Updated December 9th, 2019 at 17:05 IST
Here's why Kosovo is adamant on boycotting the Nobel Peace prize
Kosovo to boycott Nobel Prize ceremony after ‘genocide apologist’ Handke was announced as one of the literature award recipients
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The Kosovo government has asked their ambassador to Sweden to boycott the upcoming Nobel Prize ceremony as a mark of protest against the literature award being given to the controversial Austrian writer Peter Handke, who is considered a 'friend and supporter' of former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.
Behgjet Pacolli, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, has instructed the ambassador in Sweden to boycott the annual ceremony.
I have instructed the Ambassador of #Kosovo in #Sweden to boycott the ceremony of @NobelPrize for Handke. A writer who supported #Milosevic & his genocide policies in Bosnia & 🇽🇰does not deserve @NobelPrize. This strengthened the policies of denialism and revisionism in Belgrade.
— Behgjet Pacolli (@pacollibehgjet)
In another tweet, Pacolli slammed the Nobel Prize Committee for honouring the Austrian writing, calling him a 'supporter of genocidal policies' in Kosovo.
A shame to @NobelPrize for awarding the @NobelPrize to a supporter of genocidal policies. Horrible how these ppl could this act.We shouldn’t be suprised one day that @NobelPrize for economics goes to Milosevic too, because he used to be a banker. Morality is not important anymore
— Behgjet Pacolli (@pacollibehgjet)
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In 2006, Peter Handke made a eulogy at Milosevic’s funeral and catapulted to controversy for his close ties with the former Serbian strongman. He once described the Srebrenica genocide, in which Serbian forces killed large number of Bosniak men, as a 'massacre of Muslim soldiers' but later revised this position. In the 1990s, the controversial writer had been a vocal defender of Serbs as Yugoslavia had broken in a civil war.
Slobodan Milosevic died while being tried at the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague for genocide and other war crimes.
The Nobel Prize recipients for literature -- Peter Handke, 2019 and Olga Tokarczuk, Polish writer for 2018 -- were announced in October this year. Since then, politicians, writers, people have lined up to criticise the Swedish Academy's decision.
First the 2018 Nobel prize in literature was canceled after a sexual assault scandal. Then they awarded the 2018 Nobel prize to Olga Tokarczuk, but they're making her share the stage with genocide apologist Peter Handke, whom they gave 2019's prize. WHAT IS NEXT???
— Jennifer Croft (@jenniferlcroft)
On Monday @NobelPrize will give the Prize for Literature to Peter Handke who supports Milosevic and denies the Bosnian genocide.
— Ibrahim Kalin (@ikalin1)
This shameless decision must be reverted.
How can you award someone without moral consciousness and sense of shame?!
To encourage new genocides?!
#PeterHandke will use his #NobelPrize banquet speech to pay tribute to #SlobodanMilošević & whitewash Serbian war crimes#Hanke was awarded the Literary Prize for defending the #SrebrenicaGenocide & rape camps in #Srebrenica region#SHAME!https://t.co/MLHx4wlNC6 pic.twitter.com/LklPvNzAbk
— Jeffrey Bačić (@jeffreybacic)
The Nobel Committee had to cancel the 2018 awards because of a sexual abuse scandal. It was revealed that the husband of a committee member was being probed into for sexual abuse along with allegations of misusing the academy’s fundings.
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Published December 9th, 2019 at 15:33 IST