Political Quotes

“I rise today to condemn the murderous attacks carried out by Serbian paramilitary units against civilians in the province of Kosovo. Mr. President, the immediate cause of the violence was an attack several days ago by units of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, which killed four Serbian police. The fundamental cause, however, is the Serbian government s brutal repression of the ethnic Albanians, who make up more than ninety percent of Kosovo s population. In 1989, Slobodan Milosevic, as part of his demogogic policy of whipping up Serb ultra-nationalism, abolished the autonomous status of Kosovo, granted by the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974. Flooding the province with Yugoslav military units, special police forces, and nationalist militias, Milosevic set up a police state that has prevented the ethnic Albanians from exercising their basic political and cultural rights. To their credit, Kosovo s Albanian leadership, led by Ibrahim Rugova, opted for a non-violent approach in their struggle for independence.”