The representatives of the Serbian community condemned the statement of Kosovo’s Minister for Diaspora Valon Murati, who said that one of the reasons for discontent and mass emigration of Albanians from Kosovo is the privileged status of minorities and problematic relation with the Serbian community.
Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Branimir Stojanovic said that statement of Minister Murati is scandalous and it reflects the hatred not only against the Serbs, but also against all minority communities. Stojanović says that this statement has nothing to do with the truth, because Serbs are not privileged, nor they governed Kosovo institutions so that they could be the reason for the departure of Albanians from Kosovo. “Prime Minister Mustafa should say whether this is the official policy of the Government, or personal opinion of the Minister. This statement will significantly jeopardize our future decisions and it reflects an unacceptable attitude,” says Stojanovic.
The lawyer Azem Vlasi points out that it is wrong to invent reasons for mass exodus of Albanians from Kosovo, as well as that politicians have a special responsibility for their statements. “The same as Jablanović had to be careful, that’s how all officials must be careful, because they are not ordinary citizens or political analysts,” he said, adding that everything officials say, which is contrary to the official politics, is inappropriate.
One of the basic ideas of the Ahtisaari plan, which is incorporated into the Constitution of Kosovo, is a guarantee that the constitutional and legal changes that directly affect the interests of minorities cannot be adopted without the consent of two-thirds of 20 members of minority communities. Ljubinko Todorovic, former deputy of the then Ombudsman Marek Nowicki, said that a similar solution for the protection of minorities was adopted in other jurisdictions. In Kosovo, it represents a fundamental mechanism for the protection of minority rights.
A representative of the Roma community in Kosovo Assembly, MP Kujtim Pacaku, does not believe that the statement of the Minister Murati was aimed at the Roma community.
