Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Feb 16 2008
Main Problem with Declaring Kosovo Independence is its Interpretation
– experts
16.02.08 12:53
Russia, Moscow, 16 February / Trend News corr R. Agayev, A. Gasimova,
E. Huseynov / The crucial problem with declaring Kosovo’s
independence for all main figures in the conflict is the
interpretation of the independence, the well-known Russian expert
Sergey Markedonov said.
On 15 February, the Kosovo Parliament approved of the resolution
allowing the passing of a set of laws on Kosovo’s independence within
24 hours.
` Russia may call declaring Kosovo’s independence awful, while the
United States treat it as freedom, therefore, interpretation is very
important,’ Markedonov, who is the head of the International
Relations Department at the Russian Institute for Political and
Military Analysis, said to Trend on 15 February. According to the
political scientist, in this situation Russia may act on several
scenarios. `The first variant: as the UN Security Council has not
recognized anything, so there is no recognition. Kosovo
self-proclaimed its independence, but what of it?! Trans-Dniester
also proclaimed its independence in 1990, Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991,
and Abkhazia did that after the war with Georgia in 1993. Now Kosovo
has done that, but the main issue is recognition of the independence
and its legitimation by the UN,’ Markedonov said. As the second
scenario Markedonov mentioned Russia’s statements on importance of
self-proclaiming.
Markedonov believes that Moscow will take the first position and will
appeal to the international law. ` Russia will say the proclaiming of
the independence is a fact. But is has no importance until the UN
Security Council recognizes the independence,’ he said.
Markedonov did not rule out that Kosovo’s independence may be
recognized by countries, but even in this case the fact of the matter
will not change. `Some countries still do not recognize China,
nevertheless it manages without that. Twenty-four countries recognize
Taiwan, but China does not. Russia cannot prohibit the States or
other countries from recognizing Kosovo,’ he said.
`Neglect to the international law, as it is with Kosovo, weakens
world’s controllability and undermines the prestige of the
international organizations which are in charge of the
controllability,’ the high-ranking Russian MP Mikhail Margelov said.
The day before, the EU and U.S. representatives in the UN Security
Council with the minority of 5 votes supported the Kosovo
separatists, while, the remaining members of the Security Council,
including Russia and China, opposed Kosovo’s separation from Serbia.
`The warnings that Kosovo’s one-side independence may be used as a
precedent became getting true. The Russian Foreign Ministry promised
to change its policy towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And the
heads of these two republics stated that they prepared several steps
corresponding with the international law in case of Pristina declares
its independence,’ Margelov, who is the chair of the International
Relations Committee at the Federation Council of Russia, said to via
e-mail Trend on 15 February.
Calling Kosovo `the East Timor in the center of Europe’ Margelov said
that it is difficult to foretell all aftermath of the indulgence by
the United States and European Countries in this regard.
The East Timor, the former Portugal colony was occupied by Indonesia
after the demise of Portugal Empire in 1975 in defiance of UN
decision. The East Timor sought independence from Indonesia in the
following years. The population of East Timor vote for independence
from Indonesia in referendum held under UN supervision in 1999. The
international community recognized its independence in 2002.
As to fact that separatism is a phenomenon which exists in all
continents, Margelov cited examples. `In Iran it is the Tabriz region
populated with the Iranian Azerbaijanis, and the Khuzestan province
populated with Iranian Arabs. Palestine has been divided into two
parts. In fact, Iraq is on the verge of collapse. Turkey will hardly
admit the appearance of an independent government of Kurds on its
borders,’ he said.
The Georgian political scientist Ramaz Sakvarelidze said that the
recognition of Kosovo’s independence poses threat to Georgia to a
lesser degree. According to Sakvarelidze, Moscow has been recently
stating that the possible recognition of Kosovo’s independence by the
international community will not be precedent for Russia with regard
to the separatist regimes in Georgia and other countries.
Mentioning the fact that only 5 out of 15 members of the UN Security
Councils support independence of Kosovo, the political scientist
said: `It means that the independence of the region will be partially
recognized and the international community and Russia will not
recognize it at all.’
According to the expert, despite of that, the separatists constantly
follow all changes and try to take advantage of them. Moreover,
Russia has recently stated many times that if the independence of
Kosovo is recognized, it will revise the status of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. Sakvarelidze said that recognition of Kosovo should not be
viewed as a threat to Georgia, however he did not rule the threat may
come from Russia.
Since 1999, Kosovo region, which is formally a part of Serbia, has
been controlled by the UN. Kosovo strives for independence, but
Serbia offers only the status of autonomic region. The EU and USA are
ready to recognize Kosovo’s independence, while Russia supports the
position of Belgrade.