Petkovic: Schools, health care system pillar of Serbs' survival in Kosovo-Metohija

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Thursday Pristina's PM Albin Kurti had begun closing down Serb schools in Kosovo-Metohija with the aim of expelling the Serbs from the province, and added that he had informed international representatives of the arrest of the principal of a primary school in Gojbulja.

Speaking to the RTS, Petkovic said the principal had been stopped by the so-called Kosovo Police at the Brnjak administrative crossing and taken to a police station in the south of Kosovska Mitrovica following interrogation.

"The reason was that the school's seals had been found in his car. The 'Kosovo Police' have been arresting Serbs almost on a daily basis, but this is about something else - to them, he is guilty of being the principal of a Serb primary school in Gojbulja," Petkovic said.

If Kurti closes down Serb schools in Kosovo-Metohija, that will be the "end of everything" and it will mean that there is no dialogue either, he said.

Schools and the health care system, besides the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbia as a state, are the fundamental pillar and the foundation of the Serbs' survival in Kosovo-Metohija, he noted.

He said he had informed the EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak of the arrest and added that he had written strongly-worded letters to the Quint and EU member states, noting that the arrest was the most direct violation of the Brussels Agreement.

"Even though the Pristina authorities and (Pristina's chief negotiator Besnik) Bislimi himself have confirmed clearly on several occasions that they would not touch the education and health care systems in Kosovo-Metohija or shut down other Serbian institutions, ten provisional authorities, municipalities in the Serbian system, have already been closed," Petkovic said.