Kosovo Serbs Voice Support for Kostunica

On the first full day in office Sunday for Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, the tide seemed to be turning in his favor even among Serbs in this divided Kosovo city, who had mostly been fervent supporters of Slobodan Milosevic.

“Based on how Mr. Kostunica has started acting, more and more people are believing in him, and believing that life will get better,” said Dragan Bozovic, 48, a bus company employee who lives in the northern, Serb-dominated part of this city.

While most people interviewed Sunday expressed great uncertainty about the future, there was a clear sense among many that Kostunica’s relatively good relations with the governments that bombed Yugoslavia last year--combined with his standing as a Serbian nationalist--might bring benefits for the Serbs of Kosovo.

Unemployed car mechanic Aleksandar Simovic said he favored Milosevic but has an open mind. “For 10 years, the United States turned its back to us only because of Milosevic,” he said. “Let’s see how they will react now.”

Kostunica must find a way to ensure that Serbs who fled Kosovo last year, after it came under the control of the United Nations and an international peacekeeping force, can return safely to their homes, Simovic said.

Dragana Perovic, 18, is among the minority who favored Kostunica long before he won. Kostunica’s victory improves the chances that Serbs will be able to return to their homes all over Kosovo “because he’s supported by all the world,” she said.

These arguments are beginning to influence former Milosevic supporters, said Oliver Ivanovic, head of the Serb National Council in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, which threw its support to Kostunica before the election.

Many former Milosevic supporters, he said, “are now saying: ‘Maybe it’s not so bad. We’ll see what Kostunica does.’ ”

A young man at the Serb National Council, who said he could give only his nickname, Nikita, because he has no authority to speak, said he believes it is good that Kostunica won because Milosevic “was like a king, a czar.”

“People here thought Milosevic would win because he always won, and nobody wanted to fight against that except people here in the Serb National Council and teenagers,” Nikita said. “We had a lot of problems and a lot of fights here in this town. A lot of people come to our side now.”

An older man, who identified himself with an apparently false name that provoked laughter from his companions, said that Kostunica’s inaugural speech “was perfect.”

“I like him as a man--he’s good-looking, young,” said this man, who also expressed contempt for President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Only when they are gone from power and the international peacekeeping force leaves Kosovo will Serbs here live better, he said.

Kostunica won new support with his inaugural speech, said Bozovic, the bus company employee.

Serbs “are starting to trust the West, and we believe more and more that the West will help us get a better life,” Bozovic said. “The older generation is still lured by Milosevic. They believe in him. But slowly, these past few days, they have started to realize that this is the right thing. Yugoslavia and Serbia have to be democratic so they can open up to the world.”