According to Adriatik Kelmendi, the responsibility for the very much discussed issue of the demarcation of the border between Kosovo and Montenegro belongs to greediness, corruption and minor thefts committed by some individuals during the past years. Kelmendi notes that based on the discussions with eminent geography university professors, the commission for demarcation of the borderline was mainly based on municipal border of Peja and Berane (former Ivangrad) which were set in 1931. He adds that in majority of the maps after the Second World War, Kosovo appears to have 8000 hectares more.
The truth is, notes Kelmendi, that Albanian owners of these lands preferred to refer to municipal borders during Serbia’s governing of Kosovo, in order to avoid taxes by claiming that they are paying them to Berane municipality. They followed this course even after the war and for the same reasons, he says, hoping that they would be able to avoid taxes forever. Profiteers of this situation got alarmed only after they understood that their lands will now remain in another state.
The same happened with the politicians who remembered to deal with this issue only when demarcation was reaching its end. “The main responsibility of course stands on Kosovo’s Governing Commission, who for still unclear reasons, decided not to consider state borders, and succumbed to the municipal ones,” writes Kelmendi. However, he considers that the situation is much simpler than some government officials consider it to be. “The made mistake has to be corrected. There is not a single reason to accept something that remains a mistake only because it was intentionally treated wrongly 80 years ago.” State borders are more important than the municipal ones, notes Kelmendi. According to him, the first step should be dismissal of the Commission, as proposed by opposition parties, due to the above mentioned mistakes. A new Commission with international and local experts should establish with consensus of the political parties from both from the coalition government and opposition. The current agreement for demarcation should be rejected at the Assembly. “And it should not be forgotten to request proof for the tax payments which were (allegedly) made during all this time by the owners of these lands which with current demarcation would belong to Montenegro,” concludes Kelmendi.
