Uglanin: We restored the old, historic name Korzo to the promenade in North Mitrovica

President of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly Nexhat Uglanin told Kosovo Online that for the Street Renaming Commission the “problem” was changing the name of the former Tsar Lazar Street so that it would not be “misused for political purposes,” which is why it was renamed Korzo (promenade). He added that by renaming 87 streets, the Commission wanted to highlight figures “historically connected with the northern part of Mitrovica.”

“It was a problem how to name the promenade, in order to avoid a situation where it could be misused for political purposes. We restored the promenade’s old, historic name Korzo,” Uglanin said.

He explained that the Commission renamed and named a total of 87 streets in North Mitrovica, and that he was involved from the beginning and oversaw the entire process.

“The Commission renamed and named 87 streets. I was involved as chairperson and essentially monitored the process, given that the Directorate (for Urbanism and Cadastre) requested this from me as chairperson, and also since I am a native of this city,” Uglanin said.

He added that a delegation of longtime residents from the Micro neighborhood also participated in the renaming process.

Uglanin emphasized that he personally proposed a street to be named after surgeon Uros Komad, as well as football players Dragan Mrkic, Ratomir Musekic, and Misko Stolic.

He added that a street dedicated to Josip Kras was also proposed, as well as to Serbian historical figures and scientists such as Josif Pancic and Filip David.

He announced that tomorrow a session will be held to discuss the changes to street names in North Mitrovica, explaining that the list first had to be submitted for review to the Ministry of Local Government, and that the adoption of the proposal depends on that ministry.

“Yes, surely if there are any that are not in accordance with the law, the ministry will certainly return the decisions for revision or rejection... We believed that we completed this task within the legal timeframe and we think everything will be in line with the law,” he said.

After that, he noted, there is a one-month deadline after which the local authorities will begin installing new signs.

“In the municipality of North Mitrovica there is a huge problem in that some streets have up to three names. This creates issues for administrative services when issuing documents, since recently documents have been issued without listing the street address where residents of the northern part of Mitrovica live, which causes significant difficulties for all citizens,” Uglanin explained.

That was also the key reason, he said, why the Ministry of Local Government insisted that this issue be resolved “urgently.”

“The Commission worked on this, and 87 streets were renamed,” Uglanin stated.

He stressed that, as chairperson, he insisted some street names in North Mitrovica be preserved.

“Such as Ivo Lola Ribar, Luja Braja, and also Saint Demetrius Street, which is near the northern church. Regarding this, as chairperson I supervised the work of the Commission and tried to protect certain names, such as ‘Tetovska’ and ‘Zelengorska’ streets... I corrected this together with the members of the Commission,” Uglanin explained.