Kosovo: Return of property halted

Adriano - the only rules which count are legitimate rules whether international, national or regional.

Kate, you don't have a cluse what serbs are caliming in Kosovo/a.
I will tell you about a concrete case in Klina town. A former mayor of Klina , Mr, Radosavljeviq(sorry for any mispelling) produced documents claiming that he owns a lot of property and apartments (three of them) right accross from Klina Municipality Building=equivalant to a City Hall in USA. Th e irony in this saga is that former Mayor he has its own signature and official stamp when he took over the ownership of said property in 1998. Now , just think for a minute if this sounds lawful or not. He was in power and and notice that things are getting out of hand in 1998 so why not forge zand put as much property under its name so that in the fture he will claim it as his. Klina Municipalit has produced documents from 1963 and 1968 that this prporety was owned by Municipality and in 1998 Mr. radosavjljviq decided to make it his own personal property.
SRSG Rycker did the right thing becasue tehre are thousand of similar cases and another one is Deqani special zoning area. It will never stand as is right now becasue you are depriving rightfull owners to claim their own proeprty that happens to be around the Monastery of Deqani.
Kate , you should come and visit this sites and look at the facts on the ground and than make a judgment.

Kosovo is not ready for independance. UN, EU, NGOs and billions of dollars of aid and it hasn't improved the lives of it's people. This property declaration is just another example of the desperation and exasperation with the place. It's worse now than it ever was.

M. Miller,
Thank you for the exellent example you gave. This is the best response to Kate for whom all Serbs are always innocent and victims.

Ruecker must think that we are 100 years back in time and Germany/Austria are ruling the Balkans and calling the shots. Such arrogance. He will soon have a rude awakening, that this is 2007 and albanians will not be rewarded for their ethnic cleansing and destruction of Serb property and Serb Holy sites. UNSC Resolution 1244 will be adhered to, Russia and China will make sure of that, and greater albania will not happen, they will make sure of that too. The global power balance is shifting, and it's a beautiful thing to watch.

This is why the province of Kosovo can not be given independence the unresolved issues of property and ownership are far reaching. Kosovo has still not gone through the process of returning land to individual land owners from before the Community nationalizations, most properties their belonged to Serbs, they (meaning the PISG and the UN) have not facilitated a true and fair returnees process for Serb civilians, and both parties fail to realize the large tracts of land the Orthodox Church holds that is currently occupied or destroyed. These 3 reasons are why there have been little returns to Kosovo and I say, with great remorse, that at least some of these are done intentionally.

Adriano
This is so not going to help Kosovo albans one bit. Russia will use this to blast the news of minority rights and keep the process blocked.

Do they want to start the colonisation process with the time they gained? Is that in the International law? I can feel another 99 coming again with the same evil plots from the north. You want to sue someone who is there, because you tried to exterminate the K-Albanians. don't be ridiculous. No settlers until independence! You want to have rulers, We also have Rules!

Mr Miller again you sound off about rightfull ownership of property in Kosovo. Sir i think you are treading water in a place you should not be. Some of the commenters say i am making judgements where i should not. Now Mr Miller unless you are now going to the municpality center and reading these documents and you must be now well versed in the in Albanian as well as Serbian language. At the moment sir there are many cases where apartments in down town ferizah(excuse the spelling) are being lived in by people who have just occupied Serbian Apartments. Also as the people return those who have illegally occupied these homes have been evicted and the rightful owners have taken possession. How do i know this because i was in the process of renting an apartment and it was disclosed to me that people who wanted to rent this place was not the rightful owners but Serbs who left the province. At least they were honest with me and i decline to proceed. So Mr Miller i say again you treading in water where i don't think you should swim. I stop doing that because of commenters comments. So if i am wrong and then i am but if you own property then you do if you have the documents to prove it unless you have other evidence has surfaced ownership is 2/3 of possession. Thanks to B92 for allowing free expression.

I am ready to callenge Kate and any other serb or albanian on this issue. Check the story with KPA (FOREMR HBD) agency. You guys wnat facts , here are the facts and i hope Kate and her friends would provide facts in their future posts.

