In a statement on Twitter, Olta Xhaçka, the Albanian foreign minister, urged the Serbian government “not to excuse either the barricades or the criminal gangs that refuse to take them down.”
On the social network, Xhaçka warns that “playing with fire is a really dangerous notion for the future of all our children.”
“Regrettably, we are closely monitoring the development of an artificially extended crisis in the northern part of Kosovo, and the rising tensions gravely worry us. The barriers that have been set up in the north—erected by a gang of infamous criminals, not by some wave of popular rage—are doing more than just impeding daily routine. Additionally, these are images that bring to mind the gloomy 1990s, which our region has long since moved on from along with the defunct Former Yugoslavia. 2023 will soon arrive! Making military threats or unacceptably violent attacks against the Kosovo Police, KFOR, or the EULEX Police at this time is not appropriate. Now is the moment for collaboration and dialogue. This dangerous exchange must end, and those responsible must be called to account. We stand with Kosovo in this trying time and urge the Serbian authorities to refrain from defending the barricades or the criminal organizations that won’t take them down. For the sake of the future of all of our children, playing with fire is a terrible idea “, according to the minister Xhaçka’s article.