By Barry Wood
Washington
23 March 2006
With independence now seen among Western governments as the likely outcome of talks about the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo, the European Union Wednesday called on the Kosovo Albanians to take action to protect the province's Serbian minority. Minority rights is taking center stage in the status negotiations.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Kosovo's prime minister, Agim Ceku, that he is insisting on full protection for the territory's 10 percent Serbian minority. The discussions in Brussels were the first between Solana and the recently installed Mr. Ceku. The EU official expressed their frustration with the Kosovo leader, saying there has been a lot of talk on protecting the Serbian minority, but very little action.
United Nations sponsored talks on Kosovo began last month and a third meeting between officials from Serbia and Kosovo is scheduled for April 3rd. The talks thus far have focused on local government but minority rights and cultural heritage will soon be discussed.
Independence is now almost certainly the intended outcome of the talks even though this is vigorously opposed by Serbia. Jack Straw, Britain's foreign secretary, recently became the highest-level western official to endorse independence, saying it was almost inevitable. Kosovo, whose population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 after a 78 day NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to withdraw. The status negotiations are guided by a contact group of six nations-the United States, Britain, Russia, France, Germany, and Italy.
At a forum Wednesday at Washington's Georgetown University, Balkans specialist and former U.S .ambassador to Turkey Mort Abramowitz said the status negotiations provide the opportunity to get Kosovo's Albanian majority to enact meaningful minority safeguards.
"And the best you can do right now is, I believe, pressure the Kosovars on how important this is, and to get them to carry out whatever activities and legislation they can do to improve the lot of the Serb and other minorities," he said.
Abramowitz said the ongoing Kosovo negotiations must determine whether the territory will have full independence and a seat in the United Nations. Similarly, he said the status of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica in the north must be resolved.
Charles Kupchan, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown said it would be a mistake to eliminate any possibility of territorial adjustments. The Serbian populated land north of Mitrovica is adjacent to Serbia proper. "Unless the international community and Pristina is prepared to do what is necessary to reattach Mitrovica and northern Kosovo to a functioning state, I don't think they should make partition unacceptable. This is an area that is almost 100 percent Serb," he said.
The UN and the six-nation contact group have ruled out territorial adjustments as well as any future merger between an independent Kosovo and neighboring Albania.
The UN officials chairing the Kosovo talks hope to reach a settlement by the end of the year.
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41 comments:
It would be cool if the Kosovareport would list where the article came from WashPost? NYT? whatever.
May be it would be a good idea of swaping N. Mitrovica with Albanian side in Serbia.
Then you can work on minority rights easier. I don't believe some Serbs in Mitrovica will respect Kosova as their home even if they got a distinct society status like French Canadians have.
Sadly I have to admit that Western Powers are not ready to embrace this.
A country cannot gain its independence with spllited cities. It is unquestionable that Mitrovice will be united into one single state as it has ever been as the indipendence will come.
To the anonymous:
This article actually came from the Voice of America.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-23-voa4.cfm
Thanks a lot Mr. Kosovareport!
I agree with Arianit. But from what I heard Kosovo will stay intact. There are to be territorial concessions. Interestingly UNMIK has now placed a lot of institutions (like the courts) on the North. But a lot of people are waiting for the worst when independence comes.
I didn't mean territorial concessions but a lot of concessions on rights including horizontal rights for the Serbs and Belgrade. The next talks are 3 April and likely to be very difficult.
Mr.Shaw says is possibly inevitable..now VOA comes out saying Independence is INEVITABLE...no what's , if's or anything. HA HA Finally hundreds of years of oppression freedom comes at last.
Like Kosovars say, Pavarsi (freedom).
Ivan/cvj any comments before you kiss Kosova off your hands forever?
Mir that's somewhat true but one thing who was someone in here I think that kept saying "better kiss SERBIAN ass blah blah..?"
The black 2 headed eagle with a blood red background must be (remain to be) the flag of Kosova. The only thing that could be changed is: the red background could be turned around vertically (long ways) but of course the eagle should remain upright and perhaps slightly towards the top of the upright rectangled background.
the patriot
Howzabouts a white Plis (kapuç i bardhë) on top of the shqiponja dykrenare????
