Djuric to Gervalla: Aleksandar Vucic is also your president

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Marko Djuric, emphasized at the end of the UN Security Council session that in response to his concern for the Serbian people in Kosovo, Minister Donika Gervalla reacted with a barrage of insults and lies about Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic, reminding her that, in accordance with international law, Vucic is also her president.

"What a sad message from a representative of Kurti's regime. We heard a flood of insults and lies about Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic, a defamatory language that does nothing but raise inter-ethnic tensions and take the region back to the past," Djuric said.

He noted that in response to his documented concern for the position of Serbs in Kosovo, Gervalla rejected the normalization process again, using unacceptable and insulting language.

"We do not have a conflict with the Albanian people, but we are dealing with a regime that systematically expels Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo," Djuric emphasized.

He added that the "obsession with Vucic" in Pristina indicates several things, including that he is leading Serbia well, that he is responsible for strengthening the economy and conducting foreign policy, which makes some, he noted, nervous.

Djuric pointed out that representatives of Pristina show disrespect for the victims of the conflict by inappropriately using the term "genocide," especially given the fact that more than two-thirds of the Serbian community was violently expelled from Kosovo.

"Perhaps, on the ground, they are trying to create a different reality, to expel Serbs, which is unacceptable in the 21st century. However, according to international public law, Vucic is also your president, and it is not acceptable, but rather offensive, to speak about him in this way," Djuric stated.

In response to Gervalla's claims of a lack of support among Serbs for the Serbian government and President Vucic, he reminded her that Kurti has, on three occasions, prevented Serbs from Kosovo from voting in Serbian elections.

"He has denied them their basic democratic rights, which has been condemned multiple times by the international community, including some members of the Security Council who are the strongest advocates of so-called independent Kosovo," Djuric said.

He stated that he unequivocally condemns any violence against any ethnic community in Kosovo but also questioned why Albin Kurti's government is withholding evidence in the Banjska case, which the Serbian prosecutor's office is seeking through EULEX.

"Everyone in Kosovo knows the fact that your government is withholding this evidence, and while we join in mourning all the victims in Banjska, including Afrin Bunjaka, whom President Vucic publicly mentioned, we are seeking evidence regarding the murders of Igor Milenkovic, Bojan Mijailovic, and Stefan Nedeljkovic. Remember these names. Their families and the public deserve answers. Excessive force was applied against them. Was it used in a murderous and criminal manner? The public deserves answers," Djuric said.

In response to the Kosovo minister calling Serbia and him fascists, Djuric stated that, as a descendant of a family that survived the Holocaust, he must draw the attention of the international community to the renovation of the house of Xhafer Deva in South Mitrovica.

"Albin Kurti's government has completed the renovation of the house of one of the founders of the SS Skanderbeg division, Xhafer Deva, in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. He was one of the most prominent Albanian collaborators and quislings during World War II. He initiated and committed crimes against many Serbs, Jews, and Roma. However, today, the Pristina authorities regard him as a national hero, and schools and streets bear his name. Now he even has a monument in Mitrovica built by Kurti's government," Djuric concluded.