Petkovic: Serbia will stand by its people in Kosovo and Metohija, it will never give up on it

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, pointed out that the Kosovo Serbs, by withdrawing from the institutions, want to protect the Brussels order and added that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, pointed out in Berlin that he was not interested in dialogue, nor in the formation of the CSM, thus humiliating the European Union.

In an interview with TV Most, Petković pointed out that there was not a day that someone from Pristina did not "throw a stone" at all 48 agreements reached in Brussels.

"Political and institutional representatives of the Serbian people, mostly from the north of Kosovo, including representatives of the Serbian List, who were in the so-called government in Pristina and the parliament, made a decision that, together with the police, representatives of the local government, the administration, the judiciary and everyone else in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, who worked in Pristina institutions, leave those institutions. They reasoned that in this way, they actually want to protect the Brussels order and the process in Kosovo and Metohija, given that due to the agony and lawlessness of Albin Kurti directed almost applies daily at the Serbs, especially in these recent decisions of Pristina on the implementation of the license plate rule, is simply the last straw. Those who were and remain the guardians of the Brussels Agreement have decided to raise their voices in a democratic, peaceful way, to leave the institutions of Pristina and show that they can no longer tolerate the institutional violence carried out by Albin Kurti, where dialogue is systematically collapsed by Pristina, where we all testify that there is not a day without one of the representatives of Pristina throwing a stone at the Brussels agreement, at all 48 agreements that we agreed upon in the dialogue process, which are supposed to enable normal life. The reason we are going to Brussels, when we talk about this normalization of relations, is to make life easier for ordinary citizens. And the opposite happens. All possible basic human rights are abolished, the holding of elections, referendums is prohibited, freedom of movement is prevented, some kind of rule is introduced in stages to punish our people on the so-called licence plates conversion, where Kurti makes decisions beyond the agreement, beyond what was agreed, beyond all those of the points of the agreement that we negotiated, where it is clearly stated that we want to go into the process of licence plates conversion, but so that the Serbs will choose KS status-neutral plates. We are talking about UNMIK plates, plates that were used by both Serbs and Albanians, and which were unilaterally abolished by the Pristina authorities in 2020. And everyone is pretending to be crazy, including representatives of the international community," said Petković.

He pointed out that, as the main negotiator, he raised the issue at least twenty times in Brussels in front of Miroslav Lajcak, that they sent letters to everyone saying what kind of problem would arise if KS plates were abolished.

"No one wanted to react, and in 2020 and 2021, until we had a crisis, which was again caused by Albin Kurti, thirteen days of blockade on Jarinje and Brnjak, where Kurti again unilaterally wanted to apply his decision with trial license plates, with the coat of arms and status symbols of the so-called state of Kosovo. The Serbs did not want to accept that, because it is a violation of the agreement. When they force you against the wall like that, then this is the only thing they could do, they told President Vucic: We have nowhere to go, either to leave the institutions or to leave the centuries-old hearths with the bundles on the tractors and the families and go to central Serbia. President Vucic clearly said that neither the pogrom nor Operation Storm will ever happen again, and that's why we stood by our people in Kosovo and Metohija. That's how the state should work for the sake of the state, so that what happened in 2004 would not happen, when the then regime only sent announcements while our people were being expelled, our villages and towns ethnically cleansed, churches burned, when over 4,000 people had to leave Kosovo and Metohija and all this happened before the eyes of the international community. That will never happen again, because we have President Aleksandar Vucic at the head of the country, and our people trust him. Our people are with the state of Serbia and that is why there is so much support for President Vucic," said the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Petkovic pointed out that Albin Kurti in Berlin, thus humiliating the EU, said that he was no longer interested in the Brussels Agreement, nor the CSM, claiming that such a document does not exist in Pristina.

"Such a document exists in Pristina, with a memorandum, seal and signature of the representative of the authorities in Pristina, it was received and filed, that first agreement on the normalization of relations, but even if we did not find that document, the question arises as to what they ratified in their parliament in 2013. With a two-thirds majority, they ratified that Brussels agreement and don't pretend that it doesn't exist. In 2013, Self-Determination was in the opposition and they submitted a request to their so-called Constitutional Court for an assessment of the constitutionality of that same agreement. The answer was that the agreement is in accordance with their Constitution. This is pure lawlessness and lack of good will to implement the agreement," says Petković.

According to him, Kurti replaced the director of the Regional Directorate for the North, Nenad Djuric, from Berlin, which, he says, he has no right to do.

"Also, Albin Kurti dismissed Nenad Djuric from Berlin, although he has no right to dismiss anyone from that directorate, but the mayors of four municipalities in the north of the Republic of Kosovo have the right. Kurti dismissed him because Djuric held a conference with the mayors the day before for the media, where they said that they would not participate in the policy of punishing the Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, because they had KM vehicle license plates. The Serbian police is not integrated, and according to the Brussels Agreement, formed in the north of Kosovo, to punish the Serbian people. The Serbs will not do that, they will not to implement Albin Kurti's violent decisions, his political decisions aimed at settling accounts with the Serbian people and ultimately expelling everything Serbian from the north of Kosovo and Metohija. That's why everyone from the police resigned. Then the mayors also resigned, then the judges, the prosecutors , administrative staff, and this led to the dismantling of the Brussels Agreement. The Serbs did this in a peaceful and democratic way," the TV Most interlocutor points out.

