Petkovic: No Serb supports the decision on two new bridges, petition will be sent to the international community

A large number of citizens in Kosovo have responded to the petition against the decision to build two new bridges on the Ibar River, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic says. He explains that there are three main reasons behind this move by Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti, which, he claims, are deeply political and anti-Serb, not economic.

Speaking on RTS, Petkovic said that no Serb supports the decision to build the bridges.

“No Serb in Kosovo and Metohija, especially in Kosovska Mitrovica, supports Kurti’s decision to build two new bridges. Not a single Serb. Since 1999, there have been more than two hundred serious incidents on the main bridge over the Ibar, which clearly shows Pristina’s and Kurti’s true intentions. Everyone knows there are no economic reasons for this, only deeply political and anti-Serb motives,” the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija emphasized, as reported by RTV.

As he stated, the first reason is the continued pressure and expulsion of the Serbian population from northern Kosovo.

According to Petkovic, the second reason is the campaign for local elections in Kosovo, and the third is Kurti’s attempt to cover up the institutional crisis caused by his inability to form a functioning parliament in Pristina.

“Kurti lacks a majority, he cannot form the parliament, he cannot elect the so-called speaker of parliament. We are witnessing a serious institutional crisis, and now Kurti is trying, through such stunts and attacks on Serbs and the Serbian people, to show that he is still strong and still in control in Kosovo and Metohija,” Petkovic said.

Petkovic stressed that the petition against the construction of the bridges will be sent to representatives of the international community, who, he said, must stop Kurti, who has announced the bridge opening for October, during the election campaign.

“This must not be allowed, and the international community must stop this terror by Albin Kurti. The petition will be sent to the Quint member states, the European Union, all EU member states, international missions, UNMIK, OSCE, EULEX, and especially to KFOR. The highest expectations are from KFOR, and I hope that the NATO mission, as it has in the past, will act reasonably and not allow Kurti to behave this way,” Petkovic concluded.

He added that he was appalled by some of the messages coming from the protesters in Belgrade regarding Kosovo, pointing out that a sign reading “Jarinje” was put up at a barricade in Zemun.

Petkovic emphasized that this is a very dangerous message and added that Jarinje is a symbol of the disastrous policies of the previous government before 2012.

“What message are they sending? That nothing lies beyond those barricades and that Jarinje, on the other side, is controlled by Kurti’s police? Or is the message that people in Zemun will suffer like the Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija? The Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija have their country, Serbia, and their president, Aleksandar Vucic. Together, we must do absolutely everything to defend the interests of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, under nearly impossible conditions,” Petkovic said.