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Vucic responds to claim that he "disappointed" Merkel (Tanjug, B92)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday in Istanbul commented on a statement made by Serb politician from Kosovo and Metohija Rada Trajkovic, B92 reports. Namely, Vucic reacted after Trajkovic said that he had been "working behind the back of German Chancellor Angela Merkel," and also, that he had "disappointed Merkel." "To Merkel - as to everybody else - I said all that needed to be said to their faces, just as I was ready to be told everything to my face - but I am not ready to have a discussion with everyone who thinks they're important just because they've uttered something against me," Vucic said. He reiterated that he had told Merkel - who on Monday announced she would not be seeking reelection - "everything to her face," but then wondered, "who is Rada Trajkovic." "Excuse me, who is she? Is she a councilor in Savski Venac (Belgrade municipality) by any chance, has she been elected by anyone in Savski Venac - given that that's where she lives - while she's talking about Kosovo - so I ask, whom does she represent," Vucic said, in response to a journalist's question. "And what am I supposed to comment on," the president went on. "The fact that a newspaper has nothing else to do, they run out of everyone who hates me all day long, and then arrived at what Rada Trajkovic has to say?" "Who is she representing? Are there 100 Serbs on the planet Earth who support her? No, there aren't. And what is it that I've been doing behind her back? Well, I told Angela Merkel everything to her face. I think she remarked at the time, 'If you were someone else, Aleksandar...' I told her, 'You can do what you like with me, but that's what I think'. As you can see, I speak to them (world leaders) very openly, just as I did today with the parliamentarians," Vucic said. The Serbian president was in Istanbul on Monday at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the opening of a new airport.