| Tadić hints at Kosovo partition |
| 30 September 2008 | 09:25 -> 15:00
| Source:
Beta, Tanjug |
BELGRADE --
President Boris Tadić has hinted at the possibility of a partition of Kosovo, but only if all other options linked to Kosovo’s status have been exhausted.
 | Boris Tadić (FoNet archive)
|
Tadić told state broadcaster RTS that partition of the province as an option was not currently “on the agenda“, but that Belgrade wished to continue searching for a solution within the framework of the concept of Kosovo having maximum autonomy within Serbia.
“I’m prepared to consider that option too, if we exhaust all the previous ones, but there are quite a few of them. There are still a lot of possibilities to find a solution within the concept of substantial autonomy. But, if we exhaust every possibility, then we can move to that option,“ said the president.
He said that “all initiatives are legitimate“ within the Kosovo status process, and that anything was better than the situation whereby one side loses everything.
Serbia’s struggle to preserve her sovereignty and territorial integrity would, according to Tadić, be a long-running process, that could end positively for her only if Belgrade pursued a sober policy and raised the country’s international credibility.
Serbia’s initiative to ask the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral independence should, he said, be viewed in the context of bolstering Serbia’s international position.
However, Kosovo leaders have dismissed Tadić’s remarks concerning a partition, labeling them “unacceptable“.
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said that Kosovo was an independent and internationally recognized state. “Our clear position is well-known. We are a state and anything else is futile,“ Sejdiu told reporters in Priština.
Kosovo Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi said that this was not Serbia’s first attempt to divide Kosovo.
“Nevertheless, Kosovo has its own borders that more and more (in the international community) are recognizing. I don’t think processes in the Balkans or Europe require any new retracing of Kosovo’s borders,“ said Krasniqi.
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