Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Đuric condemns the terrorist attack in Goraždevac

I strongly condemn this morning's terrorist attack by Albanian extremists on Serbs and their property in Goraždevac. I call on all Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, especially our compatriots in Goraždevac, to maintain their calm and not respond to provocations by Albanian extremists.

Early this morning, around 3 AM, in the area of Goraždevac, unknown persons of Albanian nationality carried out multiple armed assaults. The extremists fired shots throughout Goraždevac, demolishing the monument to the victims of the NATO bombing in the town center, shooting at the house owned by Saša Petrović, torching a car owned by Srboljub Kolašinac and setting on fire the Vuksanović family tobacco shop.

This terrorist act is another reminder of how greatly the circumstances of the Serbs in our southern province diverge from normalcy and the standards upheld in societies seeking to become part of the European Union.

It is beyond doubt that the aim of the assaults was to intimidate the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija and force them to move out, and the "Kristallnacht" in Goraždevac carries all features of terrorism.

I firmly believe that the vast majority of Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija do not desire escalation of violence in their surroundings. The Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Priština now have the opportunity to demonstrate their maturity by identifying the perpetrators of these insane and unprovoked terrorist acts.

I also appeal to the international community to respond to this situation with the utmost gravity, so as to avoid further endangering the safety of Serbs and deterioration of the fragile stability in Kosovo and Metohija.

This is a alarm to everyone of how the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija is prone to destabilization, and consequences that may arise from an inadequate response to political extremism demonstrated by the opposition in Priština, whose chauvinist rhetorics and actions have turned all non-Albanians in the southern Serbian province into potential targets.