Graovac: Kurti wants to crush Serbs in the north with arrest lists and calls the West against Vucic

Srdjan Graovac from the Center for Social Stability pointed out that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti considered the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic a personal enemy, because, according to him, Vucic was "responsible" for the fact that Albanians could not advance in their policy of independent Kosovo.

According to Graovac, the representative of Self-determination, Armend Muja, says what Kurti thinks, and with the published arrest list, he wants to break the resistance of the Serbs in the north of Kosovo.

"With this, Kurti revealed his plan that could already be seen. The plan has been going on for the past few weeks, and in his strategy Kurti focused on the north of Kosovo as the center of resistance in the province, because he knows that the Serbs in other parts of Kosovo are in enclaves and have less room. However, in the north of Kosovo, the Serbs are dependent on central Serbia. They are compact, they have their own self-organization, they have a Serbian list that is solid, which is a symbol of unity, and what Kurti wanted with this, as well as the previous arrests of Serbs, is to de facto destroy the unity of the Serbs in the north and the center of resistance," Graovac pointed out.

In his statement for Kosovo Online, he emphasized that Kurti hoped that there could be a division within the Serbs into those who are in favor of strong resistance against his repressive measures and those who are in favor of moderate resistance, in order to break the unity of the Serbs.

He added that the worst thing was that it seemed that Kurti had the support of a part of the international community that was of the opinion that Kosovo was independent for them, and that therefore the Serbs in the north should be under the control of Pristina.

"With the list presented by the representative of Self-Determination, and he basically says what Kurti thinks, Kurti made it clear that the Serbs in the north should be crushed. He clearly presents a list of very influential Serbs, including representatives of political organizations. He makes it clear that they will not stop at the arrest of Pantic and the others, but that they will expand these actions against all the more visible Serbs," Graovac said.

As he said, by Kurti putting the brother and son of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on the list, it also has the effect of sending a message to the West that Vucic must be replaced, in order for Kurti to achieve his goal.

"He says, you support integrating the north, but we can't do that, because they are connected to the president of Serbia and his brother and son. With this, he is directly trying to target Vucic personally and to let the West know that they are no longer the problem of the Serbs in the north, that they can be dealt with by arresting them, but a problem is in Belgrade, and that Vucic should actually be removed, so that he could put his plan into action," Graovac said.

He stated that the list did not come out by chance, but that Kurti did it very calculatedly. According to him, the list is clearly defined and represents a type of announcement of the arrest of Serbs from the north. 

"And when Kurti puts Vucic on the list, it clearly tells the West who is responsible for the fact that he cannot integrate the north under his control," Graovac said.

He pointed out that Kurti views Vucic as a personal enemy, because, as he stated, he considers him responsible for the fact that Albanians cannot advance in their policy of independent Kosovo.

"Kurti is aware that everyone who came into conflict with Vucic, including Haradinaj, and Kurti himself the previous time, was replaced. They all had dreams of replacing Vucic, but in the end they were replaced. The bottom line is that for Kurti Vucic represents a key problem and there is a desire for the West to participate in replacing the president of Serbia in order to make his job easier. With this, he puts a target on Vucic and tries to attract the attention of the West," Graovac stated.

According to him, the fact that the brother and son of the President of Serbia are on the list is an open threat, because the political representatives in Pristina do not like the policy that Vucic is leading.

"It is that perfidious way to send a threat to someone. Not only to him personally, but also to his family. When you put someone's son and brother on a list for arrest, then that is a direct threat. The fact is that Albanians are bothered by the policy that Vucic has been leading since in 2012 and they are aware that they did not achieve their goals, and in 2012 they were convinced that the Kosovo issue had been resolved and that they were only negotiating with Belgrade on how Serbia would recognize Kosovo. However, today it is obvious that the Kosovo issue has not been resolved, and that it still needs to be resolved. It is a big defeat for them, for which they blame Vucic. Kurti points the finger at Vucic and calls on the West to participate in his strategy, because he believes that at this moment only that can help their idea that Kosovo should be independent," Graovac concluded.