Drecun: Kurti's tactic geared towards attempt of ethnic cleansing of Serbs

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Wednesday the tactic employed by Pristina's PM Albin Kurti was geared not only towards intimidating Serbs but also towards an attempt of completing the ethnic cleansing underway in Kosovo-Metohija for years.

"Kurti's rise to power doubled the terror against the Serbs," Drecun said in a statement to Tanjug.

He said one type of terror was "institutional terror, where the electoral will of the Serbs is not respected, the Serbs are treated as second-class citizens, the police treat them in the most brutal way and courts and prosecutors' offices do not do their job the way they should in cases that are about the Serbs."

"On the other hand, special parapolice units use physical violence and torture, especially in the north of Kosovo and firearms are used increasingly frequently," he said.

This could also be some kind of an exit strategy for Kurti, who wants to avoid the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities at all costs, he said.

It is only by causing severe destabilisation that Kurti could now resist the pressure to form the Community, Drecun added.

Drecun also said he assumed that Thursday's meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and government members with political representatives of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs would address the present security situation in Kosovo-Metohija and ways in which Serbia should continue to help the survival of Serbs there.

The most important thing is to agree the order of steps to be taken to stabilise the situation for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, Drecun noted, adding that upcoming elections in Kosovo could lead to further deterioration of the security situation for the Serb population.