Montenegrin premier tells Serbia to drop its "mythomanic" policy

[Presenter] Montenegro supports international community's decision to begin the process of defining Kosovo's final status, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has told Pink TV, adding that it was time for Serbia to give up irrational policy imposed by nationalists. On the eve of [Slovene President] Janez Drnovsek's visit to Montenegro, the prime minister said that the Slovene president was welcome.

[Reporter] Assessing that it was about time to solve the status of Kosovo and that a further postponing would not be productive, Prime Minister Djukanovic said that Montenegro would offer to help with this process.

[Djukanovic] We support international community's decision to begin the process of defining the final status of Kosovo by the end of this year, under the conductor's baton of an experienced European statesman such as Martti Ahtisaari - on behalf of the United Nations and the Contact Group - with an ambition to end this process some time in mid-2006.

[Reporter] The prime minister assessed that it was time for Serbia to give up irrational and mythomanic policy.

[Djukanovic] This is why I think that it is now crucially important that the Serbian president and the prime minister of Serbia - as heads of the Serbian negotiation team - realize that there is this realistic political room [for manoeuvre], and simply say thanks to the people who exert unrealistic political and nationalistic pressure on them. They should then take up the steering wheel in a responsible manner and attempt to reach the best possible solution.

[Reporter] The prime minister is not expecting the relations with Serbia to cool down, following the visit by the Slovene president to Montenegro.

[Djukanovic] I wish to say, with a fully peaceful conscience, really, that it is a great honour not only for the president of the [Montenegrin] republic [Filip Vujanovic] but for myself personally, that Montenegro is visited by the president of a friendly country, and also a member of the European Union, which is Slovenia, and - Janez Drnovsek.

[Reporter] The prime minister reiterated that the referendum on the legal status of Montenegro as a state would be held in spring, adding that there were no concrete demands on part of European officials to postpone the declaration of referendum results, although this possibility was mentioned.

[Djukanovic] There might possibly be a talk about postponing this for a month or two, I do not believe longer than that.

[Reporter] Djukanovic reiterated that the doors for the opposition to discuss conditions of the referendum were opened

Since the Albanians only liberated themselves from the Ottoman empire in 1912, to say that Albanian irridentism is a policy that has been in place for hundreds of years is at least to admit that they resisted Turkish occupation.

To say that Albanians are johnny come latelys to the region, whereas the are the descendants of the Illyrians, a people older then the Greeks in the Balkans, and that Kosovo is managed by the European Union whereas it is in fact administered by the UN is to show too little knowledge to contribute anything to the debate.

Albanians did not liberate themselves from the Turks. Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro did all the dirty work, while the Albanians reaped the benefits. They were Turkey's junkyard dog in the Balkans for centuries (15th-early 20th), and it is only due to the defeat of Turkey -- in which they took no part -- and Austro-Hungarian insistence that Serbia be kept off the Adriatic coast that they managed to get a state of their own.

The First Balkan War was fought between the members of the Balkan League--Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan League was formed under Russian auspices in the spring of 1912 to take Macedonia away from Turkey, which was already involved in a war with Italy. The league was able to field a combined force of 750,000 men. Montenegro opened hostilities by declaring war on Turkey on Oct. 8, 1912, and the other members of the league followed suit 10 days later. The Balkan allies were soon victorious. In Thrace, the Bulgarians defeated the main Ottoman forces, advancing to the outskirts of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and laying siege to Adrianople (Edirne). In Macedonia, the Serbian army achieved a great victory at Kumanovo that enabled it to capture Bitola and to join forces with the Montenegrins and enter Skopje. The Greeks, meanwhile, occupied Salonika (Thessaloníki) and advanced on Ioánnina. In Albania, the Montenegrins besieged Shkodër, and the Serbs entered Durrës. The Turkish collapse was so complete that all parties were willing to conclude an armistice on Dec. 3, 1912. A peace conference was begun in London, but after a coup d'état by the Young Turks in Constantinople in January 1913, war with the Ottomans was resumed. Again the allies were victorious: Ioánnina fell to the Greeks and Adrianople to the Bulgarians. Under a peace treaty signed in London on May 30, 1913, the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its remaining European territory, including all of Macedonia and Albania. Albanian independence was insisted upon by the European powers, and Macedonia was to be divided among the Balkan allies.

(source: http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/balkan1912.htm)

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