Mladenovic of the Serbian Institute in the service of disinformation: Kosovo is trying to change Gorani’s identity

Serbia produces disinformation against Kosovo from many angles. This time, Radivoje Mladenovic from the Institute for Serbian Language “SANU” falsely claimed that Kosovo is trying to “change the identity of the Gorani community”. He claimed that this was triggered by the visit of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev to Kosovo, during which he asked President Vjosa Osmani that the Bulgarians living in Kosovo had their own constitutional category.

This disinformation by Mladenovic was published on the Serbian portal “Kosovo Online” on January 31 and he also gave an interview with “Euronews Serbia” on January 14.

What did Mladenovic say?

“Gorani do not feel like Bulgarians. By declaring the Gorani to be bearers of the Bulgarian language and ethnic identity, Bulgaria is trying to achieve the status of a national minority in Kosovo. For more than a hundred years, a part of Bulgarian state policy and Bulgarian science and quasi-science has been trying to prove that most of the Balkan Peninsula actually belongs to the Bulgarian peripheral languages and that, in this context, an aggressive project such as in Kosovo has emerged, just as it has in the interior of Serbia. The reasons are very profitable: as soon as someone obtains Bulgarian citizenship, they receive a Bulgarian passport, and with a Bulgarian passport they can enter the European Union.”

What did Radev say?

“I am grateful to President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu for her personal commitment to ensuring that the future census in Kosovo will be transparent, objective and based on the highest international standards, so that the local Bulgarian community will have the opportunity to be recognized in the future as a national minority”.

Analysis:

This is misinformation as the Constitution of Kosovo and the minority laws recognize the Gorani community and their rights and have a reserved seat in the Assembly of Kosovo. Furthermore, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said that in the census, every citizen of Kosovo is free to show their opinion on their identity and that “there are no restrictions and no one prevents anyone from self-identifying to which community they belong”.

Article 64 [Structure of the Assembly] Constitution of Kosovo:

In the Assembly, they shall receive the number of seats won in the open elections with the guaranteed minimum seats as follows: Roma community one (1) seat; Ashkali community one (1) place; Egyptian community one (1) country; and one (1) additional seat shall be awarded to the Roma, Ashkali or Egyptian community with the highest total number of votes; Bosnian community three (3) seats, Turkish community two (2) seats and Goran community one (1) seat, if the number of seats won by each community is less than the number of guaranteed seats.

https://gzk.rks-gov.net/ActDocumentDetail.aspx?ActID=3702

/G.Venhari-The Geopost/