M. Miller, first, I had to read your comment three times to understand what you were saying beyond the typos and vague terminology. Maybe you would have come across clearer and had less spelling mistakes if you didn't try to purposefully write Serbian names in Albanian bastardized forms. It's ok, you can write "-evic", not "-eviq", your keyboard won't catch fire. We don't Serbianize Albanian names: Ceku is Ceku. But to each his own, and you're clearly in one camp with a particular bias. That's not the main point of my response.

Second, you provide one case study to essentially debunk the entire processs of property halting - the case of a mayor of Klina who takes municipal property and makes it his own for the sake of making it his own. I don't know if this is true or not, and because I am not in Kosovo I cannot, and I will not, challenge your claim unless I obtain further information. Yet at the same time for you to essentially claim that this debunks all Serb claims to property restoration seems over the top, and just slightly prejudiced in outlook. Miller doesn't sound like an Albanian name but if you're an international aid worker who went "native", fine. Makes no difference to me. Just please be aware that if you're going to justify an entire action that essentially denies thousands of Serb families the right to their property (no doubt the majority of which was taken over by KLA units), you're going to have to justify your argument beyond one example. So if it means anything to you, no, I don't think you, in the words of Joe, provided the best response to Kate and the rest of us idiots who think all Serbs are victims.

This latest action by Herr Reucker will certainly be brought up by Belgrade and Moscow in the upcoming negotiations. If resolution 1244 if is not adhered to, and it must be before any more negotiiations commence, the Serbs and Russians should boycott the talks. Enough of this lawlessness. International criminal courts do exist, it's time that the Serbs and Russians used them.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Ruecker a German? If this leaves a bitter taste in your mouth my fellow Serbian Brothers/Sisters, then just think of how your lives will be when you enter the German dominated EU. Some here talk of their laws, but is not 1244 the dominant law when it comes to this type of situation?

This is so not going to help Kosovo albans one bit. Russia will use this to blast the news of minority rights and keep the process blocked.
(Cvele, 5. August 2007 17:22)

You are absolutely right Cvele. Only a fool could not see how this strengthens the Russian and Serbian arguments when the talks start! I predicate Herr Reucker is GONE by October. And the decision revered, its only thing the Contact Group can do to answer Russia's argument.

If anybody will return to Kosovo will be Kosovar. Will have to accapt to live under the new Independent Repuvlic of Kosova. It will have to stay away from the Serbian government. Than after all this see how many settlers will come back. If they had no bad intentions they will return. But i am sure the people that want to return to Kosovo are the same as in 1920 1960, and all the settlers will have government support with free weapons"for self protection" with interest free loans to buy more land. Like Israel with Palestine. But thank god that we are coming to a conclusion here. Accept the rules of the land and become one with the land. If you have Belgrade's intentions well stay there.

M. Miller, you would probably get lost crossing any street in Pristina much less know anything about the city or the province, and you certainly have no knowledge of the people who live in Kosovo. In fact M. Miller you are simply an Albanian who has had the good fortune of western education hence your ability to write more coherently then your brothers who have not had the same advantage.

Anthony and dragan you seem to be in the same car going the wrong way while screaming that everybody is an idiot.

Common people. It is suspended just one chapter of Regulation 2006/50 that has to do with some decisions of last time. It is not suspended the proces of returning back properties. You should read more carefully the ED 2007/41 and you can see what is for (this is also for B92).

I just have to respond to this, the Albanians and their apologists on this forum are manipulating the truth. The Serbian property right holder in this case (Radosavljevic) has a property illegally occupied by Klina's Director of of Civil Security (Albanian). There are a lot of Serbian properties being occupied by high ranking Albanians in the Municipality. Following 2 evicitons facilitated by Luis Peres (the UNMIK head of the Region with American CIVPOL) the Albanians in the municipality declared him persona non-grata. The KPA (former HPD) made a deal with the municipality to move out of the Serbian properties that they occupied. The municipality lied and refuses to move. Instead of removing the bad guys from office that are occupying Serbian properties Rueker has stopped all evictions.

