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A:
58% of real estate in Kosovo-Metohija belongs to Serbs
Moscow/Belgrade,
14 February 2008
State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Kosovo-Metohija Dusan Prorokovic today categorically denied claims made in some Western media that Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija have, allegedly, made large scale sales of real estate to Albanians, and said that according to land-registry records more than half of the arable land in the province belongs to the Serbs.
In an interview for the news agency Itar-Tass, Prorokovic said that according to Serbian government statistics, at the beginning of the NATO military campaign in 1999, 58% of the real estate in Kosovo-Metohija belonged to Serbs, the Serbian Orthodox Church and companies in state ownership.
According to Prorokovic, the remainder belonged to Albanians, the Roma, the Bosniaks, ethnic Turks, the Goranci and other ethnic groups in the province.
Little has changed since then, and the impression being created that Serbs own less property in Kosovo-Metohija now than in July 1999 when the land registers were submitted to Belgrade, is an illegitimate and gross violation of the right to property ownership, guaranteed throughout the world, said Prorokovic.
He said that it is not a secret that a big number of Albanian houses are built on land in Serb ownership, without permission and that the property of Serbs was largely taken by force.
He said that the international community is participating in the privatisation process in the province, where property belonging to Serbian companies and in state ownership was sold to private persons without consulting Belgrade.
According to Prorokovic, all this is a matter for a court of law, since neither Serbia as a state, nor Serbian companies and Serbs forced to leave Kosovo-Metohija wish to give up their property.
According to Prorokovic, the remainder belonged to Albanians, the Roma, the Bosniaks, ethnic Turks, the Goranci and other ethnic groups in the province.
Little has changed since then, and the impression being created that Serbs own less property in Kosovo-Metohija now than in July 1999 when the land registers were submitted to Belgrade, is an illegitimate and gross violation of the right to property ownership, guaranteed throughout the world, said Prorokovic.
He said that it is not a secret that a big number of Albanian houses are built on land in Serb ownership, without permission and that the property of Serbs was largely taken by force.
He said that the international community is participating in the privatisation process in the province, where property belonging to Serbian companies and in state ownership was sold to private persons without consulting Belgrade.
According to Prorokovic, all this is a matter for a court of law, since neither Serbia as a state, nor Serbian companies and Serbs forced to leave Kosovo-Metohija wish to give up their property.
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