High-ranking Serbian officials have referenced historical events in an attempt to argue that the pressure on Serbs in Kosovo did not begin with the current government. In a recent debate in the Serbian Parliament, it was stated that the adoption of the so-called “All-Serb Assembly” Declaration is crucial for maintaining Serbia’s presence in Kosovo.
Kosovo has been at the center of parliamentary debates in Serbia, where three consecutive days of sessions were held to approve the “Declaration” of the so-called “All-Serb Assembly.”
The declaration document includes statements about Kosovo as “an inseparable part of Serbia.”
Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević, accusing the opposition of indifference to the fate of Serbs in Kosovo, claimed that their expulsion did not start recently but dates back to when Serbia was in control of Kosovo.
“Serbs have been emigrating continuously for the last 40, 50, 60 years. They are under pressure. They also emigrated when the Serbian police and army were there, unfortunately, the Yugoslav army. And our judiciary. And our entire educational system, unfortunately. And this is not an alibi story, but a factual reflection of what happened to us,” Vučević stated.
Regarding opposition accusations about vehicle re-registration in Kosovo, Vučević noted that the current official of the Freedom and Justice Party, Borko Stefanović, signed the Agreement on Freedom of Movement in 2011, which accepted RKS plates. However, Dragan Đilas, the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, claimed that the declaration on the national interests of the Serbian people is actually a cover for corruption, crime, and betrayal of national interests by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Đilas referred to former Serbian businessmen linked to crime in Kosovo, Milan Radoičić and Zvonko Veselinović, calling them “the richest Serbs, after the president.”
“How are Serbs in Kosovo protected? By emigrating by the thousands, giving Pristina everything it asked for, with the fact that the greatest defenders of the Serbian people in Kosovo, Milan Radoičić and Zvonko Veselinović, became the richest Serbs, naturally after the president. In this document, you emphasize the need to ‘respect the fulfillment of international obligations’. So why don’t you tell the people what international obligations Vučić has taken? What did he promise on behalf of Serbia and its people?” Đilas said.
Bogdan Radovanović from the “Green Left Front” highlighted that the Declaration is merely a political brochure.
“It is entirely clear that this document is trying to mask many of this government’s mistakes, and while we are examining a document and kitschy-nationalist text, both Serbia and Republika Srpska face the same problem. And that problem is a serious threat to health and the environment,” he said.
In June of this year, Serbia and the Serbian entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, approved the “Declaration on the Protection of National and Political Rights, and for a Common Future of the Serbian People” at a meeting between the two governments in Belgrade. The Declaration mentions Kosovo, stating that it “is an inseparable part of Serbia” and that the All-Serb Assembly supports the efforts of the Republic of Serbia to preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty, guaranteed by international law, Resolution 1244, and other UN Security Council resolutions.
Signatories of the Declaration also condemned the “intolerable living conditions of Serbs in Kosovo, as a result of actions by official Pristina.”
According to the agreement, the declaration must be approved by the Parliaments of Serbia and Republika Srpska within 90 days. The National Assembly of the Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina approved the Declaration earlier this month.
Historians who have studied Serbian politics over the years have stated that victimization in their discourse is a long-known phenomenon.
“Since Serbia invaded Kosovo in 1912, nationalist circles, invoking the so-called historical right ‘to return to their Kosovo,’ began constructing the narrative that all these actions were happening to ‘protect the Serbian population’,” said historian Besim Qeriqi.
According to him, this narrative persisted throughout the lifespan of Yugoslavia.
“It gained momentum during the 1980s, where Serbian nationalism was the main theme. This phenomenon was particularly noticeable among Serbs living outside Serbia. Undoubtedly, the most vocal were the Serbs of Kosovo. Throughout this journey, victimization served as the main tool to justify counter-violence against other peoples, especially Albanians. It was a time when complaints from the Serbian population in Kosovo were relentless. Meanwhile, the reality was completely the opposite. Serbs, although constituting less than 10 percent of Kosovo’s total population, dominated all state positions over the Albanian majority population,” he emphasized.
Qeriqi noted that all-Serb gatherings, such as the All-Serb Assembly, are a continuation of historical efforts directed by political, ecclesiastical, and intellectual circles based in Belgrade.
“Under the slogan ‘One People, One Assembly – Serbia and Republika Srpska,’ the protection of national and political rights and a common future for the Serbian people, with a special focus on Serbs in Kosovo and Bosnia, is proclaimed. Despite enjoying unprecedented rights in the Western world, recent developments clearly show that Serbian leadership, with its guiding political actions, continues to serve destabilizing efforts in the region, as seen in the terrorist act in September last year in Banjska,” Qeriqi stated.
The US Embassy in Sarajevo reacted to the Declaration and the All-Serb Assembly, stating that the conclusions approved by the Assembly regarding the Dayton Agreement and the independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina do not protect the agreement as claimed by the authors but are a deliberate attack on that agreement and the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. US Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier also expressed disagreement with the All-Serb Assembly declaration.
“…I understand that the language used there says Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia. I understand that this is their stance, but it is not the stance of any of us, not of the United States, our Quint partners, or anyone else,” Hovenier said.
Despite Serbia being a candidate country for EU membership, it maintains close ties with Russia and has so far refused to join sanctions against Moscow following the aggression against Ukraine.
