Odalovic: Bans do not help anyone; I just wanted to light candles for my parents in Kosovo Field

The president of the Commission on the Missing Persons, Veljko Odalovic, who was banned from entering Kosovo by Pristina yesterday, pointed out that he had regularly announced his visit and that he had only wanted to visit the graves of his loved ones and light a candle.

"I didn't want anything more, just to visit the graves of my loved ones, to light a candle, and to come back. I stated that very precisely in the announcement; that was the only thing I wanted them to make possible for me. I am shocked by the ban. I can also understand the differences we have on many issues, but we are all humans and there should be no differences on this issue," Odalovic told Kosovo Online.

As he stated, for two years the Pristina authorities had forbidden him to go to his home.

"I have never left Kosovo and Metohija, I was born there, and I have even greater rights than those who impose bans on me. For two years now, I have been forbidden to go to my home," he added.

Odalovic stated that he had duly announced the visit.

"Everything was announced within the deadline, I announced that I wanted to go to the cemetery in Kosovo Field, then to Gracanica. I announced that I would be at Rudnica at 8 o'clock and I immediately announced my return because I did not want to leave any room for a story. Unfortunately, it is obvious that on the other side, we have no one to talk to about that topic. I hope that someone will be reasonable and will understand that with such prohibitions and behavior, he is not helping anyone, least of all himself; I mean Albin Kurti, and those who issue such bans. This is another attitude towards us that we want to use a certain mechanism to do something that would benefit everyone," Odalovic said.

According to his words, Pristina had been seeing the Serbs very differently lately.

"It is obvious that we cannot realize even these basic rights," Odalovic stated.

He stated that the issue of the missing was above political issues and that as long as he was the president of that government commission, he would deal with the accusations leveled against him by officials from Pristina.

"This will not jeopardize the dialogue, because for me the issue of missing persons is a highly humanitarian issue and I have never brought the process into question with any of my actions. On the contrary, I am someone who, both then and now and despite all the announcements and statements coming from Pristina, begged international officials to encourage dialogue and to remove the issue of the missing from some topics that are politically burdensome," Odalovic said.

He added that the issue of the missing, due to Serbian but also Albanian victims, should not be conditioned by anything.

"Our doors are open, we are ready to discuss all topics, unlike Pristina, which does nothing, and this is what causes great dissatisfaction among the families of the missing Serbs and Albanians," Odalovic said.

As he said, the Working Group was ready to continue the conversation.

"We held the last meeting two years ago in Belgrade, now it is Pristina that should schedule a meeting of the Working Group. We are ready to provide active participation in the work, we have a lot of new information that we want to share with them to agree on a plan of activities, and to search locations, let's return the trust because it is obvious that the families trust us less and less," Odalovic added.

Odalovic appealed that the meeting of the Working Group should be scheduled as soon as possible.

"Let's continue the dialogue that was interrupted by a very thoughtless statement by Albin Kurti that concerns me personally, but I have no problem with that and as long as I am at the head of the commission I will continue to work with the aim of finding the missing," Odalovic concluded.