Petkovic: Due to failure in the Council of Europe, Kurti resorts to new unilateral move to cause chaos

Petar Petkovic, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, has stated that the Kosovo police raids on the Postanska Stedionica Bank branches are yet another violent act aimed at dismantling Serbian institutions in the north and expelling the Serbian people.

"Under the personal orders of Albin Kurti, the police raided all branches of the Postanska Stedionica Bank and the Treasury Administration in all four northern municipalities at 3:15 PM. Kurti waited for the dialogue to end, and after failing in Kosovo's bid for membership in the Council of Europe, he resorted to a new unilateral move aimed at inciting unrest and chaos," Petkovic emphasized.

He added that it is clear that "the Balkan pyromaniac Albin Kurti" wants war and the suffering of the Serbian people, as everything he has done in recent months has been solely for the purpose of expelling Serbs from Kosovo.

Petkovic reminded that seven meetings have been held in Brussels on the issue of the dinar, but the Pristina side did not want to agree on anything, despite Belgrade coming up with various constructive proposals, which were recognized as such by many in the West.

"It is now clear that they were simulating participation in the dialogue all along because they expected to be rewarded in the Council of Europe. And since they failed, it is evident that the main goal, along with the decision to abolish the dinar, is not only to ban salaries, pensions, and social benefits, and to cut material costs for our Serbian institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, such as hospitals, schools, and kindergartens, but also to close the Postanska Stedionica Bank. To close all five branches, which were opened in 2018. The bank has 89 employees," said Petkovic.

According to field reports, Kosovo police have raided all premises, where they still unlawfully and violently hold the employees who were there at the time of the raid.

"This is not just about abolishing the dinar but about expelling the Serbian people and shutting down Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo and Metohija," Petkovic underscored.

He noted that at the time of the Kosovo police raid, there were no dinars in the branches of the Postanska Stedionica Bank.

"Even from their point of view, there was no basis for raiding the branches and thus shutting down our institutions," Petkovic added.

He pointed out that Kurti does not want any agreement or solution that would benefit the Serbian people in Kosovo, and that during the meetings in Brussels, Besnik Bislimi pretended to want to reach an agreement, but consistently rejected all of Belgrade's proposals.

"He did not want to accept anything, even when we offered to pay in euros, to form a new economic enterprise... He rejected all of that, as he was just waiting for the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to end so that he could move forward with shutting down Serbian institutions, in this case, the Postanska Stedionica Bank and the Treasury, as well as the Serbian Post. It is clear that this man does not want dialogue and resolution but the expulsion of Serbs," said Petkovic.

He highlighted that in the past six months, there has been nothing that has benefited the Serbs in Kosovo.

"There has been nothing but attacks on Serbs, only anti-Serbian decisions, aimed at destabilizing northern Kosovo," noted the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Petkovic emphasized that this is a breach of the dialogue and an unlawful attack on Serbian institutions, about which he will inform all international representatives.

"Unfortunately, some of them support Kurti in these efforts, because if they did not support him, we would have reached an agreement long ago, as the proposals we offered were very fair, very appropriate, and represented a compromise that would benefit both sides. However, when it comes to peace and stability, that is what Kurti does not want. He only wants unrest, the suffering of the Serbian people, and the expulsion of everything Serbian from Kosovo and Metohija," Petkovic said.

He announced that he will speak with the EU envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, and that he will call on the Quint representatives and inform everyone on the international scene about Kurti's lawlessness and terror.

"This is not just some new, arbitrary escalatory move. This is a violent attack on the dialogue itself, as the issue of the dinar and resolving the fate of the Postanska Stedionica Bank has become an integral part of the dialogue. But Kurti is undermining it because it does not suit him," he added.

"It is clear that there is no peace with Pristina, which does not want to agree on anything, but only wants to implement its anti-Serbian policy through violence," concluded Petkovic.