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Στο πρώτο το ενδιαφέρον εστιάζεται στο γεγονός οτι οι Ελληνοκύπριοι της διασποράς θεωρούν το Κόσοβο και την Κύπρο παράλληλες υποθέσεις. Οι δικοί μας όμως διαχωρίζουν τη κατάσταση της Κύπρου ως υπόθεση εισβολής και κατοχής καταδικασμένη απο τον ΟΗΕ ενω το Κόσοβο δεν θεωρείται "κατεχόμενο".
Το δεύτερο κείμενο με την ομιλία του Σέρβου υπουργού εξωτερικών στο Στρασβούργο μιλάει απο μόνο του.
Φοβάμαι οτι μας περιμένουν πολλά δεινά στη γειτονιά μας.
Νίκος Μανταδάκης.
URGENT!: ACTION ALERTS TO PROTEST UDI FOR KOSOVO
For Immediate Release: February 20, 2008
Contact: Nikolaos Taneris, New York, Tel. 1-917-699-9935
NEW YORK-The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) joins the STOP coalition (The Stop Terrorizing Orthodox Peoples Coalition) in protests against the UDI unilateral declaration of independence by Albanians in the Serbia region of Kosovo.
The proposal for the forced independence of Kosovo from the Republic of Serbia, and its subsequent legitimization by the international community, would be no different than the legitimization of the illegal Turkish regime which currently occupies northern Cyprus. The situation in Kosovo parallels the situation in Turkish-occupied Cyprus: Both Kosovo and northern Cyprus have been invaded, occupied, and administered by a foreign force and, in both cases, the result for Serbs and Greeks has been absolutely disastrous. Therefore, by imposing independence upon Kosovo, and severing it from Serbia, a pattern is established for legitimizing Turkey's invasion and ongoing occupation of Cyprus. It is no surprise then that Turkey wholeheartedly supports Kosovo's independence from the Republic of Serbia: it sets a major precedent for the recognition of Turkish-occupied Cyprus by the international community.
For these reasons, and many more, Greek-Americans cannot support Kosovo's independence , and we at CANA will join the protests and urge all our friends and supporters attend the protest posted below, followed by an urgent appeal to the Government of the Hellenic Republic ,distributed to us from Greek-American writer director of the American Council for Kosovo, James George Jatras.Please read and sign the urgent open appeal to the Government of the Hellenic Republic and email to
jjatras@ssd.com
Following the appeal we also provide an educated commentary and analysis of the situation by Mr. Jatras.
1) MAJOR DEMONSTRATION SUNDAY (February 24) *Remember to bring your Hellenic flags*
DEMONSTRATION , Sunday, February 24, starting from 1:00 PM . At that time, all interested people are asked to come to Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House at 1:00 PM to join hands in a human chain of at least HUNDREDS of people walking in a circle past the White House carrying Serbian and American flags and posters while blowing whistles and beating drums. There will also be speakers and presentations at that demonstration.
This is the first notice about what will be a series of responses to the illegal declaration by the Kosovo Albanians. These first events are jointly organized by:
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Open Appeal to the Government of the Hellenic Republic
February 21, 2008
Prime Minister Konstandinos Karamanlis
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis
Ambassador Alexandros Mallias
Your Excellencies:
We the undersigned Hellenes and Philhellenes in America address ourselves to you with respect to the policy of the Hellenic Republic towards the illegal separatist movement by Albanian Muslims in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Until recently, the Greek government has been clear: Greece would not recognize any unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence, which would violate all accepted standards of international law and set the stage for further threats to the safety of Orthodox Christian Serbs in that province.
However, on February 18 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a highly disturbing statement reading in part:
"Greece has always believed and continues to believe that the best solutions to differences and problems arise from mutually acceptable arrangements. From dialogue and negotiations. Not from unilateral actions and accomplished facts. This position, founded on respect for the principle of the peaceful resolution of differences, also determined our policy on the Kosovo issue. Yesterday's decisions in Pristina undoubtedly shaped a new reality in the particularly sensitive region of the Western Balkans. . . .
As regards the issue of recognition of the new state of affairs - which can in no way serve as a precedent - Greece will take its decisions at a coming stage, when it has examined all of the developments in depth; all of the dimensions and consequences these developments have for regional security and Greece's interests."
