The leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), Ali Ahmeti, has reacted to the statement by Serbian Minister Snezhana Paunović, after she said days ago that she would have “ethnically cleansed Kosovo” in 1998 if she had been in the position of war criminal Slobodan Milošević.
Ahmeti described the statement as “shocking, inhumane, and unacceptable.”
Paunović is a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia, which was led by Milošević and is currently headed by Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ivica Dačić.
Ahmeti said that Paunović’s views reflect the criminal policies of her political mentor.
“Such a statement is not only an insult to the victims of war, but also a reflection of a mentality inspired by the criminal policies of her political mentor, Slobodan Milošević, who ended up facing international justice for the crimes committed by his regime.”
Ahmeti added that speaking today about ethnic cleansing as a political alternative, after the world has witnessed murdered children, massacres of innocent civilians, mass graves, and countless testimonies of crimes committed in Kosovo, is evidence of a dangerous mentality incompatible with human, democratic, and European values.
“Denial or glorification of genocidal policies has no place in the 21st century.”
However, Ahmeti said that history has already given its answer.
“It was precisely against this criminal mentality that the resistance of the people of Kosovo emerged, culminating in the Kosovo Liberation Army. Together with our international allies, the KLA brought freedom and liberation to Kosovo. Those who still dream of ethnic cleansing today must understand that ideologies of hatred always end up in the pages of history, while freedom and justice prevail.”
