Serb politicians in Kosovo’s ethnically-mixed Klina municipality are opposing the naming of a street after Belgrade-based human rights activist Natasa Kandic, saying she does not represent them.
Serb councillors in Klina said the street should not be named after activist Natasa Kandic, the founder of the Humanitarian Law Centre NGO, which has investigated war crimes by Belgrade’s forces during the late 1990s Kosovo conflict.
“Our community does not agree with naming the street after Natasa Kandic… Kandic does not represent our community,” said Bozidar Sarkovic, a councillor in the Klina local assembly.
A majority in the assembly, which includes Kosovo Albanian councillors as well, proposed naming the street after Kandic.
But Serb representatives in the assembly want to name it after Croatian-born Serb inventor Nikola Tesla instead – a suggestion which Kandic herself does not oppose.
“I think the decision to name it after Nikola Tesla is the right one. I might have a different comment on the issue if they wanted to name it after a debatable figure,” Kandic told BIRN.
“Nikola Tesla is a figure who has an importance for all of us, including both the Albanian and Serb community,” she said.
This is the second time this year that there has been controversy over honouring Kandic in Kosovo.
In March, a proposal to declare her an ‘honorary citizen’ of the town of Gjakova/Djakovica was criticised by war victims’ groups.
The mayor of the town said Kandic deserved to be honoured for her role in exposing Serbian war crimes in Gjakova/Djakovica, where some of the worst atrocities took place during the late 1990s conflict in Kosovo.
But Kosovo’s Coordinating Council of Family Associations on the Missing called the suggestion anti-Albanian and offensive.
“No honour for any Serbian citizen until [Belgrade] asks for forgiveness,” the organisation said.
