Kosovo has banned the entry of the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Peter Petkovic, because, as it is said, despite the fact that he has continuously given guarantees that he will refrain from inflammatory statements, in his last visits to Kosovo, he made "provocative statements".
Petkovic said that Kosovo did not allow him to stay on a two-day visit to Kosovo, planned for September 3 and 4.
"Contrary to the obligation taken and the pledge to refrain from provocative and inciting statements of hatred, he has continuously in the last three visits openly used hateful and inciting language, culminating in the last visit in the inauguration of the so-called universities in North Mitrovica", says a response to Radio Free Europe from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of Kosovo.
However, the MPJD has not clarified which statements of Petkovic it qualifies as provocative and inciting hatred.
From the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, earlier on Friday they said that Petkovic was scheduled to stay two days in Kosovo, to visit some business entities "where the state of Serbia has provided new jobs" as well as to visit some families living in severe economic conditions.
According to this office, this is the third stop in a row that Kosovo has imposed on Petkovic and this "on the eve of the continuation of the dialogue in Brussels next week". This office warned that these stops will be part of the discussions in Brussels.
Petkovic's office said that the reasoning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo for the ban on his entry into Kosovo "is unfounded".
On August 20, Serbia said that in North Mitrovica it has laid the foundation stone of the so-called "University of Pristina with temporary headquarters in Mitrovica".
In this event, Petkovic had stated:
"This is the cornerstone of the harmony and unity of our people in Kosovo, and for this today we are united as we were and will be: both Lista Serbe and our University and the state of Serbia. Our people have a future only through this unity, as the president (of Serbia, Aleksandar) Vucic has said."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora said that, moreover, Petkovic had not announced the visit to Kosovo on September 3 and 4.
"Based on this, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo has not allowed him to enter Kosovo on September 3-4, 2021, while it has approved the entry for the rest of the delegation," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Kosovo and Serbia, within the dialogue mediated by the European Union, in 2011 also reached an agreement on official visits, where it is stated that the parties must notify each other of the visits to the respective countries.
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