Albanians forcibly took power in Kosovska Mitrovica; SL: Illegal - we won't accept it

Albanians forcibly took power in Kosovska Mitrovica; SL: Illegal - we won't accept it

With the presence of numerous members of the so-called Kosovo Police, an assembly session was held in the municipal building in North Mitrovica, where the newly appointed councilors took their oaths, and Nedžat Ugljanin was elected president.

Thus, the municipality of North Mitrovica de facto belonged to the Albanians, that is, they took over the management of the municipality after the representatives of the Serb List left the institutions, and then the CEC made a decision to appoint Albanians as councilors.

Kosovo based media also announce that 16 new councilors have already taken the oath, of which only one is of Serbian origin.

Serbia's reaction

Today, Albanians have taken council seats belonging to Serbs in the Serbian municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica through legal violence and unilateral moves, although no one voted for them and they do not have any majority or support of the Serbian people, says Petar Petković, director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

He also says that in this way Kurti is trying to create a pure mono-ethnic Albanian municipality in the north of Kosovo and adds that this is precisely the mirror of the alleged democracy and the so-called rule of law of Albin Kurti "that the pure Serbian municipality, despite regulations, rules and agreements, is taken over and run by Albanians".

"There is another violation of all posting agreements, including the internal regulations of Pristina, which do not apply when the smallest remaining rights of the Serbs should be taken away and completely legally and administratively disenfranchised, for the sake of Kurti's main goal - the creation of a mono-ethnic Kosovo and Metohija in which there are no Serbs", Petković claims.

He explains that today's brutal violation of the rights of the Serbs is an indication that the struggle and democratic and peaceful resistance of the Serbian people are more justified than ever, because, he claims, that is the only thing left for the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija in the face of the wave of uncivilized and undemocratic behavior, physical and legal violence.

"It is now clear that Pristina's refusal to hold elections in the north of Kosovo and Metohija on December 18 is not a concession by Pristina, nor an attempt to calm tensions, but rather an insidious plan and a farce by Albin Kurti, who thought in advance how to take over Serbian municipalities with legal violence and without elections and send policemen to the north," Petković said, as stated in the statement of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Petković concludes that all this clearly shows that the main goal of Pristina and Albin Kurti is to ensure that there is not a single Serb in the north and to try to ethnically cleanse the Serbian municipalities completely.

Ugljanin: We are just a substitute, the government belongs to the Serbian community

The newly elected president of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly, Nedžat Ugljanin, said today after the Assembly session that this convocation will deal with political issues as little as possible until the elections in April, in the interest of all communities.

Ugljanin, who is a representative of the Bosniaks, pointed out that the executive power, as well as the legislative power, belongs to the Serbian community and that it is not up to the minority community to take care of the majority community, because that is what they should do.

"We came to a house without a host. We know that the majority community should be the host in this situation, but we are not to blame for it. I said in my presentation before the councilors that we will deal with political issues as little as possible, and in the interest of all communities, regardless what are their nationalities, in accordance with the Law on Local Self-Government and the Statute of North Mitrovica," Ugljanin told the media, as Kosovo Online reports.

As he said, the new convocation of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly will wait for April to form the executive power.

"In this way, with only the legislative power, and without the executive power, a kind of vacuum has been created and we cannot function as a municipal unit. Maybe we will be a transitional government, so we leave it to the householder who left his house to return to it and take care of all the communities, especially about the majority community, because as a minority community, it is not our job to take care of the majority community. On the contrary, they should do that. We took on that role for the benefit of the citizens," said Ugljanin.

He stated that there is great fear among the people and that it is "in the air" and stated that they will try to continue the work of the Assembly in the spirit of peace, tolerance and coexistence until different conditions are created that depend on relevant international factors.

Ugljanin also said that they had no contact with the representatives of the Serb List, but that they were open to talks, because, as he says, they were the hosts in North Mitrovica and should be there.

He pointed out that the newly elected councilors are only replacements for those who resigned and that it does not depend on them when they will return to those positions.

"The place of executive power, and also of legislative power, belongs to the Serbian community. We feel that we are here as a minority, but considering the legal procedures, we will fight for the interests of all communities in accordance with those laws, regardless of whether they are here or not," said Ugljanin.

Nedžat Ugljanin is a representative of Bosniaks, and in the previous elections he was on the list of the Civic Initiative "Mitrovica", a list composed of minorities living in North Mitrovica.

Simić: "The new Parliament is illegal and illegitimate"

The vice-president of the Serb List, Igor Simić, told Kosovo Online that the Crisis Staff believes that the newly formed North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly and the new majority made up of Albanians are illegal and illegitimate and that it absolutely does not accept it.

After the session of the Crisis Staff, which consists of political representatives of Serbs from the north of Kosovo and prominent individuals, he said that they want to preserve peace and called on citizens to remain persistent and restrained at the barricades, but also that in order to preserve peace, it is necessary for the special units the police were withdrawn from the north.

"We want to keep the peace and we call on the citizens to keep the peace, in order to ensure that the policemen need to withdraw. It is obvious that their presence in the mixed areas in North Mitrovica is causing fear among the citizens because the Albanian special forces, armed to the teeth, are walking around of our citizens' homes, they stop and harass our citizens, search their vehicles. We have a situation where people cannot normally leave their yards," said Simić.

He thanked the citizens at the barricades, of which, he pointed out, there are more and more, and who have decided to stay in these areas and are ready to defend their right to live a normal life in the 21st century.

"Every day there are more and more people at the barricades because they are first of all aware that this is the reaction of the Serbs to what Pristina wants, which is the expulsion of the people from these areas, and we once again appeal to the citizens to remain persistent but restrained, to respect especially the international representatives of KFOR and EULEX because they are there on the ground in accordance with international agreements," said Simić.

He also added that the headquarters does not even accept the illegal verdict against Ivan Todosijević without any evidence, brought only because he is of Serbian origin.