Zeman: I tried to get the Czech Republic to revoke the recognition of Kosovo; I am grateful to the Serbs for their friendship

The President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, thanked the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, for his kind words and said that he had been proud to have the most Serbian decorations.

Zeman added that he had tried to get the Czech Republic to revoke the recognition of Kosovo.

"At one time, the Czech Parliament also called on the government not to recognize Kosovo, but unfortunately the political situation changed and the forces that recognized Kosovo won, and I am not an autocrat and I respect democratic principles. Neither I nor my predecessor Vaclav Klaus gave consent to appoint the Czech ambassador in Pristina," Zeman said.

The Czech president congratulated Serbia on its successful economic results, which achieved a surplus in the budget while many countries, including the Czech Republic, struggle with a deficit.

"I also want to mention the importance of the Czech Home, through which more than 2,000 Czechs fleeing Nazism passed in 1939 alone. The Czech Home will remain a permanent memorial of Czech-Serbian cooperation, which will take care of both economic and cultural cooperation. In this way, we will do something that is more than significant in politics and that is worth more than words. Once again I want to thank the Serbs for their friendship both in 1938 and in 1968, and I hope that our friendship will continue in the future. I wish to return to international cooperation, and for that reason two years ago during Vucic's visit to Prague, I apologized that, even though we had been a member of NATO, we had given consent to the overflight of planes that bombed Yugoslavia. I appreciate that Serbia also condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine because it cannot be allowed for any country to attack its neighbor. I recently discussed this in China, and I believe that China, Serbia, and Turkey could play the role of mediators," Zeman said.