PM denies he "threatened" Albanian politician

Source: Tanjug

GADŽIN HAN -- Ivica Dačić says that "nobody can blackmail Serbia" - and that "if somebody thought they could play with Serbia - they were wrong."

(Tanjug)

This is true, said the prime minister, "even if their name is Jonuz Musliu."
Dačić in this way responded to accusations made by the ethnic Albanian politician from southern Serbia, who said Dačić had threatened him during a meeting in Belgrade on Thursday.

"There have been no threats in the conversations with the Albanian representatives from southern Serbia, unless it's a threat that everything will be within the Serbian Constitution and laws," Dačić told reporters as he was visiting Gadžin Han.

He then noted that Musliu "previously asked for an interpreter, and now won't talk with me until the Kosovo ambassador is present", that Musliu was not invited "to dispense political lessons - and should not come if that's what he intends to do."

"I reminded him that there was no Kosovo ambassador, and he, during the conversation, conditioned the solving of the problems of Preševo and Bujanovac in the same way as is the case with Serbs in northern Kosovo," Dačić was quoted as saying, and adding that he "pointed out to that the Albanians from southern Serbia had not been discussed during the talks in Brussels."

"Representatives of the international community are welcome, but nobody should mediate between the Serbian government and our citizens," Dačić said, noted that he "did not go to the meeting to negotiate with them," and added:

"I am the prime minister, and I held a meeting with their representatives, because the government had adopted a report of the Coordinating Body for Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa, led by Zoran Stanković, which contains the seven points."

The prime minister said he had tasked "certain minister" to work to urgently solve all the problems that had been "listed":

"We agreed to hold another meeting after three months and analyze what had been done," he said, and stressed that it was in the interest of the Albanians from the south to integrate into the Serbian state:

"If I was able to find common ground with (Hashim) Thaci, I guess I can do the same with the Albanians from southern Serbia."

Dačić then said that the meeting did not discuss concrete issues, but political topics "which they impose," such as "the issue of the flag and the right to flag."

The prime minister stressed that the Albanian representatives had met with Thaci before traveling to Belgrade, and repeated that there had been "no raised voices - because I did not invite them to argue with them."