Ljubomir Kljakić

DOCTRINARY KOSOVO AND REAL KOSOVO

OPENING ADDRESS AT THE MEETING HELD WITH THE DELEGATION OF THE NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY - COMMITTEE FOR CIVILIAN DIMENSION OF SECURITY AND SUB-COMMITTEE FOR FUTURE SECURITY AND DEFENCE CAPACITIES, DEFENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE
APRIL 21, 2008.



Ladies and gentlemen,

0. I have the pleasure to welcome you to the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, to this historical building and to thank you for the interest that you have shown in our work.

Joining me in today’s session are my associates involved in different fields of work within the Ministry for K&M, in the areas of international relations and the relations with international missions in K&M, a Sector which I head, as Assistant Minister.

1. Allow me to also state, at the very beginning, that we, in the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, believe that your work on the reports: Kosovo and the Future of Security in the Balkans, as well as NATO Operations for the forthcoming session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin, can contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex political and security situation created in this part of the world – and consequently in broader international relations – after February 17, 2008 , following the secessionist, illegitimate and illegal unilateral act of independence declared by the provisional institutions of self-government in K&M.

2. You will find in front of you a small set of documents which we believe may assist you in your important assignment: Comments on the UN Secretary General’s report on the situation in K&M, presented as Serbia’s official response in yesterday’s UN Security Council debate on K&M, a brief record of key facts about the situation in KiM, particularly concerning Serb and other ethnically discriminated communities in the Province, for the period June 1999 - January 2008, as well as some preliminary information about the Serb historical, cultural and spiritual heritage in K&M and the level of destruction inflicted upon it over the past nine year.

I shall now get to the matter in hand. I think that the following points could be of interest for our meeting today.

3. First of all, there can be no doubt that after February 17, 2008, the issue of the status of K&M has indeed become a world issue. However, considering that the issue of status of K&M is actually the question of the status of Serbia, it emanates that after February 17, 2008, the question of the status of Serbia has clearly proved to be a world issue. Protagonists of world affairs around the world – local, regional and global, including us gathered here today – presently find themselves in a situation in which they need to define their position, clearly and unambiguously, towards the status of Serbia.

4. Secondly, efforts to render the issue of the status of Serbia invisible by using the ideological doctrine about K&M as a sui generis case which, as such, has no implications whatsoever anywhere else in the world, not even Serbia, did not yield the expected results. To this day, the illegal unilateral declaration of independence by PISG in Priština, an act of agression intended at the illegal and violent breakup of Serbia as a sovereign, UN member-state, has been recognized, willingly or under pressure, by 36 countries. Even though this number comprises such influential world actors as the U.S.– which, through the state policy of its present and last administration has become the chief advocate and sponsor of the "independent Kosovo" project, U.K., Germany and France, as well as Italy, it is clear that the majority of humankind, those 150-plus UN member-states, does not deem it appropriate to endorse the illegal seccession of February 17 as legitimate and legal.

5. After all, the doctrine that the "Kosovo case is unique and will not impinge upon any other situations in the world", has been questioned lately even in Washington itself. Such scepticism was expressed by Mr. Matthew Bryza, Deputy Assistant of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for European and Eurasian Affairs on Thursday, April 17, 2008, in his statement before the US Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on the topic of: "Armenia in the aftermath of elections".

Referring to the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, Bryza stated that international mediators, including himself, strive to achive a "compromise between the legal principle of the territorial integrity of states and the political principle of self-determination of nations.....contained in the Helsinki Final Act. " He then added, more specifically: "In view of this, we have thought about Kosovo, but our final decision-makers have, regardless of that, decided to proceed on Kosovo the way they did, knowing that this would create difficulties in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh and other conflicts in Abkhasia and South Ossetia, in Georgia". He went on to conclude that: "Life has become more complicated because of outcomes on Kosovo..." Incidentally, this state of facts is symbolically shown in this room – we are sitting in an unfinished circle.

6. Thirdly, current implementation of the doctrine: "Kosovo is a unique case with no impact on other situations in the world" has indeed made life more complicated. Primarily because the issue of K&M has been isolated from the real world and ideologically redefined into a virtual surrogate of reality which has been ultimately „purged“ from all fact and transferred from the modern-day sphere of logic and rational thought into the arena of medieval scholastic casuistry, in which mere belief and blind faith are crucial. Since, only medieval scholastic casuistry supports the doctrine that "Kosovo case is unique" and thus "will not influence other situations in the world", just as it supports the consequences of its practical application.

