Thaci's 'Corrections' Call Raises Spectre of Kosovo's Partition

Kosovo's President, Hashim Thaci, has startled his countrymen and women - and angered some opposition parties - by issuing a series of equivocal and mixed messages on the subject of ethnic partition.

While denying the possibility of ethnic land "swaps" with Serbia, Thaci at the same time has called the inclusion in Kosovo of ethnically Albanian areas of southern Serbia "realizable".

"We have about 400 kilometers of border with Serbia that should be marked, and without demarcation with Serbia, the process of state formation and consolidation cannot be concluded," Thaci said on Thursday.

"For this reason, demarcation and the correction of borders will be discussed," he said, "although the realization of Serbian aspirations for the partition of Kosovo cannot be imposed within the framework of border correction, under any circumstances or for any price.

"Meanwhile, I think the institutionalized demand of representatives of the Presevo Valley to join Kosovo is very realizable and acceptable to us," he added, referring to the mainly ethnic Albanian area around the town of Presevo in Serbia.

Some opposition politicians reacted strongly, calling any mention of border "correction" extremely dangerous.

The head of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK's parliamentary group, Avdullah Hoti, said "word games" about exchanges of territories with Serbia, including "border corrections", would come at a big price - damaging Kosovo's chances of gaining new recognitions, and its position in the international arena.

"No one has a right to discuss Kosovo's territory, as this would contradict the will of the people of Kosovo for an independent country," Hoti wrote on Facebook.

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