(Republika Srpska entity President) Milorad Dodik’s reaction is not surprising. As an informal nationalist, he continued working against all integration processes of this region into the EU, Kosovo Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli told Anadolu Agency.
“Creating unclear political situations is a form of survival for people like him. The Republic of Kosovo is an unacceptable fact for him. He’s lost a sense of reality,” Pacolli said in an interview with the Anadolu Agency.
Pacolli was invited to attend the informal meeting of foreign ministers of the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Bosnia's northwestern city of Banja Luka, but his presence was strongly objected by Milorad Dodik, President of Bosnia's Serb dominated entity, Republika Srpska (RS). Because of this, Pacolli decided to cancel his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pacolli also raised his concerns on the possibility that this could have been orchestrated by Belgrade.
“This might as well be Belgrade’s doing, considering that Dodik is their puppet. They are managing all his political activities,” he noted.
Unlike Dodik, who fiercely denies all meetings with Pacolli, the head of the Kosovo diplomacy said he met with Dodik twice.
“I saw him briefly in 2002 and on my second visit he received me on the Banjaluka airport. We talked about some projects, the Brod Refinery to be exact,” he told Anadolu Agency. “I came to that meeting with a friend of mine who lives in Switzerland – his name is Branko Crnogorac. Dodik received us very well and he spent several hours with us.”
Pacolli reiterated that all Dodik’s political activities are directed and managed from Belgrade.
“His actions could also be directed at interfering in the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, however, these are desperate attempts by a man who is having a hard time coming to terms that the time of conflicts has long passed,” the Kosovo Minister stressed.
Anadolu Agency also asked about Pacolli’s opinion on Serbia Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic’s statements concerning the “Dayton Peace Agreement 2 for Kosovo.”
“Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and since then it was recognised by a majority of world countries. Therefore, there is no reason for the ‘Dayton 2' or anything that Mr Dacic fills his head with. Serbia’s attempts to implement such ideas have caused all the tragedies in this region. They must never happen again. Serbia must realise that the time of its rule has come to an end,’ Pacolli concluded.
The Dayton Peace Agreement ended the war in Bosnia and divided the country into two semi-autonomous entities: The Bosniak-Croat dominated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Serb dominated Republika Srpska (RS), as well as the District of Brcko in the north of the country, not dominated by any of the three constituent people.
