The attack in the north of Kosovo, i.e., the Banjska Group incursion, which the official Pristina characterized as a terrorist attack and an act of aggression, many politicians and analysts warn, is the last warning that tensions must be calmed down in order to avoid the worst scenario – the outbreak of war in the Balkans, which, as some claim, could be extended to Europe.
The Chairperson of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Sonja Biserko, in an interview for CdM, says that the incursion of the Banjska Group into the north of Kosovo could have been expected given the behavior of Belgrade in the last few months.
“Graffiti ‘When the army returns to Kosovo’ as an announcement flooded not only Belgrade, but also the interior of Serbia. Then there was the speech of President Aleksandar Vucic at the General Assembly, his tone and message – all this indicates that something is being prepared. Belgrade has always been transparent in its intentions, like in the 1990s when it set out to destroy Yugoslavia, every action and intention was announced in the media”, Biserko explains clearly.
She underlines that, as the information comes in, it is increasingly clear that there was a scenario at work to provoke a conflict so that the Serbian army would then enter to protect the Serbian people in the north and thus implement the division of Kosovo.
After all, she adds, this is an option that is supported by almost the entire political and academic elite, the services, the army, a large part of the civil sector and, according to reports, the media as well.
“This operation, regardless of who is directly responsible for it in Belgrade, has crossed a red line that the West cannot tolerate. This situation was not provoked by Kurti, as most in Belgrade comment. On the contrary, he showed maturity and the Kosovo police showed professionalism”, says Biserko for CdM.
Although, as she adds, Vucic is trying to defend himself and shift the responsibility to the Kosovo Serbs, who are his hostages anyway, claiming that he does not control Kosovo – all information indicates that Belgrade was implicated.
According to Biserko, Russia certainly has an interest in drilling the Balkans and creating tensions and opening critical points in order to distract some of the attention from Ukraine. It is indicative, she notes, that the next day Vucic received the Russian ambassador to complain that Kurti was preparing “ethnic cleansing of Serbs”.
“The Serbian Orthodox Church reacted promptly with the announcement of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren and was the first to publicly indicate that an unknown and masked group of people broke into the courtyard of the church in Banjska”, says Biserko.
She points out that the international community is also responsible for tolerating for too long the behavior of President Vucic and his threats to his neighbors, which are daily and which inevitably led to conflict.
After the confirmation by the highest Pristina officials that one policeman was killed and another one wounded in the North of Kosovo, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani, as well as other officials, accused Serbia, i.e. “Serbian criminal gangs”, which have “political, financial and logistical support from the official Belgrade”.
The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said that the Serbian state should bear responsibility for what she believes to be a terrorist attack and act of aggression.
At an extraordinary session, the Government of Serbia declared 27 September as the Day of Mourning in connection with the tragic events in Kosovo.
