The annexation of Serbia’s southern region advocated by Pristina and the ethnic Albanians from the Presevo Valley would be a partition of central Serbia not of Kosovo, Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, said on Thursday.
“That is an issue no one from Serbia could talk about with the Albanians,” he was quoted as saying by the Beta news agency, in what seems to be the first Belgarde’s public reaction to the issue brought up by the leaders from Pristina and Presevo Valley, mostly populated by the ethnic Albanians.
They have been talking about the necessity to chop off that part of Serbia’s south in the process of “border corrections” and attach it to the Kosovo territory, while excluding the partition of Kosovo or the swap of territories under the “north (of Kosovo) for the south” (of Serbia) principle.
Those leaders say Serbia has been neglecting its Albanian population for 17 years, depriving them of the rights stipulated by the laws and constitution. Therefore, they see the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue as a process which should start dealing with their status as well.
Ljajic said that at the moment there was no a legally binding document in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and that the frozen conflict remained.
“Every solution that appeared in media is met with criticism, while no one wants to say for how long should we wait for the frozen conflict to end? Ten, fifty, a hundred years, and then what? You have to talk again and suggest a solution,” Ljajic told the Prva TV.
He said that Serbia had to come out with “a creative solution” to the Kosovo problem, adding it could not be agreed upon without the role of the European Union, the US and other great powers.
“If that issue could be solved in a direct (Serbian-Albanian) dialogue, it would have been done. It is clear that the Albanians had the support of the international community in achieving their goals. Without a real involvement of the great powers this problem will hardly be resolved,” Ljajic said.
