Tuesday, April 25, 2006 17:51 

RASKOVIC: BORDER ISSUES ARE DISCUSSED BY STATES

Commenting on Kosovo premier Agim Cheku's announcement that "Kosovo does not
recognize the border agreement of Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia with
respect to that part which pertains to Kosovo," Coordinating Center for
Kosovo and Metohija president Sandra Raskovic-Ivic warned that border issues
are discussed by states, not by national minorities.

"The first thing that is obvious is that Cheku already feels like the
premier of an independent and internationally recognized state of Kosovo,
which, I would like to remind, is not the case and Serbia will never accept
anything of the sort. Cheku is forgetting that border issues are discussed
by states, which is what Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia have done, and not
by national minorities, regardless of their numerical presence in specific
regions," assessed Raskovic-Ivic.

In response to Cheku's statement that he wants good relations with Serbia
and that he expects the Belgrade government "to distance itself from the
past and the Serbs to apologize for the horrific crimes in Kosovo,"
Raskovic-Ivic said that she agreed to pass through this phase but that
apologies should start from crimes committed during the period from 1941 to
the present day.

"Apologies should cover the crimes which Albanian armed formations on the
side of the [Axis] occupiers committed against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.
Someone should apologize for the systematic terror, murder and expulsion of
Serbs numbering in the hundreds of thousands who were expelled from Kosovo
and Metohija after the liberation [following World War II] to the present
day."

As far as Cheku's statement that he expects "the Belgrade government to find
thousands of missing Albanians" is concerned, Raskovic-Ivic warned that
Cheku is manipulating the facts with regard to missing persons and pointed
that according to the latest data, which is not disputed by the
international community, there are less than 100 killed Albanians remaining
in Serbia.

Raskovic-Ivic reminded that she is expecting the Kosovo provisional
government to reveal the fate and find the bodies of 750 Serbs who are still
missing.