This may come as big disipointment to serbs , and especially Kate , Jham and other that have made coments without any bases, but Klina case really did and SRSG was forced to cancel all future bogus claims. For your information , JHam I have seen the paperwork in three languages, wchih were translated from serbian into English and Albanian and i can tell you I met the former mayor of Klina and have seen his signature and former Mayors seal stamped on the said documents, where he admits it that he signed a nad stamped the documents during his time in office , which was in 1998. How in the world a NYC Mayor can put property belonging to City Hall under his name just before his time is up, no where in the world only serbs have done such things. You guys must have some conections check the story my friends , besides all you hav eto do talk with the man himslef(Mr. Radoslavljeviq).

during the serbian kingdom,serbs took the properties of albanians in the so called agrarian reform,and the only aim of this reform was to take expell albanians by taking their lands and making life difficult for them,as your academician cubriloviq said in his memoramdum about the expulsion of albanians!
then ,during the communism,albanian properties were turned in national properties,and so did the jewish properties...
serbia till now has not abrogated these laws and you guess why...
and just to remind you , at the creation of the state of serbia ,serbia had agreed to the restitution of albanains lands and houses in NISH and TOPLICA (which were according to your academician cubriloviq mainly albanian)to come back to theirs houses and lands according to the international agreement :up to now albanians properties in Nish and in the toplica area are still occupied by serbians,so why do you ,serbs,find it scandalous when it concerns serbians and not scandalous when it concerns albanians ?
another example recently occured in prishtina:a man after more than 35 years in mine working did receive ,as it was usual then , the right to buy a house from his working place.During the milosheviq area,he was expelled from this house,and this house was given to a serbian women. The suprem court of yougoslavia did reconnize his ownership and not the one of the serbian lady,so did the court of kosovo ,but these decisions were never respected by serbian autorities during milosheviq.After the war,this man come in his house,but the serbian lady now is asking to sell "her"house,and produces "legal" serbian documents of milosheviq area to claim her rights ,and this despite the fact that even the suprem court of ex yu has said that this house was legaly an albanian owned house!
idem,2 jewish people claimed for their right to the land behind the rilindja building,because it's their land that became a state land after the second world war and was never given them back(serbia is the only european state to have not agree to restitution for jews up to now )..

Ardiano mob rule is no way to run a country. The mob is only as intelligent as the dumbest and loudest in the bunch.

@ Adriano etc.
It would be interesting to see how was Trepca mine built, electric infrastructure, all the schools and universities that were open to and attended by all ethnicities, hospitals, bridges, factories etc. Did the money come from Albania or Serbia? Actually it came as a loan from USA, and other international institutions, and now Serbia is paying them back. You are not offering to pay for those. And the same people who started the war in Kosovo are trying start ion southern Serbia

Similar things happen in Prishtina very often. Albanians have original titles of their properties (houses, condos) but serbs some how manage to reproduce newer titles to the same properties. Now happens is UNMIK is kicking albanians out of their properties and and letting the serbs take them over. Serbs never owned those properties.
BTW, during the RANKOVIC rule, a lot of albanians were forced to migrate to Turkey. Their properties were given to the new serb colonies. After RANKOVIC they never made a property return program for albanians. I think it is time to do that.

On the issue of stamps. It is true that in some cases former Directors stamped contracts creating an ownership right of a Serbian property that was only an occupancy right. The HPD didn't recognise these rights though, but the property right obviously remains with the Serbian property right holder. Of course the Albanian judges all over Kosovo recognised these fake documents(for a fee) and then Albanians would buy these properties from the Serbians under the market rate. Usually the Albanian occupant would be the buyer. Otherwise there would be no legal way to get these properties from the Serbians as the occupancy right would remain under the principle of Force Majure. It was particularly useful in selling YU-programme properties allocated to Serbian refugees from Croatia and Bosnia where there were 10-year allocations.

I read few comments and it seem to be complicated matter. Perhaps a joint commision of experts from Kosovo and Serbia should be formed and go through the cases examining one by one?
Just to comment on two more things.

"If anybody will return to Kosovo will be Kosovar. Will have to accapt to live under the new Independent Repuvlic of Kosova."

