BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Hina) - The mentioning of a "new Dayton agreement" does not constitute the advocating of a revision of borders, but - quite the contrary - respect for and defence of the borders, as well as a demand for what other
countries had acquired a long time ago with the help of the international community, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said in an interview with the "Vecernje Novosti" daily of Monday.
BELGRADE, Jan 13 (Hina) - The mentioning of a "new Dayton agreement"
does not constitute the advocating of a revision of borders, but -
quite the contrary - respect for and defence of the borders, as well
as a demand for what other countries had acquired a long time ago
with the help of the international community, Serbian Prime
Minister Zoran Djindjic said in an interview with the "Vecernje
Novosti" daily of Monday. #L#
Commenting on his statement given to the German paper "Der
Spiegel", which caused fierce reactions in Sarajevo, as well as in
part of the Serbian public, Djindjic said that his statement did not
bring into question the borders, sovereignty and rights of any
country. It only meant that Serbia's borders, too, had to be
inalienable and that Serbs, too, had to have the right to ethnic
self-determination, Djinjdic said.
Djindjic claims that in the case of Kosovo - which according to the
UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 is defined as part of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, while Serbia is not mentioned -
"unlike Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and all other former Yugoslav
and Soviet republics, the principle of ethnic self-determination
is being introduced more and more evidently".
Djindjic fears that Serbs could eventually end up as the biggest
losers, with Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia having lost their right to
self-determination and Serbia facing the danger of being broken up
and deprived of a not so small part of its territory.
Serbs in Kosovo must be also granted collective ethnic rights,
which would be protected by adequate institutions on the model of
"Dayton constitutiveness", which will enable them to survive and
help refugees return to their homes in Kosovo, says Djindjic.
"Individual civil rights alone are not enough to Kosovo Serbs,
because they exercise those rights in more than an inadequate
manner, with the help of armoured vehicles and military patrols. As
the Serbian prime minister I cannot visit Pristina or Pec or any
Serb enclave. Not to see this and to talk only about the civil rights
of Serb citizens, while Serbia's international borders and the
Dayton agreement itself are being violated due to Albanian ethnic
rights is, to say the least, two-faced and unfair," Djindjic said,
explaining his statement in the interview to Der Spiegel.
(hina) rml