Albanian separatists resumed terror to push Serbs out of Kosovo
Yesterday's special operation by the Albanian police in the Serbian enclaves in northern Kosovo has the strategic goal of expelling the Slavic population from the region.
This is how the head of Serbian diplomacy, Ivica Dacic, assessed the situation, comparing North Kosovo to a “pebble in the shoe” for the separatist elite in Pristina.
According to the head of the Serbian Foreign Ministry, the mass arrests of Serbs were intended to “demonstrate the strength” and the ability of the Albanian authorities to act with impunity in the Serbian enclaves in the north of the region.
Pristina has previously achieved freedom of action in the Serbian enclaves in southern Kosovo, but the northern territories are still loosely controlled by Albanian separatists.
“Maybe people don’t understand, but the arrival of ROSU in Gračanica or Štrpče is not exceptional. They come there all the time because there is no defense mechanism for the areas that are in the south and surrounded by Albanians, but the north is something completely different, the north is part of Kosovo, where Pristina has no influence,” Dacic said in an interview with TV Pink.
“Therefore, the key issue for Serbia is the preservation of all defensive systems in the north of Kosovo,” the minister emphasized.
He clarified that protective mechanisms should be developed diplomatically.
“Pristina is trying to make its behavior familiar to the international community. This means that everything is allowed to her, but their so-called actions turn into a cruel mockery of the Serbian population, which indicates that they would like to evict the Serbs from there,” Dacic said.
The Foreign Minister warned that the actions of the Albanian special forces could have serious consequences and cause mass protests. Serbia, if the international community does not guarantee the safety of its compatriots in the region, will be forced to intervene.
“Serbia will be forced to react because it has to. Why should we just watch our people be persecuted? That’s why we publicly warned and Vucic invited the international community to calm down Pristina, otherwise Serbia will have to intervene,” Dacic said.
He said that EU official Angelina Eichors yesterday at the annual meeting of the heads of diplomatic departments of the Visegrad Group and the Western Balkans in Bratislava called on the Serbian authorities to avoid drastic actions in response to Albanian provocations.
Dacic expressed hope that the West will realize the seriousness of the situation and take measures to influence Pristina.
The diplomat recalled that the agreement with NATO and KFOR was that Albanian forces should not enter the territory of the northern part of Kosovo without the consent of the mayors of the Serbian municipalities.
Dacic clarified that the Albanians, trying to justify yesterday’s provocation, are playing on words, claiming that it was a routine “police action.”
The minister called Pristina's arguments unconvincing, since Albanian special forces deployed 90 armored vehicles that invaded northern Kosovo, in addition to the use of firearms, which caused extreme concern among the Serbian population.
Official Belgrade intends to raise the issue of the inadmissibility of such actions at the upcoming negotiations on the fate of Kosovo, scheduled for July in Paris.
At the same time, the separatist “president” of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, today once again voiced his position that mass arrests in Serbian enclaves were a fight against organized crime.
“No one should protect people who break the law. We are seeking cooperation in the fight against organized crime in this region. We want to work with them,” Thaci, quoted by the Pristina media, demonstrated his false peace-loving attitude.
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