Starovic: Implementation of the decision to return the land to Visoki Decani conditionally good news

State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense, Nemanja Starovic, emphasized today that the decision of Pristina to implement the court ruling regarding the Visoki Decani Monastery can only conditionally be considered good news for Serbia, given that it has been a full eight years since the decision that a piece of Serbian land must be returned to the Serbian monastery.

"This is only conditionally good news precisely because of a terrible manipulation that has been carried out by Pristina and its international sponsors since yesterday, they are trying to present this small implied step as some great progress and concession to the Serbian community and Serbia, which deserves some great reward from the international community despite all the terrible and dreadful moves that Kurti has made in the past three years since he came to the helm of the temporary self-government institutions," Starovic said for RTS.

He recalled numerous steps Kurti has taken since becoming Prime Minister - from the occupation of the north and the ban on the movement of Serbian goods, through the revocation of voting rights for the Serbs in Kosovo, to the latest decision of the CBK, which directly attempts to take bread off the table of our compatriots.

As he says, for the international community, all of this is deemed unimportant, and Kurti, due to the implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the Visoki Decani Monastery, should be rewarded with Kosovo's accelerated admission to the Council of Europe.

"That is actually something that offends the common sense of all citizens of Serbia," Starovic assessed.

He believes that the Serbs in Kosovo are facing the most difficult life circumstances in the past 20 years since the pogrom, which must be brought to the attention of the international community daily and on every occasion.

"The Serbs have not been in a more challenging situation since the pogrom when their existence is called into question. We must emphasize this at every opportunity and in every way," Starovic emphasized.

Regarding the local elections in northern Kosovo, Starovic pointed out yet another manipulation by Pristina.

"This is a call from the Pristina institutions to organize the so-called referendum on the dismissal of mayors in northern Kosovo, scheduled for April 21. Let's recall that almost a year ago, elections were held for mayors in northern Kosovo, with only 3.4 percent of voters participating, primarily Albanians. Illegitimate mayors were elected, and since that day, we have been convinced by the Western part of the international community that they are aware of the problems, that a solution will be found in due course, and that the mayors will only perform technical functions and will not work for the seats of local government," Starovic stated.

However, he points out that after almost a year, the international community fully supports Pristina's administrative instructions, which entail a series of "absurd and meaningless, unenforceable" decisions aimed at "ensuring" that Serbs get their right to elect their representatives in local self-governments.

He notes that Serbs are opting to collect signatures for the removal of mayors through a petition to demonstrate openness to cooperation and goodwill to participate in the political process.

"That's six or seven times more voters opting for removing through a petition compared to the number of voters who elected those illegitimate mayors with the expectation that it would result in the resignation of those illegitimate mayors. None of that was the case, and now the Serbs are being asked to participate in a referendum where 50 percent of the total registered voters are required to turn out. We know that the actual number of voters in the field is significantly lower due to the ongoing process of emigration, unfortunately, and the fact that we have a significant number of students and other citizens who periodically leave for central Serbia," Starovic pointed out.

He says this offends common sense, and it is a question for the international community whether they would allow such a thing in their own countries and cities where they live.

Starovic again referred to the decision of the Constitutional Court in Pristina and emphasized that it had become a common practice for Pristina to be rewarded and that Albanians had become accustomed to the international community being on their side, regardless of the atrocities they committed and the ultimate goal of expelling Serbs from Kosovo.

Speaking about the visit of the US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, to Pristina, Starovic said that last week he had talked with the US Envoy in Washington and informed him of the messages he would convey to Albin Kurti in Pristina.

"We appreciate all the criticisms coming from the direction of the US towards the Pristina administration, and we value the very harsh rhetoric coming from Washington, criticizing these unilateral measures primarily because of the consequences they have on the daily lives of the Serbian community in Kosovo," Starovic said.

However, he emphasizes that such rhetoric is not sufficient and will not be effective unless concrete punitive measures are taken to stop Pristina's unilateral actions.

If the United States does not take punitive measures and does not stop Kurti, the State Secretary notes, the credibility of that country in the Western Balkans will be undermined.

Starovic emphasizes the importance of the Serbs showing solidarity, unity, and perseverance, stating that history shows that good always prevails over evil.

The ultimate goal of Pristina is to extinguish Serbian institutions and persecute the Serbs, says Starovic, adding that such actions must be prevented.

He also commented on yesterday's statement by EU spokesperson Peter Stano that the EU and the US were in solidarity regarding their stance towards Pristina's politics and emphasized that they were trying in every way to resolve the Kosovo issue before the elections.

"It is obvious that there is a high degree of coordination among the US, EU, NATO, etc. We may not be able to reverse the situation, but we can do everything to be serious, responsible, and focused. We are facing a very difficult period, but believe me, that ethnicity always comes with a price, and as our people say, every reign must come to an end," Starovic concluded.