“Unfortunately for Kurti, the truth is a little different”: Danas interlocutors on the Kosovo Prime Minister’s statement that Serbs in Kosovo live better than Serbs in Serbia

Does Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti have official data that proves his statement? Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija live in a mixture of segregation and intimidation, total insecurity for their children, their property and themselves. It is about another lie and manipulation by Kurti, aimed primarily at the public in the West, say Danas interlocutors commenting on the Kosovo Prime Minister’s statement.

In an interview with Večernji list, Kurti said, among other things, that “in the north of Kosovo, they have peaceful and good days whenever there is no order from Belgrade for violence”.

“Serbs in Kosovo live much better than Serbs in Serbia, but criminals in Serbia live much better than in Kosovo. You see that Vučić’s protests in Kosovo are violent, and the protests against Vučić in Belgrade, none. The life of Serbs in Kosovo is made difficult by Belgrade, which does not allow them to integrate. People who don’t integrate don’t live very well, and those who integrate live better. But, Belgrade does not want them to live better, it wants to feed tensions and the potential for destabilization in some way,” Kurti said.

Marko Jakšić, a lawyer from North Mitrovica, indicates for Danas that this is another lie and manipulation by Kurti, aimed primarily at the public in the West.

• All the time, with the aim of discrediting, he associates us Serbs from the North of Kosovo with the Russians and Wagner, calls us fascist militias, while now he is trying to spin how we are doing well in his police ethnocracy and occupation. If there are bases and checkpoints of the special police on all sides, who at the same time walk for no reason with long pipes and in armored vehicles in Kosovska Mitrovica and other places in the North non-stop, if it is legitimate that Albanian mayors with the support of two percent of the citizens forcefully manage the lives of the majority of 98 percent, and it is normal that people are randomly arrested for war crimes and terrorism just because they are Serbs, as well as ubiquitous institutional discrimination, something completely normal for modern democracies and today’s Europe, then what Kurti says is correct – he describes.

As he points out, unfortunately for Kurti, the truth is a little different.

• And the Serbs in Kurti’s Kosovo, especially those in the North, are currently the most threatened community in the whole of Europe, and for that he personally, together with his nationalist fascist movement Self-Determination, is the most responsible, because since coming to power he has been implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing of the Serbs, hiding behind democracy and the war in Ukraine – he states.

While Fatmir Seholi, the founder of the Institute for the Affirmation of Inter-Ethnic Relations, is in doubt whether Prime Minister Kurti has official data that proves his statement.

• We, as the Institute for the Affirmation of Inter-Ethnic Relations, have carried out research on this issue several times in the last three years. And as a result, we had the results that 5 percent of Serbs in Kosovo live extremely well, 65 percent of them live like their Albanian neighbors, and 30 percent live in bad conditions – he says for Danas.

As he points out, we should not compare the Serbs from Kosovo with those in Serbia, but we should compare the Serbs from Kosovo as equal citizens in the state of Kosovo with the capacities provided by the state to them.

• We know that Serbia finances health, education and several other projects such as social benefits for Serbs in Kosovo. If Prime Minister Kurti meant those components and that is why the Serbs in Kosovo live better than the Serbs in Serbia, then he is mistaken, because south of the Ibar in six municipalities with a Serbian majority, 60 percent of the Serbs sold their properties and are still selling them now, so no I believe that someone who lives better than the Serbs in Serbia needs to sell his property and leave Kosovo. The latest data from the international RCC company show that 57 percent of Kosovo’s citizens want to leave Kosovo, so something doesn’t match Prime Minister Kurti’s statement – he says.

And Sanda Rašković Ivić, the commissioner of the People’s Party, concludes for the Republic of Kosovo that Serbs in the Republic of Kosovo live in a mixture of segregation and intimidation, total insecurity for their children, their property, for themselves.

• I understand the need to brighten things up a bit, but telling such a big lie about something that is easily verifiable and even evident is total nonsense. Since Kurti’s “good life”, people leave KiM every day or seriously think about it. It’s hard to live in Serbia, the standard of people is not satisfactory, but even in Kosovo, the standard of ordinary people does not jump a bit, if we look at things only in terms of the money crisis – she tells Danas.