The Promise is Given, Kosovo is Serbia as Long as We Live

BELGRADE, Feb 21 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Thursday, addressing the protest rally in Belgrade, that Kosovo has belonged to Serbia from times immemorial, and that it will always be so.

"As a state, citizens and a nation, we are not giving up our place in the world. We are not giving up our place among the nations of the world. But we ask that we arrive at such a place and our future under the same conditions as all other nations and all states in the world. That is justice! That is international law! That is the 21st century. Anything else is force," the prime minister said.

"The state of Serbia has annulled and will annul any act of the illegal, false state, forcibly created in the territory of Serbia. And the false state is nothing else than the triumph of lies over justice and truth. In a false state, everything must be false. The law, the border, the flag, the geography, the history. And the more the power-wielders of the world advocate this lie, that creation of theirs will be all the more false.

"As long as the state of Serbia exists we will not recognize that which was created through the violation of the principles on which the civilized world rests. We are not alone in that struggle. The Serbian people will not forget the friendship and the principled support that President Putin, at the head of Russia, extended to Serbia. We will not forget, either, the support of all the states that are opposed to the toppling of the existing international order.

"The people have shown strength and unity with their stand toward the seizing of Kosovo. Such strength and such unity has bound all state institutions to make decisions that present the basis of our national and state program for Kosovo," Kostunica said.

The Serbian government’s official website gives the Prime Minister’s speech in full.
“Dear citizens of Serbia, Serbia!
What is Kosovo?
Where is Kosovo?
Whose is Kosovo?
Is there anyone among us who is not from Kosovo?
Is there anyone among us who thinks that Kosovo does not belong to us?

Kosovo – that’s Serbia’s first name.
Kosovo belongs to Serbia.
Kosovo belongs to the Serbian people.
That’s how it has been for ever. That’s how it’s going to be for ever.

There is no force, no threat, and no punishment big and hideous enough for any Serb, at any time, to say anything different but, Kosovo is Serbia! Never will anyone hear from us that the Patriarchate of Pec does not belong to us, that Visoki Decani and Gracanica are not ours! That the place where we were born is not ours; we and our state and our church and everything that makes us what we are today! If we as Serbs renounce Serbianhood, our origin, our Kosovo, our ancestors and our history – then, who are we Serbs? What is our name then?
Is there a nation in the world that is being asked to renounce everything that makes it a nation, as is being sought of the Serbs today? If we accept that we are not Serbs, they are promising us that we, as a nation without memory and origin, will be better off.
They are asking us to renounce our brothers in Kosovo. They are telling our brothers in Kosovo that without leaving their houses they entered a new state. They have not and they never will. They are telling them that they are separated from us. They are not and they never will be.
What Godly, human or European law have we violated? What agreement have we disrespected? Whom have we extended the hand of friendship and cooperation to, while offering something that was never on offer? The world’s powers say that’s not enough. It will be enough, they say, when you Serbs agree to be humiliated; when you put pen to your humiliation. No one will ever get the mandate from the Serbian people to agree to such an unworthy trade. Nobody ever
As a state, as citizens and as a nation we shall not give up our place in the world. We shall not give up our place among the nations of the world. We demand that we should be able to take our place in the world and move towards our future under the same conditions that exist for all other nations and countries. That is justice! Such is the international law! That is the 21st century. Everything else is force.
The use of force against Serbs was never successful; we respond to friendship. This is our heritage, given to us by our ancestors. If we accept the use of force and succumb to fear, each and every sacrifice made by those who created Serbia would be rendered meaningless. If we accept this use of force, we shall lose every battle won by our forefathers.
Serbia has annulled and will annul every act of the illegal and fictitious state created on its territory by the use of force. This fictitious state is nothing else but the triumph of lies over justice and truth. Everything in a fictitious state must out of necessity be fictitious, its law, its borders, its history. And the more the powers of the world endeavour for the cause of this fiction, the entity they have created will become more fictitious.
As long as Serbia exists we shall not recognise that which has ensued from the violation of the principles that the order of the civilised world is based on. We are not alone in our struggle. The Serbian nation will never forget the friendship and principled support which President Putin, the leader of Russia, has given to Serbia. We will not forget the support given by all those countries that are against the undermining of the existing international order.
The nation’s concern about the seizure of Kosovo-Metohija has shown strength and unity. Such strength and unity required all national institutions to make the decisions which are the foundations of our national and state programme for Kosovo-Metohija.
The people want us to give our word – as long as we are alive Kosovo is Serbia.
As long as we shall live, our brothers in Kosovo will neither be alone nor forgotten.
As long as we reject ultimatums, and accept friendship, Serbia will be free! The word has been given! And the whole world has heard! And everyone knows what it means when Serbia makes a promise!
Kosovo is Serbia!”

Source: www.tanjug.co.yu