Text of report by Slovene television on 24 October
[Presenter Edita M. Cetinski] Following harsh reactions [to his statement that independence was the only realistic option for Kosovo], mainly in Belgrade, but also in Kosovo and Slovenia, President Janez Drnovsek again discussed the resolution of the issue of Kosovo's status. He reiterated the reasons for his initiative: too much time has been wasted on the resolution of this issue, people there do not have a good life and it is high time we all started to behave responsibly. He also stressed that the plan put forward by him had been thoroughly deliberated.
[Reporter Polona Fijavz] President Drnovsek has established that he shook up and perhaps woke up the international stage with his proposals for solving the status of Kosovo. Today, he was even more determined in his statements. The postponement of the issue of Kosovo's status is contrary to all interests. As for the last six years - since the international community took over the administration [of Kosovo] - we cannot talk about some dazzling development, according to him. Therefore the time has come for the international community to transfer its responsibility for development to the Kosovo authorities.
[Drnovsek] Besides this, I have noticed that no-one has the guts to call a spade a spade and tackle the core of the issue, although today Kosovo is in reality already independent. Nobody talks about this as an option which we need to discuss directly.
[Reporter] Drnovsek stressed he truly believed that the proposed plan was useful and reiterated that it was imperative to guarantee the Serbian minority in Kosovo a decent life and grant it an appropriate status. The international community should withdraw after five years - only then would Kosovo be recognized internationally [as an independent state]. The EU should be put in charge of a development plan until then.
[Drnovsek] Too much time has already been wasted. There is too much standstill, people do not live well. It is high time everyone started to behave responsibly - the international community as well as the two sides [Serbia and Kosovo] - and that a solution was found.
[Reporter] On 2 November, the president will allegedly visit Pristina instead of Belgrade [the visit was cancelled by Serbia after Drnovsek announced his Kosovo proposal], but he did not want to either confirm or deny this news.
Source: Television Slovenia, Ljubljana, in Slovene 1700 gmt 24 Oct 05
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EU not supportive of Slovenian position on Kosovo
October 25, 2005. -- European Union does not support Slovenia's Kosovo position recently expressed by the Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, said yesterday Cristina Gallach, spokesperson for Javier Solana.
Drnovsek recently said that Kosovo should be granted conditional independence because, according to him, it already is independent from Belgrade.
"European Unions and its members do not agree on that position" said Gallach.
"Drnovsek did not express an opinion of the European Union but only his own as a president of a country," she said.
Gallach also stated that EU supports the decisions of the UN Security Council that gave a go ahead on status talks on the Kosovo province. Gallach also indicated that Brussels will play a "very active role" in the discussion process.
October 25, 2005. 08:30 AM (12:30 GMT)
Holy Smokes! Is it possible for Drnovsek to visit Prishtina and ignore Belgrade after all.
Thank You Slovenia! You know what we are dealing with.
On the other hand, you'd wish Croatians and Bosnians were as supportive. Albanians even fought for their liberation.
Croatians, Bosnians and also Macedonians have to much to lose to go against Belgrade not much to gain for siding with ethnic albanians on the Kosovo issue.
A spade is a spade. Independence either is or is not. There is no inbetween what Serbs are hoping for. People of Kosova will decide on their future and if Serbs cannot see that then their motive is evil at best. Never will they have our respect or empathy. I am sure they will kick and cry like sore looser often do.. however they could really improve their image if they accept reality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_war
Criticism of the Case for War
Some critics have accused President Clinton of leading the United States to war in Kosovo under the false pretense of genocide [6]. Others have accused him, and his administration, of inflating the number of Kosovar Albanians killed by Serbians[7]. Clinton's Secretary of Defense William Cohen, giving a speech, said, "The appalling accounts of mass killing in Kosovo and the pictures of refugees fleeing Serb oppression for their lives makes it clear that this is a fight for justice over genocide [8]." On CBS' Face the Nation Cohen claimed, "We've now seen about 100,000 military-aged men missing...They may have been murdered[9]." Clinton, citing the same figure, spoke of "at least 100,000 (Kosovar Albanians) missing[10]". Later, talking about Serbian elections, Clinton said, "they're going to have to come to grips with what Mr. Milošević ordered in Kosovo...They're going to have to decide whether they support his leadership or not; whether they think it's OK that all those tens of thousands of people were killed...[11]". Clinton also claimed, in the same press conference, that "NATO stopped deliberate, systematic efforts at ethnic cleansing and genocide[12]." Clinton even compared the events of Kosovo to the Holocaust. CNN reported, "Accusing Serbia of 'ethnic cleansing' in Kosovo similar to the genocide of Jews in World War II, an impassioned President Clinton sought Tuesday to rally public support for his decision to send U.S. forces into combat against Yugoslavia, a prospect that seemed increasingly likely with the breakdown of a diplomatic peace effort[13]." Clinton's State Department also claimed Serbian troops had committed genocide. The New York Times reported, "the Administration said evidence of 'genocide' by Serbian forces was growing to include 'abhorrent and criminal action' on a vast scale. The language was the State Department's strongest yet in denouncing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević[14]." The State Department also gave the highest estimate of dead Albanians. The New York Times reported, "On April 19, the State Department said that up to 500,000 Kosovar Albanians were missing and feared dead[15]."