Adriano, ones I though that eveyone who lives in Yugoslavia is Yugoslavian and have to accept to live under Yugoslavian laws. Today, I don't think so. Same goes for Kosovo.
One could choose to fight the government in separatist war. Of course, first a big cheque should be given to some PR company in the States.
Then Kosovo Security Forces searching the houses for those who were killing the police officers would be spinned as "door to door ethnic cleansing" etc.

And to Zoran.

" then just think of how your lives will be when you enter the German dominated EU"

Don't worry Zoran. It's not going to happen. Serbia will not enter EU.

Mr Miller could you please post a link so we can easily find the information you say that exist. Thanks

Lilly,

I am an American and the last time I checked 1244 reassures the world that Kosovo is in the Serbian house, or at least a shack on its property.

Jack has it spot on.

I can see that Koha Ditore and others have been working hard on this issue recently (and with their usual neutral style, snigger!).

Thank you HPD Guy for the clarification of this issue.

It reminds me of a time in 1999 when my Serbian translator(I had 32 Albanians, 10 Serbians and 2 Roma working for me) came to me very upset. Two Albanians had turned up at her door with 'documents' claiming her house was now their house. She sent them off with a flea in their ear only for 3 more to turn up armed and in UCK uniforms later that night. Again and with the help of her Albanian neighbours she saw them off.

My advice to K.Albs is that IF you gain independence never try to join the EU. One of the conditions which will be imposed will be the return of all properties including those nationalized by SFRY. As an EU member cases WILL be brought before the EU courts.

This is one of the major headaches for all the former eastern bloc countries which have joined the EU. God only knows how much land was nationalised from the Church alone in Kosovo. Metohija MEANS church land.

It would be extremely ironic for you to have gone to all the trouble of getting independence and then meeting the conditions and joining the EU only to see massive areas of Kosovo be ceded out of Albanian ownership/occupation by the EU courts.

Ardiano mob rule is no way to run a country. The mob is only as intelligent as the dumbest and loudest in the bunch.
(Anthony, 5. August 2007 23:58)

You mean like how every other serb in their govt is shouting: "No Independence" "Compromise is Possible" "Serbia must give up Kosova for EU membership " Geeze anthony, one should clean their own house before pointing fingers at others.

M.Miller i think someone is using your name to write these pro albanian post. I don't think your employer would hire people who use such bad grammar and numerous spelling errors. If you say i am Serbian then you must be albanian. Or you must know Mike and spend time with him. I think you are the person i saw him with back in OCT-NOV 2006 time frame in Houston, Texas outside WalMart. So i hope make sure you inform him that you can buy any stamp you want in Kosovo. I know this because remember i lived there for 7 years. So please don't call me a Serb if you don't know for sure. Rights for everyone in Kosovo. 2008 independence, well since Mr Rucker decide to stop allowing people to get there rightful propery then it will be more problems for Kosovo.

I won´t start teaching you history, since it makes no sense...

but just one thing, for heaven´s sake, what does "academician cubriloviq" mean???

academician??? check it in a dictionary, please.

and if that should be intended to be a serbian name, then, why do you write it wrong?

to jovan ,
oh sorry you did not recognize your Great sava Cubrilovic(english spelling) member of your royal academie,professeur in your university (his death and his burring was a top event of belgrade,no inded?)
Just a piece of his memorandum about the expulsion of the albanians-just search for this in google- here

The method of colonization of Toplica and Kosvanica after 1878 when the Albanians were expelled from these regions, is also full of lessons. The method for our colonization of these regions was laid down in the law of January 3, 1880. On February 3 of the same year, the People’s Council approved the law on the amendment of agrarian relations according to the principle the land to the peasants. Without hesitation, Serbia sought its first foreign loan in order to pay Turkey for the lands taken. It did not set up any ministry of agrarian reform or costly apparatus for the problem of colonization, but everything was done in a simple and practical manner. The police organs distributed the land to all those who wanted to till it. People came from Montenegro, Sjenica, Vranie, Kosovo, Pec etc. and 30 years after 1878. ____Toplica and Kosanica, once Albanian regions of ill-repute__
, gave Serbia the finest regiment in the wars of 1912-1918, the Iron Second Regiment. In those wars, Toplica and Kosanica paid and repaid, with blood of their sons, those tens of millions of dinars which Serbia had spent for their resettlement

Do they want to start the colonisation process with the time they gained? Is that in the International law? I can feel another 99 coming again with the same evil plots from the north. You want to sue someone who is there, because you tried to exterminate the K-Albanians. don't be ridiculous. No settlers until independence! You want to have rulers, We also have Rules!

