Petkovic once again banned from visiting Kosovo and attending enthronement of Porfirije in Pec Patriarchate

Printscreen: Tanjug

The provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina have banned the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, from visiting the province and attending the enthronement of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije in the Patriarchate of Pec.

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"This is the tenth time that the authorities in Prishtina, led by Albin Kurti, have demonstrated force and arbitrariness and banned Petkovic from visiting the southern Serbian province. This is a brutal violation of the agreements, both the one on the freedom of movement and on official visits, which provides for a simplified procedure for the visits of the chief negotiator in the dialogue with Pristina," the Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced, adding:

"We stress that Petkovic properly, respecting absolutely all the agreements reached, announced his visit and presence at the slava (patron saint day) of the monastery of the Pec Patriarchate, when Patriarch Porfirije will be inducted into the throne of the archbishops of Pec, which is of huge importance for the faithful Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija."

Before that, on Thursday, Petkovic planned to attend the "Morava Days" event in Gornji Kusac.

"However, the authorities in Pristina this morning banned the visit and thus trampled on all agreements and showed that for them European values, the agreements reached, the process of normalization of relations have absolutely no importance, instead their only stance is that of crises and tensions," the statement reads, and adds:

"The Office for Kosovo and Metohija will inform Brussels as a guarantor of compliance with the agreements about this brutal violation as well as about the denial of religious freedoms, but also other international factors that insist on presenting so-called Kosovo as an oasis of democracy, while in practice there are violations of agreements, demonstration of force, and violations of basic human rights of Serbs who live in Kosovo and Metohija."

(Telegraf.rs)