Serbian President Boris Tadic told a newspaper Friday that he wants to resolve the dispute between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians and find compromise for the future status of breakaway Kosovo.

“I want us to solve the historic conflict between Serbs and Albanians, to put an end to murders, expulsions and burnt property,” Tadic said in an interview to Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

Serbia doesn’t accept Kosovo’s independence, proclaimed in 2008, but has agreed to hold European Union-brokered talks with its former province to resolve practical issues.

“In a search for compromise, we are ready to talk with the Albanians about all problems that bother us in Kosovo.”

However, he warned that “the solution is not for the Albanians to get everything and the Serbs to lose everything. The solution is in a compromise.”

The international community insist the talks should start as soon as possible, but Kosovo, shaken by a political crisis that led to the ouster of its government, says it is best to postpone them until after the December elections there.

The snap polls, the first vote in Kosovo since it declared independence, were called after the Kosovo parliament ousted the government of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci last week.

Tadic warned that the Albanian side “is avoiding a dialogue and delaying it as it is obvious [the talks] do not suit” Kosovo.

He said “there are ways” for Serbia to “foster good relations with Pristina, without recognizing Kosovo.”

“A dialogue itself is a form of good relations…Since we talk, that means we are not fighting,” he said.

However, Tadic backed the Serbian government, which had said it wouldn’t call on the Serb minority in Kosovo to vote in the polls, saying that “the conditions are not met for Serbia to call on Kosovo Serb population to take part in the elections.”

November 12, 2010
AFP

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