Kate, you don't have a cluse what serbs are caliming in Kosovo/a.
I will tell you about a concrete case in Klina town. A former mayor of Klina , Mr, Radosavljeviq(sorry for any mispelling) produced documents claiming that he owns a lot of property and apartments (three of them) right accross from Klina Municipality Building=equivalant to a City Hall in USA. Th e irony in this saga is that former Mayor he has its own signature and official stamp when he took over the ownership of said property in 1998. Now , just think for a minute if this sounds lawful or not. He was in power and and notice that things are getting out of hand in 1998 so why not forge zand put as much property under its name so that in the fture he will claim it as his. Klina Municipalit has produced documents from 1963 and 1968 that this prporety was owned by Municipality and in 1998 Mr. radosavjljviq decided to make it his own personal property.
SRSG Rycker did the right thing becasue tehre are thousand of similar cases and another one is Deqani special zoning area. It will never stand as is right now becasue you are depriving rightfull owners to claim their own proeprty that happens to be around the Monastery of Deqani.
Kate , you should come and visit this sites and look at the facts on the ground and than make a judgment.

If anybody will return to Kosovo will be Kosovar. Will have to accapt to live under the new Independent Repuvlic of Kosova. It will have to stay away from the Serbian government. Than after all this see how many settlers will come back. If they had no bad intentions they will return. But i am sure the people that want to return to Kosovo are the same as in 1920 1960, and all the settlers will have government support with free weapons"for self protection" with interest free loans to buy more land. Like Israel with Palestine. But thank god that we are coming to a conclusion here. Accept the rules of the land and become one with the land. If you have Belgrade's intentions well stay there.

Similar things happen in Prishtina very often. Albanians have original titles of their properties (houses, condos) but serbs some how manage to reproduce newer titles to the same properties. Now happens is UNMIK is kicking albanians out of their properties and and letting the serbs take them over. Serbs never owned those properties.
BTW, during the RANKOVIC rule, a lot of albanians were forced to migrate to Turkey. Their properties were given to the new serb colonies. After RANKOVIC they never made a property return program for albanians. I think it is time to do that.

Anthony and dragan you seem to be in the same car going the wrong way while screaming that everybody is an idiot.

M. Miller,
Thank you for the exellent example you gave. This is the best response to Kate for whom all Serbs are always innocent and victims.

Mr Miller again you sound off about rightfull ownership of property in Kosovo. Sir i think you are treading water in a place you should not be. Some of the commenters say i am making judgements where i should not. Now Mr Miller unless you are now going to the municpality center and reading these documents and you must be now well versed in the in Albanian as well as Serbian language. At the moment sir there are many cases where apartments in down town ferizah(excuse the spelling) are being lived in by people who have just occupied Serbian Apartments. Also as the people return those who have illegally occupied these homes have been evicted and the rightful owners have taken possession. How do i know this because i was in the process of renting an apartment and it was disclosed to me that people who wanted to rent this place was not the rightful owners but Serbs who left the province. At least they were honest with me and i decline to proceed. So Mr Miller i say again you treading in water where i don't think you should swim. I stop doing that because of commenters comments. So if i am wrong and then i am but if you own property then you do if you have the documents to prove it unless you have other evidence has surfaced ownership is 2/3 of possession. Thanks to B92 for allowing free expression.

I am ready to callenge Kate and any other serb or albanian on this issue. Check the story with KPA (FOREMR HBD) agency. You guys wnat facts , here are the facts and i hope Kate and her friends would provide facts in their future posts.

This latest action by Herr Reucker will certainly be brought up by Belgrade and Moscow in the upcoming negotiations. If resolution 1244 if is not adhered to, and it must be before any more negotiiations commence, the Serbs and Russians should boycott the talks. Enough of this lawlessness. International criminal courts do exist, it's time that the Serbs and Russians used them.

