Petkovic meets with Dutch ambassador, points to Pristina's unilateral, anti-Serb moves

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met with Dutch Ambassador to Belgrade Martijn Elgersma on Thursday to discuss the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, pointing to unilateral, anti-Serb moves by the Albin Kurti-led authorities in Pristina.

Petkovic conveyed to Elgersma that Belgrade was a credible partner in the dialogue and that it respected all agreements signed in Brussels to date, while, for more than 13 years now, Pristina had been avoiding the obligation to form a Community of Serb Municipalities, the most important foundation for respect for the collective and individual rights of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs, also guaranteed by the EU itself, the Office for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement.

For its part, Pristina does not only not respect the signed agreements, but is destroying all results of the dialogue on the ground through unilateral and illegal moves, trampling all fundamental human rights of the Serbs, Petkovic noted.

He said politically motivated and arbitrary arrests of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, made on political grounds without legal foundation, were especially worrying and aimed at intimidating and expelling Serbs from the province, and noted that 37 Serbs had been detained at Gazimestan during June 28 St Vitus's Day commemorations.

Petkovic said some of the Serbs had been subjected to police torture and brutality, as well as to shameful and humiliating treatment by the so-called "Kosovo Police".

"For its part, Belgrade is committed to building peace and co-existence and to normalisation of relations on the ground through the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, but the other party is using the current political crisis in Pristina as an excuse to prolong the dialogue and make unilateral moves to the detriment of the Serbs. For that reason, it is also necessary that, through its mechanisms, the EU gets Pristina to adopt a responsible and committed attitude to the Brussels dialogue and refrain from all illegal moves that are contrary to the spirit of normalisation of relations," Petkovic said.