Belgrade will not give up on ZSO: Makes no sense Pristina refuses to talk, it will have to face it

Photo: Marko Jovanovic

There is no sense in Pristina running away from the topic of forming the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), because it will have to talk about that, considering that Belgrade will not give up on that request, the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said in an interview with Novosti.

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After the failure of the last round of the dialogue in Brussels because the Albanian representatives refused to discuss the topic put on the agenda by the EU, Petkovic says that the representatives of Pristina came to the negotiations with the aim of rendering the dialogue completely pointless.

"The only negotiating platform of Pristina is an attempt to provoke Belgrade. Not only did they categorically refuse to discuss the formation of the ZSO, but they also went a step further, refusing to talk to Belgrade about the energy issue," said Petkovic.

According to him, instead of directly disparaging the Brussels agreement, it would be better for (Albin) Kurti to "think about why today Djakovica, Pristina, Pec and other cities of the mono-ethnic environment have been ethnically cleansed by the expulsion of Serbs."

Asked whether the representatives of the Serb List have given an ultimatum to Pristina to form the ZSO by the beginning of the year or they will leave the institutions, Petkovic said that neither Serbia nor the Serb List speak the language of ultimatums.

"That was the message of the Serb people who were in the cross-hairs of ROSU's rifles for three weeks, of the people who were shot at by Kurti's special forces and who stood in the rain and cold for two weeks defending their basic right to freedom of movement," Petkovic stressed.

Petkovic noted that the Serb people are "sick and tired" of waiting for almost nine years to exercise their collective rights contained in the ZSO, while at the same time, Pristina tolerates all kinds of violations of the agreements.

"The Serb List heard well the message of its people who gave undivided and absolute support to their representatives in the local elections," Petkovic added.

Asked if there is a way for people to be encouraged and return to their homes, Petkovic stressed that the rate of return to Kosovo and Metohija is less than two percent, and that it is the lowest in the world in a post-conflict area.

"That speaks sufficiently about the absence of any political readiness on the part of Pristina to allow the return of Serbs to their centuries-old homes. They are systematically deterred from returning by secret indictments, arrests, usurping of property, physical and legal violence, but also by desecration of Serb graves," said Petkovic.

However, he pointed out that, no matter how great the obstructions coming from Pristina, Belgrade is doing everything to create conditions for a sustainable return of the Serb people.

"Like the construction of the returnee settlement Sunny Valley near Zvecan, new apartments and houses, kindergartens and other infrastructure projects into which more is invested today than in the last 40 years, thanks to President Vucic," said Petkovic.

(Telegraf.rs)