Show the world your teeth and you will keep Kosovo!
Glas Javnosti - Friday, July 11, 2008

By M. Miladinovic

Interview: Zmago Jelincic, leader of the Slovenian National Party

The people are with me; the Slovenians were against the recognition of Kosovo and now the politicians, too, understand they have made a mistake. The European Union is merely taking advantage of its new members, while NATO is a business organization

"It's true that my ideas are contrary to official Slovenian policy but they are not contrary to the thinking of the ordinary voter in Slovenia because most people there, for example, think that the independence of Kosovo is stupid but in the assembly only my party opposed it. Now it is apparent that we were right but the government caved in to US and EU pressure," Zmago Jelincic, leader of the Slovenian National Party, which has six deputies in the assembly and is considered to be the fiercest opposition, tells "Glas". Jelincic himself is considered to be a great friend of Serbia.

What was your main argument against independence?

No one can get a country solely on the basis of being a minority in some country. Second, Europe neither knows the history nor why there is such a large number of Shiptars in Serbia...

Why do you call them Shiptars?

That's what I called them because that's what we called them when we were in the Yugoslav People's Army. Albanians are those who live in Albania and have Albanian citizenship. It's not a derogatory term; it's a fact. As far as Kosovo is concerned, that is a terrible precedent. I expect Republika Srpska to say one day, Thanks very much for your cooperation, now we're going our own way, and they would be right because what the international community is doing is a circus; it's terrible. What else about Kosovo? There are historical facts as well: After the dispute between Tito and Enver Hoxha, the border with Albania was opened, and a large number of people arrived in Yugoslavia. Then Tito also annexed some parts of [southern] Serbia to Kosovo but no one in Europe is talking about this. Nor are they talking about Shiptar lies about those alleged pogroms against them, for example, that the Serbs had turned the stadium in Pristina into a prison camp, and in connection with Racak, but this fit in with US. plans. As well, the US knew about the Shiptar civilian convoys but they attacked them, too.

What is your message to politicians in Serbia on how to save Kosovo?

I thought that the Radicals would win the elections because toward Europe a radical position is essential; this can best be seen from the Croats. They do not honor a single signed agreement and so far they have always gotten away with it, whereas those in Serbia want something nice and diplomatic; that never succeeds.
The Radicals are closest to you?

(Not wanting to answer directly) You know, there is a difference between Slovenian radicals and radicals here [in Serbia]... I think that had they won they would no longer have such radical positions but they would be sufficiently radical to get what they wanted from Europe. Serbian policy is wrong in believing that Europe and the US are omnipotent. That's a mistake; the US is going down, Russia is moving ahead.


What other political parties are you in contact with?

That's difficult to say; I have contacts with about half of the parties on either side. That is, after all, different from when someone chooses just one side. I think that is a big mistake; one should talk to everybody, take good ideas and give good ideas because we are working in the same direction. I am in the EU Assembly, in the Commission for Security for a third term; I am working on helping Serbia and if I want to do that, I have to have the right information from both sides.

You are considered to be a great opponent of both NATO and the European Union, and Slovenia is in both organizations.

The EU is a society comprised of the rich. They accept other countries into their societies not so that those countries can also be rich but because they need new markets, resources and cheap labor. Thus, they become even richer and those little countries become even poorer; it's a new form of colonialism. Simply put, human rights is not the priority in Europe but ownership and business. And as far as NATO is concerned, it's a US corporation: 70 percent of its work involves business activity, first of all, the sale of weapons, mostly bad or obsolete, whereas the good stuff doesn't leave their hands. Moreover, why should Europe fight for their interests, for example, in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Nevertheless, despite that people in Slovenia live quite well?

It's true that Slovenia has made exceptional progress but we no longer get money but as a developed country we give it to undeveloped ones just like we did in Yugoslavia. Nothing was ever done with this money with the exception of a few people stuffing it into their pockets. Now everything is going in the same direction, except once there two million poor people in Yugoslavia, while now there are thirty just in Romania and Bulgaria, and then in Poland, the Baltic countries...

So the old slogan from Yugoslavia now, in practical terms, would be "Slovenia is working, Romania is being built?" [Trans. note: The old slogan was "Slovenia is working, Belgrade [the Yugoslav capital] is being built."]

Yes, of course. That's how it is now. [Laughs]

Let me ask you something else. You caused a great storm in the parliament and among the Slovenian public with your recent request for the registration of, as you called them, Gypsies.

You see, in our country Gypsies are a privileged class.

You call them Gypsies, not Roma; that is not considered a derogatory name here?

I don't support segregation because the Gypsies are divided into Roma, Sinti and other tribes; that's how it is. Moreover, why should they be the only ones given privileges? That is contrary to the UN's position on human rights. They have their own representative in municipalities where they live; now they are asking for a representative in the federal parliament. These are stupidities. As well, they can vote twice, once for their representative and a second time for their political representative. That's a right I don't have. Also, they are responsible for numerous acts of crime, and why shouldn't it be known who they are, how many of them there are, where they live and whether they are even Slovenian citizens, whether they pay taxes, electricity... The police and the courts are afraid of them; they don't arrest anyone.

Nonetheless, at one time the Slovenians, as well as the Croats, used the term in the pejorative sense, calling the Serbs Gypsies?

No, that's not true, ordinary people never insulted you. There was the term "chefurs" but that was not so bad, either; it was used for all people living outside of Slovenia. Don't worry; the ordinary people have nothing against you. On the contrary.

INSET:

MISKOVIC WELCOME

"Why do you believe there was such a problem here regarding the arrival of Miskovic and Delta in Ljubljana?" Jelincic answered our question with one of his own, adding that there was more written about this supposed problem in Serbia than in Slovenia.

"As far as I'm concerned, I would rather have a Serb visitor than an Austrian one because the latter have pretensions to our territory, whereas the Serbs do not," he said.

Original URL: http://www.glas-javnosti.co.yu/clanak/tema/glas-javnosti-11-07-2008/ostro-prema-svetu-i-sacuvacete-kosovo
Translated by: Snezana Ivanisevic