Petković: An exceptionally difficult year for Serbs in KiM; Pristina is arming itself – NATO remains silent

As he added, Belgrade will fight in every place, at every step&mdash;financially, politically, in dialogue, and in discussions with everyone&mdash;highlighting the problems faced by Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.In an interview with Tanjug, he also said that he expects a new round of dialogue as early as January, and that Belgrade was ready for it already in December, which it confirmed to Brussels. However, the Pristina side, namely their chief negotiator Besnik Bisljimi, refused, claiming they were in an election campaign.&ldquo;And all this time they are in a campaign, even though there have been three election processes. It&rsquo;s clear that all they do is campaign and that they do not want to negotiate; dialogue does not interest them. We respond to every invitation; dialogue is important to us. We believe that a political solution to the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija can only be found at the negotiating table, because if we do not have dialogue, if we do not have conversation, then there is a crisis on the ground&mdash;and it is only the Serbs who suffer because of it,&rdquo; Petković said.Tanjug/JADRANKA ILIĆ (STF)According to him, the Prime Minister of the provisional Pristina institutions, Albin Kurti, is attempting in this way to find a solution to the Kosovo and Metohija issue.&ldquo;When I say &lsquo;solution,&rsquo; I mean it in quotation marks. I expect the dialogue to continue; we are always ready to talk, always ready to present constructive solutions. For us, the concept of compromise is not a forbidden word, unlike in Pristina. Meeting halfway, addressing issues that affect the everyday lives of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija&mdash;that is what dialogue should be for. Dialogue is the place where we should resolve issues to normalize relations. The question of status is not part of the dialogue; it is defined by Resolution 1244, and it is our duty to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country,&rdquo; Petković said.He reminded that in the past four years, since Kurti came to power, we have witnessed daily his regime&rsquo;s terror and unilateral, escalatory moves in Pristina, which, he emphasized, uses all means to expel the Serbian people and push the state of Serbia out of Kosovo and Metohija.&ldquo;He shut down Serbian institutions, abolished Serbian trade, stopped salaries from the Republic of Serbia, closed institutions, and arrested Serbs. We have over 60 political prisoners in Pristina jails. He did absolutely everything to militarize the northern Kosovo and Metohija area. The Kosovo police have abused Serbs at every turn,&rdquo; he said.Tanjug/JADRANKA ILIĆ (STF)Furthermore, the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija added, there is also institutionalized violence carried out almost daily, discrimination, and the most blatant abuse of the Pristina judiciary, which serves Albin Kurti.&ldquo;Serbs are arrested and convicted; for example, the recent case of Slađan Trajković, who was sentenced to ten years in prison in Kosovo without witnesses or evidence&mdash;this is, in fact, Kurti&rsquo;s so-called justice in Kosovo,&rdquo; Petković said.Asked about Pristina&rsquo;s arming, which violates UN Security Council Resolution 1244, Petković said that the key issue now is the reaction of the international community.&ldquo;And when we talk about these escalatory moves by Albin Kurti, let me remind you that two years ago, the European Union issued a clear statement and demanded that Pristina de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo and Metohija. That did not happen; instead, we witnessed new escalatory actions. In total, there have been over 710 attacks and incidents&mdash;ethnically motivated attacks on Serbs, the Serbian Orthodox Church, our cemeteries, and so on,&rdquo; he said.He emphasized that when Serbian mayors returned to the four municipalities in northern Kosovo and Metohija, they found desperate conditions.&ldquo;The mayors from the Serbian List, when we finally saw the back of Kurti&rsquo;s gaulaiters, saw that everything had been destroyed and devastated. They went so far as to literally gouge out the eyes of icons that were in these municipal buildings. So, in addition to all of this and all the incidents and attacks&mdash;which ultimately amount to the violation of the basic human rights of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija&mdash;we have been informing Brussels and the international community all along, yet we see only mild reactions, verbal condemnations, and nothing more,&rdquo; Petković stressed.According to him, violence is being perpetrated against the Serbian people, endangering a nation in the heart of Europe in the 21st century, while the reaction of the international community remains weak. Tanjug/JADRANKA ILIĆ (STF)&ldquo;The situation regarding armament is the same. Look, this is what President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić has been saying all along. Kosovo is a child of the West. Whatever Kurti does, no matter how they describe him as stubborn and unwilling to listen, it is clear that they will never give up on the so-called independent Kosovo and will always, if choosing between two sides, side with Pristina and Kurti, while trying to attack Belgrade and Serbia, even though Serbia is doing absolutely everything to maintain peace, stability, and fulfill all obligations in dialogue,&rdquo; Petković said.He also stated that the situation regarding armament is very alarming because Kurti is persistently arming Pristina and the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. As an example, he cited Pristina&rsquo;s plan to allocate over one billion euros for the upcoming period.&ldquo;All of this is intended for the budget of the so-called Kosovo Security Forces. You know that in 2018 they passed a law, again not respecting their own regulations&mdash;since the Serbian List, of course, did not vote for it&mdash;to establish the so-called Kosovo Army. But the biggest problem is actually the mentors of Kosovo&rsquo;s independence, those who directly support Pristina and supply them with this weaponry. There are many of them, and obviously they aim to increase their influence in the Western Balkans through this armament,&rdquo; Petković said.He added the procurement of Turkish Sky Degeer drones&mdash;over a thousand lethal drones&mdash;armored anti-tank vehicles, as well as announcements of opening a factory for ammunition and drones in Kosovo and Metohija, and training conducted in Germany and the United Kingdom.