Zijad Becirovic: Train Belgrade – Mitrovica was not sent by coincidence

The train that did not run from Belgrade to Mitrovica for 17 years could not have been sent from Belgrade by coincidence, Dr Zijad Becirovic from the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkans studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana said.

- The government in Pristina is responsible for securing sovereignty and security on its territory. In this case, Kosovo officials thought that this was an international train which had to meet certain procedures and regulations of the international railway traffic. Political slogans are not practice in the international traffic. Therefore, we cannot talk about 'anger' but simply about the fact if Kosovo government functions or not. This case has proven that they do, Becirovic said.

Kosovo government prevented the train from Belgrade to Mitrovica to enter Kosovo on Saturday.

The train was painted in colours of Serbian flag, with names of monasteries and places in Kosovo written all over the train in 21 languages, including Albanian and with slogan 'Kosovo is Serbia'.

Asked about motives behind this move by Serbia, Dr. Becirovic said he believed that Serbian politicians wanted to create new issues 'in order to forget or supress the previous ones from people's minds, particularly those issues or events which are not in their interest'.

- Serbia is getting ready for presidential elections, maybe even parliamentary elections. So the issue of Belgrade – Mitrovica train could be viewed in that context, yet with a dialogue going on between official Belgrade and Pristina under auspices of Brussels, as each side wants to secure good negotiation position, Becirovic explained.