Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Đurić: Volatile security situation in Kosovo and Metohija

Today's flaring up of extremism and of blatant hatred towards the Serbian people in Mušutište testify to the volatility of security situation in Kosovo and Metohija and how very far our southern province is from building a multi-ethnic democratic society.

We already cautioned about what was under way several days ago, when the Albanian extremists put up a billboard which basically constituted a public invitation to the today's outpouring of hatred towards the Serbs. If the competent authorities had promptly reacted, today we would not be witnessing scenes which bear such striking resemblance to those we saw in the March 2004 Pogrom.

Those who suggest that the UN Security Council should stop its quarterly analysis of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija should provide an answer if this is the alleged normalization on which they based their suggestion.

Serbia sees nothing normal in a mass manifestation of hatred towards the Serbs, who only wanted to gather around the torched ruins of their houses and churches, for religious and commemorative reasons. If the Serbs are not allowed to do even that, what kind of perspective for Serbian-Albanian relations can we be talking about today?

And finally, Priština should be aware that hatred cannot be cured with tear gas and batons, but only with affirmative action, by messages of reconciliation and by punishing the instigators of hatred and ethnic violence. However, none of this can be realistically expected since many members of the Albanian political elite are in fact the loudest advocates of hatred and extremism in Kosovo and Metohija.

Today in Mušutište, Serbs will attend the liturgy, regardless of the "welcome" that was prepared for them, because our people prayed to God even in times more difficult than these, fearless in the face of even bigger dangers.

DIRECTOR

Marko Đurić