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Kosovo: Kurti, Serb community only after mutual recognition

'Pristina will not remain isolated from the West'

Redazione Ansa

(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 05 FEB - Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the creation of the Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo is possible, but only after an agreement is reached with Belgrade on mutual recognition. "We have to be cautious and honest," Kurti said in statements to Turkish TV Trt, which were partly picked up by the Serbian press. The premier, who confirmed what he has been advocating in recent days with the announcement of six conditions for the formation of the Community of Serbs, referred to recent statements by U.S. envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar that the Community of Serbs should be created anyway since it is provided for in an agreement reached by Belgrade and Pristina. Kurti said he appreciates Escobar's interest and commitment to the success of the Kosovo negotiation process, adding, however, that his conditions on such a body are not something arbitrary or his personal opinions but are based on the constitution and laws of Kosovo. To a question whether Kosovo would remain isolated from the Western world should an agreement not be reached, the premier said he was certain that this would not happen. "Of course we will not remain isolated. Last May we applied for membership in the Council of Europe, and in December we applied for membership in the EU," Kurti said. Belgrade rules out a yes vote on Kosovo's independence, and any possibility of mutual recognition with Pristina. (ANSA).

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