However, the numbers given by Clinton and his administration have been proven false. The official NATO body count of the events in Kosovo was 2,788 (not all of them were war crimes victims)[16], with Slobodan Milošević charged with the "murders of about 600 individually identified ethnic Albanians[17]". Critics have noted that these numbers can not be considered genocide. The headline of The Wall Street Journal, which had launched an investigation into whether genocide had occurred in Kosovo, on December 31, 1999 was "War in Kosovo Was Cruel, Bitter, Savage; Genocide It Wasn't"[18]. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "the U.N.'s International War Criminal tribunal has checked the largest reported sites first, and found most to contain no more than five bodies, suggesting intimate acts of barbarity rather than mass murder... Kosovo would be easier to investigate if it had the huge killing fields some investigators were led to expect. Instead, the pattern is of scattered killings[19]."
In addition, a United Nations Court had previously ruled that Serbian troops did not commit genocide against Albanians. The court wrote "the exactions committed by Milošević's regime cannot be qualified as criminal acts of genocide, since their purpose was not the destruction of the Albanian ethnic group[20]". According to BBC, "the decision was based on the 1948 Geneva convention which defines genocide as the intent 'to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such'[21]". Milošević was not charged with genocide in Kosovo by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) but the more broader "crimes against humanity"[22]. Spanish forensic surgeon Emilio Perez Pujol, who led the Spanish forensic team in Kosovo, gave an interview to the British paper The Sunday Times. The paper wrote, "In an outspoken interview, Pujol complained he had been sent to head a large investigation team attached to the ICTY, consisting of pathologists and police specialists, to work in the north of the country. But he found that what was publicised as a search for mass graves was 'a semantic pirouette by the war propaganda machines, because we did not find one—not one—mass grave.'[23]".
to the last poster (spammer). Shut the fvck up! If you dont have anything smart to say dont say anything. Enough with ur stupid BS.
"to the last poster (spammer). Shut the fvck up! If you dont have anything smart to say dont say anything. Enough with ur stupid BS."
Albanian democracy hard at work or should I say hardly working.
For any Serb out there.
Why do you hate fairness? Why do you cling to pride instead what is good for all of us? Are there any of you out there that know the amount of pain your government and people have done to Albanians over and over again? Why would you want to control other peoples lives? Does the conscience of any of you guys ever make you ashamed of what your people and government stood for?
This comes from a good spirited Albanian fellow whose family has been majorily affected by Serb brutality
Drnovshek: Të gjithë e dinë se Kosova qysh sot është e pavarur Aktuale
Kryetari slloven Janez Drnovshek ka thënë se deklaratat e tij të fundit, se Kosova duhet të jetë e pavarur, deri diku kanë tërbuar palën serbe, por ka pranuar se ende qëndron pranë asaj që ka thënë,
"Tashmë është e dëshmuar me fakte se Kosova qysh sot është e pavarur, dhe se këtë të gjithë e dinë ", ka thënë Drnovshek.
http://www.rtklive.com/site/news/news_view.php?id=26347
"For any Serb out there.
Why do you hate fairness? Why do you cling to pride instead what is good for all of us? Are there any of you out there that know the amount of pain your government and people have done to Albanians over and over again? Why would you want to control other peoples lives? Does the conscience of any of you guys ever make you ashamed of what your people and government stood for?