There is no way to read these words without concluding that the Greek government believes that its earlier support for solutions based on dialogue and negotiations has been overtaken by the "new reality" of the Kosovo Albanians' illegal declaration on February 17. The phrases "recognition of the new state of affairs" and "Greece will take its decision at a coming stage" can mean only that Greece is considering reversing its previous position and may recognize the illicit, separatist administration in Pristina.
Your Excellencies, with all due respect, as Americans and as Greeks we insist in the strongest possible terms that Greece must not depart from its previously defined position and must state categorically and unalterably that it will not now, or at any time in the future, grant recognition to Kosovo or support any settlement of the Kosovo question imposed on Serbia. Contrary to the language of the February 18 Foreign Ministry statement, dialogue and negotiations within the rule of law are not the "best" solutions to differences and problems, they are the only acceptable solutions. Recognition of the separatist Albanian regime in Kosovo would mean precisely acceptance of an imposed settlement based on "unilateral actions and accomplished facts." The declaration in Pristina on February 17 and its recognition by some countries, including the United States and certain members of the European Union, created no "new reality" or "new state of affairs," only the anticipated illegal action by the Kosovo Albanian separatists encouraged by Washington. And of course, despite any soothing suggestion to the contrary, recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia without an agreed settlement would establish a precedent with a profoundly destabilizing impact in many regions in the world, not least in areas directly affecting Greece and Cyprus.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia would undermine the courageous and principled stand of Cyprus, Spain, and the other EU countries that have refused to recognize Kosovo despite heavy pressure from Washington and from certain EU capitals.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia would inflict a devastating wound on the principal of the territorial integrity of sovereign states under the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and other binding commitments. This would be very harmful to Greece in the face of ongoing threats including Albanian irredentism in southern Epiros ("Çameria"), suggestions from Turkey that the 1947 return of the Dodecanese Islands to Greece was invalid, and nascent separatism of Muslims in Thraki.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia would weaken the security of Greece's sister republic, Cyprus, by validating the principle that outside powers may dictate the amputation of a state's sovereign territory. Such claims have already been made by supporters of the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" and would increase in intensity if a Kosovo pseudo-state were consolidated on Serbian soil.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia would heighten the threat to the lives and safety of the remaining Orthodox Christian Serbs in Kosovo, two-thirds of whom already have been driven from their homes and prevented from returning. Despite further empty promises from the international community, they could count on no protection in any independent Kosovo. The remainder of their churches and monasteries would face destruction or desecration.
A reversal of Greece's position and recognition of Kosovo's separation from Serbia would help add a new link to the "Green Transversal" project of Islamic strategic advance into Europe from European Turkey, along the heavily Muslim Greece-Bulgaria border, into an unstable FYROM, and on to Kosovo, Sandjak, and Bosnia. Creation of another new Muslim state to Greece's north would give impetus to what has been called a re-Ottomanization of the Balkans.
The risk of these consequences cannot be justified by superficial political considerations. Why should Greece adjust its policies to its own detriment because the U.S. State Department demands it? Why should Greece bow to the will of the "big" countries of the EU when there is no common policy and every member country, big or small, has a right to its own opinion and the safeguarding of its own interests? Why should Greece be tricked into taking an action harmful to its interests because someone, somewhere may have falsely hinted to Greece some flexibility on the FYROM name issue?
We should remember that in 1941, when Hitler demanded passage south to attack Greece, which was then soundly defeating his collaborator Mussolini, the Serbs said No, we will not betray our ally. They could have said Yes to Hitler, but they refused. Their refusal cost them a million lives.
Today, no one is demanding a million Greek lives, or even one, in support of Serbia. But for her own security and that of Cyprus no less than Serbia's, Greece must say OXI to the demand to ignore the rule of law, ignore the command of conscience, and ignore the mortal danger to our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters in Kosovo.
Again, with all due respect, we insist that the government of the Hellenic Republic must state categorically and unalterably that it will not now, or at any time in the future, grant recognition to Kosovo or support any settlement of the Kosovo question imposed on Serbia. We await your prompt, definitive, and public action on this matter.
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'Independent' Kosovo: A threat, not a country
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Posted: February 20, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
© 2008
By James George Jatras
Abraham Lincoln was fond of asking the rhetorical question: "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Five? No, calling a tail a leg don't make it a leg."
That pretty much sums up the recent unilateral declaration of independence by Albanian Muslims in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Several countries, disgracefully led by the United States, have recognized Kosovo. Major media have hailed creation of the "world's newest country." But calling Kosovo a country doesn't make it one.
