Official says no mention of southern Serbia territory swap (Danas, Beta, N1 )
A Serbian government official said there has never been any official talk about the annexation to Kosovo of three municipalities in southern Serbia.
Zoran Stankovic, head of the Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja said an exchange of territories was only mentioned by some Kosovo Albanian political leaders.
“An exchange of territories and the annexation of (the municipalities of) Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja is something that was mentioned by some Kosovo Albanian leaders, primarily (President) Hashim Thaci, but nowhere in talks with the international community has an exchange of territories been mentioned officially and nowhere has any doubt been cast on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia in those three municipalities,” he told Belgrade newspaper Danas.
Stankovic, a former career medical corps officer and defence minister, recalled that the international community feels that there should be no territorial changes and that the governments of Albania and Kosovo never mentioned those three municipalities in their talks.
He expressed the opinion that the future of the people living in those three municipalities is in Serbia, adding that they should work together to secure the better situation that they all want.