Kosovo hopes to join UNESCO; vows to protect Serb heritage
Kosovo hopes soon to get a major symbolic boost in its path to recognition as a state: membership in UNESCO.
The U.N.'s cultural and scientific organization meets this month in Paris, and admitting Kosovo is on the agenda. One of the key selling points of Kosovo's bid is its promise to protect the cultural heritage of Serbs. It's a complicated issue because ethnic Albanian guerrillas fought the Serb army in their 1998-1999 war of independence.
Kosovo Foreign Minister Hasim Thaci, a onetime guerrilla leader, called on Serbia to support Kosovo's UNESCO bid and "look to a future of peace, reconciliation and respect of cultural historic values."
"Kosovo's UNESCO membership will better preserve and reconfirm Serb cultural and historical heritage," he told The Associated Press.
