The leader of the Democratic Party (PD), Lulzim Basha accused Serbia of carrying up ethnic cleansing in the Albanian- majority Presevo Valley.
During a meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo and representatives of Presevo and Medvedja, Basha condemned the process of deleting the addresses of Albanians in the Presevo Valley
“This issue should be treated as a priority because the ethnic structure of the Presevo Valley should not be allowed to change in any way. What Serbia is doing is pure ethnic cleansing,” Basha wrote in a Facebook post.
According to the PD leader, Albania lost the opportunity to address this issue while holding the OSCE presidency.
He promised that with his party in power, he will address this issue in international institutions and will adopt a resolution condemning Serbian crimes in Kosovo.
Earlier, President Ilir Meta criticized Serbia, saying it was aiming to depopulate Medvedja in Presevo Valey, southern Serbia.
Also the Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Gent Cakaj is dealing with the Albanian issue in southern Serbia.
“Now we have started a diplomatic action to increase the international sensitivity on the issue of Albanians in the Presevo Valley,” Cakaj said after a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Meliza Haradinaj- Stublla.
In May, Kosovo’s Speaker of Parliament Vjosa Osmani accused the Serbian government of implementing policies aimed at ethnically cleansing Albanians living in southern Serbia, in violation of human rights.
Osmani voiced concerns also raised at Exit News by researchers like Dr Flora Ferati-Sachsenmaier who wrote on the alarming levels of depopulating Albanians from these regions through what is known as “passivation of residential addresses”.
