Secession of Kosovo

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/16012.pdf#view=FitH&pagemode=none&search=%22kosovo%22

"Is of the opinion that the declaration of independence of Kosovo
adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.”

ICTY testimonies

2004-12-01

http://www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/041201IT.htm

• Page 33993: "The 1974 constitution gave the province practically all of the functions which the republics had. Not all of them but practically all of them in the Yugoslavia at the time."
• Page 33995: "The constitution of 1974 practically denied Serbia all rights in Kosovo. The province became practically equal to the republic, both the province of Kosovo and the province of Vojvodina. There were only two differences: One was that the constitution in Serbia had Article 300, making for some singular or united solutions for the whole of the republic; and the second was that the Council of States and Republics had 12 delegates while the number of deputies from the provinces were eight. This was a symbolic difference in the numbers, but the rights that these delegations had were absolutely the same, both in the federal Chamber, there were 30 and 20 deputies."
• Pressure on non-Albanians:

13 Q. Thank you, Mr. Jokanovic. At that time, and now we're talking
14 about the period after 1968, 1974, when all of these rights were changed,
15 were there any pressures towards Serbs, Montenegrins, Turks, Romas,
16 Goranians, and what was the attitude towards the Albanian population?
17 A. After these demonstrations, Serbs, Montenegrins, and other
18 non-Albanians had a feeling of uncertainty, quite rightly. This appeared
19 because there were pressures towards the moving out of Serbs and
20 Montenegrins. These were direct and indirect pressures. So these
21 demonstrations from 1968 disrupted the interethnic relations and caused
22 people to move out. This was a negative consequence. And also there were
23 different forms of pressures going in this direction.

• Page 33996, moving out of non-Albanians

18 This started from the early 1960s and became more intense after
19 1968, and then increased even more after 1971. First of all, this
20 pressure was directed against Serbs and Montenegrins but also towards
21 others, towards Turks. Turks from Kosovo also moved out. I can give you
22 specific example. A village near Gnjilane, near Kosovo, called Dobrcane,
23 which was exclusively populated by Turks had its own elementary school,
24 eight-year elementary school, where classes were in Turkish. Later, there
25 were no Turks there at all because they had all moved to Turkey.

• Page 34006: "For instance, the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, because there was no citizenship of the province; right?" - "Right." ... "They wanted to demonstrate that the province was practically a republic. They wanted to put a mark of equality between the province and the republic." ... province wants to grant citizenship to immigrants coming from Albania.
• Page 34013: "What they wanted was secession from Serbia. They wanted Kosovo to become a republic."
• Page 34043: "Mr. Jokanovic, for the Assembly of Serbia to be able to pass these amendments, it was necessary to receive the approval of both provinces; is that so?" - "Yes." - "Was it necessary to have the approval of the Republic of Serbia for provincial assemblies to pass amendments?" - "No. Serbia's approval was not necessary. Provinces could change their constitutions independently."

See also

• Comparing secession of Kosovo and Crimea