What is behind Kurti's targeting of Serbs from northern Kosovo as "terrorists"?

The fact that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, instead of responding to the demands of the US and the EU to de-escalate the situation in the north of Kosovo, points the finger at the Serbs as the main culprits of the crisis, even targeting them by name and surname behind the parliamentary speaker as "terrorists", is the result of his frustration due to the huge the pressures he suffers from his allies, but also on the internal level, the interlocutors of Kosovo Online indicate.

This tactic, they add, is not new, because the Serbs in Kosovo have been living in an atmosphere of insecurity and intimidation, threats of secret indictments and arrests without evidence for decades.

Kurti has now gone a step further and publicly presented the names of Kosovo Serbs whom he considered responsible for the events in the north, and especially for the incidents that took place in Zvecan on May 29, during the protest against the violent actions of Pristina, the incursion of Kosovo Special Forces into municipal buildings and the imposition of illegal Albanian mayors who were elected in elections with a voter turnout of only 3.5 percent and which were boycotted by the Serbs.

Historian and analyst Aleksandar Gudzic stated that the goal of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti was to intimidate the Serbs by reading the lists, and added that he had no right to target innocent Serbs.

Gudzic assessed Kurti's actions as nervousness and frustration of the authorities in Kosovo.

"This cannot be done in civilized countries. Only Albin Kurti can read the list of accused Serbs in Parliament. Everything that is happening is a sign of the nervousness and frustration of the Kosovo authorities, because they will probably fall from power, and they have not fulfilled everything they promised their voters,” Gudzic stated.

As he assessed, Kurti needed the conflicts with the Serbs in Kosovo to prove himself.

"Albin Kurti represents the most radical part of Kosovo society. He needs conflicts with the Serbs in order to make up for unfulfilled promises to his voters. He has a complex of not participating in the 1999 war and he wants to prove himself and his electorate," Gudzic said.

He added that the accusations of the Serbs had been going on for years.

"As for the indictments, it is a manner that has been going on for years, the list of secret indictments brought against the Serbs has only one goal, to intimidate the Serbs and prevent those Serbs who want to return to Kosovo and Metohija from doing so. A similar manner and pattern of behavior had Croatia decades ago," Gudzic said.

He pointed out that Serbs had been living in uncertainty for 24 years with the fear of new arrests, harassment, and pogroms.

"The current conflicts in the north, indictments, and arrests are nothing new. The Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have lived for 24 years with the knowledge that a pogrom could happen to them. The March pogrom showed the Serbs what could happen to them, and from that moment until today they live with the knowledge that they can experience the fate of the Greeks of Constantinople or the Armenians of Anatolia, which is to be wiped out in one wave of violence from the area where they have lived for centuries," Gudzic said.

However, he is optimistic that Serbs in Kosovo will see better times.

"Life will go on. The Serbs will continue to live in Kosovo; they will stay there and wait for better times and freedom. In Kosovo, Serbs have seen the last of many empires, and officials who oppressed them, so it will be the same with the current political elite in Pristina," Gudzic concluded.

Lawyer Milan Antonijevic believes that such actions of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti do not contribute to calming the conflict and normalizing relations.

"It can also be seen that there are various voices within Kosovo society, there are parts of the opposition that are against the targeting of Serbs. A sense of collective guilt of the Serbs is being created, and not for the first time, and it is not something that is supported by the international community. In such a way, life cannot return to normal because there is legal uncertainty, especially when it comes to secret indictments so many years after the conflict. I think this is something that is intended for the internal public in Kosovo, and the Serbian community at this moment at least deserves the CSM, the protection of rights, security, and justice and not targeting," Antonijevic says.

When asked whether the Serbs from Kosovo could also seek protection from the court in Strasbourg, Antonijevic states that at the moment this is not a mechanism available to the Serbs.