Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has formally requested an explanation from the US embassy in Belgrade after an American official suggested Washington would recognize a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. Jeremic described the remarks as damaging to ongoing negotiations over the province's future.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary Kurt Volker made the comments in an interview on Friday, saying that if no settlement was reached, recognizing Kosovo's independence would be "the only stable way forward in the Balkans." He also expressed hope that a negotiated agreement remained possible.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica separately appealed to the United Nations to uphold his country's territorial integrity, characterizing Volker's statement as a direct threat.
Kosovo has been administered by a UN mission since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict and remains officially part of Serbia. A negotiating troika composed of the United States, Russia, and the European Union is working to find a compromise between Serbia, which opposes independence, and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership, which favors it. Russia has aligned with Serbia on the issue. International mediators face a deadline of 10 December to deliver their final report.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in September 2007, in its own words.