Serbia has denounced the move as the illegal creation of a "separatist entity" on its sovereign territory and has handed down criminal indictments against several of the top Albanian Muslim leaders. Now under way is a sharp global competition to see which governments will recognize Kosovo and which will not. Under heavy pressure from the U.S. State Department, most European countries will meekly comply. Some, like Cyprus with its Turkish-occupied north and Spain with its Basque separatist movement, will not.
In short, an action State Department bureaucrats touted as "settling Kosovo's status" has resulted in anything but. Outside of Europe, the picture is even fuzzier. Russia will reject Kosovo's independence, and expected to take the same line are China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil and many others. Russia will veto any effort to extend Kosovo membership in the United Nations.
Any sovereign state with restive ethnic or religious minorities would recognize Kosovo at its own peril. What Washington seeks to inflict on Serbia today could be the fate of the American southwest tomorrow. Israel, in particular, is closely pondering its next move. While loath to anger Washington, Jerusalem must consider that a Kosovo precedent could, absent any negotiated agreement, prompt proclamation of a Palestinian state, to be recognized by Arab and Muslim regimes. The same precedent could apply to heavily Muslim areas such as Galilee and the Negev within Israel's formal borders.
At a special press briefing, outgoing Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns - who is often mentioned as a possible secretary of state under a Democratic administration - hailed support for Kosovo from the Organization of the Islamic Conference and Muslim governments. Happily claiming that a "vastly majority Muslim state" has been carved out of Serbia, a European Christian country, Burns said: "We think it is a very positive step that this Muslim state, Muslim majority state, has been created today."
Burns' remarks reflect a desperate hope by the Bush administration that displays of American pro-Islamic favoritism in the Balkans and support for a Palestinian state (its domination by Hamas notwithstanding) will buy the good will of hostile devotees of the "religion of peace and tolerance." Their gratitude is manifest in the jihad terror plot to attack Fort Dix, N.J., where four of the six defendants are Albanian Muslims from the Kosovo region. The offenders' presence in the United States - three of them illegal aliens and one brought to the U.S. by the Clinton administration as a refugee, another example of "gratitude" - stems from the fact that a broadly based support network for the terrorist "Kosovo Liberation Army," KLA, has been allowed to operate with impunity in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania area, raising funds and collecting weapons, not to mention peddling influence with American politicians.
Meanwhile, Christian Serbs in Kosovo are bracing for the worst. "We are all expecting something difficult and horrible," said Bishop Artemije, pastor of Kosovo's Orthodox Christians. "Our message to you, all Serbs in Kosovo, is to remain in your homes and around your monasteries, regardless of what God allows or our enemies do."
The bishop's flock has good reason to fear. Far from the usual claims that NATO stopped a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo in 1999, the past nine years have seen a slow-motion genocide in progress against the province's Christian Serbian population under the nose of the U.N. and NATO, and at times with their facilitation. Two-thirds of the Serbian population already has been expelled and have not been able to return safely to their homes, along with similar proportions of other groups (Roma, Gorani, Croats and all the Jews). Over 150 churches and monasteries have been destroyed, with crosses and icons of Christ attracting particular vandalistic rage, a testament to Kosovo Albanians' supposed secularism and pro-Western orientation.
Hundreds of new Saudi-funded mosques fomenting the extreme Wahhabi doctrine have sprung up. Kosovo is visibly morphing from part of Europe into part of the Middle East. In contrast to Under Secretary Burns' cheerleading, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton has warned: "Kosovo will be a weak state susceptible to radical Islamist influence from outside the region, with the support from some Albanians, in other words, a potential gate for radicalism to enter Europe." If allowed to consolidate, an independent Kosovo would become a way station toward an anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Christian "Eurabia."
Around the world, jihad terror usually goes hand-in-hand with organized crime. Kosovo is the perfect case in point. The supposed authorities of the would-be state are themselves kingpins in the Albanians Mafia, whose network extends throughout Europe and has a significant presence in New York City. Besides all the international aid dumped down the Kosovo rat hole, or carted off by corrupt officials, the only real "industry" is crime: drugs (heroin from Afghan opium), slaves (kidnapped women and children from Moldova, Ukraine and other countries brought in for local "service" - there are lot of lonely international bureaucrats in Kosovo - or shipped off into Europe), and weapons (the missile that hit the U.S. Embassy in Athens in 2006 and the explosives used in the London and Madrid train bombings came through Kosovo).
