'Serbia won't resort to violent means to resolve Kosovo issue'

Veeramalla Anjaiah ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 04/03/2008 1:38 AM  |  World

Last week Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda had a special guest. The visitor and Hassan had two things in common -- both are chief diplomats of their countries and both studied at Harvard University. Age was something they did not have in common.

The guest was none other than the 33-year-old ambitious and effervescent Serbian Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic, who visited Indonesia last week as part of his globe-trotting mission to seek support for Serbia on the Kosovo issue.

"The Serbian Foreign Minister looked like Pak Hassan's son because he is so young," said one senior foreign ministry official.

The ubiquitous minister, who assumed his post just last May, visited three countries in one week. Prior to coming to Jakarta, Jeremic visited Vietnam, a non-permanent member of the powerful UN Security Council like Indonesia.

From Jakarta he flew to Brdo in Slovenia to present his case at the European Union foreign ministers' meeting, which broke the ice between Serbia and the EU on Kosovo's independence.

In an exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post, Jeremic spoke about how his country was going to deal with the situation after the bellicose province Kosovo declared unilaterally its separation from Serbia on Feb. 27. He also spoke of Serbia's existing strong relations with Indonesia.

"We will never resort to violence to resolve the Kosovo issue. We would like to resolve this illegal and unilateral declaration of independence through all legal, political and diplomatic means available," Jeremic said.

Kosovo, a province recognized as part of Serbia under United Nations Resolution No. 1244, is home to Muslim Kosovar Albanians. Serbs constitute around 10 percent of Kosovo's population of two million.

Furthermore, Kosovo has been the cradle of Serbian culture since medieval times with over 1,500 churches and monasteries.

Serbia, a landlocked country in Central and Southeastern Europe, wants to take the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) through the UN General Assembly, a move strongly supported by Indonesia.

"We welcome the determination on part of Serbia to push for dialogue and negotiations to resolve the problem of Kosovo. We also welcome the idea to table a resolution at the UN General Assembly to request the advisory opinion of the ICJ on the question of legality of the unilateral declaration of independence," Hassan said after meeting Jeremic.

When asked about what kind of support Serbia would expect from Indonesia, home to the world's biggest Muslim population, Jeremic said he was happy about Indonesia's stance on Kosovo.

"We appreciate Indonesia for its stance on Kosovo. For us, Indonesia is an important country, which is a member of the UN Security Council as well as a country with the world's biggest Muslim population," Jeremic said.

The Indonesian government has neither recognized nor opposed Kosovo's independence but it said the issue must be resolved through peaceful negotiations by both feuding parties.

Jeremic warned the countries that have recognized Kosovo's independence.

"These countries are setting a dangerous precedent for the international system by recognizing Kosovo," he said.

So far, more than 30 countries, including the U.S. and 18 members of the EU, have recognized Kosovo's independence

He questioned the double standards adopted by some major powers in dealing with Serbia. He compared the atrocities committed by Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein and Serbia's former ruler Slobodan Milosevic against Kurdish people and ethnic Kosovar Albanians respectively.

"Why is there no partitioning of Iraq? Was Saddam a better guy than Milosevic?" Jeremic questioned.

According to Jeremic, some global powers are unnecessarily punishing Serbia's present democratic regime for the mistakes of former dictator Milosevic.

"We admit there were crimes committed in Kosovo by the Milosevic regime, but it would not be just to blame the present government, which is democratic, for the past mistakes of Milosevic," Jeremic said.

Serbia, whose government collapsed recently on the Kosovo issue, has already offered Kosovo the widest possible autonomy after 15 months of talks. Serbia is now in a caretaker period and will host elections on May 11.

"Actually, we offered them a Hong Kong plus model with full autonomy and said we would not interfere in Kosovo's affairs. But Kosovo's leaders rejected the offer," Jeremic said while referring to Hong Kong's one country two systems formula.

He also repudiated the argument Kosovo's declaration of independence resulted from failed talks.

"In my view, one can't have a peace settlement in such a limited time. The ongoing Middle East peace negotiations took many decades. In our case, it was just 15 months," he said.

"Kosovo's independence was not a negotiated settlement. It was a unilateral solution," Jeremic said.

Serbia, according to Jeremic, will not support the partition of Kosovo.

"Kosovo is our territory. We are against the partitioning of any part of our country, including Kosovo," Jeremic said, referring to reports that Serbs living in Kosovo want the partition with the tacit support of Belgrade.

Jeremic has also emphasized the Kosovo issue is purely an ethnic conflict.

"The Kosovo issue is not a religious issue but an ethnic one. We have Muslims from various countries in Serbia. We live together," Jeremic said.

When asked about bilateral relations with Indonesia, Jeremic said both countries have been enjoying cordial relations for many decades.

"I am the first Serbian foreign minister to visit Indonesia. In the past there were foreign ministers coming from Belgrade but they were from former Yugoslavia," he said.

Both Jeremic and Hassan signed an agreement regarding the establishment of a bilateral commission to enhance ties between the two countries.

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