Chauvinist rhetoric of Serbian officials sharply condemned by the Council of Albanian Ambassadors, diplomatic response demanded

The Council of Albanian Ambassadors has expressed a firm stance against the recent statements of a minister in the Government of Serbia, which bring back into circulation ideas referring to the ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population. Such language contradicts European principles and seriously undermines the stability of the entire region.

In its reaction, the organization emphasizes that these expressions follow a series of positions that minimize past policies and raise suspicion that Serbia has still not fully detached itself from the ideology that produced conflicts and atrocities in the former Yugoslavia.

At the same time, the Council draws attention to the unequal treatment of Albanians in the Presevo Valley, highlighting the process of mass address passivation, which is described as a modern form of genocide.

The organization of Albanian diplomats underscores once again that Kosovo’s independence is an accomplished and irreversible fact. For this reason, Albania is asked to undertake a diplomatic démarche to the Serbian embassy in Tirana and, in coordination with Kosovo, bring this issue to the tables of the European Union, NATO, and other key allies.

The Council’s statement says that the Balkans urgently need responsible leadership, respect for international law, and good neighborly coexistence, not the return of hate rhetoric.

Meanwhile, Kosovo’s acting Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, issued a decision yesterday declaring Snezhana Paunović, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in the Serbian government, as a persona non grata. This decision came after she publicly stated that if she were in Slobodan Milošević’s place, she would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo.

The European Union also reacted on Tuesday, condemning the statement of Ms. Paunović, who had claimed that if she were in the position of former President Milošević, she would have acted to ethnically cleanse the territory of Kosovo.