„The criminalization of the north of Kosovo is underway – it started with the territory, moved on to Serb institutions and legitimate interests, and ends with the citizens. Not everything comes from Pristina, Serbian official structures also participate in this,“ the Editor of the KoSSev portal said in the Utisak Nedelje show.
Lazarevic emphasized that the community is „drilled and open to all possible intrusions and influences“ and „permanently in a pressure cooker, between a rock and a hard place.“ „We almost have no chance not to be all criminalized,“ she added.
During that time, Kurti established control over territory, and Serbs aided him by withdrawing from Kosovo institutions, just as Belgrade bears the responsibility for the withdrawal of Serbian institutions.”
However, this is not the end. „I’m afraid that the presence of the special police is not the worst thing that can happen to citizens in the north,“ Lazarevic warned.
„God forbid that the Prime Minister of Kosovo should mobilize his main echelon and trump card – those who voted for him. God forbid that those same civilians – citizens rise. We have o a situation where two communities are looking at each other through a rifle scope.“
According to Lazarevic, announcements from Belgrade about the declaration of the Serbs, the reports from Blic that the Serbs will allegedly form the ASM, and Vucic’s statement that the Serbs will take ‘active steps’ for Vidovdan, are a preparation for „new bloodshed“.
She revealed that, according to her findings, they have been working for months on the „mapping“ of „new“ faces that could be „some kind of new blood flow, even if it was the most ordinary makeup“:
„Whether as a part of Srpska Lista or an extended part of SL, it corresponds to the moment when the Serbian people, especially in the north, feel fully beheaded, unprotected, abandoned, frustrated, scared,“ Lazarevic underscored.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most difficult moments since 1999.
The nephew of the slain Oliver Ivanovic, lawyer Aleksandar Ivanovic, said, on the same show, that the hint of changing the „uniform of Srpska Lista“ and the creation of something new, corresponds with the announcements in Belgrade about the creation of a „state-building movement“ after the resignation of the Serbian president as head of the SNS.
„It will be nothing but a continuation of the same policy, the same people, only in a different suit,“ he said.
Not everyone is a criminal
Lazarevic recalled that Vucic said in his weekly address that a hybrid war against Serbia is underway, stressing that the second part of the sentence is crucial – that the „criminalization of Serbs from the West, but Belgrade as well“ is also at hand.
„All these new events and additions to the crisis are part of a general context that a ‘special operation’ of the general criminalization of the north is at hand,“ Lazarevic warned.
The editor of the KoSSev portal claims that this situation was hinted at last year, but also that we need to talk about „who is involved in that operation“.
„Not everything is coming from Pristina, although I can only criticize everything that comes from Pristina. Serbian official structures are certainly involved in this,“ Lazarevic stated.
In her words, from the criminalization of the north as a territory, they moved on to the criminalization of institutions, then to the criminalization of the legitimate interests of Serbs and Serbia as a state, but that „it is not the end of the story“:
„As this crisis unfolded in recent weeks, I noticed that there is something else behind it – the criminalization of people.“
Not everyone is a criminal Lazarevic said that the way to fight against the campaign and propaganda coming from Pristina, in which the phrases – „fascist militia“, „North = crime“ are highlighted, is through honesty, dedication, perseverance, diplomacy, and legitimate resources. There are Serbs who are ready to „deal with it“, and Serbia itself can help in this, she added.
However, instead of this, the structures are carrying out a „general criminalization of people,” she reiterated.
„People are pushed to the frontlines where an honest man is practically left with no choice. Indeed, with one action after another, everyone is in a subordinate position, facing the system, the state, weakened and afflicted by influences. The community is drilled and open to all possible influences and intrusions and all possible services and para-services. We practically don’t have a chance not to be all criminalized,“ said Lazarevic.
Crises and agreements – a brilliantly designed process by political elites
The editor of KoSSev says that there is a common understanding that the crises in the north and the Brussels agreements (along with the February agreement and the Ohrid annex) are viewed in two ways.
However, she claims that it is a „brilliantly designed“ process for the political elite, but not a good thing for the citizens and the future – a „dirty dance between Belgrade and Pristina“ with the visible contribution of the international community.
Crises were triggered to divert public attention from an active but unpopular agreement, or when it was necessary to put the brakes on the implementation of the next agreement.
„Over the years, Pristina and Belgrade played that dirty dance equally. Sometimes Belgrade needs to implement something that is not popular. How popular would Vucic be if he said – I am abolishing the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo, when in fact I stepped down as the head of the Serbian Radical Party. He must not do that, but must create a narrative that Serbia is never stronger and never better.“
Aleksandar Ivanovic said that in these ten years machinery has been developed in Belgrade where incidents are improvised whenever important concessions are made.
