No to independence due to "eastern Kosovo" claims

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has said that recognition of Kosovo independence would be a dangerous precedent. He explained that a decision to recognize Kosovo's independence would be dangerous partly because of those who referred to southern Serbia as “eastern Kosovo.” No to independence due to "eastern Kosovo" claims “This is exactly why we are not going to recognize your (Kosovo's) independence,” Jeremic said answering a question during a discussion that followed a lecture he gave at Royal Halloway, University of London (RHUL) late Friday, titled “The Balkans in the times of strategic adjustment.” A person attending the lecture, though not a student, asked the minister when exactly Kosovo had become part of Serbia, and he responded by saying “pretty much at the same time when Serbia became to look like Serbia.” One of the students' questions was referring to NATO's 1999 intervention against Serbia and Montenegro and Jeremic replied that it had been a dangerous precedent in international order as it was a move taken without the consent of the UN Security Council. “Twelve years later, we are still dealing with the Kosovo issue and we are still far from a solution,” the Serbian foreign minister stressed, adding that it would take a lot of time to carry out a “detoxification” of political division and animosity caused by it. He said that the illegal declaration of independence had done a huge disservice to both Serbs and Albanians. Jeremic recalled the attempts to impose the Ahtisaari plan in the same regard. The Serbian minister recalled the fact that the plan had been voted on in the UN Security Council six times, failing to pass on each of the occasions, adding that the very fact that it had been put to the vote was proof that it was necessary for the document to be adopted by the Security Council. He said that a great number of countries that had a problem with separatism in their territory did not want to recognize the independence of Kosovo, not because of Serbia, but for their own sake, as such a move would favor separatist tendencies. “Serbia says no to separatism, but not to negotiations, as it is possible to find a solution in which there will be neither winners nor losers,” he pointed out. Answering yet another question, about “those who are discriminated against and those who discriminate against others,” Jeremic stressed that the Serbs had been discriminated against several times in the course of history, while the Albanians had been in difficult situation under (former Serbian president Slobodan) Milosevic's rule. He added that “Milosevic's era is now behind us” and that Serbia had for a number of years had a democratic government achieving excellent results in the respect for human and minority rights. Vuk Jeremic (Tanjug, file)

No to independence due to "eastern Kosovo" claims

“This is exactly why we are not going to recognize your (Kosovo's) independence,” Jeremić said answering a question during a discussion that followed a lecture he gave at Royal Halloway, University of London (RHUL) late Friday, titled “The Balkans in the times of strategic adjustment.”

A person attending the lecture, though not a student, asked the minister when exactly Kosovo had become part of Serbia, and he responded by saying “pretty much at the same time when Serbia became to look like Serbia.”

One of the students' questions was referring to NATO's 1999 intervention against Serbia and Montenegro and Jeremić replied that it had been a dangerous precedent in international order as it was a move taken without the consent of the UN Security Council.

“Twelve years later, we are still dealing with the Kosovo issue and we are still far from a solution,” the Serbian foreign minister stressed, adding that it would take a lot of time to carry out a “detoxification” of political division and animosity caused by it.

He said that the illegal declaration of independence had done a huge disservice to both Serbs and Albanians.

Jeremić recalled the attempts to impose the Ahtisaari plan in the same regard.

The Serbian minister recalled the fact that the plan had been voted on in the UN Security Council six times, failing to pass on each of the occasions, adding that the very fact that it had been put to the vote was proof that it was necessary for the document to be adopted by the Security Council.

He said that a great number of countries that had a problem with separatism in their territory did not want to recognize the independence of Kosovo, not because of Serbia, but for their own sake, as such a move would favor separatist tendencies.

“Serbia says no to separatism, but not to negotiations, as it is possible to find a solution in which there will be neither winners nor losers,” he pointed out.

Answering yet another question, about “those who are discriminated against and those who discriminate against others,” Jeremić stressed that the Serbs had been discriminated against several times in the course of history, while the Albanians had been in difficult situation under (former Serbian president Slobodan) Milošević's rule.

He added that “Milošević's era is now behind us” and that Serbia had for a number of years had a democratic government achieving excellent results in the respect for human and minority rights.