„We are witnessing how much the call to withdraw from the Kosovo Police, the judiciary and other institutions cost Kosovo Serbs, the day after the Rajska banja complex was taken over by the Privatization Agency of Kosovo,“ said communications strategist Djordje Trikoš.
The facility has already been rented out to the police, the director of PAK confirmed for RFE yesterday. This young expert from Belgrade, who lives in London, spent time in Kosovo before the Serbian elections on Sunday. „The omnipresent awareness of vulnerability among Kosovo Serbs, which has only increased since Kurti came to power, clearly brings out the best and the worst in our people in Kosovo. Some turn to raw rebellion and even self-destructive aggression, while others turn to creativity, progressiveness and refined diplomatic trait,“ he noted.
Many moves by the Belgrade political elite appear to be reckless, especially the one that involved a call for withdrawal from Kosovo police, judicial and other structures, Trikoš stressed.
„Such a move seems to have worsened the current position of Serbs in Kosovo, perhaps reducing the chance that the authorities in Pristina will allow voting in the Serbian elections. Moreover, it gave Pristina the opportunity not only to prevent Serbs from exercising their right to vote, but also exposed them to the brutal violation of other, even more fundamental rights,“ he warned.
„I believe that right now we are witnessing how much such a decision has cost the Kosovo Serbs,“ he added, pointing to yesterday’s „illegal take over“ of the complex „Rajska Banja“ in Banjska.
Moreover, the fact that the Police Department of the region north, from which the Serbs withdrew more than a year ago, and which should provide the Serbs from the north a sense of security, confirmed that it assisted in the expropriation of „Rajska Banja“ is particularly hard to take.
„It’s hard for me to imagine that this would have happened if the Serbs had remained part of Kosovo institutions, and everything looks as if Kurti has just started with serious violations of property rights,“ emphasized Trikoš.
Both sides should engage in true dialogue
After the tragedy in Banjska, for which, in his words, Belgrade is „at least partially responsible“, Trikoš believes that both sides are obliged to reduce tensions and engage in true dialogue.
„I intentionally said both sides, because we should not lose sight of the fact that the suffering in Banjska followed an escalation by Kurti’s government, which deployed special forces in the north and illegally expropriated the land of local Serbs in order to construct police bases that have no place there. What is happening in Rajska Banja is similar,“ alleged Trikoš.
„Just as I thought that Kurti dropped the ball a little, because he stepped away from the inflammatory rhetoric that threatened to cause events similar to the pogrom in 2004, he started again with expropriations and property seizure. In parallel with that, the house of a returnee in Belo Polje near Pec was set on fire, and a few months ago, the house of a Serbian returnee in Novo Selo was burned for the second time.“
Awareness of the vulnerability of Kosovo Serbs brings out both the worst and the best in them
Trikoš emphasized that everyone has something to lose in the current crisis: „Property, insurance, peace… Even life.“
And that’s exactly what brings out „both the best and the worst“ in the Serbian community.
„The omnipresent awareness of vulnerability among Kosovo Serbs, which has only increased since Kurti came to power, clearly brings out the best and the worst in our people in Kosovo. Some turn to raw rebellion, and even self-destructive aggression, while others turn to creativity, progressiveness and refined diplomatic trait.“
Trikoš, who currently lives in London, says that when he visited Kosovo for the first time in March of this year, found himself surprised by the quality of activism among Kosovo Serbs.
„I had the privilege of spending time with our people from the non-governmental sector and witnessing that their activism is, in fact, about life itself. Will they be able to get treatment? To get an education and travel, to live a reality in which their children will not stare at armed special forces in front of elementary schools and apartment buildings. Besides the obvious talent, I’m sure that the fact that they have so much to lose contributes to the quality of the work of Serbian activists in Kosovo being so good. In English, one would say that they have ‘skin in the game’,“ he describes his experiences from his spring visit.
Moreover, he testified that another visit changed him.
„I carry similar impressions from Visoki Dečani monastery. I am not the same man since I went there, an impression shared by my friend from Italy who went with me. An unforgettable human and spiritual experience. My family celebrates Stefan Uroš III, and his compatriots protect the monastery and relics of that saint from attack. It was a symbolic meeting with that wonderful monastery on so many levels,“ he said.
He added that he was surprised by the skills and behavior of the monks in this UNESCO-protected monastery, but also by the fact that for seven years the verdict of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo on the return of the land to the monastery has not been implemented.
„The monk’s talent, diplomatic tact, and stoic demeanor in the face of an existential threat, ignoring requests to implement restitution judgments, and constant, vulgar attempts to appropriate cultural heritage made me ashamed of the comfort of my own life. And the one in Belgrade, which I lived in until recently, and the one in London, which I have now ventured into,“ he emphasized in an interview for KoSSev.
When Serbs are threatened by Belgrade and Pristina
Trikoš says that he is disturbeed by the fact that among Serbs from Serbia proper and Belgrade, there is often an absence of awareness that „unmeasured national pretensions are paid for with your safety.“ But he goes on to say:
„And the fact that in Pristina’s political elite, not only is there no awareness of the specificity of your needs, but often there is also an intention to harm you through inflammatory rhetoric, stigmatization of the entire Serbian community and incitement of aggression.“
On the other hand, he emphasized that he also met a group of excellent intellectuals among Kosovo Albanians.
„And I witnessed the open discussion they had with our people. Such things give me courage,“ says Trikoš.
The state’s interest in enabling Kosovo Serbs to vote in their hometowns was not achieved, but the party’s interest was
Commenting on the results of the Kosovo Serb vote on Sunday, although he notes that the majority supported the SNS, Trikoš also notes the low turnout of 25%. But he also underscored the paradox of these elections:
„It is natural, since the voting was organized outside of Kosovo. At the same time, many people – as I can testify myself from the direct experience of spending time in Kosovo over the weekend – were preparing for slava. Many of them had a lot of work during the working week, so voting outside their hometowns on top of all the obligations of preparing for the celebration was unaffordable in terms of time and energy. And not just any slava, but the most widely celebrated one. All of that could have influenced the majority of those who are disciplined voters of the ruling party to go to the polls to a greater extent than others. It would be interesting to see what the results would be if people could vote in their own towns. Paradoxically or not, what should be the state’s interest, which is securing the right of Serbs to vote in elections in Serbia, has not been achieved, while the interest of the state party has been.“
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