The patriot
The only other colour that could perhaps be added to independent Kosova's flag would be a yellow (gold) rim around the upright vertical red packground.
The Patriot
As I think that we have our own identity, our flag should represent it. Copying the albanian flag would mean that we are the same people with the same destiny which is strictly false.
Dardania is now a holly place, I know that you totaly dislike religious rhetoric but this is what we feel over here in Switzerland. People talk about it like a dream which unites and a constructive dream.
We shouldn't confuse between albania albanians and dardania albanians. Some of you will say that we are the same just because of your patriotism which is understandable and honours you but we have to see reality and take the right conclusions.
Just to come back to the article, North Dardania is strictly not a albanian free zone, we have even albanians after Merdare, I've been there and seen the reality. Charles KUPCHAN is known for its arm chair analysis and in that case it's not suitable for a correct report of the situation.
E kemi tërë nji objektiv por duhemi tash për tash me bajt në zemër. Nji super shtet ~70% musliman (edhe pse nuk jemi fetar të fortë) kuptohët që e trishton Europën...
Hekurani
Its surprising how many morons are still living in Kosova. It seems the best have been killed by serbs and only garbage has remained. Open your damned eyes and see that we are not out of the woods yet. We are negotiating with serbs about the status no matter what those sellouts in parliament say. The only person worth following is Albin Kurti cause the rest have been proven to be spineless imbeciles who have sold Kosova for money. Adem Jashari is turning in his grave today while our "leaders"are making bargains with serbs about Kosovas'status. Which should be nothing but independence.
Whoever said Kupchan is just arm chair analysis is right but he does bend the ear of the D.C.
And Kristian has a great ideas for the flag! I like the colour scheme a lot.
But this discussion also points out one of the main problems of the process right now, which is the lack of real information about the status talks and what they will eventually mean at the end of the day. A nation cannot in this day and age be based solely on ethnicity unless you want to go back to Milosevic and for that matter Hitler. And Kosova is not Albania. And you have to respect all of your minorities not just the Serbs.
The status talks are not about independence, in fact, but about the relationship between the serb minority and the Albanian majority and how the government will pan out. The fact is independence is a given the UN seat is not and neither is help from the IMF, World Bank et. al. all this will depend on the implementation of standards--meaning protection of minorities.
I think that the flag of Kosova should be a modern flag. But we should definately have a WHITE STAR on our flag as the symbol of out appreciation for the United States of America. Kosovar/Dardanians will never forget the US led NATO campaign to free us from the opression.
The Rugova proposed flag should be our government crest, and i think our new flag should
be red and black stripes with a big White American Star in the middle....why not:)
Western Powers will pick a flag for us just like they did for Bosnia. Simple as that! Since liberation no one ( besides Rugova) has seriously thought about our flag and that's why they will impose it upon us.
Every country needs a flag, simple as that, just like Germans and Austrians have different flags we NEED to have our state flag.
To all you serb lovers out there: You can all go and stick your red and blue stripes up your fucking arses you fucking trecherous serbofiles...bre nënën qeni ua q _ _ _ _!! Oh and you can all wipe your arses with that blue flag of rugova as well!!!
The patriot.
Actually Mir, saying you're Serbian holds more power then Yugoslavian. For one Serbia still exists and two it shows some strength, it takes power to cause so much harm and instability in Europe--you can't say a weak country could do that, because it could not. If Yugoslavia is united, I hope they will forget about Kosova. If it did I can assure you it would not have the same name, flag, etc. The serbs would not be in total charge..so on. Also why change the flag, if we put so many colors, it will become a rainbow. I've always wanted to use Gjergj Kastriotit flag (Skenderbeut). How about the current flag, just put a blue outline around the eagle..all of it. Blue showing protection finally. ALSO why put a star, don't you remember the Serbs made us do that to say we were under Serbia..we should look up to them?
Oh Mir I don't agree with you, it wasn't America's imperialistc ideas or greed that bombed Serbia...it was your actions.