Adriano - the only rules which count are legitimate rules whether international, national or regional.

This is why the province of Kosovo can not be given independence the unresolved issues of property and ownership are far reaching. Kosovo has still not gone through the process of returning land to individual land owners from before the Community nationalizations, most properties their belonged to Serbs, they (meaning the PISG and the UN) have not facilitated a true and fair returnees process for Serb civilians, and both parties fail to realize the large tracts of land the Orthodox Church holds that is currently occupied or destroyed. These 3 reasons are why there have been little returns to Kosovo and I say, with great remorse, that at least some of these are done intentionally.

Kosovo is not ready for independance. UN, EU, NGOs and billions of dollars of aid and it hasn't improved the lives of it's people. This property declaration is just another example of the desperation and exasperation with the place. It's worse now than it ever was.

Common people. It is suspended just one chapter of Regulation 2006/50 that has to do with some decisions of last time. It is not suspended the proces of returning back properties. You should read more carefully the ED 2007/41 and you can see what is for (this is also for B92).

Adriano
This is so not going to help Kosovo albans one bit. Russia will use this to blast the news of minority rights and keep the process blocked.

This may come as big disipointment to serbs , and especially Kate , Jham and other that have made coments without any bases, but Klina case really did and SRSG was forced to cancel all future bogus claims. For your information , JHam I have seen the paperwork in three languages, wchih were translated from serbian into English and Albanian and i can tell you I met the former mayor of Klina and have seen his signature and former Mayors seal stamped on the said documents, where he admits it that he signed a nad stamped the documents during his time in office , which was in 1998. How in the world a NYC Mayor can put property belonging to City Hall under his name just before his time is up, no where in the world only serbs have done such things. You guys must have some conections check the story my friends , besides all you hav eto do talk with the man himslef(Mr. Radoslavljeviq).

Ruecker must think that we are 100 years back in time and Germany/Austria are ruling the Balkans and calling the shots. Such arrogance. He will soon have a rude awakening, that this is 2007 and albanians will not be rewarded for their ethnic cleansing and destruction of Serb property and Serb Holy sites. UNSC Resolution 1244 will be adhered to, Russia and China will make sure of that, and greater albania will not happen, they will make sure of that too. The global power balance is shifting, and it's a beautiful thing to watch.

Mr Miller could you please post a link so we can easily find the information you say that exist. Thanks

during the serbian kingdom,serbs took the properties of albanians in the so called agrarian reform,and the only aim of this reform was to take expell albanians by taking their lands and making life difficult for them,as your academician cubriloviq said in his memoramdum about the expulsion of albanians!
then ,during the communism,albanian properties were turned in national properties,and so did the jewish properties...
serbia till now has not abrogated these laws and you guess why...
and just to remind you , at the creation of the state of serbia ,serbia had agreed to the restitution of albanains lands and houses in NISH and TOPLICA (which were according to your academician cubriloviq mainly albanian)to come back to theirs houses and lands according to the international agreement :up to now albanians properties in Nish and in the toplica area are still occupied by serbians,so why do you ,serbs,find it scandalous when it concerns serbians and not scandalous when it concerns albanians ?
another example recently occured in prishtina:a man after more than 35 years in mine working did receive ,as it was usual then , the right to buy a house from his working place.During the milosheviq area,he was expelled from this house,and this house was given to a serbian women. The suprem court of yougoslavia did reconnize his ownership and not the one of the serbian lady,so did the court of kosovo ,but these decisions were never respected by serbian autorities during milosheviq.After the war,this man come in his house,but the serbian lady now is asking to sell "her"house,and produces "legal" serbian documents of milosheviq area to claim her rights ,and this despite the fact that even the suprem court of ex yu has said that this house was legaly an albanian owned house!
idem,2 jewish people claimed for their right to the land behind the rilindja building,because it's their land that became a state land after the second world war and was never given them back(serbia is the only european state to have not agree to restitution for jews up to now )..

Ardiano mob rule is no way to run a country. The mob is only as intelligent as the dumbest and loudest in the bunch.

I won´t start teaching you history, since it makes no sense...

but just one thing, for heaven´s sake, what does "academician cubriloviq" mean???

academician??? check it in a dictionary, please.

and if that should be intended to be a serbian name, then, why do you write it wrong?

