Albanian and Serb communities simmered through the 20th century and occasionally erupted into major violence, culminating in the Kosovo War of 1998 and 1999, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army and the establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 112 United Nations member states, 15 of which have since been withdrawn. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as a sovereign state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013, it has accepted its institutions. While Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovo's elected government, it continues to claim it as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Located strategically in Southeastern Europe, Kosovo receives species from Europe and Eurasia. Forests are widespread in Kosovo and cover at least 39% of the region. Phytogeographically, it straddles the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. In addition, it falls within the Balkan mixed forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. Kosovo's biodiversity is conserved in two national parks, eleven nature reserves and one hundred three other protected areas. Both the Prokletije National Park and Šar Mountains National Park are the most important regions of vegetation and biodiversity inside Kosovo.

The flora encompasses more than 1,800 species of vascular plant species, but the actual number is estimated to be higher than 2,500 species. The diversity is the result of the complex interaction of geology and hydrology creating a wide variety of habitat conditions for flora growth. Although, Kosovo represents only 2.3% of the entire surface area of the Balkans, in terms of vegetation it has 25% of the Balkan flora and about 18% of the European flora. The fauna is composed of a wide range of species. The mountainous west and southeast provide a great habitat for several rare or endangered species including brown bears, lynxes, wild cats, wolves, foxes, wild goats, roebucks and deers. A total of 255 species of birds have been recorded, with raptors such as the golden eagle, eastern imperial eagle and lesser kestrel living principally in the mountains of Kosovo. 

The history of Kosovo's postal and postage stamps is divided into periods corresponding to the postal system of Serbia ( Yugoslavia ), which included the autonomous region of Kosovo and Metohija , Kosovo under the administration of the United Nations Interim Mission ( 1999 - 2007 ) and the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo (since 2008 ). The Kosovo Postal, Telephone and Telegraph Service (PTT) was established on December 21, 1959 by a decision of the Yugoslav PTT Governing Council and with the approval of the Executive Council of the People’s Republic of Serbia of December 18, 1959. For the first time, the Kosovo PTT was registered as an enterprise on March 25, 1960 . Until 1960, Kosovo's postal service did not provide mail services in all cities of the region; the countryside was not served at all. After the creation of the PTT Kosovo, the mail service did not at first undergo significant changes. The extensive development of Kosovo's postal, telephone and telegraph communications began only after 1974 . At the end of the 1980s , 75 modern buildings with a total area of ​​over 60 000 m², as well as the head office building in Pristina with an area of ​​over 11 500 m² were built for the needs of the Kosovo PTT.

On September 13, 1990, the Kosovo PTT entered the structure of the Serbia PTT as a unit of the Pristina PTT and was such until 1998 . According to modern Kosovo authorities, integration was accompanied by the dismissal of postal employees of Albanian and other non-Serb nationalities. At the end of the 1998-1999 war (that is, after August 2, 1999), dismissed postal employees of Albanian nationality returned to their jobs. During the hostilities, the postal, telephone and telegraph service of Kosovo was completely destroyed. There were no post offices , there were not enough vehicles used to deliver mail, postal bags, or postage stamps .

Since 1999, the restoration of the postal service in Kosovo has begun. About 15 new post offices were built and most of the old ones repaired. On May 31, 2000, the International Independent Mail of Kosovo began to function. In 2004, Kosovo Post was licensed as the only state-owned operator providing postal and non-postal communication services throughout Kosovo. In June 2005, the Kosovo Post acquired an international postal code for all post offices in the republic. On July 1, 2005, the Kosovo Post and Telecommunications Corporation (PTK) was established, which became the successor of the Kosovo Telecommunications and Telecommunications Company. Since then, Kosovo Post has been a division of PTK Corporation.

Pristina PTT's Serbia division now provides mail services in the Serbian enclaves of Kosovo and Metohija. After 1999, only 16 out of 129 post offices were subordinated to the state-owned enterprise Pristina, and the head office was located in Gracanica . Eight of them are automated: Gracanice, Leposavich , Leshak, Kosovsk-Mitrovitsa -1, Zvechan , Zubin-Potok , Shtrpce and Ranilug , the remaining eight are hand-crafted: Kosovo-Pole , Donja Gusteritsa, Priluzhye, Banska, Sochanitsa, Kosovska-Mitrovitsa-3 , Brezovitsa and Drejkovec. There are also separate postal windows in a number of settlements. On March 15, 2000, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo ( UNMIK ) issued its first own stamps - five face values depicting valuable archaeological finds. In miniatures, an inscription was given in three languages ​​in English , Albanian and Serbian (Latin): “UN Interim Mission in Kosovo” , denominations are indicated in German stamps . Sending a simple letter within the territory of Kosovo cost 30 pfennigs . On the day the stamps were released, a special postmark of the first day was used at the main post office of Pristina. The first issue of UNMIK stamps was subsequently called the “Kushner Marks" after the UN Interim Mission Chief Bernard Kushner . 

These stamps were not issues of the UN postal service and could initially be used only in Kosovo. Since May 31, 2000, they began to be used to pay for international correspondence. At first, all international correspondence was delivered along the Pristina- Zurich route by air of Swiss airlines . Only Albania and Macedonia organized a direct mail exchange with Kosovo. The Serbian Post Office did not recognize the legitimacy of both UNMIK itself and the Kosovo Post Office. Against the "Kushner stamps" the Yugoslav Union of Philatelists also protested. Serbian enclaves used franking marks of Yugoslavia for franking , then Serbia, UNMIK issues were declared invalid. Processing of correspondence in the Serbian post offices of Kosovo was carried out by bilingual Serbian-Albanian stamps .  On November 12, 2001, the second series of five stamps with denominations in German marks and euros was released , and from May 2, 2002, denominations began to be indicated only in euros. In December 2007, the first commemorative brand UNMIK was released , dedicated to the 540th anniversary of the death of Skanderbeg . This was the last brand of UNMIK . A total of 92 UNMIK thumbnails were released on various topics related to Kosovo.

The first stamps of the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo were issued shortly after independence on March 7, 2008 . A series of two miniatures was dedicated to Teacher's Day . They were inscribed in three languages: Albanian, English and Serbian (Latin): “Republic of Kosovo” , the denomination is indicated in euros. On March 19, 2008, the first commemorative stamps of Kosovo dedicated to the declaration of independence were published. The first post block was released in the same series.

My first Registered airmail cover from Kosovo, sent by Sabri during his visit in Kosovo. The cover posted on May 25, 2016 and I received in my hands on June 11, 2016. Kosovo is not a member of UPU, and it is  not recognized by all countries, so it has no own country code. That is why the barcode shows the country code as 'XZ' , it is a temporary code, Previously they had own code as 'KS' but it has taken back. 
The two stamps from right corner is issued during the time of UN administration in Kosovo. During the time the country name was written as 'United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo'. When the country declared independence from Serbia, They changed the name as 'Republic of Kosovo'. from 2016 january, country name appears as just 'Kosova'. 

The covers posted on May 28, 2016 and received in my hands on June 09, 2016. From January 1, 2016, The stamps of Kosovo started to issue in the name as 'Kosova' , instead of 'Republic of Kosovo'.