Balkans | Serbia: We will work to ease tensions in northern Kosovo

Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic, said that his country will work to reduce tensions in northern Kosovo.

Dacic made remarks about the relations between Serbia and Kosovo on a local TV channel in the capital, Belgrade.

“We will work to ease tensions in northern Kosovo in the coming days, but then we can talk about the basics of the Brussels Agreement,” said the Serbian foreign minister. He said.

Noting that the situation of Serbs who have resigned from institutions in northern Kosovo is not easy, Dacic said, “Serbs have no place and no way to return to institutions. Representatives of the international community declared that the biggest problem at the moment (Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin) is Corti. They also believe that during With Corti in power, the Brussels Convention will have no respectable status.” Use the phrase.

We’re trying to get back to dialogue.

Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic also stated that the situation in his country is not easy when it comes to the position of the Serbs in northern Kosovo, and said:

“Serbia has ‘red lines’ and this is clear today and clear to everyone so that no one is misled. The assumption that Serbia does not know what it is doing, does not have plans, does not have a strategy based on the development of events is a very wrong assumption. We are just trying to be polite and come back to Dialogue with people like Corti, no matter how annoying it is.”

Fucik is expected to make a statement

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is expected to make a statement regarding his country’s request to deploy Serbian army and police in northern Kosovo in NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) this evening at 21.00 local time.

Tension between Kosovo and Serbia

The two countries faced each other again ahead of snap general elections scheduled for December 18 in 4 municipalities in northern Kosovo, where the Serb population is packed.

Has led Kosovo to increase the presence of security forces in the Serb densely populated areas in the north of the country in order to ensure security in the region before the elections to the mutual tension between the two countries.

After the events in the north, the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, announced the postponement of early local elections to April 2023, but this decision did not ease the tension in the region.

After the arrest of former Serbian police officer Dejan Pantek, Kosovo Serbs set up barricades in the north of the country, and EULEX claims he was attacked during a night patrol.

The European Union, NATO and the United States call for de-escalation and the removal of roadblocks in northern Kosovo.

Serbia considers Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence in 2008, to be its territory.

Serbia and Kosovo, which clash periodically, are trying to find a common way to normalize relations, and eventually the two countries get to know each other, within the scope of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process that began in 2011 with the mediation of the European Union.

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