Rome: Interview of Ambassador Aleksić for the Italian agency Nova in connection with the current situation in Kosovo and Metohija

Ambassador Aleksić sent a message that Belgrade advocated stability and continuation of the dialogue, and that Priština must stop provocations. He underlined that it was not Serbia that caused the tensions, that Albin Kurti unilaterally decided to introduce discriminatory measures that denied the right to freedom of movement and violated the agreements between Belgrade and Priština reached in negotiations under the auspices of the European Union. He detailed the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, the threat to the Serbian population and the increase in violence since Kurti came to power.

Ambassador Aleksić thanked Italy for its participation in KFOR, whose contingent has guaranteed the security of the Visoki Dečani monastery. He stated regretfully that it was a unique case in the 21^st century that a holy place in the heart of Europe had to be under military protection. The Ambassador pointed out the outstanding issues related to the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština and that, even after more than nine years, the Community of Serb Municipalities has not been formed, but that Priština was trying to impose a non-existent issue of mutual recognition. 

Ambassador Aleksić also said that Serbia could not, must not and would not give up the protection of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, its national rights and interests. “Since the beginning of the so-called Kurti government, the number of aggressions and attacks on the Serbian population has increased by 50 percent. In the last referendum and during the parliamentary and presidential elections, Priština prevented the Serbs from exercising their basic electoral rights. Even today, 23 years after the conflict, more than 200,000 citizens of Serbia and non-Albanians have the status of internally displaced persons in central Serbia. Finally, for six years now, Priština has refused to implement the court decision made by the highest courts ordering the return of the 24-hectare property to the Visoki Dečani monastery,” Ambassador Aleksić concluded.