Stirring rhetoric: “Explore”, “Exploitation”, “palara”, or prepare for a solution?

<x0) Thus, some of the Albanian and Serbian citizens comment on the recent statements by Kosovo and Serbian officials concerning a possible conflict between the two states.

Even though they say concern exists, they believe it's all about political benefits.

I think this is an exaggerated situation. I even think it's being used for political points. I can honestly say that I don't think there will be any conflict”, says Vesna, a Serb citizen living in North Mitrovica.

Agron Oranaj, a citizen from Pristina, tells Free Europe Radio that he thinks words for a possible war -- “ -- are bullshit”.

The battle they're mentioning, I don't think so. I hope I'm right”, he says.

Both sides are blowing up such statements. I have many Albanian friends... Albanians don't want war. We can put everyone in a bag, neither on our side, nor on their side”, says Jeremie Akentijvik from North Mitrovica, the Serb-run municipality.

Even if the situation is unlikely to get tense, according to Minire Berishaj, a citizen from Fushe Kosova, mentioning war brings back bad memories of Kosovars who have experienced the 1998-99 war.

Everyone who is in Kosovo, I think, worries and frightens [the war age]. There are people who have problems with war trauma, who, once they hear the news, are afraid or do you remember some” event, she says.

In an interview for Radio Free Europe early in August, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has stated there has been a possibility that tensions on July 31st and August 1st could escalate into armed conflict. He has also indicated that he continues to think that the situation can escalate.

On the other hand, Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq has said that he has information on Kosovo's plans to “-click” Serbs in the north.

These statements came after 31 July and 1 August, local Serbs in northern Kosovo blocked roads leading to the two border crossings -- Jarinje and Brnjak -- connecting Kosovo and Serbia. The barricades were set up to challenge the two decisions of the Government of Kosovo, dealing with Serb license plates and documents. They were removed on the afternoon of August 1st, after official Pristina decided to postpone the implementation of decisions for a month, following the international community's intervention.

Kosovo, Serbia blame each other for promotional rhetoric

On August 14th, the European Union, which is the mediator of Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, has called on political leaders in Kosovo and Serbia that “will immediately end the rhetoric of promotional rhetoric and act with responsibility”, adding that high-ranking <x2-politicalists from both sides will be held accountable for whatever escalation may lead to any increased tensions and potentially violence in the region”.

After that statement, Serbia's prime minister, Anna Brnabyq, reacted to this reaction as unfair to Serbia.

Looking at this EU statement, someone might think that April 1st is today. Sounds like a cheap joke. For 175 full days, Kurti has provoked an armed conflict with Serbs”, Brnabiq said in her response to the EU statement.

The Kosovo government on the other hand has not responded to Radio Free Europe's request for comment on the EU statement.

However, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said that Kosovo “has not contributed to tensions, either through language or through” actions.

This tendency to deal with both sides as if they are both contributing to destabilisation is a big mistake. For all who see the facts are ahead, the reality is before”, Osmani said.

Violet Hajoli of the Kosovo Democratic Institute tells Radio Free Europe that the European Union “cannot do more” except for public calls to parties to refrain from stimulating language.

Hajoll thinks Serbia is the one that uses the most provocative “and concrete hostile actions on the ground”.

“Promoting rhetoric, of course, undermines the atmosphere of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia and the possibilities for progress in this” process, she says.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, will meet in Brussels on 18 August, within the EU-mediated dialogue.

The Kosovo side, however, has said that the Kosovo Government's decisions will not be discussed in Brussels.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq said on Monday that the only purpose of the upcoming meeting in Brussels with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is to preserve peace and stability. Vuciq also spoke of the issue of car license plates used by Serbs in Kosovo, which Pristina is seeking to replace with RKS plates (Kosovo Republic).

If someone wants to do this by force, you can do anything by force. We'll talk about everything, but will these talks have any meaning, what I want to believe, we'll see after two or three days”, he said.

Good luck: Tension rhetoric, Belgrade's Pristina game

The recogniser of political developments in Kosovo, Behemman Pacarizi, also thinks the tough language has a bad effect on the continuation of Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

However, according to him, if in the background the parties have already promised the international factor that they will find the solution to the Kosovo-Serbia agreement, the promotional rhetoric can also be political game.

“I think that this harsher rhetoric is a game of Belgrade and Pristina, so that by imposing the risk discours, the disks of war, the discours of fear in citizens, let any solution that will be imposed or accepted in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia”, says Pajarizi.

He adds that the parties would have to find other ways to communicate to the citizens of both respective states what are the solutions or compromises that can be made in dialogue instead of the fear - inspiring language use.

Verolub Petronic, security expert from North Mitrovica, believes Kosovo and Serbia “should withdraw” when it comes to rhetoric about recent events in northern Kosovo.

He underlines that media on both sides contribute to the deterioration of the situation, publishing <x0-decade bomber” of political representatives on both sides, and adds that the whole situation harms ordinary citizens, who, according to Petroniq, are very afraid.

The “can easily happen to have greater destabilisation. If this happens, then it's too late... I think this verbal Vuciq-Kurti duel could lead us to a new conflict, could lead to an armed conflict”, says Petroniq, who heads the non-governmental organisation “Human centiar Mitrovica”.

According to him, this situation has been created due to the stalled dialogue on normalising relations.

The further we are from a solution to dialogue, the closer we are to the conflict, he says.