Kosovo gets provisional IOC recognition

Olympic body chief shrugs off political concerns over significant move.

BERLIN:

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) provisional recognition of Kosovo will not have political consequences despite Serbia lodging an official protest, said IOC President Thomas Bach yesterday.

The IOC late Wednesday surprisingly announced its recognition of the Balkan region with full membership set to follow in December.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after a Nato air war to halt the massacre and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces waging a two-year counter-insurgency under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Belgrade rejects sovereignty for its former southern province, which has a majority Albanian population, and has attempted to block Kosovo's international recognition.

Serbia's position has been backed most notably by Russia and China.

"There will be different degrees of happiness in different parts of the world, that's for sure," said Bach in a conference call.

"There are no concerns because we have had broad consultations for some time concerning this issue and the autonomy of the IOC is widely acknowledged. By taking that decision, we have just applied the Olympic Charter. I am not worried about these kinds of reactions."

The IOC had said the territory met all criteria for recognition, while also enjoying recognition from the international community with 108 of the 193 UN Member States having already done so.

The Serbian Olympic Committee, which late on Wednesday filed its protest with the IOC, has claimed Kosovo's efforts for Olympic recognition were ‘unacceptable’ with the IOC not even waiting for UN recognition before taking its decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2014.

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