MS. CALLISON: Did you see any general evidence of war?

KOZLUKLU: Undoubtedly the first victim of war is innocency. First innocency dies and then everybody facing the bitter reality posed by the war, struggles to stay alive while the strong tries to destroy the weak. And the armed Serbian minority groups perceive the motive in unable - unavailable manner against the civilian Albanians could constitute the majority of the region.

I saw skeletons of people who were burned with the houses. And that bodies of the civilians shot in the house gardens and tons of mass graves also I saw. Many other people died of starvation and cold while they were trying to run away and hide from the Serbians in the forest. So, most of the mass graves was covered by Serbian militias or military groups with trees or some wood stuff. But they couldn't, they didn't succeed to cover all mass graves.

So after the NATO entered in Kosovo, they searched the area with eye witnesses who were staying in Kosovo, underground, or somewhere else and to - to be alive, and they show the mass graves to the NATO forces. And when they open the mass graves they saw several hundred civilians who were like two years old or three years old. And I saw skeletons I said, I mean all of them shows, proves how they were tortured by Serbians and how they killed by small gun shots, one bullet to the head. Those are the three, I mean several elements, it says this is the typical war. The strange thing, part is all of them executed by Serbians with small gunfire. They take them to the village square and then they execute in front of relatives.

CALLISON: You said on the phone you had seen some environmental damages. What kind of damages did you see?

KOZLUKLU: Well, Serbian forces burned the forests in order to prevent the Kosovo Liberation Army from basing and hiding in the region. Thousands of trees on Pristina Prisdan Road were burned or cut down. Most severe extermination of nature took place along Albanian and Macedonia borders, because the Serbian forces believed, which was true, they were not mistaken in thinking that way, the KLA members were staying in Albania and Kosovo - Albania border and Kosovo and Macedonia border. So that's why they try to destroy all camp and bases which the KLA used.

It was claimed that NATO air strikes harmed certain forest area because Serbian forces were also occasionally hiding there forest with their vehicles, armed vehicles or tanks. KLA forces which is Kosovo Liberation Army also damage the forest a few times as they were trying to destroy the Serbian forces. So, yes, there was a lot of burned trees and cut down trees I saw.

CALLISON: Where were these trees located? Were they near rivers, agricultural land?

KOZLUKLU: Well, most of them were at the mountain area. Around the village area we saw also, but several of them, most of them were at the top of the, on the mountain places.

CALLISON: Do you think the burning of the forests will cause damage to water sources or soil?

KOZLUKLU: Well, especially between Prisdan and Mitrovitsa, I saw several of them. But I can't I say more than 10 or 20.

CALLISON: "Them" being forests?

KOZLUKLU: Forests. Yes.

CALLISON: Did you see any oil refineries that had been burned? Were they destroyed by Serbian or NATO forces? And what did they look like?

KOZLUKLU: Yes, two petroleum storage depots, one near the capitol, Pristina, and one 25 miles out of Prisdan were destroyed. And NATO bombed those spots, because it's obvious, and also NATO, NATO, NATO guys also told us, yes this, the petroleum depots which is destroyed by NATO air plane during the 79 air bomb strikes. NATO bombed those spots, the refinery near Pristina, resembled of pile of scraps still, after the incident.

Yes, some of them, not all of them, some of the petroleum leaked to the water area. That's why the NATO soldiers were not drinking natural water in Kosovo. They are bringing from Macedonia and Albania to Kosvo with plastic bottles and they drink that water. And they don't recommend to journalists or to other humanitarian aid workers to drink that water. So, I'm just speculating, probably they know the water is not safe any more in Kosovo. But they trying to , they are preparing to build a new water supply or something.

CALLISON: Where are they going to get the water from?

KOZLUKLU: Well, the water is everywhere in Kosovo. They are just trying to clean the, what they have. And there's also a lot of water, how do you call, a dam, like a dam for drinking water, so they are trying to clean that area with their soldiers or their specialists. So they are working very hard. I saw that.

CALLISON: Do you have any idea how long it will take?

KOZLUKLU: Well , they said, it will take between one to five months to completely clean and make safe and secure to drink that water. But they also need some international aid to build a new one, a new water supply or system. Because United Nation High Refugee Commission spokesperson told us they are out of budget they need, immediately at least 400 million dollars to build basic element, basic things for refugees which is refugees who were in Kosovo before the war. And they are talking about 900,000 people. So they don't have safe water to drink, they don't have safe water to clean and wash their bodies and clothes. This is really considerable problem in Kosovo. A lot of doctors told us they are facing typhoid and Cholera because, they believe, there's no safe drinking water in Kosovo.