This comes from a good spirited Albanian fellow whose family has been majorily affected by Serb brutality"
So well said, a lovely open letter to the Serbian people...
Serbia is not the only place in the world that has provinces that have a majority that does not like the rest of the country but can't you people put all this crap behind you? I mean the Serbs are offering you i think pretty much self governance! If i'm not mistaken all you wont have is the army. I mean if they let you rule yourself as long as you dont seperate why are you pushing for it? Avoid war and try to improve your economy i believe that should be number 1. Here in Canada i have 2 best friends one is Serbian and the other Albanian and all 3 of us dont care about what nationality or race we are... We help each other out when we can and improve our lives. If you guys and the Serbs keep doing the "its their fault not ours" talk nobody will have a better life.
Peace and understanding is key!
Hey loser,
If your "Albanian" friend does not care what nationality or race he or she is, then he or she is not Albanian.
You mind your business, and we will mind our own business, that's why we are going to become independent. I don't tell you what you should do in Canada, whether you should have an army or not, so you stop telling me what is good for me or not. I don't need your advice, I did not ask for you advice, so thanks, but not thanks!
Peace and Independence is key!
TO ALL MY DEAR ALBANIACS (the post about "fairness"):
DUDE trust me ALL serbs are for this fairness you talk about, but let me ask u, how is it fair to let the albos in kosovo to have self determination and not let the serbs in bosnia or croatia???? HOW?? (and please dont give me the line that Holbrooke n Albright taught you all to say, that "u cant reward aggression" becasue that is exactly what they are doing in kosovo, they are rewarding the KLA and their terrorist acts of bombing, killing civillians both serb and albo, they are rewarding the PLANNED extermination of the serb population from kosovo from the past 100 years, 150,000 in ww2 and 250,000 from 1999 that will never go back, u kicked out all the serbs from kosovo the past 100 years, a region that was vast majority serbian for 1000 years all up to the early 20th cen.) I have no PROBLEM SEEING KOSOVO BECOMING INDEPENDENT AT ALL, but since u talk about fairness then the serbs in bosnia and croatia should have the same. until all the nations in the balkans have the right for self determination there will always be war, that is how the big powers have always played us against each other, WHAt do u think people in serbia are waiting for??? they are counting the days til when NATO leaves. fairness for all sounds great, u should then support the serbs in bosnia and croatia, they have a similar cause like urs, yet u go and send ur hommies to go and fight for the Croats and Muslims caue they are fightin the serbs, u see my dear albaniacs this is much much deeper than "fairness" or equality, we all suffer from some deep deep psycho problems since we hate each other to this degree that ur commanders would go and fight for the croats just because they are fighting the serbs.
Dear Canadian poster,
"I mean the Serbs are offering you i think pretty much self governance!"
1) Serbs have no right to offer us anything. They are in no position, moral or judicial to offer anything. As an agressor, as an oppresor, as a country that attempted genocide, they are not there to offer us either this or that option.
"I mean the Serbs are offering you i think pretty much self governance!"
2) If they are offering us self-governance, that means they are governing us. I offer you the chance to choose your flavour of ice-cream, I am putting up the options of what kind of flavour you can have. I.E. not self-governance.
"If i'm not mistaken all you wont have is the army."
3) Kosova needs an army. That is the key here. Serbia is too much of a threat to not have an army. A country that is beant on invasion and genocide is a dangerous country. If we cannot have an army, we do not have self-governance and peace. Serbia will be in a position to become an agressor again and we the victims.
"I mean if they let you rule yourself as long as you dont seperate why are you pushing for it?"
4) Because they are not letting us rule ourself. If they give us the options, it is them who is ruling, if it is them who decide whether we have an army to protect ourselves, it is them who are ruling.
If the rest of English speaking Canada commited crimes agains the Quebequois, tortured, raped, burned and mass murdered the French speaking civilians, Quebec would automaticaly be a separate entity with an army strong enough to protect its most precious thing, it's people.
Peace and love to all, even Serbs they need it badly.
keep stealing what is not yours, i dare u to address my post above albaniac, I dare u.
keep stealing what is not yours, i dare u to address my post above albaniac, I dare u.
For any serb out there. To the counter comment.
