Petkov threatens deepening crisis in north

The director of the so-called Office for Kosovo, Petar Petkoviq, has today sent an urgent message to the international community, including the QUINT countries and the mediators in dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, in which he has warned that the ultimatum for him, the expulsion of Serbs from the building to Bosniaks' Mahalah could lead to deepening the crisis in northern Kosovo and further raise tensions on the ground.

The deadline for the removal of the facility, where the offices of the so-called Office for Kosovo, the directorate of the Pio Fund, the Centre for Social Work, and the Kosovo-Mitrovica Administrative District, have been extended for two weeks and is appointed by the mayor of Kosovo's Mitrovica municipality, Erden Attic, expires on September 08th.

In the most recent letter Petkovic has sent to several addresses and in which Serbian media have had access, the director of the so-called Office for Kosovo has stressed that such unilateral and unlegitive movements of Pristina and Albin Kurti do not contribute to de-tradition of the situation in the north, but instead pose a dangerous new provocation that has only to threaten the rights and life of the Serb people in northern Kosovo and to further destabilise the situation on the ground.

In this respect, the letter calls on the international community to understand this issue with the greatest possible attention and warning and to use its authority to prevent the dramatic “escalation that Kurti and Attiqi want to cause with the illegal decision to expel Serbian institutions”.

Petkovic recalled that trying to forcibly expel Serbian institutions from North Mitrovica and confiscating Serbian property is a new Pristina attack on dialogue, given that this issue can only be considered in the context of forming association, which is confirmed by the European Union itself in some cases.

It is remembered that with such illegal decisions, Kurti and Attici deprive about 43 employees of their job rights in the facility, and endanger the rights of tens of thousands of Serbs, Albanians, Bosniaks, Roma, Gorani who exercise their rights through the Pio Fund or the Centre for Social Affairs.

“Pristina is the only one who wants conflict and instability and would be tragic if he could achieve that interest”, the letter sent by Petkov concludes.