Petkovic: Maqedonci's statements do not contribute to de-escalation and peace, but bring unrest and destabilization

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said that the statements of Kosovo's Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, were causing additional unrest and destabilizing the situation in the north.

"At a time when Albin Kurti is fueling conflicts daily, provoking tensions and provocations in northern Kosovo and Metohija, the message from the so-called Defense Minister Ejup Maqedonci, that the so-called KSF will soon operate in the north of our province, can only be understood as an open threat," Petkovic stated in a press release.

Petkovic added that such dangerous messages, "warlike slogans and rattling of weapons," not only failed to contribute to much-needed de-escalation but also did not align with a peaceful and sustainable solution.

"Instead, they raise tensions, sow unrest among the Serbian people, and threaten to destabilize the entire region. We remind the so-called Minister of War Past to thoroughly review all the guarantees that exist, based on which no Kosovo security forces can ever enter the north of the province," Petkovic said.

As he added, these guarantees include not only the assurances from 2013 by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen but also the guarantees given by NATO on December 28th of last year that KSF cannot enter the north without their consent.

"Maqedonci has clearly identified himself as a war instigator and a war minister, which is evident in the message that the KSF is the successor of the criminal KLA, which has been declared a terrorist organization by international representatives," Petkovic added.

He stated that such a formation had no place in Serbian communities in Kosovo.

"Because the Serbian people neither have nor will ever forget all the atrocities, suffering, and hardships they endured at the hands of the KLA terrorists, who are being tried for monstrous war crimes in The Hague. Such a dangerous statement comes after Kurti's message that the Kosovo Police are also successors of the so-called KLA, which clearly shows the criminal methods Kurti and his henchmen would like to use to subdue the north of our southern province. That's why they imagine Serbian bases near the administrative line, in an attempt to justify their militant actions and dreams," Petkovic concluded.