Petkovic: The Serbs celebrate Vidovdan in a difficult situation

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said today that the "Vidovdan Declaration", which had been read yesterday at the meetings in Gracanica and North Mitrovica, was a testimony of the suffering of the Serbs in Kosovo, but also an expression of the clear determination of the Serbs in Kosovo to defend their right to survive, and stay on their ancestral land, to live in peace.

He pointed out that the message of the Serbs from Kosovo and Serbia, on Vidovdan, was to preserve unity, to be strong in defending our right to remain in Kosovo, and to preserve peace and stability, but adding that it no longer depended on the Serbs, who had done absolutely everything.

All the unilateral moves of Albin Kurti, Petkovic told RTS, were a clear indication that he wanted everything against peace.

Petkovic said that the fact that the memorial service would not be held in Gazimestan was a message of the difficult situation in which the Serbs lived in Kosovo today.

"The SOC did not want to take the risk of witnessing the mistreatment and arrest of our people again. Last year they arrested Nikola Nedeljkovic only because he carried the Serbian flag and spent eight months in the Pristina casemate," he pointed out.

Petkovic congratulated the Vidovdan holiday to the Serbs in Kosovo, but also the entire Serbian population, stressing that it was the most important national Serbian holiday, which was at the foundation of the Serbian being, interwoven into the identity of the Serbs.

The "Vidovdan declaration", which had been read yesterday at the meetings in Gracanica and North Mitrovica, he explained, was a testimony of the suffering of the Serbs in the previous period, not only in recent years, but most specifically in the last months due to the terror and cruelty of Kurti, but also an expression of the clear determination of the Serbs in Kosovo to defend their right to survive and remain on his ancestral land, to live in peace.

"When you look at what is written in it, you will see that it also mentions the Serbs who have been shot since the beginning of the year, six of them, including two children, the names of the eight arrested Serbs, our heroes who are in the Pristina casemates completely unfounded only because Kurti wants to expel the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija. Every day they spend in detention centers is a step further from the normalization process. It is obvious that Kurti does not want peace, but conflicts and to push the Serbs into conflict with the international community and KFOR," Petkovic stressed.

He pointed out that the Serbs had said that they would fight for peace, but also that they had been waiting 10 years for the formation of the CSM, and that now was the turning point whether there would be one or not.

"If it is not formed, they know what they will do," he underlined.

Petkovic said that the Serbs were certainly something unprecedented; that the Serbs had gone through a lot in the last two decades and then the brutality and terror of Kurti against the Serbs in the last couple of months.

"This is about their intention to implement their Serb-hating ideology of Greater Albania, which implies an ethnically clean area of Kosovo. That is why the Serbs are attacked so much, there are so many attempts by the Kosovo Police and the authorities in Pristina to force the Serbs to react excessively so that this would be a reason for Kurti to confront the Serbs," he warned.

He underlined that Kurti did not have any sincere intention when it came to peace and dialogue.

"You saw Kurti's reactions the day after his return from Brussels, where he was slapped on the wrist by the EU. The day after the dialogue in Brussels, Kurti starts with new arrests and organizes a military march that provokes the Serbs in the north with 215 soldiers marching along the very edge of the Ibar River, sending the message that they will, at one point, enter the north. And in the evening we had planted weapons and explosive devices in order to accuse the Serbs. But we also gave a clear answer to that, proving that it was a pure plot by Kurti and Xhelal Svecla, who use every moment to denigrate the Serbs in order to get a reason for an even greater number of special units to invade the north. Instead of reducing the number of ROSU members who have nothing to look for in the north, they are bringing new forces with long guns that harass our people," he criticized.

Petkovic assessed that the West was more than ever united in its condemnation of Kosovo, especially when it came to unilateral moves in the north, but he pointed out that the Serbs and Serbia had had enough of all those announcements and verbal condemnations.

"Only when we see the concrete moves and measures announced by the EU and the US will we know that it is an intention to restrain Kurti to set fire to the entire Western Balkans. Only when the West exerts the most direct pressure on Pristina can we expect effects. The rhetoric is harsh, never sharper, but we want to see actions," he said.

Petkovic recalled the condemnations of the international community when Ramush Haradinaj introduced taxes on Serbian goods when everyone said that this should not be done and that it had been an attack on basic freedoms, but these anti-civilization measures had been in force for almost two years.

"We want to see concrete actions by representatives of the West who will not only rebuke Kurti but show him his place in order for us to move on. The Serbs must be freed because innocent people are being held, mistreated, and tortured. This is not an approach to change things," he pointed out.

Petkovic asked if Svecla had answered, and yesterday it had been ten years since he had committed the criminal act of attacking EULEX.

"Ten years have passed since the judicial proceedings against Svecla were initiated, and he never appeared before the court and the case is out of date. That's how things work in Pristina. For what they avoid punishment for, they punish the Serbs," he underlined.

Petkovic said that it had been made impossible for him to be in Kosovo, so he would spend Vidovdan with the Serbian Gendarmerie at the base in Kraljevo.

"Every day we are present and we will be with our people in Kosovo and Metohija, we are behind our people in Kosovo and Metohija, they have someone to rely on, we will help our people, until they reach freedom and until our people in Kosovo are relieved and welcome a new Vidovdan in a much better atmosphere than today," he concluded.