Jeremic: Kosovo is Serbia's Jerusalem
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who was the Saturday profile in the New York Times this week, said that Kosovo is Serbia's Jerusalem.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, January 18, 2010
"The fact that this kind of fervent, pro-European politician in Serbia happens to have this position on Kosovo confuses a lot of people," Jeremic said.
"This place, Kosovo, is our Jerusalem; you just can't treat it any other way than our Jerusalem," he said.
Jeremic did not say what Serbia would demand if the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rules in its favor on the legality of Kosovo and forces the issue to return to the negotiation table.
He said that the U.S. and its allies made a mistake before the declaration for proclaiming Kosovo independence, by substituting debates on the issue with an imposed solution.
Their other big mistake, he said, was expecting Serbia simply to acquiesce to the loss of the province, cowed in the face of American and Western European recognition for Kosovo.
"This energy we invested, you know, in going around the world, has surprised a lot of people," Jeremic said. "A lot of people didn't expect us to dare to try."
The Times noticed that Jeremic said been fighting for Kosovo very strongly, lobbying all around the world.
In the last two years, he has visited 90 countries, while in 2009, he spent 700 hours in the air, traveling, the New York daily stated in its story on Serbia's image change and its new face, the young minister Jeremic.
Jeremic's stridency on Kosovo has led his opponents to charge that he was a closet nationalist, talking one line when he was abroad and quite a different one at home in the Balkans. "Personally, I don't think I'm a nationalist," he said. "I'm half Bosnian and half Serb."
"This place, Kosovo, is our Jerusalem; you just can't treat it any other way than our Jerusalem," he said.
Jeremic did not say what Serbia would demand if the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rules in its favor on the legality of Kosovo and forces the issue to return to the negotiation table.
He said that the U.S. and its allies made a mistake before the declaration for proclaiming Kosovo independence, by substituting debates on the issue with an imposed solution.
Their other big mistake, he said, was expecting Serbia simply to acquiesce to the loss of the province, cowed in the face of American and Western European recognition for Kosovo.
"This energy we invested, you know, in going around the world, has surprised a lot of people," Jeremic said. "A lot of people didn't expect us to dare to try."
The Times noticed that Jeremic said been fighting for Kosovo very strongly, lobbying all around the world.
In the last two years, he has visited 90 countries, while in 2009, he spent 700 hours in the air, traveling, the New York daily stated in its story on Serbia's image change and its new face, the young minister Jeremic.
Jeremic's stridency on Kosovo has led his opponents to charge that he was a closet nationalist, talking one line when he was abroad and quite a different one at home in the Balkans. "Personally, I don't think I'm a nationalist," he said. "I'm half Bosnian and half Serb."