&ldquo;When you add to all this the tripartite pact or military alliance between the so-called Kosovo, Albania, and Croatia, it is clear that Kurti is fully militarizing the territory of Kosovo and Metohija with the obvious intent to threaten Belgrade and the Serbian people. It is clear that all their actions on the ground, their alliances, and the lack of response from NATO when two NATO countries unite with part of an unrecognized territory, show the direction in which things are developing in the Balkans,&rdquo; he said.On top of this, Petković noted the hybrid war and everything Kurti has said since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine&mdash;that Belgrade would attack Kosovo and Metohija, military bases along the administrative line&mdash;none of which happened.&ldquo;The only one arming, the only one committing violence, the only one bringing and importing offensive weapons into Kosovo and Metohija is Albin Kurti. We have a strong army, and in September everyone could see during the military parade what our army actually possesses, thanks to President Aleksandar Vučić. In that sense, there is no need to compare it at all with the so-called army in Pristina. There is simply no comparison. Our army is a regional leader, and in that regard, it has nothing to do with Pristina. Those claims are absurd. But Kurti uses everything he has as a security threat, and that is what is happening and must be highlighted. Especially considering, as you yourself said, that under Resolution 1244&mdash;and if you want, according to the Kumanovo Agreement&mdash;the only armed force or formation in Kosovo and Metohija is KFOR. KFOR and no one else. Yet KFOR does not respond when Pristina arms itself,&rdquo; Petković emphasized.He questioned how the countries arming Pristina can ignore what is written in the United Nations Charter and other documents, especially regarding the prohibition of arming a part of the territory belonging to the Republic of Serbia.&ldquo;No one cares about international law or the UN Charter anymore. Force obeys no one, as our people say, and here everyone competes with everyone in armament and other matters. We arm our army, we strengthen our country&rsquo;s military capabilities. But the situation is completely different. Our philosophy and doctrine are entirely different. We strengthen our army to preserve peace and stability and to deter potential enemies. Here, there is offensive weaponry in Kosovo and Metohija, clearly directed against the Serbian people and Belgrade,&rdquo; he said.Asked whether Belgrade will continue to support the Serbian people in the southern Serbian province, Petković said that it will, primarily financially, and reminded that over the past 30 years, the largest packages of financial aid, initiated by President Vučić, have been directed to the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija.&ldquo;We have a new program for 300 new jobs at the beginning of January. After the Serbian New Year, we will hire over 700 medical and non-medical staff. We also support our education system, universities, and other institutions. All salaries, pensions, and social benefits arrive on time. And what I especially want to highlight is that since February, we have implemented a very important measure: every Serb living in Kosovo and Metohija who does not receive income from Pristina receives 20,000 dinars per month from the Serbian system. This demonstrates the true attitude toward our people in Kosovo and Metohija&mdash;to financially support and motivate them to survive and stay, knowing that the state of Serbia stands with them,&rdquo; said the Director of the Office. Tanjug/JADRANKA ILIĆ (STF)According to him, since we have not had a military presence in the Province since 1999, security risks and the survival of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are uncertain. Serbs are vulnerable, and in that sense, Belgrade is doing everything it can through diplomatic means and dialogue to assist our people.&ldquo;We help financially, and in every way we can&mdash;through infrastructure projects, agriculture, the economy, small businesses, family enterprises. We will certainly continue all of this in the coming period because the survival of Serbs is important to us. This is not a matter of daily politics, not a general agenda, but our mission and our approach toward our people living in Kosovo and Metohija, who deserve a life worthy of a human being, just like the citizens of Serbia across central Serbia,&rdquo; Petković said.Asked what he would wish for the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija for 2026, he said first and foremost good health, peace, and unity, and that they enter the New Year strengthened and empowered.&ldquo;As our President Aleksandar Vučić says, there is no easy time in Kosovo and Metohija. It is always a difficult, very difficult time. And our people have somehow come to live with that. But the sun will rise in Kosovo and Metohija as well. I expect better days for the Serbian people there. We will see what more we can do to increase the budget in terms of subsidies and other support, which is important for our people in Kosovo and Metohija,&rdquo; Petković said.He added that in 2025, the budget for the Office for Kosovo and Metohija was historic, and he expects it to be even larger next year, emphasizing that these are the most concrete indicators of our commitment to our people. He also stressed the importance of not falling for Kurti&rsquo;s provocations, which will continue in the period ahead, but that there is strong trust in President Vučić and the institutions of the Republic of Serbia.&ldquo;That unity, led by the Serbian List, is what will protect us, especially with the return of our Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo and Metohija and the confirmation of the Serbian List&rsquo;s victory in six municipalities south of the Ibar River. These are the factors that will give us the strength to, together with our Church, clergy, monastic community, our people, and our institutions as pillars of Serbian survival in Kosovo and Metohija, endure difficult times and welcome a better future for our people and our children born in Kosovo and Metohija. I can even say that the birth rate in Serbian communities in Kosovo and Metohija is much higher than in central Serbia. For all these reasons, particular attention is paid to social policy and support for every new mother, every mother, and special support for every child living, studying, and growing up in Kosovo and Metohija,&rdquo; Petković concluded.

Petković: An exceptionally difficult year for Serbs in KiM; Pristina is arming itself – NATO remains silent

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