Valley Albanian Rights Issued in Washington

National Council of Albanians in Serbia Chairman Ragmi Mustafa says Albanians in the Presevo Valley continue to be discriminated against by the Serbian state.

He says representatives of Kosovo institutions, the issue of the rights of Albanians in the Presevo Valley, should put it on the negotiating table with Serbia.

He even views this as the only possibility of advancing Albanian rights in the Serbian state.

“Have demanded that the presidency, Parliament and the government of the Republic of Kosovo take into account the demands of the Presevo Valley and lay it down as issues within Kosovo- Serbia because treating the Presevo Valley in this format could achieve a standard. Because in the Balkans, having double standards of minority treatment, there will be no peace, while Serbia in Kosovo requires even further rights for the Serb community, which are above European standards. Albanians of the Presevo Valley are consistently denied even the most fundamental ones. Given textbooks, language use, representation and economic development”, he says.

That the issue of the rights of Albanians in the Presevo Valley should be a topic of discussion in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, says the chairman of the Party of Democratic Action, Shaip Kamberi.

Kamberi, who will also be deputy in Serbia's Parliament, tells Kosovo Preis that the last possibility of improving the situation of Albanians in the Valley is through dialogue between two states.

“We demand that the Presevo Valley issue be part of the agenda of talks between Kosovo and Serbia. All of our participation in parliamentary elections, in local elections, the formation of the National Council has not yielded results for the expectations we had in a process of talks with Belgrade that we have started since 2001, due to the end of the armed war. Now we think that the last possibility of a radical qualitative improvement of the situation of Albanians is talks to be held with Serbia”, Kamberi says.

As far as involvement in the Kosovo delegation of representatives of the Presevo Valley, National Council of Albanians in Serbia chairman Ragmi Mustafa sees it as necessary.

“I don't believe it would have to be political parties, but it would have to be the institutional and political representatives of Albanians in the Presevo Valley involved in the dialogue process with Serbia. In addition, seeking a solution to the issue of the Presevo Valley confirming documents that have been released by political and institutional representatives of the Presevo Valley from the 92nd referendum to the UCMPM war, the Conculi Agreement, to this 7-point plan that has been presented. I believe and am convinced that the issue cannot have normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia without the issue of the Presevo Valley, and much more that should not be only subject, but also should be participants under this” process, Mustafa says.

But, otherwise, the president of the Party of Democratic Action, Shaip Kamberi, who claims it is enough for them to put their issue on the table of talks.

The “I don't know how real this issue is because it later involves all other things that will require Kosovo Serbs to be part of a Serbian delegation. Thus, something similar cannot be expected to be real. So our request is guided in what is the theme of the Presevo Valley as the theme of conversations on the business agenda in Washington and the Paris Summit. For us it is important that Kosovo authorities establish this topic, protect it and in a form of building the principles of equality and respect for minority rights in this part of the Balkans. Kosovo is an example of respect and guarantee even with the constitution of minority rights, on the opposite side Serbia is a completely opposite example which does not respect even the few rights that are under EU standards guaranteed for minorities”, Kamberi says.

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti will visit Brussels on 25 June, where he will meet with senior European institutions officials. While, Kosovo and Serbia will continue talks on 27 June in Washington.