Serbian state broadcaster RTS reports that members of the Kosovo Assembly, Arban Abrashi and Nait Hasani, visited Bujanovac and supported the idea of a referendum on the unification of municipalities in the south of Serbia Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja with Kosovo, and inclusion of the issue in the Belgrade - Pristina negotiations.
Announcing the concept of a meeting with the Serbian delegation in Paris on July 1, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has once again "poked Belgrade in the eye," Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti write today.
Daily write that he announced he would present at the talks hosted by French President Emamnuel Macron the idea that Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja join the "territory of the Republic of Kosovo." It would be, he considered, "correcting the historical injustice," Novosti reports.
Belgrade based news agency Tanjug reports that Ragmi Mustafa confirmed that Bujanovac mayor Shaip Kamberi, member of the Serbian National Assembly Fatmir Hasani and he did not send a new letter, with an initiative to join the finale of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, to Federica Mogherini and Hashim Thaci.
The President of the National Council of Albanians Ragmi Mustafa, Bujanovac Mayor Shaip Kamberi and a member of the Serbian Parliament Fatmir Hasani, sent an initiative for the inclusion of the Presevo Valley into the final phase of the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, reports KIM radio, quoting Radio Television of Serbia (RTS).
The initiative was sent to the head of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini, Hashim Thaci and the coordinators of the Kosovo delegation, Shpend Ahmeti and Fatmir Limaj.
Albanian political analyst Azem Vllasi said that the annexation of the Presevo valley to Kosovo is not a realistic option.
Vllasi, a senior communist official in Kosovo during the 1980s, said that the annexation of that part of southern Serbia is something that everyone in Kosovo wants.
He told Pristina-based KTV that President Hashim Thaci’s insisting on the annexation of the Presevo valley is not a realistic option.
Bujanovac mayor Shaip Kamberi said on Wednesday that the Presevo valley in southern Serbia should either be annexed to Kosovo or get the same status as the Serbs in the north, FoNet news agency reported.
Kamberi added Pristina would have huge support if it chose to adjust the borders to include that part of southern Serbia where Albanian population live. “If Kosovo chooses that path it has great support to annex the Presevo valley and if not, we should get reciprocity with the north,” he told Kosovo public broadcaster RTK.
The Draft Law on Dialogue with Serbia means the official Pristina new approach in Brussels talks, but the question is whether it is realistic and whether it will be applicable in the further course of the dialogue process, professor and expert for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Belul Beqaj said.
Ragmi Mustafa says "there cannot be normalization" between Belgrade and Pristina "without inclusion of the Presevo valley."
Mustafa is the new President of the Albanian Minority National Council in Serbia.
"Presevo valley" is the informal name for a region in the southern part of central Serbia that has ethnic Albanian minorities in three of its largest towns: Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja.
Serbia’s citizens are split in understanding what the term separation from Kosovo means, with 41 percent saying they know the meaning and 39 admitting they have no clue, shows the latest opinion poll by the Demostat, investigative publishing centre, the Beta news agency reported on Friday.
The poll was conducted from October 7 to 18 and covered 1,200 people.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic says that Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's independence and allow UN membership, and stresses that Pristina authorities daily send very diverse messages that are not related to reality, reports Serbian media.
In the case of Kosovo, a compromise should be sought, and for the statements of Hashim Thaci regarding the merger of Presevo, Dacic says that "he must say something, because he is attacked from all sides".