What will happen now in Kosovo? It would be up to the KLA and their supporters to decide whether to kick off a new cycle of violence by attacking Serbs who refuse to submit to their "authority." Serbia in fact has been beefing up its legitimate state institutions in areas where Serbs are concentrated, which the Albanians have threatened to shut down as - believe it or not - illegal separatist structures. We will see if the political violence unleashed by the act of recognition will be matched by physical violence on the ground. Meanwhile, Serbia will undertake undisclosed countermeasures to undermine the illegally declared KLA- and Mafia-ruled entity and force resumption of negotiations to achieve a valid settlement. Let us hope they succeed.
With a stoke of his pen, President Bush, by heeding the State Department's bad advice to recognize a supposedly independent Kosovo, has triggered the perfect international storm: shattering the principle of the territorial integrity of sovereign nations, encouraging violent separatists worldwide, provoking a needless confrontation with Russia and other countries, boosting the jihad terrorist and organized crime threat to Europe and America, and creating conditions for a human rights and religious freedom nightmare. In terms of far-reaching consequences, it may the worst blunder of his presidency. Which is saying a lot.
James George Jatras is director of the American Council for Kosovo, publisher of "Hiding Genocide in Kosovo: A Crime against God and Humanity" by Iseult Henry, a current member of the international mission in Kosovo. Jatras previously served as a policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican leadership and as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer.
----- Original Message -----
From: Smyrna1922@aol.com
To: Smyrna1922@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 6:45 PM
Subject: Remarks Before the European Parliament
Remarks Before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament
by H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremiæ
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia,
Strasbourg, 20 February 2008
Dear Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished MEPs,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I stand before you this afternoon as a proud European, and as an ashamed European.
Proud because my heritage, my culture, my beliefs, and my history bind me to a constellation of nations that, at the onset of the 21st century, reconciled themselves, and created something so magnificent that one could say: 'there has truly never been anything else like it in the history of the world.'
Winston Churchill equated the feeling I am trying to describe to you with a "sense of enlarged patriotism." That was his vision of Europe, and Jean Monet's vision of Europe, and Konrad Adenauer's vision of Europe. It is a vision I proudly share. For the peoples of Europe, between whom rivers of blood have flowed without mercy, chose to end the feuds of a thousand years. And they sought to eliminate from their shores a zero-sum approach to the conduct of regional politics.
How could I not be proud? How could I not, until just a few days ago, without the faintest shadow of a doubt, support the aspirations of my country to join the European Union, and therefore welcome the EU's commitment to the incorporation of Serbia and all the Western Balkans within its welcoming boundaries?
But I am also a deeply ashamed European. Tacitus wrote: Deserta faciunt et pacem appellant: "They create a desolation and they call it peace." That is what some European Union countries have done to the Republic of Serbia, to a small, peace-loving, democratic country in Europe, a founding member of the United Nations, an original signatory to the Helsinki Final Act, and a pillar of stability in Southeast Europe.
Creating desolation out of the promise of a European future. This is what the governments of some of your countries have done by recognizing the unilateral, illegal and illegitimate declaration of independence of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am ashamed not as a Serb-for in the negotiating process on the future status of our province of Kosovo, we did nothing but demonstrate good faith and understanding for the legitimate rights of the other side. In fact, since the democratic overthrow of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, we have done almost everything right. We have overcome almost every obstacle. We have fulfilled almost every condition. We have embraced almost every standard. And we have taken on every challenge to our future with an optimism that thinkers like Alexis de Tocqueville thought had departed the Old Continent long ago.
I am ashamed as a European. As someone who knows in his heart that what has been done to Serbia is a fundamental violation of the very nature of not just the international system, but of the values that hold up the European construction.
I am ashamed, because if recognizing this act of ethnically-motivated secession from a democratic, European state is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.
I am ashamed, because I see how the bedrock of values that make us who we are is being trampled underfoot. Because I see how my fellow Europeans are trying to construct the future on a foundation of sand and rubble.
And I am ashamed, because for all the talk about reason and Enlightenment, for all the pious declinations on the common good and solidarity, Europe is rapidly becoming just another place where might makes right.
Some may say I have exaggerated. Well, let us turn to the matter at hand.
The institution with primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security is, according to the United Nations Charter, the Security Council. And, in 1999, following the 78-day bombing of my country, it adopted a resolution-still operative today-that conferred upon the UN the authority to administer Serbia's southern province of Kosovo, and explicitly and unambiguously reaffirmed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country. When Serbia was ruled by a tyrant, Kosovo was a confirmed part of Serbia.