Ardiano mob rule is no way to run a country. The mob is only as intelligent as the dumbest and loudest in the bunch.
(Anthony, 5. August 2007 23:58)

You mean like how every other serb in their govt is shouting: "No Independence" "Compromise is Possible" "Serbia must give up Kosova for EU membership " Geeze anthony, one should clean their own house before pointing fingers at others.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Ruecker a German? If this leaves a bitter taste in your mouth my fellow Serbian Brothers/Sisters, then just think of how your lives will be when you enter the German dominated EU. Some here talk of their laws, but is not 1244 the dominant law when it comes to this type of situation?

This is so not going to help Kosovo albans one bit. Russia will use this to blast the news of minority rights and keep the process blocked.
(Cvele, 5. August 2007 17:22)

You are absolutely right Cvele. Only a fool could not see how this strengthens the Russian and Serbian arguments when the talks start! I predicate Herr Reucker is GONE by October. And the decision revered, its only thing the Contact Group can do to answer Russia's argument.

M. Miller, first, I had to read your comment three times to understand what you were saying beyond the typos and vague terminology. Maybe you would have come across clearer and had less spelling mistakes if you didn't try to purposefully write Serbian names in Albanian bastardized forms. It's ok, you can write "-evic", not "-eviq", your keyboard won't catch fire. We don't Serbianize Albanian names: Ceku is Ceku. But to each his own, and you're clearly in one camp with a particular bias. That's not the main point of my response.

Second, you provide one case study to essentially debunk the entire processs of property halting - the case of a mayor of Klina who takes municipal property and makes it his own for the sake of making it his own. I don't know if this is true or not, and because I am not in Kosovo I cannot, and I will not, challenge your claim unless I obtain further information. Yet at the same time for you to essentially claim that this debunks all Serb claims to property restoration seems over the top, and just slightly prejudiced in outlook. Miller doesn't sound like an Albanian name but if you're an international aid worker who went "native", fine. Makes no difference to me. Just please be aware that if you're going to justify an entire action that essentially denies thousands of Serb families the right to their property (no doubt the majority of which was taken over by KLA units), you're going to have to justify your argument beyond one example. So if it means anything to you, no, I don't think you, in the words of Joe, provided the best response to Kate and the rest of us idiots who think all Serbs are victims.

I just have to respond to this, the Albanians and their apologists on this forum are manipulating the truth. The Serbian property right holder in this case (Radosavljevic) has a property illegally occupied by Klina's Director of of Civil Security (Albanian). There are a lot of Serbian properties being occupied by high ranking Albanians in the Municipality. Following 2 evicitons facilitated by Luis Peres (the UNMIK head of the Region with American CIVPOL) the Albanians in the municipality declared him persona non-grata. The KPA (former HPD) made a deal with the municipality to move out of the Serbian properties that they occupied. The municipality lied and refuses to move. Instead of removing the bad guys from office that are occupying Serbian properties Rueker has stopped all evictions.

On the issue of stamps. It is true that in some cases former Directors stamped contracts creating an ownership right of a Serbian property that was only an occupancy right. The HPD didn't recognise these rights though, but the property right obviously remains with the Serbian property right holder. Of course the Albanian judges all over Kosovo recognised these fake documents(for a fee) and then Albanians would buy these properties from the Serbians under the market rate. Usually the Albanian occupant would be the buyer. Otherwise there would be no legal way to get these properties from the Serbians as the occupancy right would remain under the principle of Force Majure. It was particularly useful in selling YU-programme properties allocated to Serbian refugees from Croatia and Bosnia where there were 10-year allocations.

I can see that Koha Ditore and others have been working hard on this issue recently (and with their usual neutral style, snigger!).

Thank you HPD Guy for the clarification of this issue.

It reminds me of a time in 1999 when my Serbian translator(I had 32 Albanians, 10 Serbians and 2 Roma working for me) came to me very upset. Two Albanians had turned up at her door with 'documents' claiming her house was now their house. She sent them off with a flea in their ear only for 3 more to turn up armed and in UCK uniforms later that night. Again and with the help of her Albanian neighbours she saw them off.

