18.07.2023, Belgrad.
Serbia has refused to purchase Bayraktar drones from Turkey in protest of Turkish UAVs being supplied to the paramilitary Kosovo Security Force (KSF), Serbian Defense Ministry State Secretary Nemanja Starovic told Radio and Television Serbia on July 18.
Starovic said that Turkey is actively engaged in arming the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, and, as the State Secretary said, “we are talking not only about Bayraktar drones but also very sophisticated anti-tank systems OMTAS , mortars, grenade launchers.”
According to the Serbian authorities, such actions of the Turkish authorities contribute to the growth of risks and threats, first of all for the Serbian population living in Kosovo and Metohija, but also for the Republic of Serbia as a whole.
The Secretary of State said that there are no grounds for panic, but that this is a serious violation of international law, “to which Belgrade has adequate responses”.
According to Starovic, Serbia monitors all these processes very intensively. He added that the competent authorities of the country “have been informing the state leadership about everything that is happening in detail for months” and that Serbia “has warned the representatives of Turkey through diplomatic channels that what is happening is unacceptable.”
Starovic added that, although according to the Turkish version, it is only commercial supplies, the volume of these supplies far exceeds the budget of the KSF.
According to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo should not have its own army, but only the Kosovo Security Force of up to five thousand people. It was also reported in the media that the authorities in Pristina, relying on material support from NATO countries are constantly modernizing and training the lightly armed KSF, turning them into a full-fledged armed force, which causes protests of the Serbian authorities.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
