President Thaci: Serbia has committed genocide, cannot go to EU without mutual recognition with Kosovo

In a long interview given to former Yugoslav journalist Qosiq, President of the Republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, has said, among other things, that Kosovo has successfully completed international supervision of independence, that it expects, at the end of the dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia, Kosovo will become a member of the United Nations.

He said he hopes and believes that the year 2018 will be the year of a historic agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, as two independent and sovereign states.

This agreement will lead to a complete normalisation of our relations and simultaneously to the reconciliation of our peoples. Peace between Kosovo and Serbia means peace for the Western Balkans. Peace is also a message for Europeanisation of all the space in which we live. I hope it will be a European standards and model agreement. The European Union must now take on its active, dynamic and leadership role, with the support of the United States of America. It is the moment and the right leadership for reaching an agreement that has been missing in the last hundred years and that will open the prospect for future generations”, Thaci has said.

The head of state stressed that if there is good will, if we show high state and historical responsibility to be oriented towards the future, I expect there will be mutual will for mutual recognition.

“Kosovo is ready, but one thing is certain: neither Serbia nor Kosovo will have a European future without a mutual agreement and mutual recognition. So neither can Serbia become part of the European family without Kosovo recognition. Therefore, the sooner Serbia does that, the better it will be for Serbia” itself, Thaci said.

Thaci said the construction of the state of Kosovo is not a race and is not oriented against Serbia.

Serbia is mistaken when it claims to be dealing with Kosovo and is wasting time to block Kosovo. My advice is that they focus on their jobs and not deal with Kosovo, because it is only energy losses for them, because Kosovo's independence is an irreversible process. I am aware of the challenges we have in terms of consolidating Kosovo's international subjectivity, but at the same time I am convinced that Kosovo will be part of the United Nations, U n NESTO, Interpol and all international mechanisms”, the president of Kosovo has said.

In the moderator's statement that no one asks Serbia to recognise Kosovo, Thaci said it is important that this issue has already begun to be discussed and that Kosovo recognition will be a condition for Serbia.

He said Serbia would not be allowed to join Kosovo because the EU is not interested in creating a second Cyprus in Europe.

Also, Thaci says, the topic of demarcation between Kosovo and Serbia will soon come, which, according to him, will in fact be a form of recognition of independence.

Thaci stressed that the ongoing <x0-cystem is how Serbia thinks to enter the EU, with which territory? With Kosovo as part of its territory. No, never. What population? With the people of Kosovo as part of Serbia? He added it.

The country's first stressed that Kosovo has welcomed the strategy presented by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, including Kosovo, though, as he said, expected greater clarity.

But this strategy has long been changed and corrected. We must fulfill our obligations. Kosovo will have visa liberalisation and a safe European path”, he added.

On the other hand, Thaci said, despite the fact that no one has yet been convicted of about 400 massacres committed against Albanians in Kosovo by the Serbian state itself, Kosovo has shown good will for establishing the Special Court, even though it considers it a historic injustice.

Thaci underlined that it is an injustice in allegations of justice. He said this is the price of freedom Kosovo is paying to maintain partnership with the US, NATO and the EU.

Because of co-operation with the US, the EU and NATO, Kosovo has established this court. But we have always praised this court as a historical injustice, because history cannot be rewritten, and at the same time Kosovo has been the victim of genocide committed by Serbia and we have resisted a dictator, Slobodan Milosevic”, Thaci said.

On the other hand, Thaci stressed that Kosovo will co-operate closely with international justice and added that the tribunal will function with Kosovo legislation and international authorities.

Thaci said Kosovo has nothing to hide and that it is in general interest for truth to be enlightened.

Asked in Kosovo it will lift visas for Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Thaci said Kosovo should have good relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and that this is of mutual interest.

“They must be freed from the influence of “Republika Srpska”. But the people of Kosovo have made a major contribution to Bosnia and Herzegovina's liberation. I invite the authorities of this country to recognise Kosovo's independence. That's in their own interest”, Thaci said.