Petkovic receives Hadjiyianni

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic received Cypriot special envoy for southeastern Europe Kyriakos Hadjiyianni, who is also vice-president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, to inform him of Pristina's daily violence and terror against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and, in particular, of its most recent unilateral and illegal moves that are threatening to lead to a complete, mass expulsion of all Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija.

Petkovic noted that Pristina's recent police raid on the offices of Serbian institutions in the four municipalities in the north of the province would have "unforeseeable consequences for normalisation of Belgrade-Pristina relations."

Last Friday, Pristina's special police raided the municipal buildings in Leposavic, Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan and Zubin Potok, the hospital complex in Kosovska Mitrovica and a building that housed the offices of the pension and disability insurance fund, the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija, the Kosovska Mitrovica Administrative District and the Social Work Centre.

Petkovic noted that the institutions were not parallel institutions but institutions of the Republic of Serbia that should be the foundation for the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities, "which the international community also insists on, while Pristina has been trying to avoid that in every possible way for more than 11 years."

On the other hand, the institutions have been providing vital services to Serbs as well as other communities, including social benefits, wages and pensions, which they need to maintain their livelihood, he said.

The ban on the Serbian dinar as the legal tender, the closure of the Serbian Postal Savings Bank in Kosovo-Metohija, a raid on Post of Serbia offices and the events from eight days ago are a certain path to an expulsion and, ultimately, ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Serbia's southern province, and ethnically motivated crimes and unfounded apprehensions and arrests - which occur almost daily - are putting in question even the physical survival of Serbs, Petkovic warned.

What more needs to happen for the international community to take concrete steps to stop Pristina's PM Albin Kurti, "whose every move leads to sparking conflicts in the north of the province and new escalation on the ground, with unforeseeable consequences for the entire region?" he said.

Petkovic noted that, despite the difficult situation on the ground, Belgrade remained firmly committed to preservation of peace in the province and the region as this was a prerequisite for finding a solution to all problems in Belgrade-Pristina relations.