Petkovic: It is crucial that Serbs support the Serb List in the elections, Rasic has renounced his own people

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said today that Albin Kurti, by arresting seven directors of Serbian institutions in Kosovo, is trying to finish what he failed to do on March 15, with the help of “servant Nenad Rasic”, and stressed that it is therefore of crucial importance for the Serbian people in the upcoming elections to support the Serb List as the only legitimate political representative of Serbs.

Petkovic told TV Informer that, after speaking with the family members of the arrested directors, he is convinced that their morale and spirit are not weakening and that they know very well, as does the public, that these are political prisoners.

“These are honorable hosts, professionals, the most respected people in Kosovo and Metohija. Our directors deserve every respect, they were only doing their jobs - teaching children and treating patients, both Serbs and Albanians. And because of that they became targets of Albin Kurti, who on March 15 tried to shut down Serbian educational and health institutions. And when he failed, he then, together with his servant Nenad Rasic, launched an attack on the directors, seeking to put additional pressure on those institutions that represent the pillar of the Serbian people’s survival in Kosovo and Metohija,” Petkovic explained.

He stated that Kurti, even before the official start of the campaign, began to confront the Serb List and the Serbian people in the worst possible way, through institutional terror, in order to appease his voters, because he has nothing else to offer them.

“There are no factories, no jobs, no salary and pension increases, none of what exists in central Serbia, none of the policies that Aleksandar Vucic is fighting for. The only thing there is are attacks on Serbs, Serbia, Vucic,” Petkovic said.

He pointed out that Serbs are always the target for Kurti ahead of elections, because that is the pattern of his political activity, which is now even more pronounced because there will be no diaspora voting on June 7 as there was in the December vote.

Therefore, he said, the arrest of seven directors reflects the nervousness of Albin Kurti, but also of Nenad Rasic.

He said Kurti has three goals: to try to finish what he failed to do on March 15, to weaken the Serb List, which is getting stronger, and to intimidate the Serbian people in order to force them to vote for Rasic.

“That is why it is of crucial importance that Serbs vote for the Serb List, as the only legitimate political representative of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija. Time has shown that the Serb List is the one truly fighting for Serbian national interests, that it is the only one with the support of President Vucic and Belgrade, and that it is a barrier to Kurti’s anti-Serb policy,” Petkovic said.

On the other hand, he said, there are “so-called Serbian parties” that do not work in the interest of the Serbian people, but were formed to help Kurti so that he can later claim he has a multiethnic government and that he cooperates with Serbs.

“Nenad Rasic has sold out, a classic traitor who decided to sell for a handful of money both the graves of his ancestors and his faith, and to renounce his own people. At the beginning, he tried to draw support for his policy from that reservoir of Serbian votes, although no one knows what his policy actually is. In fact, everyone knows what his policy is. It is a continuation of Kurti’s policy. Because what kind of policy can he pursue as Kurti’s minister who votes in government sessions for the establishment of a museum of the so-called genocide of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija? What kind of Serb is he who votes for special forces to come to the north and militarize the purely Serbian part of Kosovo and Metohija?” Petkovic asked.

Rasic, he said, is “both a puppet and a figurehead and everything that can serve Kurti” in order to form a government.

“That is why Kurti fought so hard for Rasic to get at least one of the 10 seats in parliament reserved for Serbs. In areas where Serbs live, overwhelming support, more than 90 percent of their votes went to the Serb List. That means those 10 seats should be held by Serb List MPs, so they can control certain political processes. But with that one seat he pushed Rasic into, Kurti can form a government, which he did after the December elections and clearly intends to do again after June 7. The goal of Rasic’s policy is to have Serbs arrested, to send the Kosovo police into institutions, which has never happened before. He wants to take over jobs that Belgrade creates in our institutions. He has started losing even the small number of votes among Serbs, so he has started gaining votes among Albanians,” Petkovic said.

He recalled that in the December 28 elections, Rasic received around 1,700 Albanian votes among his total votes.

“Tell me, when they vote for Rasic in Djakovica, Podujevo, Kacanik, where no Serbs have lived since 1999, how can he fight and insist in parliament on policies that will defend the interests of the Serbian people, if Albanians and Kurti’s support brought him into that parliament? That is why it is important that all 10 mandates are in the hands of the Serb List,” Petkovic said clearly.

He added that Kurti is doing everything to challenge the votes for the Serb List, which is why it has 25 fewer members in polling boards compared to the December elections, when it was also disadvantaged.

“In the north of Kosovo and Metohija, the Serb List does not have a single president of municipal election commissions. They are all Albanians and representatives of the so-called Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs. Kurti’s and Svecla’s police are at the head of those commissions, which suggests that various manipulations will take place,” Petkovic warned.

Despite that, he added, the Serb List will fight to win all 10 mandates, because if it won in all Serbian areas in local elections, it would be normal for it to also have all 10 MPs.

He called on internally displaced persons to go out and vote and support the Serb List.

“Every vote matters. There are around 212,000 internally displaced persons, a smaller number of them have Pristina documents. There is a way they are informed, there is a free call center where they can get all information. They can contact commissioners in municipalities in central Serbia, as well as Serbian Progressive Party municipal boards, because our party position is also that as many people as possible should vote for the Serb List, because only in that way can we continue to fight for our Kosovo and Metohija and preserve what is ours,” Petkovic concluded.