Albanians officially want to take over the north of Mitrovica: They adopted the "Unification" initiative (VIDEO)

The members of the Municipal Assembly of South Mitrovica supported the initiative of the President of that municipality, Agim Bahtiri, to request the temporary Pristina institutions to amend the Law on Administrative Boundaries between local communities in order to merge the northern and southern parts of Mitrovica into one city.

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During a turbulent session, he presented his proposal to councilors and tried to convince them that the request for the merger is valid.

In his first address to the media after the presentation, Bahtiri said he knew that majority would support his proposal. 

- We just want to correct the injustice. By merging northern and southern Mitrovica, we will do the right thing - said Bahtiri, adding that he expects Pristina to accept this initiative.

Asked if he thinks that the situation will become even more complicated after this request, he said that it is already complicated enough and it will settle down if Pristina accepts the proposal to unite two Mitrovica.

President of the Serb List, Goran Rakic, at a protest held in front of the Clinical and Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica, said that this was only an attempt by Albanians to draw away attention from the taxes they introduced for Serbian products.

- The goal of the other side is clear, and that is to expel Serbian citizens from these lands. We did resign, but we are still with our people - he said in the statement for the media.

Foto: Tanjug/Sava Radovanović

Let's remind, the mayor of South Mitrovica, recently launched an initiative to merge the two Mitrovica and said that "it's time to correct mistakes and restore the northern part of the city".

- I should be the mayor of the "united" Mitrovica - wrote Bahtiri on Facebook after the resignation of the mayors of four Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo.

ILLEGAL INITIATIVE, BAHTIRI DOES NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO PROPOSE THE CHANGE OF LAW 

His initiative, however, is illegal, since that decision is not within the jurisdiction of a municipality.

Only the president of Kosovo, the members of the parliament, the government of Kosovo or the petition of 10.000 citizens have the possibility to amend the law. 

Bahtiri made this proposal without prior consultation with his own party, the Alliance for a New Kosovo (ANK), led by Kosovo Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli, confirmed by Party Secretary Vesel Makoli, who said he did not know about Bahtiri's move and he believes that someone from ANK was informed about the initiative.

"Gazeta Express" states that Bahtiri had not informed the municipal councilors of the municipality of Mitrovica.

Foto: Tanjug/Sava Radovanović

Political analyst Ramush Tahiri said for lajmi.net that he thinks the decision of Bahtiri is more a desire than a real initiative and added that one municipality can't shut down another one, or to strive to unite with another one.

- Municipalities are founded by a government decision and with respect to the relevant law. And the municipalities that came out of decentralization cannot be disbanded by voting - Tahiri assessed.

Kosovska Mitrovica was divided after the NATO bombing in 1999 to the north, in which the Serb population lives, and to the southern part, in which the predominantly Albanian population lives.

The municipality of northern Kosovska Mitrovica was formed on the basis of the Kosovo Assembly Law on Administrative Boundaries of Municipalities in February 2008.

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(Telegraf.co.uk / Tanjug)