„You have a reality show that we are constantly exposed to. And the focus is to draw the public’s attention… so that they don’t see what’s happening down there,“ he said.
Thaci and other officials did the same on the other side.
„And then Kurti happened to us„
Kurti equals crisis „Kurti blew everything up, he has no need to pretend – the man is extreme, radical and driven by an idea. Albin Kurti equals crisis. He has no need to pretend, for him at this moment the crisis is a natural habitat.“
Lazarevic states that Kurti „brutally changed the general situation in the north“.
She says that a mistake was made when the Kosovo PM gained international support as someone who „successfully unfreezes the frozen conflict.“
„Even though he carries out risky actions, they are carried out without victims and at a higher cost.”
„As a successful example of that, despite all those cries and criticisms, the fall of 2021 is highlighted – the 13-day crisis at the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings, when for the first time we have the deployment of a huge number of special forces from the south and Pristina and direct blocking by the Serbian citizens, without the presence of KFOR, at a close distance. Thirteen days of a potentially extremely risky situation,“ she stated.
She recalled that the crisis ended without incident and „not a single shot fired“, with an agreement on license plates and a photo shoot in Brussels.
„That gave the international community a reason to say – ‘well, you see, we managed to change something after that, it’s quite normal that special forces can stay in the north, we got operationalization of the temporary agreement on license plates,'“ adds Lazarevic.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, the Kosovo Prime Minister received „free space“ and additional support from the international community to „establish control over the territory,“ Lazarevic said.
„After establishing control over the territory, with very risky actions, he establishes control over the institutions, albeit with Serbian help, the Serbs leave the police force, and in the third phase he establishes control over what constitutes the remaining sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia, which means the withdrawal of Serbian institutions.“
She emphasizes that „Pristina is not the only one involved in this.“
Belgrade is also involved, We haven’t seen the worst yet
As the months passed and the crisis became more and more radical, the Kosovo Prime Minister made „terrible moves,“ according to Lazarevic.
„I cannot say anything in favor of the Kosovo authorities at this moment – the way they work. You see a kind of militarization, radicalization, general antagonism of communities,“ she stated.
She believes, however, that „we haven’t seen the worst yet.“
„I’m afraid that the special police is not the worst thing that can happen to the citizens in the north. God forbid that the Prime Minister of Kosovo should mobilize his main echelon and trump card – those who voted for him. God forbid that those same civilians – citizens rise up. We have a situation where two communities are looking at each other through the crosshairs,“ she said.
On the other hand, KoSSev’s Editor-in-Chief emphasized that Kurti is not someone who „invented ethnic hatred“.
„We have had the Brussels process for the last 10 years, in which – the more people signed and laughed at the negotiating table, on the ground, on both sides, the narrative became falser, the promotion of patriotic ideas, was carried out. The more Serbia gave away its sovereignty, the stronger the narrative was spread among the new generations that Serbia is getting stronger every day – faster, better, just like in the rest of Serbia,“ said Lazarevic.
Remove the veil – it’s okay to carry out violence, but not to point it out
Lazarevic also commented on masked persons spotted in some protests in the north of Kosovo after the outbreak of the crisis.
Masked persons attempted to prevent the editor of the KoSSev portal from doing her job and demanded that she not film the gathering of citizens in North Mitrovica, following last week’s arrest of ethnic Serb M.M.
A day later, a negative campaign was launched, specifically aimed at her, which Lazarevic assessed to be a broader negative campaign against journalists carried out through three channels – attacks on journalists in the field, a word-of-mouth campaign in small communities, and online.
The aim of such a campaign is to redirect the attention of revolted and frightened citizens from the dismantling of the security system which until recently was under the control of Serbian structures and the infiltration of the Kosovo security sector, in general, abandoning the north to Pristina, to journalists as the ones responsible for the arrests that happen daily, Lazarevic warned.
She explained that now, children, that is, very young boys, who joined the structures with the message that they should defend the community, have been sent to the ‘front line’.
At the same time, older generations of men with experience and expertise in the security sector retired, either with the official integration of Civil Protection into Kosovo’s structures or with the withdrawal of around 500 Serbs from the Kosovo Police.
„The town remains practically empty and unprotected from the point of view of the community, and then very young children are recruited with a ‘wonderful premise’ that they will ‘defend the town’. Among those children, there are extremely nice boys and young men and parents who agreed to it, because it should be ‘a state matter.’ However, they were not told what would happen in the following days,“ stated Lazarevic.
During her guest appearance on Utisak Nedelje, Lazarevic revealed that in 24 years of the crisis in the north, she had never seen more vulgar, primitive, and aggressive behavior towards journalists than in the days after the conflict with KFOR.
She concluded that it is important to remove the „hypocritical veil of Serbia and our society“, the rule that dictates – „it is okay to carry out violence, but it is not okay to point the finger at the bully.“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
