Azem Vllasi, a lawyer and the current advisor to the Kosovo President, said he sees no reason why Bosnian Serbs would wait for Serbia's decision on the recognition of Kosovo. Bosnia should recognize Kosovo independently of Serbia's opinion.

Vllasi spoke with N1’s Amir Zukic about the comparisons between the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the murder of the head of the Citizens’ Initiative SDP (GI SDP) in Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic and his assassination attempt in March last year.

“Comparisons between the RS and Kosovo are nonsense. Such comparisons are rubbish. Kosovo has its cultural and ethnic identity. It’s a multi-ethnic state with an Albanian majority. The RS was made when the war in Bosnia was declared. When Bosnia was supposed to disappear as a state and Bosniaks were supposed to disappear as a people,” Vllasi pointed out.

When asked to comment on announcements that Kosovo could get its own RS where Serbs would be a majority, Vllasi said that this would mean a change of borders and that the official Belgrade knows there is no chance this will ever happen. “There is no chance that Kosovo would imitate the RS.”

Vllasi also pointed out that it is absurd that Bosnia has still not recognized Kosovo. He sees no connection between Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo and Bosnia’s recognition.

“Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was right when he said that Bosnia became more Serbian than Serbia itself. When it comes to Kosovo, Bosnia has a more rigid attitude than Serbia,” Vllasi concluded.

Speaking of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, Vlasi said he suspects someone from Serbia ordered the hit.

“Oliver Ivanovic was the target of certain Serbian circles and he clearly spoke of this. All kinds of things are happening in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo and even Ivanovic talked about the security situation in Mitrovica, those days,” Vllasi said. “Ivanovic was not obedient to the Belgrade authorities. He was one of those Serbs who wanted a dialogue with the Albanians. He was fiercely attacked by the Belgrade propaganda.”

He confirmed that no Albanian had any interest in killing him. He was deeply convinced that Serbs shot at him.

“The Belgrade authorities are interested in making Kosovo dysfunctional, unstable and in maintaining tensions in the country in order to prove that it is not capable of being a state.”

Talking about the investigation results into Ivanovic murder, Vllasi told Zukic that all the leads gathered by the Kosovo police lead to Serbia, but he could not say whether there are any leads pointing outside of Serbia.

Vllasi would not directly reveal anything about his own assassination attempt but said that many strange things were revealed in the course of the investigation.

“The investigation into my assassination attempt has revealed some interesting things, not only about the perpetrator but also about the structure of a terrorist group of some 10 people. Their goal was obviously to cause chaos in Kosovo, but the upcoming trial will show everything,” Vllasi concluded.