Monastery attack in Kosovo: a massacre that benefits both sides Erdogan congratulates Azerbaijan on the conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh: “Historic success”

As cynical as it may sound given the massacre in northern Kosovo, politically speaking, the battle between the Serbian terror outfit and the Kosovo police in the Banjska Monastery comes at just the right time – for both sides.

Both Serbs and Kosovars can now officially abandon the peace process that has been painstakingly orchestrated by the EU for decades and retreat to their irreconcilable positions. Neither side needs to continue to pretend that there is still any interest in a diplomatic breakthrough on the Kosovo issue.

Instead, both can continue the usual Zwarte Piet game and shift all the blame to the other side. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti rejects the creation of the Serb Community Association in northern Kosovo, which has been pending since the 2004 Brussels agreement, saying: “I am not stupid.” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says his right hand would sooner wither than sign the state’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence.

It is clear: as long as Kurti and Vucic are in power in their country, the prospects for a peaceful solution to the Kosovo issue will be zero. Instead, as has happened with increasing regularity in recent years, violent escalations will flare and then subside under enormous Western pressure – until the next incident involving deaths and injuries.

Political fiasco in Brussels

Aleksandra Tomancic, director of the democratic finance initiative European Fund for the Balkans, now sees the whole negotiating show between Pristina and Belgrade as counterproductive: “A dialogue process that takes years only leads to more frustration, more distrust and ultimately to tensions like we have now “We are currently experiencing this,” Tomancic said in the British “Guardian”.

In fact, it’s hard not to draw a direct link between the September 14 diplomatic fiasco and last weekend’s deadly shooting. A personal meeting in Brussels between Kurti, Vucic and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU negotiator Miroslav Lajčák ended not only without results, but apparently also with personal hostility.

Kurti then claimed that he was personally insulted by Vucic without the EU representatives intervening. For him, the negotiation process has therefore “reached a dead end”.

For his part, in an interview with the right-wing conservative American broadcaster Newsmax, Vucic happily explained how in Brussels he had agreed without reservations to all five conditions of the EU, while Kurti bluntly rejected the only requirement, the formation of the Serbian government. rejected. association of municipalities.

Borrell then confirmed the Serbian position: “Unfortunately, after quite a long conversation, Prime Minister Kurti was not willing to move forward with a credible process.” Even Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama – the man of the moment by reprimanding the Russian ambassador as president of the UN Security Council in New York – criticized Kurti for his “short-sightedness”.

Even Albania criticizes Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti

It left Rama “speechless” when Kurti accused EU envoy Lajčák of being in cahoots with Serbia after the meeting in Brussels. “This was an unprecedented act. Kurti does not understand that a strategic vision is needed to achieve his goals,” Rama said in an interview with Albanian broadcaster ABC News.

This only seemed to confirm what Pristina believes it has observed since the Russian attack on Ukraine: the EU and NATO are increasingly switching to the Serbian side to alienate Aleksandar Vucic from Putin and pull him to the side of the West. Kosovo plays the role of pawn sacrifice.

But after the terrorist attack in Banjska, Pristina sees things getting back on track before the eyes of the world: the aggressor is clearly Serbia; It is certain that the heavily armed commando went to northern Kosovo at Vucic’s personal request to destabilize the security situation and to warm up the mood after the supposed calm of recent months.

It is also clear to Serbian hardliners that the monastery battle was a Kosovo “false flag” operation. The aim was not only to reverse Serbia’s recent diplomatic successes, but also to accelerate the upgrade of Kosovo’s police force into its own army. Accordingly, Serbian tabloid media on Monday commented on the weekend’s events with bold letters and the headline “There is blood on Kurti’s hands.”

At a media conference in Belgrade on Sunday evening, Vucic denied all responsibility but at least agreed that the terrorist group was Serbs; namely those who “no longer want to endure the terror of Kurti”.

The mutual reactions to the weekend shooting ultimately prove how at the mercy of both Kurti and Vucic are the nationalist camps in their countries that do not want to allow any form of communication. The Serbian president has been under extra pressure since the two shootings that left a total of 17 people dead in May and the ongoing civil protests against his government since then.

Given the political consequences, it becomes virtually irrelevant who is actually behind the latest escalation. The NATO presence with its KFOR troops was the only thing that provided definitive stability and the guarantee that there would be no open hostilities between Serbia and Kosovo.