Haziri: By accusing Serbia for the canal attack without evidence, Kosovo’s Government has lost credibility

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Government has lost credibility with the international community, Vice President of the Democratic League of Kosovo Lutfi Haziri stated and explained that Kosovo authorities had made a mistake by accusing Serbia without evidence for the incident at the Ibar-Lepenac canal and also for last year’s conflict in Banjska.

He believes that Pristina has failed to convince its allies that Serbia is responsible for the attack on the Ibar-Lepenac canal and the incident in Banjska.

“They convinced no one, not even that Serbia is responsible for the terrorist attack at the Banjska monastery. Serbia is not just a sponsor of terrorism but also its perpetrator. Instead of proving that Serbia has become the Afghanistan of the Balkans – providing shelter for and sponsoring terrorism – they have lost credibility and placed Kosovo in an unfavorable position. Even the incident at the Ibar-Lepenac canal seems similar to such attacks, but we need to wait for evidence. We must see proof, not just point fingers,” Haziri stated.

He emphasizes that the Kosovo Government's request to deploy the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) to the north is a mistake.

“Kosovo should not draft a new cooperation protocol with NATO for deploying the KSF to the north but should instead wait for the transitional plan for the KSF to be completed by 2028,” Haziri assessed.

Regarding the upcoming meeting of chief negotiators in the Brussels dialogue on December 17, Haziri says the event is “just for show” and he does not expect concrete results in implementing the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex from last year.

He notes that Prime Minister Kurti has secured a poor agreement for Kosovo in the dialogue process and believes that the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex could be improved if the Democratic League of Kosovo takes over leadership in Pristina.