| Koštunica: Ahtisaari’s message is clear |
| 29 August 2006 | 09:19
| Source:
B92, FoNet |
BELGRADE --
Vojislav Koštunica said that Martti Ahtisaari’s message is clear and that talks of context are irrelevant.
 | Vojislav Koštunica
|
The Serbian Prime Minister said that it is important for the entire national and international public to precisely and swiftly give their stances on what the UN’s Special Envoy for the Kosovo Status Talks, Martti Ahtisaari, told the Belgrade negotiation team on August 8 in Vienna.
“It is not hard to remember his statement because it is clear in its brutality and is ideologically recognisable. Ahtisaari said that Serbs, as a people, are to blame.” Koštunica said.
“When you hear that statement, all talks of foggy notions and specific and general contexts become pointless. The Serbian people are well aware of the only context of that stigma. Because of this, there is no question that the Serbian Government and the entire negotiation team will systematically and on an everyday basis, take diplomatic actions to let international officials know what kind of heavy prejudices Ahtisaari has against the Serbian people.” Koštunica said.
He continued: “At the discussion in Vienna on July 24, we could not hear any argument that supported Kosovo independence. From this dead end emerged the first and only argument, which Ahtisaari gave. In the time ahead of us, we will surely look into what Ahtisaari’s argument that Serbs are responsible as a people actually means, and see that it is a foundation for an independent Kosovo.” Koštunica said.
Koštunica added that making a campaign for Ahtisaari’s removal from the UN office should wait.
“We will wait and see what Ahtisaari will do after this, and we will wait to see what the results of our diplomatic actions will be.” Koštunica said.
Martti Ahtisaari’s recent comments regarding Kosovo were criticised at yesterday’s status negotiation team meeting.
Yesterday’s meeting, attended by Serbian President Boris Tadić, Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, Foreign Affairs Minister Vuk Drašković, ending with very strong criticism of the UN’s special envoy for the Kosovo status talks, and with the announcement of a parliamentary meeting for the discussion of the Kosovo situation.
Serbia will not be asking for Ahtisaari to leave the position of special envoy, but will begin a diplomatic offensive that will try and prove his subjectivity, officials said after the two-hour meeting.
Ahtisaari commented last week that the Serbian people are at fault for the current situation in Kosovo, as they are the historical successors of the Milošević regime.
UN replies
 | Martti Ahtisaari (FoNet)
|
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s spokesperson Brandon Varma said that Ahtisaari did not overstep the bounds with his statement.
“Annan supports Ahtisaari. His words might have been taken out of a wider context, but as far as we see, he only wanted to say that historical heritage cannot be ignored.” Varma told the Tanjug agency.
“Annan trusts Ahtisaari, who has a lot of international experience, and is not considering replacing him.” Varma said.
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