Simic: Attempt to integrate healthcare and education into the Kosovo system equals to a death embrace for Serbs

Of the three pillars on which the survival of Serbs in Kosovo rests – education, healthcare, and the Serbian Orthodox Church, the attempt to integrate two pillars – healthcare and education, into the Kosovo system in the way Albin Kurti wants is equal to a death embrace for the Serbian people, Igor Simic, member of the Presidency of the Serb List, warned today.

“This is absolutely unacceptable for us, because we know what it would mean, the persecution of the Serbian people, the shutdown of vital institutions, the violation of human rights, and an attack on basic life values,” Simic told RTS.

Given that several thousand people work in those systems, that there are 14,000 pupils in primary and secondary schools, as well as 10,000 students at universities, Simic pointed out that such attempts therefore represent an attack “on the heart and brain” of the Serbian people in Kosovo.

“Kurti is not doing this by accident, this is a well-designed plan to shut down institutions and put Serbs in conditions in which they cannot survive. As a parent, and I believe no Serb in Kosovo and Metohija is ready for their child to attend a school where they will learn that Adem Jashari and others are heroes. That is unacceptable for Serbs. Add to that a situation in which semi-trained doctors of Albanian nationality will treat you, take care of your children and parents. That is unimaginable. It would be below the level of normal logic to compare the Serbian and Kosovo education systems. That is why this would be a death embrace for these two systems and for the entire Serbian people in these areas,” Simic was clear.

He stated that March 15, the day when the Law on Foreigners is supposed to begin to be implemented, is just one in a series of “D days” for Serbs in Kosovo from 1999 to the present.

He pointed out that yesterday’s arrest of five Serbs in Suvo Grlo, a village with no more than 200 inhabitants, caused great concern among Serbs, because it is a tested tactic of Pristina to intimidate Serbs through unfounded arrests and politically motivated court proceedings.

“When you arrest innocent people, you send a message to everyone that no one is safe in their own home or secure in their innocence,” Simic said.

In that sense, the announcement of the implementation of the Law on Foreigners is a continuation of the persecution of Serbs, so that all those who remained in Kosovo after the terrible crimes of 1999, after the pogrom, would now be expelled from their homes.

“Through several decisions, the goal is the expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, our doctors, professors, and students, thanks to whom we survive here and with whose support and expertise the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija have functional education and healthcare,” Simic noted.

Asked why this regulation is being implemented now, when it was adopted back in 2013, Simic replied that this is a continuation of a policy of hostage situations.

“The law was adopted before Serbs decided to participate in Kosovo elections, when they did not have real, legitimate representatives. Kurti decided to do this now in parallel with the attack on healthcare and education, in order to blackmail international representatives and say that he can withdraw when it comes to the laws on foreigners and vehicles, but to obtain a blessing to do whatever he wants with healthcare and education. This is a hostage situation in which the Serbian people, the international community and the state leadership of Serbia are being held, so that they would have to choose the lesser evil,” Simic explained.

This, he adds, is the most dangerous aspect, because it cannot be said what is more dangerous – whether someone plans to expel nearly 10,000 Serbs from Kosovo overnight or to deny them healthcare and education.

“This is not a random decision, this is a plan for further expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija,” Simic is convinced.

Asked who can put a stop to Pristina’s arbitrariness, he recalled that in 2013 Serbs decided to enter Kosovo institutions because the international community guaranteed them basic human and civil rights, and that they have now also pointed out to international representatives the disastrous nature of Pristina’s decisions.

“Even then we did not trust Albanian political representatives, but the EU promised the Community of Serb Municipalities, respect for rights and the rule of law. We are in daily contact with the state leadership, President Aleksandar Vucic, Minister Marko Djuric, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic, and the Serb List at the local level is striving to point out to international representatives the disastrous nature of decisions designed to provoke the expulsion of Serbs. But now there is global chaos, and I am afraid there are few high-level international representatives ready to hear the arguments of the Serbian side, because they are more focused on the Middle East and Ukraine. That suits Kurti and works in favor of his regime’s anti-Serbian measures,” Simic said.

He added that representatives of the Serb List have held nearly 60 meetings with representatives of the international community and embassies, informing them about the consequences of Pristina’s decisions and that Serbs cannot survive without ties to Belgrade, and that healthcare and education are the “lifelines” for the Serbian people.

“I believe we have managed to explain this to a good part of the international community, but their silence at this moment, the Serbian people and we, as their political representatives, will consider direct complicity in the implementation of ethnic cleansing of the Serbian people,” Simic underlined.

Regarding the fact that financial support for Serbian municipalities was absent from the Kosovo budget, Simic reiterated that for four years Pristina has been preventing the implementation of development projects financed by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, which facilitate life for the Serbian people, and that now in a budget worth four billion euros not a single cent has been allocated for 10 municipalities with a Serbian majority.

“That is also a message that the goal is to place Serbs in circumstances in which they cannot live a life worthy of a human being in the 21st century,” Simic indicated, adding that Albanian mayors in northern Kosovo in recent years have spent budgets without fixing a single pothole or repainting a building, but that the funds were spent on hundreds of Albanians employed in Serbian municipalities. As an example, he stated that in the Municipality of North Mitrovica, out of 144 employees, 140 are Albanians.

“Pressure is exerted from both the central and local levels, by all ministers, so that sometimes I have the impression that at government sessions they only discuss how to further complicate life for Serbs. Even in municipalities south of the Ibar where Serbs live, they are doing everything to make life harder for the Serbian people,” Simic said.

In response to the remark that the deadline for electing the Kosovo president expires in two days, Simic said that the Serbian people have far greater problems than that and that for them, it is the last concern.

“The leadership of our party will consider this issue when the time comes, but two days before the deadline expires, and no one has even placed on the agenda the convening of a session at which this will be decided, so it would now be superfluous to comment on it,” Simic concluded.