It said so in Security Council Resolution 1244. And it went further than that. It placed a Chapter VII obligation-a binding obligation-on all the member-states of the United Nations to respect the borders of my country.
And now, when Serbia is a democracy, some European nations are prepared to recognize Kosovo as an independent state. They say, in effect, we did not punish the tyrant, but now we will punish a democracy-a European democracy-and we expect its citizens to take it.
They say Kosovo can be independent, while saying that 1244 in its entirety still applies, including, presumably, that part that reaffirms Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo. And they send an EU-led mission to our province without the approval of the Security Council, even though paragraphs 5 and 19 of 1244 make it abundantly clear that only the Security Council can do that.
And yesterday, at an emergency session of the Permanent Council, no European ambassador could explain to anyone with any degree of reason why what is being done to Serbia is not a violation of the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act.
They could not explain to me why what they are doing is not setting a dangerous, precedent that will create very troubling consequences to the stability of Europe and the whole world.
Recognizing the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence from Serbia legitimizes the doctrine of imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts.
It legitimizes the act of unilateral secession by a provincial or local entity.
It transforms the right to self-determination into an avowed right to independence.
It legitimizes the forced partition of internationally-recognized, sovereign states.
And it violates the commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes in Europe.
It even resurrects the discredited Cold War doctrine of limited sovereignty.
By the actions of some European Union member-states, every would-be ethnic or religious separatist across Europe and around the world has been provided with a tool kit on how to achieve recognition. Does anyone in this room think that the Kosovo Albanians are the only group in the world with a grievance against their capital?
Do any of you honestly think that just by saying that Kosovo is sui generis, you will make it so? That there will be no consequences to the stability and security of the international system, just because you say it won't?
Is this the way proud Europeans behave? Is this the way European values are put into practice? Is this the way to treat friends?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Notwithstanding everything I have witnessed and all that my country has gone through, I have not lost faith in Europe, even though I am ashamed by the actions of some within it.
I have not lost faith in Europe because I still hold out a measure of hope that Europe will live up to its values; that Europe will pause for a moment and recall the principles that drive its own decision-making in Brussels and Strasbourg. I'm talking about compromise, concession, and consensus-building. That's how it works: by engaging in a process of deliberate, patient, and sustained, good-faith negotiations until a compromise is struck that all stakeholders can abide by.
In the case of Kosovo's future status, only a solution that is acceptable to the sides can be viable, sustainable, and lasting.
Only a negotiated solution can pave the way towards a common, European future.
Only such a solution can consolidate the regional gains made, reinforce the geo-strategic priorities achieved, and restore the drive for change in Southeast Europe.
The imposition of a one-sided outcome-the recognition of an independent Kosovo-does the opposite. It sets back the achievements of European visionaries in our region; it uncouples the Western Balkans from its future in Europe; and it fosters a view throughout the region that Europe is in the business of imposing outcomes.
This is where we are. It's a shameful place to be. And it's not where we should be.
Where we are is at the precipice, facing down into the shadows of uncertainty. Uncertainty over the future of the Western Balkans. Uncertainty over democracy in Serbia. Uncertainty over the safety of the Kosovo Serbs. And uncertainty over the fate of our holy sites-the central element of our national identity.
Yet we also face forward. We can see beyond the break, and beyond the discord. We can still see Europe for what it is, for what it can become, for what it can accomplish.
But also for what it can harm: the dreams of a proud, democratic, European country that has surmounted more obstacles since October 2000 than most other nations have in a hundred years.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I assure you, with the fortitude of a unified nation, Serbia will not go quietly. We shall strive for what is just, for what we believe in, for our future, for what is rightfully ours.
The Republic of Serbia shall not tolerate this illegal act of secession. Our Government and National Assembly have declared this action by the authorities in Pristina null and void. And we shall undertake all diplomatic and political measures designed to impede and reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on our sovereignty.
As a responsible member of the international community committed to the peaceful and negotiated resolution of disputes, the Republic of Serbia will not resort to the use of force. For violence cannot bring a peaceful settlement to any crisis. Violence only destroys-lives, property, hope, ambitions. It destroys everything and creates desolation.
We are for peace. We are for agreement. We are for concord. We are Europeans.
Kosovo shall remain a part of Serbia forever.
Αναρτήσεις
