POLICE NOTE "INCREASING" INTEREST FOR SERBIAN PASSPORTS AMONG KOSOVO ALBANIANS
BBC Monitoring International Reports - October 15, 2008 Wednesday

Text of report by Serbian privately-owned tabloid Glas javnosti, on 14 October

[Report by M. Doderovic: "When They Need It, Serbian Passport Is Good Enough"]

Nis - After they realized that the process of recognition of Kosovo as an independence state and of the passports of that self-proclaimed country by the rest of the world was not going according to plan, a growing number of Albanians from Kosovo have lately begun coming to Niska Banja, where the Pristina Police Department has been relocating, and applying for Serbian passports and ID cards. They say that they cannot obtain Serbian biometric passports at the Serbian police outpost in the environs of Pristina, which is another reason why they come to Niska Banja.

The Pristina Police Department in Niska Banja is unwilling, without the permission of the Serbian MUP [Interior Ministry], to disclose the number of passports that it has issued to Kosovo Albanians so far, but it does not conceal the fact that an increasing number of Albanians from Kosovo have been turning up at its counters lately.

Albanians that come to Niska Banja, in turn, make no bones about the fact that their demand for Serbian passports, ID cards, driver's licenses, and automobile registration cards is not an expression of their loyalty to Serbia, but is primarily motivated by the fact that these documents make it easier for them to travel abroad. One of them, who only said that he came from Podujevo, told reporters recently that he was a textile trader and therefore travelled to China a lot.

"I do not think that China will ever recognize Kosovo, but I have to make a living and feed my family and for that I need a Serbian passport," this man from Podujevo said.

Another Albanian from the same Kosovo town said that a Serbian passport allowed him to travel freely to Turkey and Dubai, where he buys his merchandise.

"We must do our job and let the state do its job," he said.

Albanians also stress that it is a good thing that the Kosovo authorities make no problems for them about their taking out Serbian passports in order to facilitate their foreign travel, especially to European countries, where a large number of Albanians or members of their families are employed on a permanent or periodic basis. They also say that they have no problem with obtaining documents at the Pristina Police Department in Niska Banja.

[Box] EU Countries Do Not Recognize Serbian Passports Issued in Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija]

Pristina - The Koha Ditore newspaper quotes an unnamed EU official as saying that EU countries that have recognized Kosovo will not be recognizing Serbian passports issued in Kosovo.

"If a Serbian national comes to our border with a Serbian passport issued in Pec, Gnjilane, or Mitrovica, they will be turned away, because such a passport is not valid in our eyes," the Pristina newspaper quotes the unnamed EU official as saying.

Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 14 Oct 08, p7
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