After the April elections, extensive unrest has engulfed the breakaway province of Serbia.
The Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that, at the behest of the NATO Joint Force Command, it will deploy a commando battalion to Kosovo. Since ethnic-Albanian mayors were elected in the region’s Serb-majority area, tensions have escalated in the north of the Serbian secession province. Ankara has stated that its soldiers will assist in calming these tensions.
“Our nation closely monitors developments in the Balkans, where we share historical and cultural values,” the foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The statement added that Ankara is adopting a “constructive stance” toward the “resolution of the recent events in the friendly and brotherly northern part of Kosovo, which harm regional security and stability.”
International pressure has been applied to both Belgrade and Pristina to resolve the latest in a long series of disputes between Kosovo’s government, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, and ethnic Serbs in the north. This week, with the assistance of police units, Kosovo authorities supervised the installation of ethnic-Albanian mayors in northern municipalities, sparking violence in the region.
The mayors were elected in April elections with a turnout of approximately 3.5%, after Serbs boycotted the vote in protest over unmet autonomy demands from Pristina. This week, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic demanded that Kosovo authorities remove the “alleged mayors” in an effort to defuse the situation.
After an incident on May 30 in which at least 30 NATO forces were injured by Serb demonstrators, NATO announced at the end of May that it would send 700 additional troops to Kosovo. Additionally, 52 Serbs have reportedly been injured.
During the Kosovo War in 1999, NATO allegedly conducted a three-month bombardment campaign on humanitarian grounds against Serbia and on behalf of ethnic Albanian separatists. In 2008, despite the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 emphasizing Serbia’s territorial integrity, the newly constituted government in Pristina declared its independence.
Numerous nations, including Russia, China, and India, support Belgrade’s opposition to the secession. However, the independence of Kosovo has been recognized by approximately 100 countries worldwide.
Tuesday, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, criticized NATO forces for escalating the situation in Kosovo. “[The NATO Kosovo Force] not only demonstrated their lack of professionalism, but also became a source of unnecessary violence and an escalation factor,” according to a statement posted on the ministry’s website.
