Milan Ivanović (politician)

Milan Ivanović (; born 5 February 1955) is a Kosovo Serb medical doctor, administrator, and politician. He was a prominent figure in northern Kosovo politics for the first decade after the 1998–99 Kosovo War. Ivanović was for many years the leader of the Serbian National Council of Northern Kosovo and Metohija and has been a vocal opponent of engagement with the post-1999 governing authorities in Priština. He was not related to the late Oliver Ivanović.

Private career Ivanović is a specialist doctor living in Zvečan. He has served on different occasions as the director of North Mitrovica's hospital centre. In 2020, he was responsible for coordinating the community's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic."Dr Ivanović: Broj zaraženih će rasti, oko stotinu osoba bilo u kontaktu", Kosovo Online, 30 March 2020, accessed 29 January 2022.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (27 Косовска Митровица), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.

Politician Early years (1992–99) Ivanović was a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in the 1990s. He received the ninth position on the party's electoral list for Leskovac in the December 1992 Yugoslavian parliamentary election and was not given a mandate when the list won seven seats.ИЗБОРИ '92: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Department of Statistics, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1993), pp. 15, 38. (During this period, one-third of parliamentary mandates in Serbian and Yugoslavian elections were assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds were distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties.For Serbia's 1992 electoral law, see Guide to the Early Election, , Ministry of Information, Republic of Serbia, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 8 October 2023. Ivanović could have been awarded a seat despite his list position, but he was not.)

He appeared in the fifteenth position on the SPS list for Leskovac in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election; the list won seventeen seats, and he was again not assigned a mandate.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Лесковац) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године, Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 30 July 2021. In the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election, he was given the third position on a SPS-led list in Kosovska Mitrovica and again did not receive a mandate even as the list won five of seven seats.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (27 Косовска Митровица) and Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године – РЕЗУЛТАТИ ИЗБОРА (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године (Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997.) године, Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.PRVA SEDNICA, 03.12.1997., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 12 January 2022.

In January 1998, Ivanović spoke a rally in Zvečan to protest the killing of local assembly member Desimir Vasić, apparently by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). He was quoted as saying, "May this rally be the beginning of a merciless struggle against terrorism and against the enemies of Serbia.""Serb protest rally calls for end to 'terrorism in Kosovo," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 20 January 1998 (Source: Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA, Pale, in Serbo-Croat 1439 gmt 28 Jan 98).

Community leader after the Kosovo War From 1999 to 2003 Kosovska Mitrovica became a divided community after the Kosovo War, with the northern half becoming predominantly Serb and the southern half predominantly Albanian. Ivanović became an executive member of the municipal Serbian National Council (SNV) in the northern half."Kosovo Serbs reject bilingual education proposal," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 29 October 1999 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian news agency Beta). In November 1999, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) suspended him as deputy director of the hospital centre for thirty days after he refused to permit the reintegration of Albanian staff members who had walked off the job a month earlier."UNMIK confirms suspension of Serb hospital director," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 9 November 1999 (Source: Dardania Press, Pristina, in Albanian 1716 gmt 6 Nov 99). His suspension led to protests from the Serb community. Some doctors at a rally in support of Ivanović said that they opposed discrimination against Albanians but the proposed method of reintegration threatened the Serb community, while the hospital centre's management stressed that UNMIK should also ensure the safe return of Serbs expelled from other hospitals throughout Kosovo."'About 2000' protest at removal of Serb hospital director," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 6 November 1999 (Source: Excerpts of report by Serbian news agency Beta)."2,000 Serbs demonstrate support of sacked hospital official," Agence France-Presse, 6 November 1999."Hospital staff in divided Kosovo town hoist Serbian in place of UN flag," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 20 December 1999 (Source: Excerpts from report by Serbian news agency Beta).

Ivanović was named to the executive committee of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija on its founding in November 1999, with responsibility for health."Kosovo Serb government members and offices given," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 30 November 1999 (Source: Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta). In January of the following year, he articulated the council's policy of non-cooperation with UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner and the mission's interim administrative council."Serb official blames UN mission for situation in Kosovo," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 10 January 2000 (Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Serbo-Croat 1954 gmt 8 Jan 00). He became known for making inflammatory speeches in this period; at a rally in February 2000, he called for the return to Yugoslavian troops to Kosovo, said that violence against Serbs from members of the Albanian community was increasing, and was quoted as saying, "Serbs feel the same as Jews in Auschwitz.""2,000 Kosovo Serbs hear call for return of Yugoslav troops," Agence France-Presse, 7 February 2000.Andrew Grey, "Furious Kosovo Serbs demand protection," Reuters News, 7 February 2000.Christian Jennings, "Tide of ethnic violence swamps NATO - In Mitrovica," The Scotsman, 8 February 2000, p. 10. On another occasion, he described French, German, and American soldiers in Kosovo as occupiers, saying, "They want to throw Serbs out of Serbian land."Carlotta Gall, "Serbs in Kosovo Town Stone U.S. Troops, Who Retreat," The New York Times, 21 February 2000, p. 3. In August 2000, he said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s takeover of Trepča Mines, which was afterward shut down by UNMIK on environmental grounds, was part of a strategy to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of Serbs and establish a Greater Albania.Aleksandar Vasovic, "Kosovo administrator tries to soothe outrage after mine takeover," Associated Press Newswires, 16 August 2000."Mitrovica Serbs demand immediate pullout of British regiment 'hordes," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 16 August 2000 (Source: Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta)."Kosovo Serb doctor says UN's closure of mine is blatant robbery," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 18 August 2000 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1043 gmt 16t Aug 00).

In February 2001, Ivanović spoke against the return of displaced Albanians to northern Mitrovica until displaced Serbs were permitted to return safely to other parts of Kosovo. "We have nothing against Kosovska Mitrovica being a multiethnic city again, but all other parts of Kosovo must be multiethnic, too," he said."Serbs protest against persisting ethnic attacks by Kosovo Albanians," Associated Press Newswires, 23 February 2001. In the same period, he called for Mitrovica to be formally divided into two separate municipalities. Some media reports from this period identified him, perhaps erroneously, as a local leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)."Flowers for KFOR troops as Kosovo Serbs protest violence," Agence France-Presse, 23 February 2001.

Ivanović called for the Serb community to boycott the 2001 Kosovan parliamentary election, saying that participation "would legitimize the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo."Katarina Kratovac, "Kostunica says participation of Kosovo Serbs in provincial elections uncertain," Associated Press Newswires, 27 July 2001."Serbs protest against upcoming Kosovo elections," Agence France-Presse, 12 October 2001. Unlike some other prominent Serb politicians in Kosovo, he considered the Serbian "Return" electoral coalition as an illegitimate project."Kosovo Serb politician claims 'phantom' Return coalition created by DOS," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 28 September 2001 (Source: Text of report by Serbian radio on 28 September). Notwithstanding his opposition, the Serbian government supported participation and a large number of northern Kosovo Serbs took part in the vote. Ivanović's stand had political repercussions; in late 2001, the Serbian government removed him as director of the hospital centre."Kosovo Serbs discuss 'personnel changes' with federal, Serbian leaders," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 15 December 2001 (Source: Excerpt from report by Serbian news agency Beta)."Split among Serbs over hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica grows deeper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 17 January 2002 (Source: Text of report by Belgrade-based B-92 TV on 17 January). During this period, Ivanović was first identified as leader of the regional Serbian National Council of Northern Kosmet."Northern Kosovo Serbs reiterate resolve to boycott 17 November elections," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 7 November 2001 (Source: Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta).