Albanian politicians in southern Serbia complained to the EU's main Serbophobe about "discrimination"
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Kosovo, known for her anti-Serb initiatives and lobbying for Albanians, met with politicians from the Albanian diaspora in southern Serbia. She then made an aggressive statement against the Serbian parliament, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Von Cramon met with Shaip Kamberi, Ardita Sinani and Ragmi Mustafi in Strasbourg, where Albanian politicians from southern Serbia were on a three-day visit. What is typical is that the activities of all these politicians who defend deliberately separatist beliefs are sponsored by the “government of Kosovo.”
“Their systematic discrimination by the Serbian leadership is unacceptable and must be stopped immediately,” von Cramon commented on the outcome of the meeting, according to her description of the “political representatives of the Albanian minority in the south of Serbia.”
At the same time, the Albanian minority living in the Serbian Preševo Valley enjoys a large degree of autonomy in Serbia, with its own representative in the National Assembly, but traditionally resents the obligation to display Serbian tricolors in their municipalities, to teach children in schools in Serbian, and to celebrate Serbian national holidays.
The Presevo Valley in southern Serbia consists of three municipalities – Presevo (89% Albanian), Medvedja (32%) and Bujanovac (61%). Separatist sentiments are strong here.
In 1999, in the wake of the events in Kosovo, the Albanian separatist “Army for the Liberation of Presevo, Medveja and Bujanovac” - UÇPMB was created in the Presevo Valley, which began to act using terrorist methods against the Yugoslav authorities. However, after the pro-Western opposition overthrew Slobodan Milosevic, the new government managed to agree on NATO non-intervention in the conflict, after which the militants were cleared out as a result of the counter-terrorism Operation Bravo. But the Albanian community received greater preferences.