My advice to K.Albs is that IF you gain independence never try to join the EU. One of the conditions which will be imposed will be the return of all properties including those nationalized by SFRY. As an EU member cases WILL be brought before the EU courts.

This is one of the major headaches for all the former eastern bloc countries which have joined the EU. God only knows how much land was nationalised from the Church alone in Kosovo. Metohija MEANS church land.

It would be extremely ironic for you to have gone to all the trouble of getting independence and then meeting the conditions and joining the EU only to see massive areas of Kosovo be ceded out of Albanian ownership/occupation by the EU courts.

@ Adriano etc.
It would be interesting to see how was Trepca mine built, electric infrastructure, all the schools and universities that were open to and attended by all ethnicities, hospitals, bridges, factories etc. Did the money come from Albania or Serbia? Actually it came as a loan from USA, and other international institutions, and now Serbia is paying them back. You are not offering to pay for those. And the same people who started the war in Kosovo are trying start ion southern Serbia

M.Miller i think someone is using your name to write these pro albanian post. I don't think your employer would hire people who use such bad grammar and numerous spelling errors. If you say i am Serbian then you must be albanian. Or you must know Mike and spend time with him. I think you are the person i saw him with back in OCT-NOV 2006 time frame in Houston, Texas outside WalMart. So i hope make sure you inform him that you can buy any stamp you want in Kosovo. I know this because remember i lived there for 7 years. So please don't call me a Serb if you don't know for sure. Rights for everyone in Kosovo. 2008 independence, well since Mr Rucker decide to stop allowing people to get there rightful propery then it will be more problems for Kosovo.

I read few comments and it seem to be complicated matter. Perhaps a joint commision of experts from Kosovo and Serbia should be formed and go through the cases examining one by one?
Just to comment on two more things.

"If anybody will return to Kosovo will be Kosovar. Will have to accapt to live under the new Independent Repuvlic of Kosova."

Adriano, ones I though that eveyone who lives in Yugoslavia is Yugoslavian and have to accept to live under Yugoslavian laws. Today, I don't think so. Same goes for Kosovo.
One could choose to fight the government in separatist war. Of course, first a big cheque should be given to some PR company in the States.
Then Kosovo Security Forces searching the houses for those who were killing the police officers would be spinned as "door to door ethnic cleansing" etc.

And to Zoran.

" then just think of how your lives will be when you enter the German dominated EU"

Don't worry Zoran. It's not going to happen. Serbia will not enter EU.

Lilly,

I am an American and the last time I checked 1244 reassures the world that Kosovo is in the Serbian house, or at least a shack on its property.

Jack has it spot on.

M. Miller, you would probably get lost crossing any street in Pristina much less know anything about the city or the province, and you certainly have no knowledge of the people who live in Kosovo. In fact M. Miller you are simply an Albanian who has had the good fortune of western education hence your ability to write more coherently then your brothers who have not had the same advantage.

to jovan ,
oh sorry you did not recognize your Great sava Cubrilovic(english spelling) member of your royal academie,professeur in your university (his death and his burring was a top event of belgrade,no inded?)
Just a piece of his memorandum about the expulsion of the albanians-just search for this in google- here

The method of colonization of Toplica and Kosvanica after 1878 when the Albanians were expelled from these regions, is also full of lessons. The method for our colonization of these regions was laid down in the law of January 3, 1880. On February 3 of the same year, the People’s Council approved the law on the amendment of agrarian relations according to the principle the land to the peasants. Without hesitation, Serbia sought its first foreign loan in order to pay Turkey for the lands taken. It did not set up any ministry of agrarian reform or costly apparatus for the problem of colonization, but everything was done in a simple and practical manner. The police organs distributed the land to all those who wanted to till it. People came from Montenegro, Sjenica, Vranie, Kosovo, Pec etc. and 30 years after 1878. ____Toplica and Kosanica, once Albanian regions of ill-repute__
, gave Serbia the finest regiment in the wars of 1912-1918, the Iron Second Regiment. In those wars, Toplica and Kosanica paid and repaid, with blood of their sons, those tens of millions of dinars which Serbia had spent for their resettlement