Gudzic: Kurti will not stop, he wants to destroy the last remnants of Serbian presence in Kosovo

Historian Aleksandar Gudzic assesses that it is highly likely that Albin Kurti's government will continue with actions like the police raids on Serbian Provisional Institutions or clinics because, he says, it is an opportunity for him to present himself as a "ruthless fighter for Kosovo, or Albanian national interests."

Gudzic tells Kosovo Online that the sponsors of Kosovo's independence could prevent such actions, but he believes they tacitly allow this kind of behavior from Albin Kurti.

Our interlocutor assesses that the leader of Self-Determination came to power through a policy of extreme populism and nationalism and wants to present himself to his electorate as a man who wants to finish what previous political elites in 1999 and later didn't do, namely to destroy the last remnants of Serbian presence in these areas.

"This is the only way to interpret armed-to-the-teeth special unit raids in parks, kindergartens, and facilities where the Provisional Institutions in Gorazdevac and Osojane are located. And it's highly likely that they will continue because it's an opportunity for him to present himself as a ruthless fighter for Kosovo's national interests, or Albanian national interests," Gudzic says.

As he adds, in such circumstances, Serbs in Kosovo have two choices.

"To leave or to endure and wait for better times, for freedom. I think they will opt for the latter," Gudzic noted.

Asked if anyone can prevent the actions taken by the Kosovo government in Serbian communities, he says it could be Western countries.

"In Kurti's actions, the sponsors of Kosovo's independence, primarily Western democracies – the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, which have invested the most in Kosovo's statehood, could prevent it, but whether they will do so depends on them. I think they tacitly allow this kind of behavior from Albin Kurti," Gudzic concluded.