Petkovic: Intimidation of Serbs and arrests from secret lists to drive them out of Kosovo

Petkovic: Intimidation of Serbs and arrests from secret lists to drive them out of Kosovo Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, regarding the recent arrest of 16 Serbs - pilgrims in Kosovo, stated that this is an attack on the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) and its followers, due to the increasing number of them visiting and attending monasteries in Kosovo. He pointed out that the goal of intimidation and arrests is to drive Serbs away and to shut down the Serbian Orthodox monasteries.

On TV Informer, Petkovic said that the arrests "at every turn" are a major problem facing Serbs in Kosovo, especially those from central Serbia who wish to visit the monasteries, and the internally displaced who had to leave their homes in 1999 and later, particularly from Metohija.

"They are arrested at every turn, especially if they cross the administrative line," Petkovic warned, adding that the pilgrims who were recently arrested were visiting the High Decani and the Virgin of Ljeviska - to visit their holy sites which they have the right to do.

Reminding that two groups of Serbs were arrested, four in Djakovica and 12 in Prizren, who were found with pruning shears and two private-use knives in their car trunk, Petkovic emphasized that Pristina has spun this into a media story and narrative that it was a terrorist act, portraying these individuals as "masked Serbs pretending to be pilgrims."

"Who would go to Djakovica, and that part of Kosovo and Metohija, if they had any connection to anything? Common sense tells us that it's a pure fabrication," Petkovic was clear.

This, he underscored, is an attack on the SOC and believers, and also because a large number of people, increasingly, attend and visit the monasteries in Kosovo, citing as an example that during a weekday liturgy at High Decani there can be as many as 500 people.

"They are annoyed by this, that the church is alive, that Serbs still pray to God in Kosovo and Metohija. This sends them a message, with the intent to intimidate, that anyone thinking about visiting the monasteries, should think they might end up the same... As well as for the displaced, who are arrested for alleged war crimes, then released. Intimidation at every turn, arrests from secret indictments and lists, with the goal to drive Serbs away and close the monasteries. This is all a game by Albin Kurti with the intention to further provoke Serbia and the Serbs in Kosovo, to provoke their inappropriate reaction, so that Pristina can use even more force," said Petkovic.

Serbs walking to Belgrade teach everyone a lesson in patriotism

Petkovic called the Serbs who started their journey on foot from Kosovo to Belgrade, in order to support the president and the state of Serbia in its endeavor to preserve and protect from all that has happened over the past five and a half months, aimed at "deserbization of the country" - Serbian heroes.

He highlighted that these young men demonstrate their love for their country, which despite everything, is getting stronger, walking tens of kilometers every day.

"By walking, they teach everyone a lesson in patriotism, giving everyone a class in morality. If anyone knows what the state is and how important Serbia is, it is the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija. Without the state of Serbia, our people in Kosovo and Metohija could not survive, and every Serb living there knows this. That's why it's very important that they started this journey, even through rain and snow, to show that they won't give up their state Serbia. They won’t allow anyone to threaten their survival, nor the future of their children," emphasized Petkovic.

He stated that what they are doing is an inspiration to the vast majority in central Serbia who support the movement for people and state, to all unite in harmony and peace around one Serbian flag, our tricolor, and stand in defense of our values, our state of Serbia, which has been attacked.

"These guys who have endured over 25 years of terror from the regime in Pristina know best what the state of Serbia means, there the pulse of our state is felt most. They started to support Aleksandar Vucic in the intention and idea to preserve our country. We will end the Colored Revolution. If anyone understands what it means when institutions are attacked, it is the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Serbian institutions mean everything to them. All universities in Kosovo and Metohija operate normally because there people know they must not go to their institutions. The one who tramples on Serbian institutions and closes them is Albin Kurti, and in central Serbia, it's the blockers," Petkovic pointed out.

He mentioned that Albin Kurti supports those who attack state institutions, expecting to come to power through violence outside of elections and then conspires with them for what he will never get from Vucic, which is the recognition of independence.

"We need a stronger state to protect the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija," Petkovic underlined.

He criticized the fact that these Serbs, who are experiencing hell from the Kurti regime, which everywhere implements terror against Serbs with the aim to create an ethnically clean space on Kosovo, are now in their Serbia faced with blockers and the media, as he added, "pressure groups."

"All the time in central Belgrade they pump up for Albin Kurti," stressed the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Petkovic, ahead of the formation of the Kosovo parliament, reiterated that from the moment the elections were announced, Kurti did everything to try to ban the existence, and then the participation, of the Serb List in the process.

"When that didn't work out for him, pressures followed, and then in the Serbian ranks, they managed to find Serbs more inclined towards Pristina than Belgrade, to invest in them so that someone from their group could enter the parliament and then form a government with the compliant ones. He did this with Rasic, Arsenijevic, and others. Then Kurti said that they couldn't do more because they were under pressure from Serbia," Petkovic stated.

He mentioned that Rasic, who also heads the Ministry for Communities and Returns, used all possible means, having everything at his disposal, even bribing Serbs.

Despite all this, Petkovic highlighted, the Serb List managed to win 40,000 votes, only 4,000 votes less than in 2021, considering that 20 percent of Serbs had to leave Kosovo in the meantime.

"The Serb List actually won 10 mandates, it is first in all Serbian communities, ahead of all others. In Dobrotin, the birthplace of Nenad Rasic, the Serb List won. Rasic received votes in communities where there are no Serbs. How will Rasic defend the interests of Serbs when his mandate was won with Albanian votes?" Petkovic asked.