But the reality is that the Yugoslavia in which an autonomous Kosovo functioned no longer exists.
The accords offered a detailed blueprint for an autonomous Kosovo, including a 120-member parliament, election rules, an independent judiciary, local government structures, a police force and border security.
He probably could have made a deal with them that would have kept an autonomous Kosovo in Serbia.
The proclamation of an autonomous Kosovo by Tito and his communists was in fact a part of Tito's hope to continue the communist Yugoslavia.
United Nations officials are now working on a legal framework for an autonomous but not independent Kosovo.
An autonomous Kosovo still officially part of Yugoslavia is what the Serbs also want, though they resist the notion of multi-ethnic democracy.
Unfortunately the dialogue of the deaf continues between an extremely autonomous Kosovo inside Serbia's borders and supervised independence.
The Serbs must allow an autonomous Kosovo, but it must again be made clear to the Albanians that, as far as we are concerned, independence is out of the question.
In my view, the only solution at this point is an autonomous Kosovo, in which the citizens are returned home under the protection of international troops.
If NATO forces had occupied Serbia by force of arms, then it would have been possible to create a Serbian regime acceptable to an autonomous Kosovo.