After that, Petkovic underlines, harsh statements are coming from the EU and the USA, that the CSM should be formed urgently, that Kurti should stop with this punitive policy towards the Serbs, when it comes to conversion of license plates, that the deadline should be postponed, that the decision should be rescinded, even the Americans are going a step further and say that the final decision about the license plates should be made within the dialogue.

"I believe in what we signed, I believe in our country and President Aleksandar Vucic, and I believe in our people," said Petkovic and added that the agreements must be obeyed by.

"The Brussels Agreement was signed by both Pristina and the EU. The EU is the guarantor of the implementation of the Brussels Agreement," Petkovic emphasizes.

He states that after the Serbs left the institutions of Pristina, it can be concluded that only the Serbs respected the Brussels Agreement, because they were integrated into those institutions for 10 years, and when you look at all 15 points of the agreement, Belgrade fulfilled everything it was supposed to fulfill, and Pristina, he says, did nothing.

"The first points that should have been implemented, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, are the points related to the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. And there is no CSM. The responsibility for that is also on the international community, I told so to Mr. Lajcak, Quinta and everyone else. The Brussels agreement represents the backbone of the dialogue, the cornerstone on which we built all other agreements in Brussels. If there is no such thing, then what is there? Then why did we enter the process of normalizing relations? Why did we go to local elections? To get the CSM. We had that promise. As we also had the promise that everything would be fine with the license plates, if everything went well with the ID cards. And we managed to fight for a good agreement on the ID cards, where we succeeded to preserve Serbian ID cards in Kosovo and Metohija. Kurti's idea was to throw out Serbian ID cards, and we managed to insert it into the agreement, this was confirmed by the EU and Mr. Borrell. This speaks of the clear presence of the license plates," Petkovic said.

He stated that decisions on leaving institutions remain until the formation of the CSM and until the decision on the conversion of the license plates is withdrawn.

"The state of Serbia will take care of the people who left Pristina's institutions. We take care of all our people. I don't need to remind you how many apartments, how many projects we have provided in Kosovo and Metohija. We are building hospitals, schools, kindergartens. None of our people will be on the street, every our man who had income in the Pristina system will have income in the Serbian system, we will compensate everyone. In the coming days and weeks, that issue will be resolved," Petkovic emphasized.

Regarding the visit of the President of Serbia to France, where it was announced that he might also meet with Kurti, Petkovic says that Serbia has never shied away from dialogue, all with the aim of preserving peace and security in Kosovo and preserving people's lives.

"In order prevent, when new ideas appear in Albin Kurti head, sending the Albanians to replace people who have left their jobs or to send ROSA to the north of Kosovo and Metohija, we called for EULEX and KFOR to fulfill the security and legal vacuum that appeared due to the withdrawal of our people. We called for this as EULEX and KFOR have a clearly defined mandate that police, justice and security affairs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija are handled by them. Serbs do not want conflicts, and Pristina is raising tensions, everything is going in the direction of some kind of conflicts. They are illegally building four illegal bases, in the green zone, along the very administrative line in Kosovo. Where did those bases with heavy weapons come from, where are all the Albanians from Pristina? Under what agreement is that? In addition, at the same time, they are doing it on stolen Serbian private property. Why are they disrupting the ethnic structure of policemen in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, when 98% of Serb policemen should be there?" the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija asks.

The next step, says Petkovic, is the first formation of the CSM, the withdrawal of illegal decisions on the plates and all others, so only after that can we continue to discuss all other issues.
"We no longer know how to get the international community to deal with what it needs to deal with. No one from the EU has responded to the Management Team since 2018, when they sent emails with drafts of the Statute that were done. Obviously, no one was interested except the Serbs formation of the CSM. And in 10 years, they did nothing. If we had had the CSM, all these attacks against the Serbs would not have happened. It's time for them to do something about it," Petkovic points out.

By crossing the red line, the Serbian policemen said no. The President of Serbia awarded the policemen Djuric and Filipovic, and as Petkovic says, it was a fantastic event and that everyone was proud of their people in Kosovo, that brave, courageous and honest people were rewarded by the State of Serbia for defending their people and there is no greater honor than that.

"We are fighting to preserve peace and stability. They are waging a propaganda war from Pristina. We want to connect, to continue with economic development. You see, our people were not enthusiastic about wearing those uniforms, but they obeyed the state of Serbia. We did it in order to ensure 10 years of peace and ensure development in both Serbia and Kosovo. We are doing everything to strengthen the state of Serbia. We can now take on 3,500 people, because we can afford it. We are in a position to invest in Kosovo, in big projects. It was difficult in Brussels for us, especially for President Vucic. However, when there was nowhere else to go, we had to take such steps. But at least you are calm, you know that you have done everything. President Vucic understood all this and knew that our people had nowhere else to go. Our red line is to preserve peace. We understand our people. The rally in Kosovska Mitrovica was magnificent, more than 10,000 people stood under one banner, under the Serbian tricolor," said Petkovic.

Petkovic said that he was a guest on several television channels and in those conversations he was asked the question of what Serbia is going to do, and the answer is simple.

"Serbia will stand by its people in Kosovo and Metohija, it will never give up on it, it will never allow a pogrom or Operation Storm, and in the end Serbia will win. Our people understand this well and that's why they trust President Aleksandar Vucic. We don't have to say everything, but we understand each other," Petkovic concluded in an interview with TV Most.