Petkovic with Cochard: The path to calming tensions leads through Pristina; international representatives should prevent Kurti's actions

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, received the Ambassador of France to Serbia, Pierre Cochard, today, whom he conveyed Belgrade's clear stance, advocating for dialogue as the only way to normalize relations with Pristina and achieve lasting peace. He emphasized that the path to calming tensions led through Pristina, which had to fulfill its obligations and de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo.

In the statement from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, it is emphasized that during the meeting, Petar Petkovic pointed out that the special units in northern Kosovo had to be withdrawn, and the KFOR mission should take on a greater role in protecting the Serbs. He also urged Pristina to promptly allow the unimpeded holding of extraordinary elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo. This is one of the key demands of the EU from June 3, which the Serb List recently requested.

"Instead, Albin Kurti is trying to postpone and avoid holding the elections using administrative traps and abuses, thus further keeping his illegitimate mayors in purely Serb areas in power. He is also using his special police units as a tool for terror against the innocent Serbs," Petkovic stated.

Petkovic emphasized that “Kurti's years-long terror against the Serbs in northern Kosovo, which escalates every day“, had led to the tragic events in Banjska on September 24, which Belgrade had not desired nor supported, which had been repeatedly emphasized by President Aleksandar Vucic.

"Belgrade expects international representatives to recognize and prevent actions by which Kurti undermines peace in this area and disrupts all agreements reached in the Brussels dialogue, primarily by refusing to form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities as agreed back in 2013 and 2015. Instead, Kurti daily demonstrates, through his statements, that he has no intention to fulfill the obligations undertaken thus far, and with his inflammatory rhetoric, he attacks Belgrade and the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija instead of working on de-escalation," Petkovic said.