Prishtinë, 7 November 2022
The speech of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, at the joint press conference with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla:
Dear citizens and respected representatives of the media,
Today, starting from the latest developments in the country, together with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xelal Sveçla, we have invited this media conference, to inform you of the current situation in the north of our country and the commitment of our institutions to preserve of order, security, law and peace.
We want to emphasize that the progress of the work of the institutions and the services that they provide continues. Despite the developments during this weekend, the subordinate institutions of each ministry have continued to fulfill their duties without interruption.
The Government of the Republic of Kosovo, our institutions, remain committed to the democratic and European values of the rule of law, human and minority rights and freedoms, political pluralism, peace and security.
Also, I would like to inform you that the institutions are continuing with the facilitated realization of the process of registration of illegal number plates in those RKS of our independent state, including the sequential implementation of the last decision of the Government dated October 28th, 2022. From the date November 1st, 2022, so far 856 reprimands or remarks have been marked.
Despite the benevolent appeals of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, addressed to the citizens of the Serbian community for the conversion of license plates from illegal to RKS ones, in recent days the threats and efforts of Serbia and the President of our northern neighbor to destabilize the situation in our country and these threats are practically oriented first and foremost towards the citizens of our country, through instilling fear and panic.
After the extraordinary meeting of the Government of Serbia on Saturday, the president there had separate meetings with the ambassadors of Russia and China in Belgrade.
This clearly shows that the President of Serbia meets and coordinates with Russia and China, while they lie and disappoint the United States of America and the European Union. Therefore, what is happening now is mostly explained by Belgrade’s attempt to bottle up the opposition to the Franco-German initiative or the proposal of these two European powers.
It is not about vehicle plates, nor about the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, nor about the suspension of Nenad Djuric, it is only about the rejection they have made of the proposal of Paris and Berlin. And now they have to camouflage this rejection that they have done to Europe, that they have done to the European Union, this close coordination that they have with the Kremlin and with the despotic president Putin, and for this they are using those who still continue to listen to them in the Republic of Kosovo, so various members of illegal structures.
Serbia is clearly interested in sabotaging the dialogue and whatever agreement and path it has chosen is in cooperation with criminal groups in the north of the country for the threat of citizens and security in our country. This path is not one of peace and cooperation, nor of building neighborly relations, which is what we are committed to.
Such efforts will be unsuccessful, because our country is strong, democratic, which has economic and social growth in every field and aspect, being at the same time aligned with the European Union, the United States of America and NATO – n.
In the framework of this goal, Serbia and its political representatives have recently increased their activities against Kosovo, including propaganda, the spread of fake news, the staging of various incidents and other provocations. The media coverage of various incidents as “inter-ethnic incidents” was made through statements by the heads of state of Serbia, aiming to misuse and distort the data recorded in the Kosovo Police, giving them an inter-ethnic color, to various ordinary criminal cases.
Based on the data of our security institutions, Serbia has continued the pressure for the Serbs in Kosovo to be presented as “threatened and endangered”, and this in order to propagate that the Serbian community “is the target of continuous attacks” and that they we have no security.
Serbs in Kosovo are in danger from Belgrade, which burns their cars, which burns their houses. So no Serb doubts that the burning of the cars was done by the Albanians, that all the Serbs of Kosovo know very well that even Sergeant Dragan Nikolic, who had a part of his house burned, including the garage, and those vehicles that were burned because they were converted into RKS, have been burned by structures that are financed and directed by Belgrade.
The data of our institutions strongly prove what we have repeated for some time now that there is inter-religious and inter-ethnic harmony in our country. The incidents in the north of the country are politically organized by Belgrade in order to disguise the fight against crime and corruption in our institutions, which we do without distinction, under the guise of inter-ethnic incidents.
I want to emphasize that the democratic values built in the country, inter-ethnic coexistence and the rule of law are values that must be protected at all costs and no compromise should be made and will not be made.
The Government of the Republic of Kosovo will serve all citizens respecting the constitutionality and legality in the Republic of Kosovo. Our priority is justice and economic development, fighting corruption and employment; equality and well-being for all, without distinction, that is, without discrimination.
Boycotts are not a solution. Institutions have no alternative. Therefore, I appeal to all Serbian citizens: neither boycott nor abandon the institutions of Kosovo, because they are public services for all citizens, including Serbs. Do not fall prey to political manipulations and geopolitical games.
Serbia is continuously showing that it is not interested in the integration of Serbs in Kosovo and that it intends to undermine our democratic Kosovo.
The Republic of Kosovo will be committed to justice, to law, to constitutionality, to peace and security, and will not be blackmailed by criminal organizations, whoever they are and whoever they are organized by.
Finally, let me inform you that the vast majority of Serbian cars passing through our border crossing points do not have illegal license plates.
In the third quarter of 2022, out of a total of 75,000 vehicles in Serbia that passed through border crossing points, only about 6,300, or 8.5%, were illegal. So approximately every 12th car is like that, 11 are not like that out of 12 in total.
A number of cars with illegal license plates that have passed through our border crossings have been found to have been registered with Kosovo license plates as well. Only during October 2022, we had 200 such cases.
The vast majority of citizens who pass through the border crossings with a Serbian document and were born in Kosovo, also have a Kosovo document.
Kosovo Serbs have a total of over 135 thousand identity cards or identity cards of the Republic of Kosovo, and only an extreme minority is the one who insists on illegal license plates and endangers others who have converted or are converting them.
Now I am passing the floor to our Minister of the Interior, Xelal Sveçla, and then I will be able to answer your questions.
Last modified: November 8, 2022