"K. Albanians were ready to go to war," says Nikolic

There is nothing left for the authorities in Pristina can ask for, beside what has already been agreed in the dialogue with Belgrade, says Tomislav Nikolic.
Source: Beta Thursday, January 26, 2017 | 09:42

(Tanjug, file)

Speaking in Lisbon, Portugal, where he is on an official visit, the Serbian president specified, "there is nothing they can ask for except independence, which Serbia will never recognize."
"As a state, we have, through the agreements in Brussels, transferred many powers to the interim administration in Pristina as authentic powers, authentic jurisdictions, and I think we've arrived at the end there, and that Pristina, beside independence that it will never get from Serbia, has nothing left to ask for in negotiations with Belgrade," he told reporters on Wednesday, adding:

"This is because there is no topic that we have not solved positively for Pristina, but there are some topics that Pristina has not solved positively for the Serbs who live in Kosovo and Metohija, that it agreed to in Brussels, and now we insist on that."

By sending special (police) forces to northern Kosovo - "which under an agreement must not be there without the consent of NATO and the local community" - Kosovo Albanians "showed they are ready to go to war," he said.

However, "Serbia made another effort in order to avoid any conflict."

"We spoke about that in detail yesterday (Tuesday) in Brussels. The positions are irreconcilable. The Albanians will not give up on independence, Serbia will never recognize that independence. And if that means there is nothing left to reach agreements on, then that's bad. Because I think we should be reaching agreements and always keeping that dialogue open, regardless of the positions being directly opposed - but the latest moves made by the Albanians have also showed to the EU, whi is the mediator in those agreements of ours, that the sincerity is exclusively on the part of Belgrade," Nikolic said.

The president also told journalists that he was convinced many countries who in the past recognized Kosovo would not to it today, "if Kosovo did that (unilaterally declared independence) now."