Glas Javnosti, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
November 23, 2000

In interview with "Koha Ditore" President Kostunica emphasizes

Dialog with Albanians

Crimes were committed by both sides, the Yugoslav Army did not commit
atrocities

PRISTINA (Beta) - Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica is advocating
the beginning of dialog with representatives of various political
options of the Kosovo Albanians while emphasizing the need to honor UN
Security Resolution 1244.

In the first part of an interview published on Wednesday in the Pristina
Albanian language daily "Koha Ditore", Kostunica emphasized that
Resolution 1244 "represents the law in the territory of Kosovo" and the
reason why the sovereignty and the integrity of FR Yugoslavia should be
respect.

According to Kostunica, the solution of the Kosovo crisis should be
sought in a high degree of autonomy while the independence of that
province would "open a Pandora's box of border changes in the region".

"I think that we should be realistic. The world does not want the
Balkans to become a powderkeg again and things should be resolved in a
different way," said President Kostunica.

"For eight years I have been point out the difficulty of the Kosovo
issue and the increased difficulty of Serbian-Albanian relations which
were difficult to begin with even before Milosevic. This certainly needs
to be resolved. I think that Kosovo Albanians must be included in
political life," said President Kostunica.

When asked to answer a question regarding crimes by Yugoslav security
forces in Kosovo, the FRY president said that "there were crimes on both
sides" but also that "they were not committed by standard formations,
least of all by the Yugoslav Army".

* * *

Serbs have not returned

"I am sorry because of last year's exodus of Albanians but at the same
time I must say that the majority of them have returned to Kosovo.
Actually, according to my calculations, more of them returned than
originally left," said President Kostunica. "The Serbs have not
returned. Take the number of 300,000 Serbs who formerly lived in Kosovo.
Generally speaking, we are talking about a third or a fourth of both
sides. In the meanwhile, crimes were committed and there were also
paramilitary formations," said the Yugoslav president.

Translated by S. Lazovic (Nov. 24, 2000)