Milenkovic: The north will endure; we live here, not Kurti's Special Forces

At the citizens' protest in Leposavic due to the arrest of the Serbs from the north, Marko Milenkovic, in front of the Civil Society from Leposavic, told those gathered that the north was made up of them, because they were on their land, while uninvited and unwanted guests in armored vehicles were passing by. He said that the north would endure, as it had endured in 1999 on the bridge, in 2004, watching the columns of displaced compatriots, and in 2008 and 2011, when it had defended its uniqueness on the barricades.

"In 2013, we extended the hand of reconciliation, the hand of cooperation, and believed in coexistence between the different communities in Kosovo and Metohija, but at the same time with fear and uncertainty about what it all entails. Unfortunately, everything we feared is coming true today. While Kurti's regime is targeting us, shooting and abusing us, they talk about us with hatred and blame us for violence. Kosovo prisons are filled with Serbian political prisoners, like Nemanja, Dalibor, and Uros, who are pre-judged, while at the same time, they talk about the right and justice. They are turning our municipal building into a hotel while talking about democracy. They are breaking agreements and court decisions, usurping our land for militant bases while talking about principles and consistency. But the North will endure. As it endured in 1999 on the bridge. As in 2004, endured watching the columns of displaced compatriots and watching the burnt Serbian houses and churches in the southern part of our Province. The North will endure as it defended its uniqueness and self-awareness at the barricades in 2008 and 2011. The north will endure as it did these ten years when we integrated although we didn't really want to," Milenkovic said.

As he added, the integration had been on the condition that they remained separate and independent, that they managed themselves, and on the condition of obtaining autonomy in the police, judiciary, local and central administration.

"We didn't get any of that. They sent us parapolice forces to take away the responsibilities of our police region. We didn't get a majority Serbian appellate judicial panel that would guarantee protection from an unfair and ethnically motivated trial. We didn't get the promised autonomy through the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. Dear citizens, we live here, not Kurti's Special Forces, not political representatives elected in elections with a turnout of one percent, we will govern ourselves. That is why we need allies and peaceful and dignified resistance. The Pristina regime is violent, not you, and we will not allow him to hide his systemic institutional terror behind individual incidents of angry citizens. Civil revolt and systemic evil are two completely different things. I feel free to send a message of peace on behalf of my colleagues from the non-governmental sector from Leposavic, but also on behalf of young people. The people I see in front of me; they are not terrorists, they are professors, doctors, students, officials, workers, my neighbors, and friends. These people are protesting because they want someone to hear their voice, to hear that their basic human rights are being threatened. These people are crying for help," Milenkovic said.

He also sent a message to his Albanian neighbors as well as to journalists who, as he said, saw Kurti's violence every day, but did not report on it and did not see the forest for the trees.

"That's why I call on them to report from Kosovo Police checkpoints and when Kurti's Special f=Forces mistreat the population when they shoot citizens and beat children. To report professionally and responsibly. I also call on the international community to take its role more responsibly and take it seriously and take into account the demands of these people, who have been standing here peacefully protesting for the past few weeks. We ask EULEX not to violate our trust in that mission, and to actively get involved and report daily on the work of Kosovo's investigative authorities. We have enough reasons not to trust those institutions," Milenkovic said.

He told his fellow citizens that although it was natural that they often disagreed, no one could remind them of harmony and unity as clearly as the violent regime from Pristina, which wanted to abolish their uniqueness and parts of their identity.

"It is above all divisions; the defense of it unites us. But once this evil passes, when their armored vehicles, snipers, and long guns disappear and they retreat far across the Ibar, remember that we were all here, and preserve that unity but also differences. And finally, my dear fellow citizens, friends, relatives, brothers, and sisters of Leposavci. The North will endure. Because we make up the north, because we are on our land, and those uninvited and unwanted guests are passing by with their armored vehicles. We make up the north when we walk through our villages, next to our Ibar, our Kopaonik, we visit our villages and our relatives, we are the North, the North are not those who came here using navigations and getting lost on our roads and our villages. That's why we need to remind ourselves once again that this is the place where our grandfathers, great grandfathers, and fathers come from, our children and all the generations that come there, and we will fight for the north, and we, knowing that each of us can already be the next Nemanja, Dalibor of Uros. And we will never surrender! That is our debt to them as well. Long live our Leposavic!" Milenkovic said.

Marko Radosavljevic spoke on behalf of the citizens of Leposavic, who said that they did not have a problem with the Albanians, but with several Kosovo politicians who wanted to endanger the lives of the Serbs and Albanians alike.

"Dear fellow citizens, we have been here together for four weeks, without answers as to why our high school graduates are walking next to barbed wire and guns, why life has stopped, and do we have the right to it. We don't have a problem with the Albanians; we have a problem with several Kosovo politicians who want to endanger the lives of both us and the Albanians alike. I understand those politicians because daily political ratings are best built on tensions. I do not understand Europe and America to whom I am addressing. Gentlemen, you have failed the democracy test. No one is implementing the agreements and discussions you are having, you are wasting the time and life of the entire region. I would appeal from this place and ask them if there are Serbs in those conversations in those documents. Do we have the right to live where we were born? To live and to be educated and to play sports? Obviously we don't have that right. Let this madness stop, let them sit down at the negotiating table because we are not afraid," Radosavljevic said.

He stated that the Albanians had the right to life and their culture and that the Serbs in the north would also have the right because they would not give up their demands.

"Don't the Serbs have the right to organize their community based on their culture, their language, the culture of their motherland where they were born? The question for Europe and America – you must reason with yourself because the time is running out. Release the innocent people who were arrested during the protests. First, second, third, fifth. Our Dalibor, our Nemanja, and our Uros lived and will live here. They are not serial killers to stay in casemates and solitary confinement, if they are guilty, let them defend themselves from freedom because they can easily prove it. Everything I described is very easy, it's all contained in the CSM. There are a thousand models that just predict this, and that's just life. Please, once again, from this place, let's be calm and dignified in all of this. We're on our land. They won't break us, we will persevere. For our Leposavic, long live all of you!" Radosavljevic said.