Kosovo Serbs divided over Assembly issue

Kosovo Serbs divided over Assembly issue

The Serb National Assembly of Kosovo was conceived as a supra-party organization that should unite and organize Kosovo Serbs. However, it was not held as planned because the opponents of the idea blocked the event.

The protesters said that their main reason for opposing the founding of a Serb Assembly of Kosovo was that the organizers were not legitimate representatives of the province’s Serbs and that such a step would be divisive.

They claimed that the people reacted having seen the representatives from France, Germany and the U.S, supposing that the organizers had logistical backup of those who advocated Kosovo status settlement.

Protestors said they were not familiar with the background of the meeting. “Certain people came here on behalf of political parties, and I came as a SPS member”, one of the participants was quoted as saying.

The organizers of the event blame Belgrade for orchestrating the incident sending yet another bad message from Kosovo. The Serb National Assembly of Kovo earlier voiced its goals and motifs, including the survival of the Serbs in Kosovo regardless of the province’s status.

Oliver Ivanović from the Serbian List for Kosovo said that the Serbian Government was behind the incident.

The Kosovo Police Service failed to response, even though it had been called to intervene.

SNV against the Assembly

The Serb National Council of Kosovo (SNV) released a statement today saying that the setting up of the Serb National Assembly was detrimental in light of the ongoing negotiations on the future Kosovo status, where the Serbian negotiating team made grand efforts to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia.

“Illegal and illegitimate creation of a so-called Serb National Assembly of Kosovo aimes at undermining of Serbia’s unified approach in the Kosovo status issue which may prompt the independence of Kosovo”, as given in the statement.