And also I can tell you, I was a witness. Eleven dead bodies were found in three different rivers between Prisdan and Jockhoba. Two dead bodies I saw were both swollen, and two of the bodies, some part of the bodies inside of the river, the rest of the bodies on the ground. So how can you say that river's water will go somewhere else other than houses? And people still drinking that water.

CALLISON: You said you had seen some of the oil had leaked into the rivers. Do you have any idea how much oil?

KOZLUKLU: Well, of course, me and my other colleagues went to Kosovo after the NATO air strikes stopped. After the agreement signed by NATO and Belgrade, so we didn't see the real cause, real damages. According to NATO guys they destroyed all those, two oil depots, I mean petroleum depots, at the beginning of the NATO air strikes. So we went, we arrived there after the NATO air strikes, like four weeks after the strikes over. So it's hard to say, I mean, whether you know, all petroleum leaked to the river side or some of them. But we saw just a little bit.

CALLISON: Was the river water used for agricultural purposes?

KOZLUKLU: Yes, there's still, I mean a lot of the village guys, I mean, you know feeding their stuffs with water.

CALLISON: Feeding their...

KOZLUKLU: I mean, feeding, is not feeding like, they are you know, they are using that water to, to get some vegetables to grow.

CALLISON: Irrigate.

KOZLUKLU: Yeah, they are still using that water in their, you know - how do you say?

CALLISON: Irrigation.

KOZLUKLU: Yeah, they are irrigating their farming with that water. So they are using that water to irrigate their vegetable stocks. So they are going to eat during the winter all those vegetables stuff which is growing, you know very fast.

CALLISON: I think I only have one...

KOZLUKLU: What about this part? I can talk about that if you want.

CALLISON: Well, you already mentioned some of this, but if you want to.

KOZLUKLU: Sure. Well, I just mentioned about the bodies inside the water. In the water I also saw some dead bodies, half of which were on the ground and the other half were in the water. Sixty two civil Albanians were shot in Belchurka. Belchurka meaning white church, a village 14 miles away from Prisdan, which is one of the biggest cities in Kosovo, second biggest city. One day after the NATO air strikes had begun on March 24^th, 62 people including five children and eleven women near the river that passes through the village and their bodies were buried in the same site. It has seen that this arms and legs of these dead bodies buried in the mass grave were destroyed by the animals. I am one of the eyewitness of the scene. And I saw the, you know, two arms, and probably one or two, I don't remember honestly I was very frustrated, two legs were lay down on the river. And of course the NATO guys and UNHCR and other humanitarian aid workers collect all those piece of bodies. But we don't know how many pieces already stay inside the water.

And also hundred of jackets and pants along the river side. Nobody knows if people who used the, wear those clothes, were killed and thrown into the water or something else happen to them. However, witnesses stated that Serbians killed Albanian civilians and through their bodies in the water. Into the water. So, I believe that we are going to hear some day several hundred bodies find, or skeletons, find by NATO or other humanitarian aid workers or groups, beside some river or near the river. After, you know, all the bodies get out of the skeleton and they will see the skeleton.

CALLISON: I guess shifting a little from rivers, you metioned on the phone that you knew that there were landmines, and unexploded munitions.

KOZLUKLU: Yeah. According to UNHCR and NATO spokespersons there are thousands landmines, they don't know how many, they are just speculating, they are saying maybe between ten and fifteen thousands. And they are assuming it will take to clean all those mines and booby-traps at least eight years, or ten years and most of them are between Kosovo and Macedonia nad between Kosovo and Albania because the Kosovo Liberation Army takes all those regions and borders, so that's why most of the mines are still staying at the top of the border, you know, like mountain area, or forest area. Most of the forest areas has thousands mines -- so that's why there are many refugees who try to return back to there homes from Albania, they just walk from Albania border to Kosovo, so I just heard and also I saw 14 civilian injured because of the landmines and I just heard of two of them dead after two or three days taken to the hospital. So the landmine is the major problem for Kosovar civilians.

CALLISON: Besides in the forests, where are they? I mean, are they...I've heard reports they're in like in like school yards.

KOZLUKLU: Yes, probably you heard that um, two British soldier uh, killed by mine. They tried to clean the mines and school area and also they find uh unexploded NATO bombs. And also those unexploded NATO uh bombs caused damages for several buildings during their cleaning periods. And two NATO soldiers, which is British soldier and two Albanian citizens who were trying to help and guide them, uh killed by mines uh so those mines were at the school.

