“Your speech in North Mitrovica, which was supposed to be historic, seemed more like a rite for Kosovo and Metohija Serbs. It’s full of depression and pessimism. You did not tell the Serbs in which country they will live. You either did not want to or did not dare. You think that money can buy everything. Even high-ranking religious dignitaries. You’re wrong. Because there is something that has no price. It is an idea, a nation, freedom, state,” the former most influential leader of Serbs from the north and a Presidency member of the Opposition Movement “Otadzbina”, Marko Jaksic wrote in an open letter to the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, following his visit to the north of Kosovo. We publish the letter in its entirety.
Your ‘Srpska Lista’ reacted to my interview for the newspaper Danas last week. A person doesn’t have to be very clever to realize that you are standing behind that statement. I recognized you by your style, jargon, vocabulary.
The statement says that I’m attacking you to get my hands on a position. You’re wrong, bucko. I’m attacking you because of betrayal. And as far as the functions are concerned, and at the time when I was in power, I did not grab them. Even the one I had, I voluntarily surrendered it to someone else.
You say that the period I ruled was marked by terror of the government. It is not true because it is a period of complete Serbian democracy in Kosovo and Metohija. There was no forcing people to come to party rallies, as you are doing, and we could have done it. There was no voting in groups, as you are doing, and we could have. There was no torture and violence against the Serbs, as there is during your time, and we could have. And why didn’t we? Precisely because of the old folk proverb ‘of thy sorrow be not too sad, of thy joy be not too glad.’
You say that I was the master of life and death. You’re lying, bucko. I was the master of life, and you are of death. Out of 500 Serbs who remained in North Mitrovica in 1999, their number rose to 20,000 by 2008. During your six-year rule, six Serbs were killed in North Mitrovica. You yourself say that the killings were not ethnically motivated. If they are not Albanians, then they are Serbs. Which Serbs, President?
You also wrote that, from ’99, I forced people to protests and demonstrations, while I hid behind them. No, bucko. I went at the front and whoever wanted followed me. Unlike you, who sent volunteers to the Republic of Srpska and the Republic of Srpska Krajina, while you idled in your father’s family house in Jajinci. This fight of mine, with my people, has resulted in the fact that we have completely preserved the north of Kosovo, where you are prancing about today. And I will leave this legacy to my people. And what will you? Greater Albania!
You said in a statement that I attacked the late Oliver Ivanovic. You are insinuating, bucko. I politically did not agree with Oliver, but we had mutual respect for each other. We did not insult each other, we respected the time that we spent together in the defense of North Mitrovica. This cannot be said for you. How many times have you asked Oliver, on state media, to tell you who killed M.S.. You made a target out of him, not me.
You even say that I got rich during the Government in which I meant something. And I acquired property in the country and abroad. You lie through your teeth, bucko. Because, let’s say, even if I wanted to own property abroad, I could not because I am on the American blacklist. For this reason, any transactions or property possession are confiscated. Well, they had nothing to confiscate from me. Imagine how much they will take from you.
Because of me, you formed the Survey Committee in the Serbian Parliament to prove my involvement in corruption and malpractices. The head of the committee was Military Intelligence Agency General, Momir Stojanovic. The Survey Committee worked for six months. As far as I’m concerned, they did not find anything illegal. They did for some, but today those (people) are part of your government. I personally believe that tomorrow, when you step down from power, some new Survey Committee will find a lot – regarding your wealth.
Let’s say that ‘Belgrade on Water’ is not Arabic, it’s your project. The leader of Healthy Serbia, Milan Stamatovic says your family has earned more than a billion euro during your rule. Neither you nor your cabinet have ever denied it.
You think that money can buy everything. Even high-ranking religious dignitaries. You’re wrong. Because there is something that has no price. It is an idea, a nation, freedom, state.
I listened to your speech in North Mitrovica, which was supposed to be historic. It was more like a rite for Kosovo and Metohija Serbs. It’s full of depression and pessimism. You ‘beat around the bush’ or as we like to say ‘talked in circles’, without saying anything. You did not tell the Serbs in which country they will live. You either did not want to or did not dare.
You constantly decrease and reduce the number of Serbs to 5 to 6 percent. In the past elections for the Assembly of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, 470,000 people voted, according to the Central Election Commission. Of this, there were 50,000 Serb votes, and the remaining 420,000 were Albanian, Roma, and Muslim… This number indicates that there are more than 12% of Serbs. At the same time, you raise the number of Albanians to an unbelievable 2 million. There has never been such an Albanian lobbyist, as you are, among Serbs so far. It makes me wonder what these earthly forces are, since you do not believe in the heavenly forces, which incite you to create Greater Albania.
You did not answer to Serbs where will 99% of them go when you preserve that 1% of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. I know, to the NATO pact and Greater Albania.
The message you are sending to the Russians seems both tragic and comic – that Serbia will never enter a NATO pact. It will, bucko, that is what you promised to get that 1%.
President, I have been in retirement for two full years. I have a lot of free time. I am always ready to exchange messages of similar content, and whether you will do it personally, bucko, or through the ‘Srpska Lista’, it’s all the same to me.
Marko Jaksic, member of the Presidency of the People’s Movement of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija „Otadzbina“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
