Petkovic: The occupation of the north has begun; Vucic spoke with Lajcak

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, said that the occupation of the north of Kosovo by Albin Kurti had officially begun today, saying that it was unacceptable for the municipality of North Mitrovica to be led by someone who had won 553 votes.

Petkovic spoke at a press conference after Erden Atic had taken the oath today in North Mitrovica, becoming the mayor of North Mitrovica, and as he pointed out, the conversation between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and EU Representative for dialogue Miroslav Lajcak was ongoing.

"That cloth that they displayed on the municipal building will never be a flag for us. It will stand there and last as long as the occupation itself, and that means not for long. In the last hundred years, there have been many occupation flags that have been flown in Kosovo and Mussolini's and The Third Reich, but they were all defeated by the Serbian tricolor, so it will be this time as well," Petkovic said.

He pointed out that the authorities in Pristina, led by Kurti, wanted to expel the Serbs from Kosovo and to openly provoke war.

"Vucic warned Lajcak about all the consequences of Kurti's behavior and incidents that could turn into the biggest crisis so far," Petkovic said.

As he pointed out, where 98 percent of the Serbs lived, the elections that had been held could not be legitimate.

"Shame on Kurti and the international community that supported these elections. They showed that they do not care about democracy and democratic principles. And today's announcement by the Quint, which says that both sides should work on normalization, shows that Kurti is doing all this because he has the wind at his back," he said.

Petkovic said that Serbia would stand by its people on June 1 until the Serbs had set a deadline for both the international community and Kurti to stop provocations, arrests, stopping vehicles with KM plates, shooting at innocent people, and expropriations.

"Kurti has nothing to look for in the north, and neither does the Kosovo police," Petkovic said.

He announced that Predrag Milanovic, a miner who had worked in the third shift at the Crnac mine, had been stopped today on the Bistrica Bridge and had been on his way home.

"They took away his KM plates and wrote a fine of 150 euros. Today, a new phase of Kurti's illegal decision on re-registration began, which he has no right to," Petkovic said.

He concludes that this is contrary to all agreements, which, he recalls, were also pointed out by Derek Chollet and Petar Stano.

Answering the question of a news reporter to clarify that the Kosovo police have no right to be in the north of Kosovo, Petkovic said that he had been referring to the Albanians in the Kosovo police and the special unit ROSU, which, according to the Brussels agreement and other agreements and KFOR guarantees, had nothing to do in the north.

"It is clear that the responsibility of KFOR and EULEX lies in the security vacuum that has been created since the Serbs left the institutions, but also before that since Kurti started building bases in the north by illegally seizing Serbian land. Everything, along with the non-formation of the CSM, was the reason for the Serbs to leave the institutions. They have no right to be there, and even less to mistreat the Serbs," Petkovic said.

When asked about the deadline given by the Serbs, i.e. June 1, Petkovic said that the Serbs wanted to give the international community and Kurti a certain amount of time to stop harassing the Serbs in Kosovo.

"After that, their answer will follow, we are with our people and we will try to preserve the peace and do everything to prevent a conflict, but what do you do when on the other side you have Kurti who wants war and to expel the Serbs from Kosovo," he added.

Answering the question of what kind of guarantees the Serbs could expect from the international community, Petkovic says that it has been confirmed that Kurti does not want to form the CSM and that he wants to stage a crisis or a war in the north of Kosovo.

"It seems strange that he is doing this alone and that he is only allowed to enter into these adventures alone. It is obvious that we are facing difficult times, it is the responsibility of the international community to stop Kurti because whatever happens in the north, God forbid, the responsibility will be on those who allowed it," Petkovic said.