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Paya
11-19-2008, 02:11 PM
Greece 'Accepts Kosovo Reality'

http://www.balkaninsight.com/apps/resizer.php?img=http%3a%2f%2fbalkaninsight.com%2fcgi-bin%2fget_img%3fNrImage%3d2%26NrArticle%3d14908&w=130&constrain=1
Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis

19 November 2008 Pristina _Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis says Athens will soon recognise Kosovo's independence because it has to accept the reality of the situation.
Speaking to Albanian media, Bakoyannis declared that Greece will soon recognise Kosovo’s independence, although stop short of naming a date for this decision.

“I don’t know what will happen later. I can say that we don’t actually recognise Kosovo, but we will soon,” she stated.

Bakoyannis blamed the delayed recognition on regional conflicts and goals that have inflicted the Balkans for many years but admitted that the truth cannot be changed.

“Kosovo’s problem is one of the oldest problems of the Balkans. We do not recognie its independence based on the principle of territorial integrity, but on the other side we know that the flow of the river cannot change,” she said.

Bakoyannis added that Greece has good relations with Kosovo.

“We have opened an office there, and deal with affairs between people,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Greek Foreign Minister also highlighted excellent relations with Serbia.

“With Serbia, we have had excellent relations for a long time. We support their ambitions to join the European Union and hope that during the last couple of years improvements have occurred there, which will allow them to become closer to the EU,” she said.

Greece is one of the five European Union member states that have still not recognised Kosovo’s independence. The others are Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Cyprus.

Since declaring independence in February of this year, Kosovo has been recognised by 52 countries around the world.

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I know that after Montenegro and FYROM, I really shouldn't be surprised, but still... WTF?

BW2
11-19-2008, 02:39 PM
Greek ambassador says its bull****

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=11&dd=19&nav_id=55137


Priština daily Koha Ditore has misquoted Greek Foreign Minister :cantbeli: ...what do you expect from those guys...

Paya
11-19-2008, 02:45 PM
Dunno. A bit of professionalism, since they're the best selling paper among the Kosovo Albanian community.

I'll believe it's a misinformation when/if Bakoyanis herself says so.

The Montenegrins made me paranoid as hell... p-)

EDIT: And the guy sitting in Belgrade doesn't sound very reassuring, either:

Panagopoulos said the position of the Greek government and its foreign ministry has not changed, and that Greece "will not recognize any time soon Kosovo, in keeping with respect of territorial integrity of states".


"I do not know what will happen later, but I do know that we will not recognize Kosovo in the near future," Panagopoulos told the news agency, stressing this was "a very categorical position"

PeterG
11-19-2008, 03:21 PM
Independence..? Great! Hopefully we can send back the kosovo albanian 'refugees' here in Norway now?.. We could slash the police workload by half!