Drecun: Kurti is doing everything to weaken the Serb List

The Chairman of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, Milovan Drecun, pointed to what he described as manipulations by Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti ahead of the 7 June elections, including the payment of air tickets for the diaspora, as attempts to weaken the Serb List.

“It is difficult for the Serb List to confirm at the elections what is already the majority will of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, because Kurti is manipulating not only the votes of certain Serbs through this Rasic, who is running with his so-called party, but they are also adding the votes of Albanians and some other minority communities, which is not even in line with the laws currently in force in Kosovo and Metohija. But he is managing to do that and has succeeded so far. I fear that his ambition is not only to secure one seat for Rasic, but even two, despite the will of the Serbian people to support the Serb List and to speak with one voice. The Serb List protects the interests of the Serbian people,” Drecun told Euronews Serbia.

He observed that Kurti’s alleged manipulations are passing without challenge because no Albanian opposition party has objected and asked how Nenad Rasic is entering parliament with the votes of Albanians and Bosniaks.

He said that people vote for Nenad Rasic out of personal interest.

“They are doing this on someone’s orders, certainly not because they believe in Rasic’s programme, because he does not have one. In other words, his programme is personal interest and making life more difficult for the Serbian people,” Drecun added.

He stated that Kurti is doing everything he can to prevent the Serb List from winning all 10 seats.

“Hence the intensive activity directed towards the Albanian diaspora and the pressure on Serbs, in order for that to be his winning combination,” Drecun said.

He was particularly critical of the announcement that a gendarmerie would be formed, assessing that it has a distinctly anti-Serb character and represents an attempt to bypass agreements with KFOR.

“When you look at the objectives of this gendarmerie that is to be formed, you can see that it has a distinctly anti-Serb character. When they say it will be used to fight terrorism and organised crime, particularly, as they put it, in the border area along the administrative line, and to break up some kind of mass unrest, you then realise that all of this is directed against the Serbian people. Why? Whom does Kurti accuse of terrorism? Radical Islamists, jihadists who are present in Kosovo and Metohija? No, he does not mention them at all. He accuses Serbs in northern Kosovo. Whom does he accuse of organised crime? Organised Albanian clans, the Albanian mafia, which are wreaking havoc and in fact ruling in Kosovo and Metohija? No, he never mentions them. He accuses Serbs of organised crime, particularly in the north. When he speaks about mass unrest, whom does he have in mind? He means Serbs, if they dare to protest against the unilateral anti-Serb measures that Kurti is taking. And there you can already see why he needs a gendarmerie. But he needs it for one key reason, in my view, and that is to deceive the international community,” Drecun explained.

Drecun believes that the primary goal of the gendarmerie is to complete the militarisation of Kosovo and Metohija and place the Serbian people in the north under full control.