Petkovic warns that Pristina's ultimatum can deepen the crisis and raise tensions

Photo: Tanjug/Jadranka Ilic

Today, the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, sent an urgent message to the international community, including the Quint countries and the mediator in the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, in which he warns that the ultimatum to evict four Serb institutions from the Serb building in Bosnjacka Mahala, which is tomorrow, September 8, set by the illegitimate mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica, Erden Atic, may lead to a deepening of the crisis in the north of Kosovo and Metohija and an additional rise in tensions on the ground.

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This building houses the premises of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the Directorate of the PIO (pension insurance) Fund, the Center for Social Welfare in Vucitrn, as well as the Kosovo-Mitrovica Administrative District, and Belgrade has informed of these escalating, violent and illegal intentions of Pristina on several occasions, both officially and in direct contact with all relevant representatives of the international community.

In the latest letter that Petkovic sent to several addresses, and which Tanjug had access to, the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stressed that such unilateral and illegitimate moves by Pristina and Albin Kurti do not contribute to deescalation in the north of the province, but on the contrary - represent a new dangerous provocation the only goal of which is to threaten the rights and life of the Serb people in the north of Kosovo and Metohija and further destabilize the situation on the ground.

In this regard, the letter appeals to the international community to treat this issue with the greatest possible care and warning, and to use their authority to prevent "a dramatic escalation that Kurti and Atic want to cause with the illegal decision to evict Serb institutions."

In addition, Petkovic recalled that the attempt to forcefully evict Serb institutions from Kosovska Mitrovica and seize Serb property is a new move by Pristina against the dialogue, given that this issue can only be considered in the context of the formation of the ZSO (Community of Serb Municipalities), which has been confirmed by the European Union itself on several occasions.

He recalled that with such illegal decisions, Kurti and Atic aim to revoke the right to work of about 43 employees, as well as threaten the rights of tens of thousands of Serbs, Albanians, Bosniaks, Roma, Gorani who exercise their rights through the PIO Fund or the Center for Social Welfare Vucitrn.

"Pristina is the only one that wants conflicts and instability, and it would be tragic if it succeeded in realizing that interest," the letter concludes.

(Telegraf.rs)