By Miroslav Lazanski
Local experts for the constitutional law are pointing out that Kosovo’s autonomy within Serbia was at the lower level than the one of Crimea within Ukraine.
Everything is leading toward successful organization of a referendum on the statehood independence of Crimea. Voters’ registers are already dispatched to polling stations, election commissions and monitoring boards are already settled, whereas a modern media press-center was launched yesterday in Simferopol, where first press-conference was staged by the Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgalijev. In his first address Temirgalijev reflected on the announcements coming from the Organization for European Security and Cooperation (OSCE) that tit won’t recognize referendum in Crimea, because it’s ‘illegal’.
In that context Temirgalijev reminded that OSCE didn’t have such stance in the case of Kosovo. Moreover, Crimea will have the referendum on independence, whereas Kosovo didn’t have it. Constitution of Serbia, from the time before dissolution of the SFRY and Constitution of the SFRY from 1974, are currently most quoted foreign documents in media and by local politicians here, in the context of recently adopted declaration on statehood independence of the Republic of Crimea on 11 March.
Local politicians and experts for constitutional law are simply showing an astonishing knowledge with regards to Serbian Constitution. They are pointing out on West’s double standards, stressing that Kosovo assembly, based on Serbian Constitution, didn’t have the right to declare independence, thus the autonomy of Kosovo within Serbia was, in legal terms, of the lower level than the autonomy of Crimea within the constitutional order of Ukraine. Pursuant to that, Crimea, according to their opinion, has more rights on statehood independence than Kosovo.
On Washington’s stances that Kosovo ‘had the right to declare independence, because the regime in Serbia had tortured, maltreated and discriminated local Albanians in Kosovo, whereas Kiev didn’t do that to Russians in Crimea,’ professor of the international law in Simferopol Alexey Mironov replied with questions: “Who is the one at the international plan who should assess what is torture, maltreating and discrimination of the entire ethnic community? How is that measured? How are the proportions of maltreating measured, and what amount of maltreating is sufficient in order that secession of the part of the state territory is allowed?
Is the power of assessment and final conclusion exclusively in possession of the West? Or did West in case of Yugoslavian-Serbian case adopted the role of the prosecutor, judge and executor, whereas it is surprised now when it can’t apply it in Crimea?
Authorities have announced that all Ukrainian state companies with the seat in Crimea will be converted into ownership of Crimea. That, first of all, refers to railways and petrol-gas companies, whereas all others will be able to continue with their operation following re-registration.