Let me remind that the parallel functioning of UNMIK, NATO i.e. KFOR, the so-called Special Envoy representing the self-proclaimed "international steering group", EULEX Mission with no legal basis and the illegaly established institutions of the so-called "independent Kosovo" can be presented as a coherent, legal and legitimate structure only within the medieval scholastic casuistry, that is to say, outside the modern-age logic and rational thought. This is why the doctrinary interpretation of the situation in K&M is so much at odds with real life.

7. Fourthly, the doctrinary Kosovo and the real Kosovo are two radically different worlds – the virtual one of cheap political propaganda deceptions and ideological volutarism, on one hand, and the complex one of facts and their interrelations, on the other. The consequences of this dramatic dichotomy between doctrinary and real Kosovo are many.

Let me mention the most evident and visible of them - the fact that all actors in world affairs are now tangled in debates about virtual Kosovo, held in an unreal doctrinary context of medieval scholastic casuistry. This, however, is a road to nowhere.

The issue in question can be resolved only through discourse about the real Kosovo, meaning only within modern logic and rational thought where the force of arguments, rather than arguments of force, decides. This approach is supported by Serbia and by this ministry. Everything that we do is directed at the reinstatement of facts, logic, rational judgement and real solutions of real problems in real Kosovo. This is both the conceptual and the practical policy approach of Serbia and of this ministry. I believe that the problem of real Kosovo will soon come up on the agenda and that, on some future occasion, this unfinished circle that we are sitting in today will be finished and will assume its full shape.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for your patience and attention. I am now ready to answer any questions you may have.

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Note: Opening statement by Ljubomir Kljakić, (at that time) Assistant Minister for Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian Goverment, at the meeting of the representatives of the Ministry for K&M with the delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) Committee for the Civilian Dimension of Security and Defence and Security Committee - Sub-Committee for Future Security and Defence Capacity. The meeting was held on April 22, 2008 at the Ministry for K&M, at the request of the NATO PA delegation, as part of their two-day visit programme consisting of meetings with the representatives of the National Assembly of Serbia, relevant portfolio ministries and representatives of the non-governmental sector. The NATO PA delegation’s visit to Belgrade was organized within preparations of the report: Kosovo and the Future of Security in the Balkans by the Committee for Civilian Dimension of Security and of the report: NATO Operations by the Subcommittee for Future Security and Defence Capacity of the Defence and Security Committee. Both reports will be reviewed at the May 2008 NATO PA session in Berlin. NATO PA delegation consisted of the following members: Michael Clapham, chairman, Committee for the Civilian Dimension of Security, UK; Vitalino Canas, general referee Committee for the Civilian Dimension of Security, Portugal; Pawel Gras, vice president of the Sub-committee for future security and defense capacity, Poland; Sir John Stanley, vice president of the Sub-Committee for Future Security and Defence Capacity, UK; Sverre Myrli, referee, the Sub-Committee for Future Security and Defence Capacity, Norway; Cheryl Gallant, Canada (Conservative Party); Alvydas Sadeckas, Lithuania (The New Union-Socialist Liberals); Snieguole Ziukaite, Secretary of Delegation, Lithuania; Marek Opiola, Deputy Head of Delegation, Poland (Law and Justice); Antoni Macierewicz, Poland (Law and Justice); Jorge Neto, Portugal (Socialdemocratic Party); Anton Anderlic, Slovenia (Liberal Democracy of Slovenia); Jesus Cuardado, Deputy Head of Delegation, Spain (Socialist Party); Ali Riza Alaboyun, Turkey (Justice and Development Party); Kursat Atilgan, Turkey (Party of National Movement); Yahya Dogan, Тurkey (Justice and Development Party); Ann Mckechin, UK (Радничка партија); Artur Aghabekyan, Head of Delegation, Armenia (Armenian Revolutionary Federation); Raffi Hovhannisyan, Armenia (Legacy); Aram Hovhannisyan, delegation interpreter, Armenia; Christian Holm, Sweden (Moderate Party); David Hobbs, Secretary-General, NATO PA,Ruxandra Popa, Director, Committee for Civilian Dimension of Security; Alex Tiersky, Director, Defence and Security Committee. During the meeting at the Ministry for KiM, Ljubomir Kljakić answered questions of interest for the NATO PA Delegation.