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No incidents expected in Kosovo, says DM

3 January 2011 | 13:12 | Source: Blic, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac Belgrade's Blic daily that no incidents are expected in Kosovo when the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština starts. Dragan Šutanovac (Beta) The dialogue should start as soon as possible, he said. If an investigation is opened on the basis of Dick Marty's report, the persons who might be investigated could protest in some way, Šutanovac said. He, however, expressed his conviction that the international community and all Kosovo institutions are taking care of that and can secure stability, he said. Serbia is ready for talks and has been warning for some time that Priština is trying to avoid them, he said. The Serbian Army is ready for any political decision, including joining NATO, he said. The dialogue will have to raise the issue "why persons seen on tape or on photographs committing war crimes and setting fire to monasteries have not been taken to trial", Šutanovac said, in reference to ethnic Albanian attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church property in the province. Referring to Dick Marty's report, Šutanovac said that the world has finally faced the fact that there has been no democratization in Kosovo as some media claim, and that Hashim Thaci, who played a leading role in the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which was committing war crimes in the 1990s, should be held accountable. Germany, Austria and Russia have expressed interest in the way the Serbian Army was "professionalized", Šutanovac said, noting that abolishing of compulsory military service was the greatest social reform in Serbia "in several years".