„The amount of stupidity, amateurism, arrogance, crime, dishonesty, violence, high treason if you will, many people personally perceive it as such, with which Serbia, that is, the Serbian government and its deputies for Kosovo, brought themselves into a situation reminiscent of February 1999, practically in a day after ten years of that kind of behavior, is horrifying“ KoSSev’s Editor in Chief, Tatjana Lazarević, said on the N1 Newsnight show yesterday evening, while commenting on the latest crisis in the north.
Lazarević noted that the Serbian president was „not at all comfortable“ in Granada, where the summit of the European political community is being held, on account of the harsh accusations against Serbia coming from the West and the region since September 24.
She surmised that: „We can expect that the harsh accusations against Serbia will continue. I don’t believe that the Serbian president is at all comfortable at the moment.“
She recalled yesterday’s questions from foreign journalists:
„I am quoting two key questions – Will Serbia attack Kosovo and did President Vučić give guarantees to European partners on behalf of Serbia (that he will not attack Kosovo)? And the next slap in the face is the US and European ambassadors going to see for themselves that Serbian forces have been withdrawn from the land security zone“.
Lazarević pointed to Kosovo authorities’ „offensive“: first when they reacted through the Kosovo Police on September 24 to the attack by an armed uniformed group of Serbs, and which is now continuing through the media.
Kosovo authorities have launched an extremely coordinated information and media offensive
On the other hand, the Serbian side is on the defensive because it is reacting, the KoSSev editor specified.
„It is unfortunate that Serbia has now arrived at a situation where it reacts all the time, and that the spotlight that had been focused in recent months on Pristina as the ‘bad’ side, on Kurti as the ‘bad guy’, including the fact that Osmani, in her public appearances, distanced herself somewhat from that, willingly or not, it is obvious she had better media advisers than Kurti, that that spotlight, and even more spotlights, have turned to Belgrade, specifically Aleksandar Vučić, and I believe that he is not having a pleasant time in Granada.“
Comparing the recent appearance of the Serbian president and the Kosovo president on CNN, Lazarević posited that Vučić’s speech to the international public had „a much softer tone“ than Vjosa Osmani’s „very aggressive“ (media) speech.
„She continued with such an aggressive approach today while answering journalist’s questions in Granada. But there is no doubt that this is a media offensive by the Kosovo authorities, and in such an offensive where Osmani keeps repeating that there are no talks with Vučić until sanctions are imposed on Serbia, means nothing in terms of their meeting,“ she said in response to a question regarding a possible meeting between Vučić and Osmani in Granada could help the dialogue.
However, she stressed nothing can replace dialogue.
„If only we had never gotten into this kind of situation, and had proactive authorities all these years that solved crises by directly contacting those they see even as their enemies, but they know how sacred the place that they are defending is . And when I say sacred, it is not always a matter of territory. First of all, apart from the cultural and historical heritage, is the people who need to protect that same territory who are the most sacred, regardless of the administrative systems that exist and will exist for who knows how long in the future.“
She added that Serbia is facing difficult questions. And on the 24th anniversary of the October 5th changes, she shared her impression of „how much we all miss Prime Minister Zoran Djindjić today.“
„I remind you of one of the incredible achievements from the time when he was prime minister, and that was what was achieved in 2001. He managed to return the armed forces of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the Land Security Zone after severe stigmatization, a huge attack, and the negative reaction that Serbia was met with in the Western public, and today we have come to a situation where, for the first time since 1999, we hear that Serbia must defend itself whether it will attack Kosovo and whether its soldiers will enter the territory of Kosovo and attack Kosovo Albanians,“ Lazarević said.
She stressed that Kosovo Serbs are particularly affected by the fact that while they suffer oppression and are under pressure from Belgrade and Pristina, on the other hand, the Serbian authorities have now led themselves into a situation where they have to assure the international public that Serbia will not attack the Albanians.
„What particularly affects us is that in a situation in which Kosovo Serbs have been the real victims since ’99 – persecuted, discriminated, humiliated, weakened for years, disenfranchised, unquestionably by the Kosovo authorities, especially in the past three years since in the Albin Kurti-led government came to power, but also by the government of the SNS and its branch in Kosovo, Srpska Lista, we were led into a situation where the Serbian authorities in the foreign policy arena currently have no other task, but to assure the developed part of the world, on which we currently depend, that after 24 years, Serbia will not attack Albanians or the region again. All the more so, when months ago there was a visible agreement between Western governments, more or less, but certainly an agreement, about the Kosovo Prime Minister being the disruptive side of the dialogue. When we, Kosovo Serbs, raised our concerns over the years, especially in the months-long contacts with the international community, sharing our bad experience under the current government of the Kosovo Prime Minister, it was met with understanding from those same international representatives.“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
