Brussels agreement “cannot be forcibly implemented”

SARAJEVO Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic says that the implementation of the Brussels agreement is a complex process that cannot be done by force. He expressed belief that the implementation would go faster once Kosovo Serbs understood the essence of the agreement. Brussels agreement “cannot be forcibly implemented” “After a little time passes and they realize that they will stay on their own land, plan their own future and have instruments that will ensure that, then the implementation will go more quickly,” Mrkic said. “You cannot change the picture over night and expect that someone who got used to something different now accepts something new immediately,” the minister told Anadolu news agency. Commenting on reactions to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic's apology for crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mrkic said that one should not look for political messages in these statements. “I understood my president's statements as the statements of a man who expressed how he felt,” he noted. “Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the relations in the region have never been better than they are now,” the foreign minister said, adding that they wee based on the understanding that all countries needed mutual cooperation. “We depend on each other, and have to rely on each other,” Mrkic pointed out. Speaking about the forthcoming trilateral meeting between the presidents of Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in Ankara on May 14-15, the minister said that the meeting would be a meaningful one and that "positive messages" would be sent. Ivan Mrkic (Beta, file) Tanjug

Brussels agreement “cannot be forcibly implemented”

“After a little time passes and they realize that they will stay on their own land, plan their own future and have instruments that will ensure that, then the implementation will go more quickly,” Mrkić said.

“You cannot change the picture over night and expect that someone who got used to something different now accepts something new immediately,” the minister told Anadolu news agency.

Commenting on reactions to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić's apology for crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mrkić said that one should not look for political messages in these statements.

“I understood my president's statements as the statements of a man who expressed how he felt,” he noted.

“Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the relations in the region have never been better than they are now,” the foreign minister said, adding that they wee based on the understanding that all countries needed mutual cooperation.

“We depend on each other, and have to rely on each other,” Mrkić pointed out.

Speaking about the forthcoming trilateral meeting between the presidents of Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in Ankara on May 14-15, the minister said that the meeting would be a meaningful one and that "positive messages" would be sent.