There is no need to be name calling other people and especially your neighboors. Serbs were always to their lies and they think somehow that Kosovo was ever majority Serbs. Remember Serbs have not committed genocide only this last time on Kosovar Albanians, but since 1878. My family was brutally cleansed from Nis region in late 1800's from Tmava village. During 1920s Serbs again did major massacres, after WWII again... Trust me you can lie yourselves all you want but our people no the truth what Serbs are up to. Its an end to Serb aggression once and for all on Albanians.
I am sure the serbs posting in this site are trying to convince themself and not others that they are not the animals the whole world knows them for.
You guys can't you see that serbs try to convince to other people that they are not the ones to be blamed for the wars in former yugo but they are and when people of kosova asked for equal right as ther republics they dinided we asked to have a republic with in yugo they took our aoutonomy so what are you serbs trying to tell us more than autonomy less than independent. Kosova is independence since 1999 and by the end of 2006 the whole world will know it. One more thing Montenegro whants to be seperated from serbia so everyone whants freedom of life so its better for serbs to give up all from kosova,Montenegro, Vojvodina, sangjak, and Estern part of kosova which suppose to be part of kosova and serbs should move on with their lives cause they can't control others so just give up and after that Balkans will be in pice for the rest of the worlds life.
I thank people of slovenia for supporting kosova and other nations that understands the needs of people that whants to be free.
God bless kosova and its people no matter of their gender and religius bealivs.... ciaoooo
the world knows nothing and who cares what cnn spews out, facts ae facts and serbs and albos will live side by side, bottom line is i cant wait for kosovo to become independant serbia will be able to live again.
Serbs are offering the same $hit we had before. If they were offering self governance than they would have added these.
1. Albanians shold have their representatives in the Federal Assembly ( just like the Kosova Serbs have now in Kosova)
2. Albanians should have ministers and under-ministers in the federal government ( just like the Kosova Serbs have now)
3. Albanians should have representatives in all the federal institutions, just like Kosova Serbs have in Kosova now.
4. Albanians should have high ranked staff in the federal police ( just like Kosova Serbs have in Kosova now) An Albanian should be an under-minister in the interior ministry.
5. Albanians should have high ranked staff in the federal army. The underminister of defense should be Albanian.
6. The underminister of Foreign Affairs should be Albanian.
7. Albanians should have representatives in the Fedreal Justice system.
8. The Federal Constitution should be ammended to make sure the above are upheld.
If they were offering these then you could talk about self governance since not only Albanians would be in charge of local affairs but also have their say in what the federal government would decide for them.
However no Serb would want the above, and that's to show you that what the Serbs are offering is for them to become colonialists again even after all the attrocities they committed in oreder to remain colonialists in Kosova.
The only way to end this Colonialist Serb menthality and agenda is the independence of Kosova.
THE SUNDAY TIMES (UK), Sunday, September 3, 2000 EUROPE
KLA faces trials for war crimes on Serbs
Inquiry turns on Albanians
Tom Walker, Diplomatic Correspondent
INTERNATIONAL war crimes investigators are for the first time focusing on atrocities against Serbian civilians that were committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Sources close to prosecutors in the Hague confirmed last week that its forensic experts were checking five sites where war crimes were allegedly carried out by members of the KLA. Their findings could lead to a request to Nato's Kfor troops to arrest several senior figures in the new Kosovo Albanian elite, including possibly Hashim Thaci, the KLA's former political leader, or Ramush Haridinaj, one of his main political rivals.
United Nations sources have already revealed that Agim Ceku, the guerrillas' former commander, may be the subject of a secret "sealed" indictment for his activities while fighting for the Croatian army against the Serbs. Like Thaci and Haridinaj, Ceku, who now heads the Kosovo Protection Corps, the local defence force, has denied wrong-doing.
The investigation could radically alter the international perception of the conflict, in which Albanians were seen as the largely innocent victims of Serbian aggression. After a year of growing concern about hundreds of revenge killings of Serbs by Albanians in the province, there are signs that the public relations pendulum may begin to swing the Serbs' way.
The investigations by the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia are among its most secretive, with officials fearing retaliation by the Albanians. "The operations of the KLA clearly involved many activities we should scrutinise," said one Hague official.
"There's a real problem in unravelling their cell structure, but we may well end up pointing the finger at senior figures. The difficulty then will be persuading any Nato nation to arrest them."
