KLINA – Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric said Monday that he expects the officials of ethnic Albanian political parties in Kosovo to provide support and protection to Serbs in the region of Metohija.
On a visit to the returnee village of Vidanje in the Klina/Kline municipality, northwestern Metohija, Djuric pointed out that the Serbs living in that part of Kosovo are in the most difficult position, and stressed that he expects officials of the political parties of Kosovo Albanians to provide them support and protection.
“If you want Serbs to participate in the government, if you want the support of the Srpska slate in forming the government, you must provide support to the Serbs in Metohija, and show that you want the normalization of relations,” Djuric told the Albanians in the province.
He stressed, however, that the biggest responsibility for the safety of Serbs and the normalization of relations lies with the holders of political power in the province.
He urged the authorities and institutions in Pristina to improve their cooperation with Serbs and the Serb-majority municipalities “in order to solve the problems that are huge but still possible to resolve.”
“We have extended our hand to the Albanians, and we expect them to provide safety to Serbs, which is an indispensable condition”, said Djuric, adding that the Belgrade authorities have demonstrated that stability is in the long-term interest of Serbia and that they look after their citizens in Kosovo.
“We are sending a message to Kosovo Albanians, to those who decide today or who will be deciding in Pristina tomorrow, that, if they want Serb participation in the government and the support of the Serb community, they must earn it with their support to the Serbs in their attempt and struggle to survive and stay, and lead normal lives in Kosovo-Metohija,” said Djuric.
He visited a unit of the Osojane-based ‘Rados Tosic’ school which has been moved to the village of Vidanje and placed in a private house where electricity has been cut off and where no basic learning conditions have been met.
The director of the government’s Office for KiM met with the local officials to discuss the construction of a school in Vidanje, the village with the highest number of Serb returnees in the Klina/Kline municipality, stressing that the government will make sure that the children of Serb refugees will have a normal education under the same conditions as all the other children in Serbia.
Djuric also visited Osojane, where he met with the interim authorities and discussed the problems and the assistance to be provided to the municipality, after which he visited the returnee family Ostojic.
Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric condemned on Monday the frequent incidents targeting Serbs and their property in the southern Serbian province, including the latest incident that occurred in the village of Drsnik, Klina/Kline municipality.
As Djuric pointed out in his statement to reporters, several dozens of serious incidents took place in Kosovo over the past three weeks.
In the village of Drsnik, Klina/Kline municipality, a man working on his land was ambushed and shot at on Sunday, he said.
“We thought that the atmosphere of violence is something that we have left behind years ago and that it would not happen again,“ the director of the government’s Office for KiM said.
He stressed that the biggest responsibility for the safety of Serbs and the future of normalization of relations lies with the holders of political power among Kosovo Albanians.
“We have extended our hand to the Albanians, and we expect them to provide safety to Serbs, which is an indispensable condition”, said Djuric during a visit to Vidanje, a returnee village with the highest number of Serbs in the Klina municipality.
New incident in Kosovo-Metohija
Another incident took place in the village of Drsnik, in the municipality of Klina/Kline in the western part of Kosovo, when someone shot at Serb Milovan Ribac while he was working in the field, the ministry for communities and return said in a release on Monday.
The incident happened on Sunday, and Ribac suffered no injuries, notes the release.
Minister for Communities and Return Dalibor Jevtic condemned the incident in the strongest terms.
“This is yet another in a series of incidents against the Serbs, this time again in the village of Drsnik near Klina, which confirms the doubt I expressed in the letter addressed to the police commander in Klina, that it is high time perpetrators were brought to justice and punished accordingly, and it is high time their names were published by all media outlets. Otherwise, the incidents like this one will continue to occur,” Jevtic said.
“When it comes to incidents against the Serbs, the municipality of Klina is one of the most troubled parts of Kosovo. It is only by sheer coincidence that the tragedy, in which the man could have lost his life, has been avoided,” Jevtic said.
He said that he has not yet received an answer to his letter, but that does not mean that he would stop fighting for the return and returnees, not only through the institutions of Kosovo, but also through international institutions.
