page_title: Vojislav Koštunica
section_title: On Kosovo
hierarchical_section_title: Vojislav Koštunica / Policy / On Kosovo
caption_attribution_description: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice greets Vojislav Koštunica. Washington, DCJuly 11, 2006
context_page_description: Vojislav Koštunica is a Serbian former politician. He was the last president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003, and the prime minister of Serbia in two terms.
  Koštunica won the 2000 Yugoslav presidential election as a candidate of a wide alliance Democratic Opposition of Serbia, which led to overthrow of Slobodan Milošević and withdrawal of international sanctions against Yugoslavia. He strictly opposed the cooperation with International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and his party left the coalition government in protest of a decision to extradite Slobodan Milošević to the ICTY. After the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election, the first elections after the dissolution of DOS and assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, Koštunica formed the minority government with the support of the Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia and became the head of government. He was one of the crucial figures for the adoption of the first constitution of an independent Serbia, as well as for declaring Serbia a neutral country.
context_section_description: On 21 February 2008, following Kosovo's declaration of independence, Koštunica made an emotional speech in Belgrade, which included the following: 
  Dear citizens of Serbia, Serbia! What is Kosovo? Where is Kosovo? Whose is Kosovo? Is there anyone among us who is not from Kosovo? Is there anyone among us who thinks that Kosovo does not belong to us? Kosovo – that's Serbia's first name. Kosovo belongs to Serbia. Kosovo belongs to the Serbian people. That’s how it has been for ever. That's how it's going to be for ever. There is no force, no threat, and no punishment big and hideous enough for any Serb, at any time, to say anything different but, Kosovo is Serbia! Never will anyone hear from us that the Patriarchate of Peć does not belong to us, that Visoki Dečani and Gračanica are not ours! That the place where we were born is not ours; we and our state and our church and everything that makes us what we are today! If we as Serbs renounce Serbianhood, our origin, our Kosovo, our ancestors and our history – then, who are we Serbs? What is our name then?
  Buses took thousands of supporters to the rally; some protestors then attacked embassies and looted shops.
  On 25 February 2008, Koštunica demanded that the United States rescind its recognition of Kosovo, warning that "there will be no stability until the fake state" is annulled.
  On 8 March 2008, Koštunica, as Prime Minister of Serbia, called for new elections on 11 May after the collapse of his party's coalition with the Democratic Party over relations with the European Union and Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
caption: With Secretary Rice in Washington, D.C. on 12 July 2006.
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