Petkovic: The Serbs should remain calm; not to fall for Kurti's provocations regarding the elections

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, today called on the Serbs in Kosovo to remain calm on Sunday, when elections were held in four municipalities in the north, and not to fall for the provocations of "occupational mayor Albin Kurti", Politika reports.

Petkovic said that everything that would happen that day would represent a great shame for the whole of Europe.

"On that day we will all witness the attempts and intention of Pristina to occupy the entire north of Kosovo. The “occupational mayor Albin Kurti” is what the Serbs will never accept. That's why I say once again, let the streets be empty on that day and let the people stay in their houses, and let them do their dirty work. I just don't know what the interest of all this is. Is it the normalization of relations - of course not, this is an indicator that there is no normalization of relations and that Pristina does not want it," Petkovic assessed for Tanjug.

According to him, April 23 will be written in “black letters” in the history of European democracy, because it is almost unheard of that someone used the election process to expel all the Serbs, which, according to Petkovic, is exactly what Albin Kurti wants.

"By organizing these illegal elections, Kurti actually wants to become a de facto occupying mayor in all four municipalities in the north of Kosovo and Metohija. Unfortunately, those elections were supported by many people from the West and thus put an additional wind behind Kurti, who with his anti-Serb policy is doing everything to make the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija once and for all disappear, that three to four percent of Albanians living in the north of Kosovo and Metohija should manage municipalities and over 98 percent of the Serbs, which is something absolutely unacceptable. These illegal elections, organized by Kurti, are an example of trampling on democracy and basic human rights," Petkovic said.

He reminded that last year when Kurti had banned the holding of a referendum and Serbian elections in Kosovo and Metohija, the international community had not been overly vocal in condemning such an act, but that was why they now supported the elections and the fact that Kurti would become the occupational mayor, which completely exposed the entire policy of Pristina and Albin Kurti towards the Serbs.

"Let everyone see now what Albin Kurti's real intention is, not to form the CSM, but to additionally in the north, where the Serbs are the majority and where 98 percent of the Serbs live, above all, Albanians have the main say in running the municipalities. Well, that has never happened," Petkovic said.

As he says, the fact that Jablanovic gave up his candidacy means that there will be no Serbian candidates in the north of Kosovo and that those who present Pristina, and who are representatives of Albanian political parties, will lead the north of Kosovo.

"We want to live in peace, to achieve betterment in the process of dialogue, first of all for the life of our people, but if you have this kind of behavior on the part of Pristina and the international community, you have the rape of democracy. It is clear to you that you do not have an interlocutor, that you do not have an honest interlocutor in Pristina who wants peace and normalization, who wants a compromise solution to reach the reconciliation of the Serbs and Albanians. We will certainly keep the peace, but we will stand firmly as before, with our Serbs who have their own country and one president, and that is Aleksandar Vucic," Petkovic said.

He points out that the upcoming elections are a semblance of democracy because voting takes place in police containers and stations and where ROSU police officers with rifles stand at the entrance to those containers.

"And now I don't know what kind of elections are supported by the West. They were all ashamed of that, and our people, who have survived and endured a lot, will also endure this latest cruelty by Albin Kurti," Petkovic said.

When asked what the life of the Serbs in the north of Kosovo would look like, after the election, Petkovic says that the Serbs are used to going through many difficulties and that these new challenges show the true intentions of Albin Kurti, who every day perpetrates political violence against the Serbs in Kosovo.

"Well, the Serbs didn't just leave the institutions of Pristina in the north of the Republic of Kosovo. The fact that we have illegal police bases in the north, the ROSU police who have nothing to look for there and are in the north of the Republic of Kosovo only to harass the Serbs and shoot at innocent people. We saw the other day that their so-called Minister of the Interior went to the Bistrica Bridge to greet the policemen there, who are at that illegal checkpoint, I guess to reward them for shooting innocent Serbs, not to mention many other things, that they arrest people and deport us almost every day, that they forbid the use of license plates with KM markings, that they stop ambulance drivers, mistreat the sick, that Kurti is actually trying to deal with the Serbs in Kosovo by various cases of abuse of the Pristina judiciary," the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said.

As he pointed out, because of such things and the fact that they wanted the worst for us, to expel the Serbs and wanted to leave the Serbs to live in both an economic and a political ghetto, the dignified Serbs had abandoned everything, which had been supported by Belgrade, which was always with its people.

"Those who gave us lessons about the electoral process in central Serbia, who knew how to ask 1,001 questions, especially in the 2000s when the opposition boycotted the elections when everything in terms of regularity was as clean as a tear. They asked questions and brought the election process into question, but that's why they are very happy to support Kurti to be the occupational mayor and support elections that are not elections. Those from the West are now supporting that process, that is how Kurti is being rewarded," Petkovic said.

He pointed out that it would be seen on Sunday how the elections would take place.

"Our people are peaceful and dignified, they want to live on their centuries-old hearths, and we will not allow Pristina to threaten, above all, the freedom and survival of our people with such acts. Let them do their job, we will fight for a better life for our people in Kosovo and for stability and peace," Petkovic pointed out.

When asked what could be expected in Brussels on May 2, when a new round of high-level dialogue would be held, Petkovic says that it had been agreed in Ohrid that on that day the Management Team would present its work, which was the draft of the Statute for the formation of the CSM.

He added that Belgrade would insist on the formation of the CSM, but not the way Kurti said, who wanted to reduce the CSM to some kind of shell without content and turn it into an NGO, but the way it had been agreed in, as he said, the same Brussels, that is, to be formed in accordance with the four agreements related to the CSM.

"In the way that it has essential powers, its own goal and structure, the method of financing from Belgrade and everything that the CSM should have because it must represent a mechanism for the preservation of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, their collective and individual rights, which unfortunately do not exist today because of such moves Albin Kurti, which is best reflected in his decision to hold elections in the Serbian environment in the north of Kosovo, where Albanians will vote," Petkovic said.