Demo Berisa (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
Serbian Minister of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue Demo Berisa said on Feb. 5 commenting on a bill in the U.S. on the Albanian minority in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja that he believed that the rights of Albanians in southern Serbia had not been violated, adding that they were refusing to meet with him.
"There is no one in this country who can convince me, since I head this ministry, that the rights of my compatriots have been violated. They do not want to work. Since I have been minister, I have invited them to come for talks five times. They did not. They do not want any meeting with the representatives of the authorities in Belgrade," Berisa told Pink TV.
The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs recently adopted a bill on the position of minorities in Serbia, which deals with issues such as restrictions in the use of Albanian in public institutions, discrimination in education, including the nonrecognition of diplomas from Kosovo and Metohija and the lack of textbooks in the Albanian language.
He said that these questions could be solved by talking to the ministry or in Serbian parliament where MP Saip Kamberi was, but according to the minister, "They simply don't want to." "I was in Bujanovac on Sept. 23 and they did not meet with me, and I am an Albanian," Berisa said.
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