Kosovo PM fires ethnic Serb minister for offensive language

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Kosovo’s prime minister has fired a minister from the ethnic Serb minority for using “ethnically based” hate words to malign war-time victims of former Serb president, Slobodan Milosevic.

In his Facebook page, Ramush Haradinaj wrote Tuesday that he had fired Local Power Minister Ivan Teodosijevic and that “in my Cabinet there is no place for anyone who offends others on ethnic, racial, religious or other bases.”

Todosijevic said the massacre of Kosovo civilians in Recak in 1999, which prompted NATO to step in and stop the war, was a “pure fabrication.” He called ethnic Albanian independence fighters “terrorists,” according to Serbian state TV.

NATO’s 78-day bombing ended the 1998-99 Milosevic’s crackdown on ethnic Albanian independence fighters in Kosovo, then Serbia’s province.

Kosovo’s 2008 independence is not recognized by Serbia.