Serbia’s Foreign Minister Marko Gjuriq has continued his exchange with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Albania’s top diplomat, Ferit Hoxha, over Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s statement regarding the possibility of changing the course of the Iber River.
In a post addressed to Rama, Gjuriq said that the Iber originates in Montenegro, flows through Serbia and Kosovo, and continues through the Danube basin toward the Black Sea. He stressed that the river never enters Albania and is not part of Albania’s river system.
The Serbian foreign minister also argued that concerns over the issue should be addressed directly by the parties involved through established mechanisms, rather than through public statements from capitals that are not riparian states.
Gjuriq’s full post:
“A sophisticated summer attempt to change the subject.
In fact, we are discussing the Ibar River for one reason only: Albin Kurti’s government is using this summer to demolish Serbian homes without respecting proper legal procedures along the shores of Lake Gazivoda and the Iber, depriving people of their property, access and livelihoods through actions that are clearly discriminatory on ethnic grounds.
That is the concrete reality. Everything else is secondary.
Prime Minister @ediramaal has written a long and elegant text about geography, history and European values. What he has chosen not to address is the systematic destruction of Serbian property that is taking place right now.
Since geography has been mentioned: the Iber originates in Montenegro, flows through Serbia, including Kosovo, and continues through the Danube basin toward the Black Sea. It never enters Albania and is not part of Albania’s river system.
The Ibar is a transboundary watercourse, but Albania is not a riparian state of the river. International water law does not give states the right to intervene on the basis of ethnic proximity. Any legitimate concerns should be addressed by the directly affected parties, through established mechanisms and on the basis of facts, rather than through public statements from capitals that are not part of the riparian states.
Serbia’s position on Kosovo is not folklore. It is based on our Constitution, international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1244. Albania may disagree, but it cannot unilaterally declare the matter settled.
I welcome Prime Minister Rama’s recognition that the rights and security of the Serbian community matter. We now expect that recognition to be accompanied by practical support beginning with a clear call to end the demolition of Serbian homes and similar actions by the Kurti government, as well as the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, an obligation that remains unfulfilled.
Allow me to respectfully suggest to Prime Minister Rama and Minister @HoxhaFer that, although interesting, we should leave megaphone diplomacy behind. Our doors and telephone lines remain open. Our people deserve, seriously, fewer exchanges of statements and more concrete examples of what Serbs and Albanians can achieve together.
P.S. This entire exchange of statements is not surprising at all. Let us surprise everyone positively by finding more ways to work across our differences.”
