Kurti asks Albanians to join anti-Serbia protest

TIRANA, Jan. 11 – Albin Kurti of the Kosovo’s Self-Determination party, held a news conference Wednesday calling on Albanians to join their brethren in Kosovo to block the two border crossing points with Serbia on Saturday as a response to the same thing done on the other side. Serbian authorities have blocked all Kosovo business from crossing into its country. Kurti said they have nothing against Serbian people but only wish to express their protest against Belgrade authorities. He said that it is in line with part of a decision of the Kosovo parliament taken last December that Kosovo authorities should respond in kind to any of the hampering moves taken from Serbian authorities toward Kosovo businesses. “On Jan. 14 we shall block Serbia’s politics, Serbia’s economy and Serbia as a crime. Such a protest is not against the Serbian people, in Kosovo or in Serbia. That is a protest against the state of Serbia,” he said. Kurti called on Albanians in Albania to join on Jan. 14. “Together we may block Serbia, we may help and strengthen Kosovo and Albanian production.” Kurti’s party also opposes ongoing talks between Kosovo and Serbia overseen by the European Union. Although the talks are not expected to resolve the dispute over the territory, international officials see it as a thawing of relations between the former foes that seek eventual membership in the EU. Some 10,000 people, most of them ethnic Albanians, died during the 1998-99 Kosovo war as Serbia launched a brutal crackdown to prevent a secession. NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999 to end the fighting and forced Serbian troops to withdraw. Kosovo declared unilateral independence in 2008 which Serbia refuses to accept and has vowed to block its membership in international organizations. So far 86 countries have recognized Kosovo’s independence.