Trust me Mir America had little interest in bombing Serbia (which quite frankly they should have done EARLIER). The responsibility for what happened rests in Serbia and the responsibility for not responding earlier rests with the West.
O ti shmeker qe po shan ketu! dhe po vjell vner patriotik, nese ke diqka me thane thuaje me argumente, nese nuk pajtohesh me flamurin e Rugoves propoze nje tjeter. Por ta dish se flamurin e Rugoves ke me e lype sepse Komuniteti nderkombtar ka me ta imponu flamurin shtetror. Edhe ti ki me e pranu at flamur, sepse kame qene ultimatum, Ne te cilin as ka me pas shqiponje as kuq e zi.
Flamurin kombetar nuk kan me na leju me e perdor si flamur shtetror sepse 2 shtete nuk mujn ta ken nje flamur te njejte! Pse eshte aq e veshtire per disa me e kuptu kete fakt!? Duke e ditur ate Rugova e krijoj nje flamur ku eshte shqiponja dhe kuq e zija.
Shikojeni flamurin e Qipros, ata grek jane por flamuri i tyre nuk ka ngjajshmeri me ate grek. Ne te eshte harta e qipros. Apo flamurin e Bosnes i dizajnuar ne perendim.
Fort bukure sic ju te gjith po e dini cka ka me ndodh pa kurrfar fakti. Ku e dini ju qi flamuri ka mu impozu?? Fundi i besidemive ka me qen per statusin dhe gjendet te brendshme te Kosoves...ndoshta edhe per referndum, me voten popular per flamur te ri, po ju impozim i flamurit. Ai i huaji qi veti pse e dua flamurin e ish-Kryetarit Rugova eshte sepse ai nuk ka fuqi ta krijon nje flamur, nuk mundet vetem mi shpall nje flamur e te gjith me e leju..kjo duhet mu zgjeth me rezulatin e votes Kosovare.
Mujim me e marr flamurin kombetar the ne mes me shkru diqka sikur "zembra e ballkanit" apo "Kosova e Bashkuar"..jo ide e keqe.
Mire will you please stop using KOSOVO..a lot of people don't mind here but this is a direct insult to me...I respect you and I have stopped calling you things, will you please do the same. Call my country Kosova and the people Kosovars...when you are at home or with friends you can call my country whatever you want..but please here refrain from using that
No, the term "kosovo" is just offensive as the word "siptari"--it shows ignorance, close mindness, and racial superiority. If any of you are open minded than you will stop using the same term that the Serbian government uses. it's amazing how people know better the name of a country then the people who have lived there for thousands of years up till Illyria era. I find it very offensive because Serbians use it as a way to use that pathetic idea the name "kosovo" implies its part of serbia..blah blah. One thing Mir, what did you think the Chetniks were going to do in Kosova, throw a party? Burning everything in every direction...pure genocide my friend. Can anyone find me a clip of Seseli saying "give me on weak and i will kill 1/2 the albanians and drive the other half away from kosova"..it's something like that. I remember seeing this on tv.
Kosovo e thote e krejt bota, s'kena qka ofendohem na. Ata kan te drejte ta thirrin Kosoven me emrin e tyre.
E sa per flamur natyrisht se kan me na imponuar pasiqe nuk jemi te zot ta zgjedhim vehte.
Ende nuk ka dale kush me ndonje propozimkonkret perpos Rugoves, eshte fakt!
Runu se mos pe kapni zotin për koqe naj kah... Kishe po e zgjedhemi flamurin me i sit!
Flamuri ekziston dhe Rugova e ka dizajnua për ne. Simbolika është e fortë dhe e pranuar nga shoqeria ndërkombëtare. tash për tash trusni byëthën se kemi tjera probleme.
Actually UNMIK uses Kosovo only. I thought they used the Kosovo/a thing to but when I was editing something for them recently I was corrected to use only Kosovo for english and of course it is kosovo in Serbian. The term the Serbs use is Kosovo i Mehotija and that's the term that no one uses except for them.
