Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Đurić: Ethnic Albanians cannot be bargaining chip

Ethnic Albanians in Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa need jobs and a secure future, rather than a path of chauvinism and conflicts, which can only lead to more young ethnic Albanians leaving that part of Serbia, says the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Marko Đurić.

Officials from five ethnic Albanian parties made the decision on Saturday to form an association of the Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa municipalities in southern Serbia in order to mirror the Brussels agreement on establishing the Community of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija.

"The ethnic Albanians in these three municipalities should form a bridge between the Serbs and Albanians, rather than be a bargaining chip and an instrument of manipulation by the irresponsible politicians from our southern province of Kosovo-Metohija," Đurić told Tanjug on Sunday.

The Serbian authorities will not respond to provocations and will remain committed to enforcing laws and the Constitution while protecting the human and ethnic rights of ethnic Albanians, Đurić noted.

Zoran Stanković, President of the Government’s Coordination Body for Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa told Tanjug that ethnic Albanians from three municipalities were never a topic in the Brussels dialogue on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština.