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Diplomatic fight of Serbia for votes in UNESCO (Politika)

Possible Kosovo membership in the UNESCO would not change the status of the Serbian cultural heritage which is located in that area, because legally it is ownership of the Serbian Orthodox Church. But Serbia would then have to initiate diplomatic struggle, in order to certify the precise formulation of the orthodox cultural heritage in that territory, referring to it as Serbian, said Darko Tanaskovic, Serbian Ambassador to UNESCO. The official Belgrade already started diplomatic fight trying to convince the member of UNESCO not to vote for Pristina’s request.

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International law, politics and panic (Danas)

Whether Kosovo will become a member of UNESCO depends on the member states of this organization. Instead of panic, Serbia should welcome entering Kosovo in UNESCO, as another mechanism for the protection of heritage of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, said Kosovo Deputy FM Petrit Selimi, commenting the letter which Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia sent to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. UNESCO headquarters claims that they didn’t receive the request of Pristina that was sent through New York.

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Serbia Vows to Stop Kosovo Joining UNESCO (Balkan Insight)

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saying that Kosovo’s request to become a member of UNESCO is unacceptable under international law, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported on Sunday.

“Kosovo, as a territory under the UN’s administration, in line with the current and binding UN [Security Council] resolution 1244, cannot be considered a state subject to international law, and thereby it cannot qualify for admission into UNESCO,” RTS cited Dacic as saying in his letter.

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The story on destroyed mosques is an argument for UNESCO membership (Politika)

Pristina officials are trying to strengthen their position in diplomatic struggle for admission in UNESCO, so they initiated the bidding on the number of mosques that Serbian Security Forces allegedly ruined in Kosovo. In regards to the application of Kosovo for UNESCO membership, Serbian officials stated that “those who destroyed 150 orthodox churches and monasteries from 1999 don’t have a moral right to apply for UNESCO membership.” Reacting to that statement, Pristina officials replied that Serbian Police and Army in 1998 and 1999 destroyed from 200 to 300 Islamic places of worship.

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Stokvis: Netherland will not be against Kosovo's admission to UNESCO (Danas)  

The outgoing Dutch Ambassador in Serbia Laurent Stokvis said in an interview for Danas that he expect opening of the first chapter in the negotiations with the EU during this year. Stokvis has indicated that, from a technical point of view "an action plan for Chapter 23 on the rule of law has not been adopted ".

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Miscevic: The precedent that would harm UNESCO (Blic)

Kosovo's membership in UNESCO would be a precedent that would harm the future functioning of the organization, which Serbia sees as very important for the protection of its cultural heritage, said the head of Serbia's negotiating team with the European Union (EU), Tanja Miscevic. In regards to the Kosovo’s bid to join UNESCO, she said that the international organizations are, unfortunately, influenced by politics, and pointed out that Serbia needs to increase its diplomatic activity, in order to prevent a negative outcome. Miscevic pointed out that there are several possible scenarios, but t

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Vulin in Prizren: We will fight against Kosovo's membership in UNESCO (RTK2)

Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Issues, Aleksandar Vulin, addressed the journalists after the liturgy in the monastery of the Holy Archangels in Prizren, marking the monastery celebration Holy Archangel Gabriel. He said that March 17 is not forgotten and that those who burned the Virgin Ljeviška and dozens of Serbian churches now want to present themselves as the guardians of the heritage of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo. "How we could believe that they could be guardians of the Serbian heritage when they burned Serbian churches and beheaded father Hariton.

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Abstaining countries indirectly help Pristina (Vecernje Novosti)

UNESCO Secretariat didn’t receive the Kosovo application to become a member of this UN Organization, learned Novosti in Paris. On the other side Pristina announced that it sent application a week ago. Due to this intention of Kosovo officials, Serbian diplomacy is “in action”. As stated, it is important to provide that countries, which are abstained  to support Pristina, vote against that proposal.

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We will also request admission to the other organizations (Danas)

Petrit Selimi, Deputy Chief of Kosovo diplomacy Why Pristina is so sure that Kosovo will “pass” the mechanism of voting in the Executive Council and the General Assembly of UNESCO this autumn?  We have worked very closely in cooperation with all international partners and we constantly evaluated when the optimal moment for the nomination is. Already in January we decided to apply, so that our request could be discussed at the November session of the UNESCO General Conference.

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UNESCO to review Kosovo’s membership application on 3 October (RTK)

UNESCO’s Executive Council will review Kosovo’s application for membership on 3 October. According to Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi, Serbia will be unable to prevent Kosovo’s membership. “Legally, Kosovo is eligible to apply to UNESCO because two-thirds of votes are not necessary and there are many European countries that gained UNESCO membership before becoming members of the UN”, said Selimi in an interview for Radio Kosova.

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