Tadic to Celebrate Orthodox Christmas in Kosovo

Visoki Decani monastery

In a statement on Radio Free Europe's Albanian service Tuesday afternoon, Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Ram Manaj said Tadic would be able to visit Kosovo under the condition that he would not abuse the visit for political purposes.

Tadic made the request to visit in December through the EU office in Belgrade, which then passed on the request to the EU Special Representative in Pristina, which then forwarded the request to Kosovo's government.

The president expressed his expectations then that international institutions will respond positively to his request to visit Kosovo. "We cannot have a stable region if we cannot travel and move about freely. So I believe international institutions will react positively to my request," Tadic told reporters in Belgrade.

Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci told Radio Television 21 that in the official letter addressed to the EU's Special Representative in Kosovo, Peter Feith, Tadic also requested to visit the village of Osojane. Kuci said that he is not likely to be allowed to do that as the character of that visit wouldn't be a religious one.

But Vetevendosje, Kosovo’s self-determination movement has reacted strongly against Tadic’s visit, questioning how the government could permit a man who denies the existence of the country to enter, and accusing it of being incapable of controlling its territory.

“We call on the Decani mayor to mobilise its municipal institutions and people against this visit,” Vetvendosje said on its website.

“From Decani he will certainly, as has happened in the past, call on all Serbs wherever they live, to not forget Kosovo as the holy land of Serbia given to them by God,” the statement continues.

“He will call [on Serbs] to continue the war for Kosovo,” it concludes

Last time Tadic visited Kosovo was on 17 April, 2009, when he visited the monastery of Decani on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.