Politika interviews Rohan

Politika used to be the mouthpiece of Milosevic. Today it is still owned and close to the government, although it is not as much nationalistic as it used to be. Kinda Politika Lite to go with Milosevic Lite (Kostunica). Through it Serb government conviniently leaks details on the talks, which is always good for those of you interested and able to read cyrillic. The interview below Politika conducted three days ago with Albert Rohan, EU's aide to Annan's chief negotiatior on Kosovo. Some questions at the beginning were omitted by me, as were some parts of some of the answers as noted with ellypsis.

If you wish to defend minorities, then there must be measures taken from the other side as well. For example, we expected the nomination of 11 Serb judges and at the end three or four people appeared. Even they, after a week of work left their working positions because they received such orders.
[…]
There are about 500 available positions at KPS and until then applied 13 or 14 people. How is it possible to increase the number of Serbs in the institutions when they don't want to cooperate?
[…]
Every month research is done on the security situation and they feel safe in Kosovo. In the question "do you travel," about 80% of the minorities responded "Yes." This is good, but later we hear that a bus transporting Serb students was stoned. Although from the 80 good cases of movement nothing is said nor reported. Therefore it is important for this artificial atmosphere to stop. Then improvements will begin.
[…]
It all began with the removal of Kosovo's autonomy and the repression against people of Kosovo. It is impossible to erase these experiences. In Belgrade there is a tendency to begin history from 1999, when unfortunately many crimes were committed against Serbs and when they started to leave.

But history does not start in 1999. When the situation is concerned, it began in 1991. And we shouldn't forget this. Serbia certainly has no right to reestablish its rule in Kosovo. This has to be accepted. If I had to decide for Serbia, with pleasure I would decide for an independent life on the way to EU.

Politika: Isn't Milosevic two meters below ground, and his policy as well?
Rohan: Maybe…

Politika: You mentioned the parallel with Germany. Does this mean that Serbia has to wait 50 years to unite with the southern province as happened with West and East Germany?
Rohan: You can't compare them. In the Germanys lived the same people.

Politika: In the Republika Srpska and Serbia the same people exist. Does this mean that two parts that belong to the same people have the right to self-determination?
Rohan: No! Because in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany live parts of the same people and they don't have the right to self-determination. Austrians can't unite with Germans.

Politka: Another analogy…RS can't unite but it certainly has the right, like Kosovo, to have its own state outside of Serbia?
Rohan: No, this isn't right. Before its formation, RS never was a separate unit in a country.

Politika: Kosovo neither had the status of republic in the SFRJ.
Rohan: The majority of the population of RS before the war and the ethnic cleansing, in the time of ex-Yugoslavia, consisted of Muslim Bosniaks, from 40-46%. Serb republic was created out of ethnic cleansing.

Politika: You don't consider the fact that these data changed after the intervention and the prosecution of Serbs from Kosovo, which a while ago was bigger in number.
Rohan: If you really want to go back in time, then we could say go back 300 years, when there were more Albanians than Serbs.

Politka: We can go back to the era of Car Dusan to prove the opposite?
Rohan: This discussion really doesn't take us anywhere…

Politika: In the discussion table, is there the idea for the division of Kosovo?
Rohan: It isn't. Nobody supports this and it's meaningless. First of all, if the division of Metohia is considered, when it is known that that's where most of the monasteries are, this is the most distant area from Serbia.[…] Contact Group, along with Russia, has rejected the idea of splitting for two reasons. First, this would cause movement of Serbs from the central and southern parts of Kosovo, whereas those that would try to stay would be persecuted. International community simply doesn't have enough forces to prevent this.

Politika: What is Serbs accepted to move to the northern part of Kosovo?
Rohan: North is not half of the Kosovo territory, it's 15-18%. International community in the 21st century can't accept ethnic cleansing, as in the time of the Turkish-Greek period. Anyone is free to move wherever he/she wants, but we can't support something like that. From out contacts with Serbs living in Kosovo, we know that they don't want to move from their settlements. There is another danger here: if we allow something like that, immediately similar pressures would appear in different parts of Macedonia, then in Ulcinj of Montenegro, RS etc. International community won't allow this.

Politika: In your opinion, independence of Kosovo would be good for Serbia?
Rohan: If you consider how much money, energy and time Serb leaders spend on Kosovo, then we can conclude that the solution of this problem of course would allow Serbia to focus on the real problems, and this is the well-being of the citizens.

Politka: Do you think that in Serbia a politician has been born, who would sign the independence of Kosovo?
Rohan: There must have been born, although this doesn't seem to be true. Actually the road could be chosen through which nobody has to sign anything. If Security Council decides something, then nobody has to sign anything.