Kosovo belongs to Serbia, SNS leader tells rally in north

Opposition SNS party leader and presidential candidate Tomislav Nikolic today traveled to northern Kosovo where he campaigned ahead of the May 6 elections. He told a rally in northern Kosovska Mitrovica that the former Serbian president and ruling Democratic Party (DS) leader, Boris Tadic, "refused to allow the SNS to join the negotiations on Kosovo". Kosovo belongs to Serbia, SNS leader tells rally in north Nikolic, however, said he was pledging to, "as soon as we win", invite the Democrats to participate in the talks on Kosovo - but also "all other parties represented in parliament, because this is a burden that is too great for one man and one political party". "This burden can be carried only by the whole of Serbia. I will not put the load on you, I won't be telling you to put up barricades and then show up and be the first to beat you. If I tell you to put up barricades, I'll be spending nights there. If somebody wishes to beat you, they'll have to hit me, as Serbia's president, first," the SNS leader said. Apparently referring to possible demands for Serbia to "recognize Kosovo", he told the rally that he wished to lead the country into the EU but that the citizens "know which condition will never be fulfilled", adding at the same time that he "never heard this condition set", and that "they" should not set it at all: "They need to give up on this (demand) immediately. That (EU membership) will happen in eight to ten years, while we need to live tomorrow, to secure each day of our lives. We cannot just lie down and wait to join the EU. What if we never do?;" wondered Nikolic. He asserted that he had been "saying it for a decade" that Serbia was "a house with two doors, one leading to the east and the other to the west", and that "each door should be kept open, because anyone who has anything to offer so that the citizens of Serbia are better off is welcome". "Kosovo is not mine, it was not left to me in my father's will, I did not buy it, I cannot sell it, I cannot gift it to anyone, it belongs to all of you - to the whole of Serbia, to each citizens, and therefore it will be the way the citizens want it to be. It is written in the Constitution that they want it to be Serbia - and Serbia it shall be, for as long as Serbs walk the land of Serbia," Nikolic told the rally. The SNS leader also noted in his address that he was "unaware" of what the current authorities agreed on in their negotiations with representatives of Pristina, but added that "the only man" who was resolving our destiny in Kosovo and Metohija - Boris Tadic - now owes it the citizens to say where he finds himself: "Wherever he managed to arrive to, not a single further step must be made from there. Wherever it is that he finds himself, in his attempts to curry favor and remain (as president) for a third mandate, whatever he put his signature to that is damaging to Serbia, that is in no way binding to me." The rally, that was notably not secured by members of the Kosovo police, KPS, also heard addresses from other SNS officials and their coalition partners Aleksandar Vulin, Velimir Ilic and Borislav Prelevic, among others, as well as Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantic. Tomislav Nikolic is seen in Kosovska Mitrovica on Wednesday (Tanjug) Tanjug

Kosovo belongs to Serbia, SNS leader tells rally in north

Nikolić, however, said he was pledging to, "as soon as we win", invite the Democrats to participate in the talks on Kosovo - but also "all other parties represented in parliament, because this is a burden that is too great for one man and one political party".

"This burden can be carried only by the whole of Serbia. I will not put the load on you, I won't be telling you to put up barricades and then show up and be the first to beat you. If I tell you to put up barricades, I'll be spending nights there. If somebody wishes to beat you, they'll have to hit me, as Serbia's president, first," the SNS leader said.

Apparently referring to possible demands for Serbia to "recognize Kosovo", he told the rally that he wished to lead the country into the EU but that the citizens "know which condition will never be fulfilled", adding at the same time that he "never heard this condition set", and that "they" should not set it at all:

"They need to give up on this (demand) immediately. That (EU membership) will happen in eight to ten years, while we need to live tomorrow, to secure each day of our lives. We cannot just lie down and wait to join the EU. What if we never do?;" wondered Nikolić.

He asserted that he had been "saying it for a decade" that Serbia was "a house with two doors, one leading to the east and the other to the west", and that "each door should be kept open, because anyone who has anything to offer so that the citizens of Serbia are better off is welcome".

"Kosovo is not mine, it was not left to me in my father's will, I did not buy it, I cannot sell it, I cannot gift it to anyone, it belongs to all of you - to the whole of Serbia, to each citizens, and therefore it will be the way the citizens want it to be. It is written in the Constitution that they want it to be Serbia - and Serbia it shall be, for as long as Serbs walk the land of Serbia," Nikolić told the rally.

The SNS leader also noted in his address that he was "unaware" of what the current authorities agreed on in their negotiations with representatives of Priština, but added that "the only man" who was resolving our destiny in Kosovo and Metohija - Boris Tadić - now owes it the citizens to say where he finds himself:

"Wherever he managed to arrive to, not a single further step must be made from there. Wherever it is that he finds himself, in his attempts to curry favor and remain (as president) for a third mandate, whatever he put his signature to that is damaging to Serbia, that is in no way binding to me."

The rally, that was notably not secured by members of the Kosovo police, KPS, also heard addresses from other SNS officials and their coalition partners Aleksandar Vulin, Velimir Ilić and Borislav Prelević, among others, as well as Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić.