Drecun: Kurti wants to retain power in northern Kosovo at all costs

Member of Parliament Milovan Drecun assessed today that Albin Kurti is using the mayoral voting process to retain power in northern Kosovo and Metohija at all costs. He stated that Kurti's intention is to utilize everything at his disposal to achieve this goal, as reported by RTV.

Commenting on the conditions under which the voting for the dismissal of Albanian mayors in four municipalities in northern Kosovo takes place, Drecun said that the simplest solution would be for the mayors to resign if there was political will in Pristina and in the West.

He assessed that the West and Kurti, using the referendum, want to shift responsibility and blame onto Serbs, so they can say that Serbs do not want to participate in democratic processes, even though, as he said, voting organized in this manner is not democratic.

"Then the West can simply say 'okay, if you don't want to participate, then Kurti has the right to govern until 2025 with these mayors and then everything is both legitimate and legal,'" Drecun noted.

He stated that the West will support such decisions and do everything, as he said, to enable Kurti to establish full control of Pristina over the entire territory of Kosovo and Metohija, including the north.

"They might occasionally criticize him (Kurti) about procedures, about the implementation of his decisions, but the West will now shift the responsibility onto Serbia. Even though they fully understand that these are completely irregular conditions for holding a referendum, they will say - 'here, Serbia did not want to participate, and Kurti did everything to de-escalate the situation in the north,'" Drecun explained.

He estimates that Kurti pays no attention to the fact that nearly 14% of Serbs left northern Kosovo last year, and many Albanians, several hundred of them, have been enrolled in voter lists in the meantime, although they do not live in the north.

Drecun adds that Pristina is taking actions aimed at making it difficult for Serbs to achieve the necessary majority of 50% plus one vote in the referendum - voting by mail is being prevented, cameras are being installed at polling stations.

He also notes that nothing substantial would change, even if there were changes in mayors in the referendum, because Albanian councilors would remain in power.

"I think Kurti's key goal is to retain full administrative control, that is, power in these four municipalities in northern Kosovo, because otherwise he would face major problems regarding the remaining special paramilitary units in the north, and regarding land expropriation, and regarding the imposition of many other decisions detrimental to the interests and survival of the Serbian people," Drecun assessed for Tanjug.

He added that Kurti is trying to organize the census with hidden intentions and warns that its implementation in current conditions would be detrimental to Serbs.

He explains that Serbs who left Kosovo due to the terror they suffered would not be included, and it is also unclear how the census process would look like, as there are not enough Serbian enumerators.

"Also, it is evident that Kurti intends to use that census to initiate some lawsuit for war damages, for alleged genocide against the Republic of Serbia," Drecun said.

He adds that Kurti's ultimate goal is to fully integrate northern Kosovo and install all institutions of the self-proclaimed state there, while abolishing all institutions of the Serbian state.

"Recently, one of those four so-called mayors in the north stated that Serbs would not be able to win in the referendum. Obviously, he knew what Pristina was preparing. And from his statement, one can see the seriousness of the situation in which the Serbian people find themselves - by principle, whether you take it or not, you will regret it," Drecun said.