Petkovic: We must not allow March 17 to ever happen again

Today marks twenty-one years since the March pogrom against Serbs and Serbian sacred sites in Kosovo and Metohija. Besides evoking empathy and solidarity in every honorable person, this tragic event, the first pogrom in 21st-century Europe, also strengthens the Serbian people and the state of Serbia in their determination to never allow such brutality against Serbs to happen again, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic stated.

As he pointed out, the largest ethnically motivated clashes in Kosovo and Metohija since the arrival of international forces in the province began on March 17, 2004, after UNMIK police found the bodies of two Albanian boys in the Ibar River, near the village of Cabar, close to Zubin Potok.

"Albanians falsely accused Serbs of drowning the boys and launched an unprecedented, three-day criminal rampage as retribution. The false narrative of a spontaneous revolt triggered by the drowning of the Albanian boys was spread by those who inspired and organized the violence, among other things, to avoid criminal responsibility and hide behind the so-called ‘will of the people.’ However, there is not the slightest doubt that the pogrom was long and skillfully planned and organized by Albanian political, criminal, and paramilitary-security structures, with the aim of ethnically cleansing the remaining Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija. Unfortunately, in many parts of our southern province, this plan was successfully carried out," Petkovic stated.

He emphasized that discussing the March pogrom cannot be done without considering the historical context, as Serbian claims to Kosovo have been written in blood for centuries.

"The March 2004 pogrom was meant to be the final stage in the implementation of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs and the absolute Albanian domination of Kosovo and Metohija. However, their plan failed, and those who thought they could erase all traces of Serbian existence in Kosovo and Metohija forever were deeply mistaken. The Pristina regime has not abandoned its ambitions, it has only changed its methods. The human and political disenfranchisement of Serbs is evident everywhere in the province. The dismantling of Serbian institutions – vital to the survival of Serbs – was intended to leave them without salaries, pensions, and social benefits. Meanwhile, weapons pointed at our people were supposed to finally force their expulsion, fulfilling Kurti’s undisguised goal of an ethnically pure Kosovo and Metohija. However, Pristina has failed to achieve this goal, and it never will!" Petkovic declared.

He further stated that it is "incomprehensible and inexplicable that a large part of the international community, especially those countries that claim to be champions of democracy, remained indifferent to the mass crimes of March 17, 2004 – just as they turn a blind eye today to the daily terror the Pristina regime inflicts on the Serbian people in Kosovo."

"In conclusion, I want to send a clear message: Serbia and the Serbian people will never forget the March pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija and the victims of that criminal rampage by Albanian extremists. Nor will we ever stop demanding that those responsible be found and punished. To those who protect the perpetrators, we say this: nothing good has ever come, nor can come, from the suffering of others and from concealing crimes. Today, under the leadership of President Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia will never allow another pogrom or storm against the Serbian people. We firmly stand in defense of the lives, dignity, and future of our people. Likewise, we are determined to defeat all forms of ‘color revolutions,’ which, as new types of pogroms, would like to divide us and spill Serbian blood, something Kurti and many others would like to see. Serbia will overcome every evil and every attempt to trample our state and our people," Petkovic concluded.