CALLISON: Is there anything else that you wanted to say? Without getting into specifics, what was your general impression coming over the hill and seeing Kosovo for the first time after the bombing, as a reporter? What was your general impression? Was the countryside ruined? Were crops being sown? Were rivers dirty? Were buildings burning? What was your just general impression of the countryside as a place to live and continue living?

KOZLUKLU: Okay, well, first of all, I'm one of the forty or fifty Western journalists who entered the Kosovo with NATO troops. At the first two hour, we were the only one. So NATO troops, first of all these soldiers, started to clean the area because of the mine and also booby traps. When they cleaned, they allowed us to go with them uh inside Kosovo. It takes 9 hours to get or pass 25 miles from Macedonia border to Kosovo. 25 miles and that many hours. So we saw the houses burning. When we start going into Kosovo, the first 25 miles we didn't see anything eccept destroyed houses and some burning houses.

But after 25 miles, we saw the houses burning. That means that when the Serbian forces take their you know ummmm, guns and when they lift off from the region, when they left the region, they started to burn the houses also. They didn't want to left some evidence or somethings. Because they were using Kosovar Albanians house as a camp, as a military camp/base. So uh, so a lot of evidence to say Serbian forces kicked the Albanian civilians out of their house and then they located there and they used that, you know houses - big housese - all of them, most of them looks like a villa. It's a big house. And they start to use those house as a base to protect themselves by NATO airplanes because it's a civilian house.

The countryside, most of the house was burned or destroyed by Serbians. Most of them means, I mean 80% of the houses burned or damaged by Serbian forces. Um, after the uh, first couple of days, we saw in Serbian militia or prime militaries or police officers who are you know, taking their oil guns and weapons and going back to Serbia and they are destroying houses including..plus they are executing some civilians still. During NATO's first couple of days in Kosovo they didn't stop, they continued to execute civilians.

CALLISON: Without dwelling on the Serbians so much, what do you think the Kosovo Albanians are going back to? Are there fields? Is there fresh water? Is the air dirty? Is there anything for them to go back to after this terrible war that occurred for whatever reasons. But looking from an environmental perspective, what was your impression? Like what was there to go back to as a reporter?

KOZLUKLU: Uh, we were afraid to drink water in Kosovo. So like soldiers, we brought a lot of plastic or bottled water uh to drink. They didn't have time to plant their farm area, so the farm area was empty, most of them were empty because they didn't have time during the January and February, Kosovo Albanians.

CALLISON: Why don't we ask this last question..As a reporter, did you see any evidence of health effects from the enviromental consequences? Dirty water, dirty air, smoke, gas, clean water, etc? Were you able to see as a reporter any evidence of the consequences for people from the health perspective?

KOZLUKLU: Yeah, um, at least we saw that the water is not clean. And also the air is also not clean. I mean, I'm not talking about air pollution just, I'm talking also mass graves. Mass graves cause a lot of air pollution. We didn't walk easily on the street without using some, you know mask to protect our oxygen which was so dangerous to breath that oxygen and we were using masks for the first couple days, the first three days actually.

So when we went to the villageside, the countryside, we saw, I mean, the village smelling just bodies or trash or burn house. The house was burning also the first couple of weeks after the NATO entered Kosovo. The house was burning was burning, by Serbs, by Albanians who returned back to their homes and they start to reach revenge and they start to burn Serbians and Gypsies house. So it caused huge air pollution. Of course, I mean first two or three weeks the sky is just colored by smoke. Then also, the farmside, there was a lot of bodies on the farmside and those bodies was eating by animals. And we don't know if those animals whether go and Serbian side in the river or not.

CALLISON: Do you want to add anything? Any other impressions? Sounds like a horrible experience. I would like to go back to the landmines

KOZLUKLU: Well, 980,000 Albanian civilians - and some of them ethnically Serbs and Gypsies - left Kosovo because of the war and they went to Macedonia and Albania. When they start to come back after the NATO entered the Kosovo, they start to come their home and 300,000 of that number didn't want to wait. NATO's going and making safe and clean their homes or lands. They just want to come back their house as soon as they can because they were afraid some other people who go their house and stole some...steal their stuffs. So they face mine and booby traps.

And also Serbian civilians, when they left, when they start to leave from Kosovo, they set up booby traps for their videos or TV stuffs. So um, several of them in prison exploded and two young guys, one of them was 17 years old and the other, I don't know I don't remember his age...but they were trying to steal someone's video player. And when they touch it, when they start to turn on the video, the machine, I mean they exploded because Serbians civilians setup booby traps. KLA which is Kosovo Liberation Army malitias also setup mine too to protect their zone, I mean their areas by Serbian militias or Serbian policemen in military person. They tried to make some place safe for them. So both sides, you know, set up mine and booby traps.