Minister's newest partition idea involves Albania

Source: NIN

BELGRADE -- Kosovo should be divided between Serbia and Albania, says Serbia's Deputy PM and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić.

Ivica Dačić (file)

In an interview for Belgrade's NIN weekly, the leader of the Socialists (SPS) said that the "defense of Kosovo through war was not successful".

For that reason, continued Dačić his series of statements advocating a partition of the province - which he refers to as "separation" - "I speak about separation before it's too late."

Dačić, whose party was in power throughout the 1990s, said that Serbia "made a mistake when it did not discuss Kosovo with Albania, because separation between Serbia and Albania is the only realistic option".

"Serbia should not have recognized any other negotiator from the other side except Albania. Is anyone really that naive to think Kosovo will survive as an independent state," wondered the minister.

He also speculated that Kosovo would join Albania, just as the Serb entity in Bosnia, the Serb Republic (RS), would join Serbia.

"If tomorrow the RS decides to secede in a referendum, what will they become? An independent state, or will they decide to join Serbia?," Dačić was quoted as saying, and adding, "that's normal, because we're the same people".

"And are there different Albanians living in Priština and Tirana? They're talking to us about a multi-ethnic Kosovo? Our people do not need fairy-tales about multi-ethnic life," Dačić continued.

Asked whether it would be easier to partition Kosovo if Serbia and Albania were involved, as opposed to Serbia and the authorities in Priština, Dačić noted that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are Albania's national minority.

"Someone will say these are 19th century ideas. Perhaps they are, but these are also ideas that were implemented by Slovenians and Croats, as well as Montenegrins," he told the weekly.

Dačić also asserted that he could "neither win political points, nor was seeking them" with making his position on the problem public.

As for the ongoing Belgrade-Priština dialogue, the minister said the essential issue regarding Kosovo would remain unsolved because of the stance of the EU and the U.S., and said the most the talks could achieve was "some kind of special autonomy for Serbs in north".