Türkiye announces the immediate dispatch of reinforcements to the NATO mission in Kosovo

June 3 () –

The Turkish Ministry of Defense has announced the immediate dispatch of a reinforcement battalion to the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, amid a rise in tensions in recent days in the northern area, within the long confrontation between the Serbian and Kosovar governments.

This “reserve force”, whose members have previously served with KFOR, will join the Sultan Murat barracks on Sunday and Monday to assist the NATO military, according to the ministry’s statement, published on its website. .

“Our country is closely following the events in the Balkans, where we have common historical and cultural values,” according to the note.

Turkey expresses its intention to adopt “a constructive position” and “appeals to the restraint of the parties for the resolution, through dialogue, of the recent events in the friendly and fraternal northern area of ​​Kosovo, which harm the security and regional stability”.

The incidents recorded in recent months in northern Kosovo peaked with clashes in the municipality of Zvecan between KFOR peacekeepers and Kosovar Serb demonstrators, following protests against the town’s new mayor, originally Albanian, and emerged from the elections last April that the Kosovar Serb majority boycotted.

The election of Kosovar Albanian mayors is the latest case of confrontation between Serbs and Kosovars, after the elections had a very low turnout, in Zvecan of less than 3 percent.