Citizens of Lesak, village in Leposavić/Leposaviq municipality with around 6.000 inhabitants, have launched the initiative to merge with the Serbia proper, where they used to belong until 1959.
More than 10.000 Serbs were back than ‘pushed’ by the will of one man with the (Communist) party decree to the Autonomous Province of Kosovo, which will four decades later declare independence. All of it happened, as registered by recently deceased Stanimir Jasnic from Lesak, without any sound reasons – during a party event between two toasts.
Good portion of the fertile valley of Ibar/Ibër River in that region became a ‘dead end’ of the Serbia proper and Kosovo, and mainly stagnates ever since. Almost half of population has left the region, whereas those who stayed didn’t manage to ‘return’ to Serbia proper, despite all their efforts.
“This is area populated exclusively by Serbs, leaned to Serbia and firmly connected with Serbia and which should remain part of Serbia. We have requested from all previous and incumbent Serbian authorities to help us, but it seems that no one pays attention,” says disappointedly Zlatibor Djordjevic, member of the association ‘Old Serbia’ which advocates for merging with Serbia proper.
However, inhabitants of Lesak all believe that it is not too late to correct this outstanding injustice. Thus, they decided at the recent session of the local administrative board to launch the initiative for the creation of Lesak municipality.
In Leposavić/Leposaviq say that community of Serbian municipalities will be created soon in line with the Brussels Agreement, despite ongoing obstructions from Pristina, and that Albanians won’t have control in northern Kosovo and that there is no reason for inhabitants of Lesak to seek protection for themselves, neither by creation of the municipality nor by merging with Serbia.