All five sites were discovered by the Serbian police as they regained territory lost to the KLA in the summer of 1998. As Albanian villages were being destroyed in the Serbian police offensives that grabbed the international media spotlight, the plight of the rural Serbian peasantry was often ignored and dozens of villagers and farmers were abducted, tortured and left in mass graves.
Three of the areas under investigation are thought to be the villages of Klecka and Glodjane and the town of Orahovac.
The killings in Klecka have been linked to Thaci, who now heads the Democratic party of Kosovo. The Belgrade media made great play of the discovery in August 1998 of what it claimed were 22 Serbian bodies in a lime kiln in Klecka.
Glodjane, further west in the Decane area bordering Albania, was fiercely contested by the Serbs and Albanians. In September 1998 the Serbian media centre in Pristina claimed that the bodies of 34 people had been found in a canal there. They were a mixture of Serbian farmers, some gypsies and Albanians suspected of being collaborators. The local commander at the time was Haradinaj, now head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.
In Orahovac, an ancient Balkan maze of cobbled streets and mixed ethnicities, at least 50 Serbs were abducted by the KLA in July 1998, never to be seen again. In the autumn hundreds of angry Serbs marched six miles through the hills to Dragobilj, the local KLA headquarters and one of the few places where Islamic mujaheddin fighters were seen. The protest failed to persuade the KLA to give any details of the missing Serbs.
Most inquiries made so far have been met with silence and few witnesses are thought likely to be brave enough to reveal the brutality of the KLA.
One former Albanian commander, who now lives in the West, told The Sunday Times that he saw two Serbian policemen tied to the backs of Jeeps and dragged to their deaths during the fighting around Glodjane. He said he had no intention of talking to the war crimes prosecutors and wished to forget Kosovo altogether.
The Serbs, too, are unlikely to co-operate with the Hague because Belgrade refuses to recognise the tribunal. Milosevic and Milan Milutinovic, the Serbian president, are both indicted by the tribunal, and Milosevic is believed to have offered a bolthole to Radovan Karadzic, the most wanted suspect of the Bosnian conflict.
"We're not permitted to make any interviews in Serbia proper and that is a considerable hindrance," said Paul Risley, spokesman for Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's senior prosecutor.
It is also not clear whether investigations into the KLA's activities can be extended into the period after Nato entered Kosovo in June 1999. Authorities in Belgrade claim there have been 1,041 murders in the province since then - with 910 of the victims being Serbs or Montenegrins. In the most recent attacks on Serbs, an eight-year-old child was killed by a hit-and-run driver near the town of Lipljan last month, and a hand grenade was lobbed into a basketball court injuring 10 children north of Pristina. A farmer aged 80 was machine-gunned to death in the nearby village of Crkvna Vodica while he was tending his cattle.
The claims of genocide being made by the Albanians at Belgrade two years ago are now being thrown back at them, but the war crimes tribunal remains dispassionate. "We're not seeing genocide at the moment, but severe human rights violations. There is no evidence that any group wants to annihilate the Serbs rather than just force them out," said an official.
SRBI NEMOJTE DA SE SVADJATE OVDE NA OVOM SAJTU NEGO AJDE DA NAPRAVIMO MI SAJT DA NJIH OGOVARAMO MI SE SADA BORIMO NA NJIHOVU TERRITORIJU NJIHOV SAJT ALI ZA POBEDU TREBAMO DA SE BORIMO NA NASOJ TERRITORIJI. sVAKI DAN PUNO LJUDI CITA OVI SAJT I SVAKI DAN ALBANSI NAGOVORE NEKOLIKO LJUDE DA BUD ZA NEZAVISNU DRZAVU KOSOVA
NAZALOST JA NEZNAM KAKO DA NAPRAVIM SAJT A ONI KOJ ZNA NEK NAPRAVI ZATO STO AKO NENAPRAVI NECEMO MORATI DA SE BORIMO PREKO INTERNETA NEGO NA RATISTU!!!!!
When the serb can't countering what was said they copy-paste articles from 2000 or wikipedia or serbianna or emperors clothes.
racism will not get you anywhere...ice-cream will.
NE ZNAM KAKO DA NAPRVIM SAJT.......
:-) GLUPI SERBI.......... THIS TELLS YOU HOW SMART ARE SERBS.CANT CREAT A SHAJT...GLUBI SERBCI
Yeah, The Serbs should have some else create a website or even fight a war like the albanians do. E Blogger Please!!
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