Local elections are coming up in Kosovo in the fall. As the Serbs left the institutions as early as November 2022, this is an opportunity for - after the Albanian mayors have taken those positions - a change of government. The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, recently said: "We will have many problems with the upcoming elections in Kosovo", adding that regardless, he must preserve "peace and stability".
What kind of "stability" does the Serbian community have in Kosovo? How often do Serbs go to Raška? Do they use dinars or euros? What kind of relationship do they have with their Albanian neighbors? What did the conflict in Banjska bring or take away? We talked about all this with the editor of the portal Alternativna Ana Marija Ivković, who grew up and lives in Kosovo.
"WEATHER" It will soon be two years since the conflict in Banjska. How did it affect the position of Serbs in Kosovo? Is there a difference in the attitude and rhetoric of Belgrade towards Kosovo before and after the conflict?
ANA MARIJA IVKOVIĆ: Kosovo is no longer such an important topic in relation to what is happening in central Serbia. Before Banjska, we heard about the fact that there are some young people who oppose Kurti and who will represent some form of resistance to his politics. That changed after Banjska. But for a long time I advocated the thesis that some things happened because of Banjska, I mean above all the attitude towards the integration of Serbs into the Kosovo system, but now, after a certain time, I understand that the plan was already such, and that Banjska only accelerated the steps. Serbian institutions were closed, the dinar was abolished, which made life difficult for ordinary citizens. The process of closing institutions lasted for several years, from Banjska until today. Everything is closed except for education and healthcare. In short, I think that life after Banjska has changed in many ways, but I don't think that event is the reason, it's just a catalyst for what was waiting for us all along, and we weren't even aware of it.
It is often said that the life of Serbs from Kosovo is different, due to the closure of institutions, directed towards Raška, about 60 kilometers from Kosovska Mitrovica. How often do you go there??
I don't go to Raška as often as close family members do, because I am in no way connected to the Serbian system. So I can only speak about it through what I see in my family. They have to travel to Raška in order to withdraw money, and the situation is identical with my grandmother who is over 70 years old. She doesn't travel, my uncle does. I keep thinking about what would happen to certain relatives who are unable to physically go to Raška and come back just to withdraw money, take medicine and maybe buy something. I repeat, our normal life is moving towards central Serbia and that is the backbone of everything. If I had to explain the situation, I would say: our lives are being moved to containers in Raška, Ribarići, in the first towns next to the administrative line.
The decision to abolish the dinar was made at the beginning of last year, and for many who have yet to come to Kosovo, it is often not clear whether dinars or euros are used. How to pay in Kosovska Mitrovica?
It's a big dilemma for those who don't know the situation, but we still use the dinar to the greatest extent. However, you no longer have any Serbian bank, Serbian post office where you could withdraw dinars at some point. It is prohibited for bank transactions. That is one of the biggest changes. I think Kurti in a way used the whole situation again to score political points. It is a fact that those banks are closed, that the post office is closed, but it is also a fact that we still use the dinar. Not to the extent we were before, but the flow of money could not be stopped.
So, on the one hand, he sent a message to his electorate that he did something he did not do, and on the other hand, he sent a message to Serbs that everything Serbian can easily be banned. I'm sorry to say that, it seems extreme, but it's true. Recently, they detained the boys for fan shirts. Probably the police don't understand that these are t-shirts related to the Red Star and when they say so severe, they mean the tribune, not the north of Kosovo. Everything is slowly becoming a reason for you to be prosecuted if you are not part of the Kosovo system in any way.
What is the attitude of the Kosovo authorities towards the Serbs? Do the Serbs want to integrate into the Kosovo system?
The change of mayors in the Serbian municipalities in the north of Kosovo occurred when the Serbian councilors and mayors left the institutions in 2022. With the minimum number of votes, on the wings of the nationalist policy of Self-Determination, Albanian mayors who had a different attitude towards citizens came to power. Now citizens from the north are slowly becoming part of the Kosovo system by being forced to register their businesses, taxi drivers must have Kosovo vehicle registration and so on. The system is designed to insist on it. If you don't want integration, the Pristina authorities have ways to make you accept it. And if you don't accept that, the only way you can fight it is to get out of here. I am afraid that it is a relationship in which there is no essential integration, but coercion. And forced integration is not good for either the integrating society or the integrating society.
This is one of the reasons why citizens decide to leave Kosovo, because they realize that they have no mechanisms to protect their position except to accept what was imposed. One of those impositions is that, for example, an employee does not want to speak Serbian to you even though he knows it. Maybe for someone from central Serbia, this does not sound terrible, but it is not about one or two years, but about a decade of such a relationship. And the citizens simply say: "Maybe I don't belong here".
To whom does the Serbian community complain?, Belgrade or Pristina?
This story seems worn out, but the eyes of the Serbian community are always on Belgrade. He is the one who maintains the Serbian community. Thanks to Belgrade, the Serbs are still in Kosovo. Why? Because the existence of Kosovo Serbs is to the greatest extent linked to payments from the Serbian budget. Another problem is that Belgrade abuses it for the sake of political points, the electorate and the spread of panic and fear, when they need it. So Kurti, when it's difficult for him and when he has problems in Pristina, deals with the issue of the north of Kosovo. And Vučić, when it's hard for him and when he doesn't know where to go with everything that's happening in central Serbia, deals with the issue of Kosovo and Kosovo Serbs. In that respect, the two policies are very similar. They are nationalistic, at least on the surface and without much influence on what will happen to the citizens tomorrow. They deal exclusively with the electorate.
This leads to another situation, which is that these nationalist policies have a great influence among the citizens and that both communities no longer live with each other but next to each other. This is something that was evident even decades ago. It seems to me that we are now in the situation we were in several decades ago, and only the roles have changed. You have messages from Prishtina that the north has been conquered, that there are criminals, terrorists, people who do not pay taxes, people who have yet to be part of a system, and that there should not be much empathy for them. While from Belgrade you are also listening to some messages that are not conciliatory. In those circumstances, it is difficult to talk about living together or reconciliation at all.
Do you believe in reconciliation??
I still believe in reconciliation. Although it doesn't seem possible at the moment, I would like my fellow citizens of both nationalities to think carefully about what they hear from Belgrade and Pristina and to remember what happened before, during and after the conflict, and who was responsible for all that. I believe that nationalist messages and policies have not brought any good to either of them.
Although I am very critical of the Brussels Agreement (the first), you had people officially cross the bridge and go to a Kosovo institution to work. Serbs from the north went to South Mitrovica and vice versa. It was accepted as normal and it seems to me that back then people cooperated and helped each other. But, I think that essentially no one has dealt with reconciliation, that is the problem. I don't think anyone is interested in our reconciliation because it's much easier to fight and rule than to have people who are on the same side and who just want a normal life. Now, on one side, there are Kosovo Serbs, who want a normal life and some basic freedoms, and on the other side, Kosovo Albanians, who live mostly from their system, some of their own state, and who say that there is some conquering potential in the north.
These are two parallel realities. We have the oppressor and the oppressed, and we had all that before the war, but in reversed roles. I would like all of us to look at ourselves and for our neighbors to do the same, because it seems to me that this is going in the wrong direction and that if it continues like this - not only because of the actions of Pristina, but also because of the actions or inactions of Belgrade and the international community - the Serbian community in Kosovo will be really small.
