Serbs in the north of Kosovo believe that the unification of Mitrovica will not take place and asses that such a thing could seriously jeopardize their survival, reports Mitrovica North based Kontakt plus radio.
Ruzica Simic from NGO Women’s Right believe that the unification of Mitrovica will not happen.
”I am deeply convinced that this cannot happen. First, this would be a non-democratic act and an act against the citizens, against their opinion and will, and this is not good for Kosovo’s institutions and authorities, because they should also consider the opinions of citizens of North Mitrovica. In addition, under the law, we already have the municipality of North Mitrovica, and if there is already something in the law and in practice, then it would be slightly more complicated procedure to violate it and would bear more consequences and in a normal situation with no conflict,” Simic underlined.
According to her, the loss of the status of the municipality for North Mitrovica, in her opinion, would result in a sudden deterioration of political and security situation and would probably produce slightly higher movements of people from Kosovo to Serbia.
President of the Interim Municipal Council of Kosovska Mitrovica Aleksandar Spiric is convinced that the unification of the city will not occur.
He pointed out that the Ahtisaari plan also recognizes two municipalities – North and South Mitrovica.
According to him Pristina is persistent in provocations and ”they introduce additional concerns and unrest, but the people are determined, almost two decades confirm this, and are firmer now more than ever when it comes to the desire for survival in their city, and an unification and all kinds of these provocations are not affecting our normal life in any way. We will fight, of course, using all democratic means, we will talk, but it is a dream that has not been realized since ’99 and certainly will not be realized in the future,” Spiric said to the radio.
When asked to comment the potential loss of the status of municipality for North Mitrovica, Spiric said:
”I don’t want to comment this, because simply, that will not happen.”
Radmila Kapetanovic, Head of municipal administration in Zubin Potok, says that the unification of Mitrovica would be devastating for Serbs.
”I simply do not believe that anyone could have come up with that idea, to unite the two Mitrovicas. If Mitrovica unites, we would have nothing left. We know that Serbs do not have any city, that they have this one fifth of this city … So, the city would disappear by the opening of the bridge itself, not by unifying the municipalities. We would not have the right to vote, the assimilation would take place, starting from the language, through the application of laws, use of their municipal acts, urban plans … that would mean resettlement and displacement,” warned Kapetanovic.