Again like the flag ideas especially Kosova e Bashkuar as the motto.
http://www.etan.org/timor/CNRTflag.htm
Here is a link to the new East Timor or Timor Leste flag and the meaning behind it.Since it is an extremely new country too it would be good if people from Kosova could look at some of their examples and learn from their mistakes. They are also a small state that was colonialised by another larger power and also fought violently for their freedom and then got assistance from outside powers as well.
Sorry I posted accidently as anonymous. The term kosovo is used as an insult...and I can tell you that the word Kosova has existed then words like "kosovo", "metohija", or "kosmet". It's time people learn..if serbs still come here and call Kosova that then I am going to call serbia
"scelestus ager"..haha and I like that too (Sceh less toos Ahhh gurrrrrrr).
tironsi
no..where is the blood?
here are some flags
http://flags.com/images/ae/Albania%20Naval%20Ensign.gif
http://kcm.co.kr/mission/map/flags/Albania.jpg
http://flags.com/images/ae/Albania%20Civil.gif
and last but not least
http://www.tylermartin.com/Flags/Albania.jpg
last one..just put those words "unified Kosova" or "Powerful Kosova" whatever the message
I do tironosi..im glad you have already abandon all albanian culture. I want everyone to know how much Albanians have suffered to finally be able soon I hope breath freely without fear of dying tomorrow. You should listen to some songs written about Kosova...also do a google search of kosova and see that video of the Jewish representive talking in the assembly saying things like "your people have suffered so much, you are the only people that know what it feels like to be a Jewish person"...RED+BLACK..that's the way to go. Just add at top KOSOVA or a message in the middle..plain and simple/.
Kam friken se kur deshirojme qe te tjeret te thone Kosova ne vend te Kosovo na tregojme sa te pa-sigurte jemi e ndoshta edhe pakez shovenista!
Ne nuk mund t'ja u imponojme serbeve e botes ta quajn Kosoven ne formen tone te shqiptimit. Fundja e fundit diferenca ne mes te Kosova dhe Kosovo eshte shume e vogel. Kemi ne pune me te medha se sa nje shkronje. P.Sh. 70% e popullit papune, me rruge te ckyera, pa pavarsi, pa flamur e kushtetute, me korrupcion e maliverzime institucionale.
E neve "vetem" na ka mbete me i shti shkijet me thone Kosova ne vend te Kosovo se krejt tjerat sene i kena perfekt!!!! Sa palidhje.
...a mërzitet dikush hiq për ato & ata qindra e mijëra Shqiptar/ë që dhanë (flijuan) gjithçka për Shqiptari gjatë shekujve??? ...mendoni mirë o ju të gjorë para se të flliq'ni me idetë tuaja idioteske lidhur me ardhmërinë & flamurin e një pjesë mjaftë të madhe të Shqipërisë (të cunguar me shumë padrejtësi e dhunë nga trungu amë) siq është Kosova se na moret fytyrën bre ju humb'të gropa juve ju humb'të!!!
Here's a question for all you patriots out there.
If you owned a car and someone stole it from you and you knew who the thief was, would you:
1/ accept the fact that it's gone now and just get on with life as best you can without it?
2/ go and take back using all means available to you?
3/ ask for the mediation or the arbitration of a third party, knowing full well that this third party would ask you or force you to make concessions to the thief?
OR
4/ would you do something else?
* Before answering, please keep in mind that you are the rightful owner of the car and keep in mind how you lost the car.
The Patriot
Here's a question for all out there.
If somebody you knew (someone from your neighbourhood) took your car from you by force (stole it from you), what would you do?
Would you:
a/ just accept this (the new reality) and get on with life as best you could without the car?
b/ do your utmost to get it back, using whatever means available to you to do this?
c/ seek the mediation or arbitration of a third party, knowing full well that this third party will ask you or force you to make concessions over YOUR car?
OR
d/ do something else?
*Before you answer this question, please keep in mind that the car is rightfully yours and keep in mind how it was taken from you.
The Patriot
Thanks Tironosi for the flag history. That was really interesting.I'm beginning to think dump the star and keep a double-eagle but have horizontal stripes of differing colours so that they reflect everyone. and then use the motto, Kosova e Bashkuar on the coat of arms. I like the idea of a peaceful eagle and a clear blue sky but the colours are a little too much like the UN colours for my taste.
