(1) To the Ambassadors of the Contact Group Members Countries 

Honorable Ambassadors:The immediate reason for addressing this letter to you is the Contact Group Statement on Kosovo, from the meeting held in Bonn, on July 8, 1998, more specifically, the recommendation to the negotiating teams of basic elements for composing the Kosovo status, that will be offered for the dialogue in parallel with international involvement.The Contact group stressed that “it supports neither the maintenance of the status quo in Kosovo, not the Kosova Albanians’ claims for independence,” which in fact, makes the dialogue a conditional one.Considering basic elements for composing the status of Kosovo as its prejudgment, and convinced that such a prejudgment will not help the resolution of the Kosovo problem, we feel a moral and political obligation to ask you and authorities of your country, as members of the Contact Group, to make it possible for the professional team of the Independent Association of Lawyers of Kosova to testify before the Parliament in favor of the determination of the Albanian people in Kosovo for independence, the option that is realistic and balanced, for the resolution of the Kosovo issue. Without elaborating in depth the theses that could be presented before your Parliament, we emphasize that our speech will be focused on these five points:- First, a very brief history of the Albanian people, with a special review of the Albanian-Serbian conflict and the need for the recognition of the independence of Kosovo as addressing the injustice towards the Albanians in the Balkans.- Second, the two basic components of analyzing the Kosovo issue: the right of self-determination and the right of the Albanians to recognition as a people, respectively as a nation, and not as “national minority”.- Third, analysis of the constitutional position of Kosovo, according to the Constitution of the Former Yugoslavia of 1974, as its federal unit, basing it in a great numbers of arguments, that could be analyzed separately, and by no means as the effort for the restitution of the status of autonomy.- Fourth, in the importance of the just solutions of Kosovo issue for the new political balance in the Balkans.- Fifth, the political consequences for the region in case of the failure to respect the will of the majority people in Kosovo.Details related to the organization of the testimony, including time and place, can be arranged by your acceptance of our proposal. 

July 10, 1998For the Independent Association of Lawyers  of      Kosova,         Dr. Esat Stavileci, president