Đurić: Kurti's regime should be politically isolated and marginalized

In a statement after the UN Security Council meeting which discussed the six-month report on UNMIK, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Marko Đurić said today that the regime of Albin Kurti was destroying everything that the international community achieved in Kosovo and Metohija in the past two decades in terms of building coexistence, democracy and human rights.

"In two and a half years Kurti's regime has trampled all that underfoot, violating its own constitution and laws, and the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija became not only second-class citizens, but also direct victims of persecution, which is multi-layered, well-documented, and before the highest body of the world organization, we presented concrete cases and evidence of persecution and discrimination against the Serbs on multiple levels," Đurić said.

Referring to the insults that the representative of the provisional institutions of self-government in Pristina, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, made against Serbia and its President, Đurić explained that she tried to provoke a reaction, probably incidents and tensions, but instead, in response, she was offered a lesson that, as a citizen of Serbia, she should not speak in an insulting manner about President Aleksandar Vučić, who, according to public international law, is her president as well.

"With such conduct, they send a clear message that they are not in favour of the normalization of relations, that they are ready to insult the citizens of Serbia, marking Serbia as a fascist state. I responded by pointing out that it was Kurti's government that turned Xhafer Deva, a Nazi collaborator and one of the founders of the SS Skanderbeg Division, into a national hero, renovating his house in southern Mitrovica and naming streets after him, thus rehabilitating an ideology that must never be rehabilitated," Đurić said.

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that he publicly exposed Kurti's intent not to ever form the Community of Serb Municipalities, and to ensure that other elements of the Brussels Agreement are not implemented either.

"All of this represents a call to the international community for action, and our request is that Kurti's regime be sanctioned, and the paradigm changed in the relations between Serbs and Albanians. However, a prerequisite for this is that those who continuously disrupt these relations are sanctioned and politically isolated and marginalized," Đurić explained.

The important message heard at the Security Council, as he pointed out, was that Serbia is not in conflict with the Albanian people, and that the Albanians should reject Kurti's ethno-nationalist policy, which pushes the entire region into the past.

"So, that was an extended hand to which Gërvalla, of course, responded with new insults, trying to humiliate Serbia again, but I am convinced that among Albanians there are many who do not support this kind of policy. It was even more important to show the international community that we are a country that treats all its citizens equally, regardless of nationality," Đurić said.

Minister Đurić thanked the representatives of the members of the Security Council who spoke about the difficult situation of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and condemned Kurti's unilateral moves.

"I believe that this shows that our diplomatic action has its results and that we must continue to work even harder in the coming period to win over those who do not support our position regarding status, but could support the human rights of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. In addition, we must preserve the friendship and respect of those who have traditionally strongly supported us, and once again I am grateful to all of them," Đurić concluded.