Official rules out "exchange of territory"

Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanović on Wednesday ruled out any possible "exchange of territory" as a solution for the Kosovo status crisis.

Izvor: Beta

Thursday, 22.07.2010.

11:16

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Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanovic on Wednesday ruled out any possible "exchange of territory" as a solution for the Kosovo status crisis. However, Ivanovic said he expected western countries to "offer a partition of Kosovo". Official rules out "exchange of territory" In an interview for Slovakia's TASR news agency, Ivanovic said the world was tired of the Kosovo problem, revisiting it when incidents occur, and only to try and offer a "pragmatic solution". "The conflict (in Kosovo) will be frozen. No solution that excludes Serbia is sustainable. For this reason, I think there will be a time when the western world will not be able to rescind its recognitions (of the ethnic Albanian UDI), but will not pressure (other countries) for further recognitions, because that takes up a lot of energy for an objectively speaking small region with a small number of residents," he was quoted as saying. A pragmatic solution, according to Ivanovic, will be an offer coming from the west "on something that would represent a partition of Kosovo, so that both sides feel they had gained something". "A special status for the (Serb) north of Kosovo is the first phase of what we talked about, that is, a partition offer. When it comes to exchanging territory, that is out of the question. An exchange of territory does not happen on a map, it happens in real life. It would mean a humanitarian relocation of the population. Something of the kind never happened in modern Europe without a war," said he. Ivanovic also suggested that the so-called Cypriot model could be employed in the case of Kosovo, where Serbia would join the EU with its province, but where EU laws would not apply to the part of the territory that is an international protectorate.

Official rules out "exchange of territory"

In an interview for Slovakia's TASR news agency, Ivanović said the world was tired of the Kosovo problem, revisiting it when incidents occur, and only to try and offer a "pragmatic solution".

"The conflict (in Kosovo) will be frozen. No solution that excludes Serbia is sustainable. For this reason, I think there will be a time when the western world will not be able to rescind its recognitions (of the ethnic Albanian UDI), but will not pressure (other countries) for further recognitions, because that takes up a lot of energy for an objectively speaking small region with a small number of residents," he was quoted as saying.

A pragmatic solution, according to Ivanović, will be an offer coming from the west "on something that would represent a partition of Kosovo, so that both sides feel they had gained something".

"A special status for the (Serb) north of Kosovo is the first phase of what we talked about, that is, a partition offer. When it comes to exchanging territory, that is out of the question. An exchange of territory does not happen on a map, it happens in real life. It would mean a humanitarian relocation of the population. Something of the kind never happened in modern Europe without a war," said he.

Ivanović also suggested that the so-called Cypriot model could be employed in the case of Kosovo, where Serbia would join the EU with its province, but where EU laws would not apply to the part of the territory that is an international protectorate.

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