Garic: Western countries are seeking cosmetic changes regarding the rights of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija

Journalist Miloš Garic told Kosovo Online that Western countries are seeking “cosmetic changes and improvements” from Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti when it comes to the right of the Serbian community to display its symbols, adding that this nevertheless represents a small victory for Serbs in Kosovo, provided that Pristina complies with the request of the Quint countries, the EU and EULEX.

“The Quint countries know very well what the situation is like in Kosovo and Metohija and, in a way, either tacitly or perhaps through other methods, they opened the way for Albin Kurti and helped him strip Serbs there of almost all their rights. This has gone to a complete extreme and has become quite visible,” Garic said.

According to him, the impression is that the Western world and the Quint countries want to create the appearance of an orderly space and an orderly system in Kosovo.

“They want to create the appearance of some kind of rule of law in that area, and it seems to me that this is the reason why they are reacting in this way now, warning Kurti that he may have gone too far, that he has crossed certain permissible boundaries, and that he should make at least some cosmetic changes and improvements, which would allow Serbs to occasionally display their symbols, such as the Serbian flag, which is not prohibited under the laws in Kosovo,” he stated.

The symbols of the Serbian state, he said, are something that belongs to the Serbian people, and by banning those symbols, Kurti and other representatives of the Kosovo authorities are violating their own laws.

“I have the impression that this is the reason why, at this moment, the EU, Western countries, the Quint and the most influential embassies want to create an atmosphere and the impression that Kosovo is an orderly system, that the law is respected there, although everything is far from that. In the previous period, we have had a situation in which it is completely clear that everything else is allowed in Kosovo, except for the presence of the Serbian state, the Serbian people, Serbian tradition, Serbian history, culture and everything bearing the prefix ‘Serbian’,” Garic said.

As he said, Albanian flags are allowed, as are the flags of European countries and the United States.

“We have had a long-standing situation in which people are arrested because they have some symbol of the Serbian state on them, on a T-shirt, or if they display the Serbian flag on their house. And now, ahead of Vidovdan, this may be a small victory, let us say, for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, who are suffering enormous terror, but who have managed to endure and regain the right to display their symbols,” he noted.

Garic assessed that this was a small step, but that it could be important for, as he put it, a good feeling among members of the Serbian community in Kosovo, if the authorities in Pristina respect it.

“It remains to be seen how this order from influential Western countries will be implemented in practice. We know that Albin Kurti can quite often be disobedient and defiant even toward those who are his main sponsors and main supporters — Berlin, London and Washington. It would not be the first time that he has violated a request coming from that side. We shall see. We hope that this time it will be heeded and that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija will have the rights that national minorities on the other side of the administrative line, in the rest of Serbia, all enjoy,” Garic said.

According to him, Serbia grants all rights to national minorities, unlike the Kosovo authorities, where, as he said, “extreme Albanian policy” abolishes and denies Serbs every right.

“We hope that this will be put into practice and that it will no longer be challenged by the authorities in Pristina,” Garic concluded.