Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo's foreign minister has written to his counterparts in the European Union, U.S. and other countries denouncing "numerous acts of provocation and aggression" from Serbia, an official said Thursday.
The minister, Enver Hoxhaj, called on the EU, which facilitates Pristina-Belgrade talks to normalize ties, "to urge Serbia to remain committed to good neighborly relations," according to the official.
"The Republic of Kosovo encourages the European Union ... to urge Serbia to remain committed to good neighborly relations and regional cooperation and not interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries or take provocative actions which aim for the destabilization of the region," the minister said in a three-page letter.
The official spoke anonymously because he wasn't authorized to publicly comment on the letter. He didn't explain how and which countries were chosen, only mentioning "EU, U.S. and other countries."
Kosovo-Serbia relations reached a crisis moment last weekend when a Serbian train, bearing signs reading "Kosovo is Serbia" and decorated in the colors of the Serbian flag and Christian Orthodox symbols, was turned back from the border with Kosovo.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini "has invited the two parties to a high-level meeting of the Dialogue of Normalization of Relations between Belgrade and Pristina next week, on Tuesday, 24 January in Brussels," according to a statement.
"Convening the Dialogue next Tuesday in Brussels: tensions show need for increased commitment by #Serbia and #Kosovo," Mogherini wrote in her Twitter page.
Hoxhaj considered the last incident with the train as "the last event in the chain of aggressive and provocative acts that Serbia has undertaken against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo."
The minister mentioned that earlier in January, Ramush Haradinaj, a former Kosovo prime minister and a former guerrilla commander in Kosovo's 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia, was detained in France as Serbia demanded his extradition to face war crime charges. Pristina says Haradinaj has twice been cleared of such charges by a U.N. tribunal.
In December, the Serb ethnic minority in Mitrovica put a concrete wall on the northern part of the bridge on Ibar River, calling it a technical support barrier against a landslide. Kosovo protested, and its parliament voted to demolish the wall.
Hoxhaj said that Pristina has "acted with political maturity and in full accordance with domestic and international rules when countering Serbia's hybrid threats through peaceful dialogue and diplomatic methods."
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but that hasn't been recognized by Belgrade.
Serbia, backed by Russia, has sought to maintain influence in Kosovo, especially in the north where most of the country's Serb minority lives. NATO-led troops have controlled Kosovo's territory since a three-month air war in 1999 to stop a bloody Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
___
Associated Press writer Llazar Semini contributed to this report from Tirana, Albania.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