I am really loving this flag
http://fotw.vexillum.com/images/a/al~.gif
they could make the red and black a little dimmer or lighter then put a big 2 headed eagle in the middle with half being red and half being black...but the dimmness or lightness would contradict the drawing so the red of 1/2 eagle can still be seen, same goes for the other black side of the eagle.
Studimi: Gjermanët dhe holandezët më inteligjentët në Evropë
kosovapress
Berlin, 27 mars 2006 (Kosovapress) Time: 18 : 55
Gjermanët janë populli më inteligjent në Evropë me koeficientin mesatar të inteligjencës 107, ndërsa serbët ndodhen në vendin e fundit me 89, shkruajnë të hënën mediat gjermane.
The serbs should translate it for themselves if they want to read this .
Illyrianboy
HAHA hey ivan that study says serbians from serbia have the lowest IQ in europe..i think thats wrong cuzz SErbia aint in europe. Fauna that flag is perfect, it has red + black. That's the only two colors Kosovars will ever need. I really don't like these ideas of adding blue and white..while we're there we can add the whole rainbow. ivan u respect uer neighbors..that's why u create genocides and mass graves..way to go chetnik. If you respect them...they dont respect u..just look around
Ivane sta ti znas da budes dosadan...ebo te.
Gledaj svoga posla, puna vam je skupstina radikala i slobinih socialista.Nemate hleba da jedete a pises mi ti o Kastriotu??
Ivane,
Sta bree "u pravu si".....mizerija ste....puna vam je zemlja ratnih zlocinaca, i raznih afera, dajete minutu cutanja najvecem kriminalcu nasih doba, puna vam je batajnica albanskih leseva a ti ovde dolazis da prosipas pamet o Kastriotu i nasoj istoriji!
Zar nemas ti pametnija posla majke ti?
Samo nas ljutis bezveze, zar vii imas i trunke znalosti s'kakvom mobilizacijom naroda na Kosovu imate posla. Nema koga u svetu da na primoli da zivimo sa Beogradom, ulozicemo sve pare i kapital cele nase disaspore da ostvarimo nezavisnost. Zato batali
Kosovo i idi trazi izbore u Srbiji gde ce "mozda" reformatori da dodu u vlasti umesto crveno-fasisticke koalicije
DSS+SRS+SPS koja ti vlada zemljom!
FORMER KLA SOLDIER SAYS:
Ivane,
Mi ne govorimo samo srpski, nego i grcki i makedonski. Jel znas zasto? Zato sto treba da znas jezik tvoga neprijatelja. Jel govoris ti Albanski, ili kako kzes ti "siptarski" picku ti materinu jebem?
Idi pusi "siptarski" kurac jel nista drugo ne mzes da radis jebem ti kurvu od majke sto te rodila!!!
I can't believe the posts of some of the morons talking about Dardania and Albanians in Kosova being different from those of Albania and all that crap. That was Serb propaganda for 90 years and it didn't work and now these "Dardans" want to come and achieve the lifelong Serb dream, a new identity for the Albanians of Kosova!
You are a brainless spineless piece of horse manure!!!
Listen, the Albanian Rebirth began in Kosova at the League of Prizren. The current Prime Minister of Albania is from Kosova! And Albanians are Albanians wherever they are!!!
I was born in Prishtina and I am proud to be an Albanian, descendant of Leka i Madh (Alexander the Great), Scanderbeg, Hasan Prishtina, Fan Noli, Midhad Frasheri, Adem Jashari and all of our great warriors.
The KLA didn't carry the Dardanian flag on their arms but the Albanian one.
If you like, stay in Switzerland because if you come to Kosova with that attitude you will have to apply for some guaranteed seats in parliament because you will be a minority together with the Serbs, Turks, Roma and others.
I am proud, with all my heart to have the honor of calling myself SHQIPTAR, SON OF THE EAGLES, FOREVER!!!
KLA WARRIOR!!!
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