Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic that Ankara will support any agreement on Kosovo reached by Serbs and Albanians, the Serbian president’s cabinet said in Wednesday’s press release.
Speaking to Vucic by telephone, Erdogan said that Turkey will support any agreement reached by Belgrade and Pristina as part of their dialogue on Kosovo.
The delimitation between Serbia and Kosovo, as a solution to the Kosovo problem, is supported by 25 percent of respondents, while 44 percent do not support it, according to the latest poll conducted by the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), reported Belgrade-based daily Blic, N1 is quoting.
CeSID conducted the opinion poll from September 5 to 20, covering 1,510 Serbia’s citizens over 18 years of age in a door-to-door survey.
Colonel Nik Ducic, commander of the US Bondsteel base in Kosovo, said on Friday that President Hashim Thaci’s visit to the Gazivode lake was about domestic politics.
The colonel told Gracanica TV that the visit upset both the Serb and Albanian communities even though there were no incidents. “You know that there was a protest in Pristina that day which was not reported by the media. There were no incidents and no one was arrested. I wouldn’t exaggerate but would view this as a domestic political step,” he said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic warned of Friday of possible violent incidents in the town of Mitrovica.
“I fear ideas about Kosovska Mitrovica because we have indications that some people could try to storm across the bridge (between the Serb and Albanian sections of that town). We have informed the international community and we will ask them to prevent that,” the president said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic did not achieve the goals he set on the eve of the visit, or he did not get "approval for his version of Kosovo's recognition," said today's Moscow daily Kommersant.
The newspaper states that the Serbian president often stays in Russia, "more often than any other president," adding that Putin is quite popular in the Balkans, and that another arrival in Moscow means a rise in popularity by several percent for the Serbian president.
KFOR spokesman Vincenzo Grasso said on Wednesday that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was not accompanied by any paramilitary or special forces units when he went to the Gazivode lake and did not need permission from the NATO-led forces for the visit.
Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that the demarcation with Kosovo is the least painful suggestion and that it includes that in addition to the northern part, all other areas populated by the Serbs which could be territorially linked to central Serbia remain parts of the country, the Beta news agency reported on Tuesday.
The Kosovo and Metohija Office announced that in the village of Grabac in the municipality of Klina, around 15 Serbian returnees’ houses were broken into and condemned the attempt to jeopardize the security of Serbs, reports regional broadcaster N1.
Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Beghjet Pacolli surprised Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday when he walked up to her while she was making a statement to the media.
While shaking hands, Brnabic asked him who gave him permission to be at the UN and Pacolli replied in Serbian: “I got your permission”. Brnabic responded saying “Not mine, if you had asked me...”.
Russia’s Ambassador to Serbia Alexandar Chepurin said on Tuesday that no one can force Serbia to recognize Kosovo.
Speaking at the inauguration of the newly-named village of Putinovo outside the southern Serbian town of Medvedja, Chepurin said that Serbia has a strong international position.