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Türkiye Will Send Commando Troops to Kosovo. PHOTO/Reuters
ANKARA – Turki plans to send commandos to Kosovo on Sunday (4/6/2023) and Monday (5/6/2023). This submission is a response to a request NATO to join the KFOR peacekeeping force after the unrest in the north of the country.
In a statement on Saturday (3/6/2023), the Turkish Defense Ministry called for restraint and constructive dialogue to resolve the crisis which it said could undermine the security and stability of the region.
“Our assigned unit (battalion commando) is planned to deploy to Kosovo on June 4-5,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement.
A political crisis turning violent in northern Kosovo has escalated since an ethnic Albanian mayor took office in the region’s Serb-majority region, leading the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina. The majority of Serbia’s population has boycotted the April elections, which allowed ethnic Albanians to vote.
In Monday’s violence, 30 peacekeepers and 52 Serbs protesting the mayor’s appointment were injured. The violence prompted NATO to announce it would send additional troops on top of the 700 already en route to the Balkan country to bolster its 4,000-strong mission.
The West knows that it was ethnic Kosovo Albanian policemen who started the riots on Monday, in which 30 KFOR peacekeepers were injured, but will continue to support Pristina. This was announced by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“The fight was started by the so-called Kosovo police, not NATO,” Vucic told Prva TV in a 90-minute interview. He said ethnic Albanian police first arrested two ethnic Serbs and shot the other, who barely survived, while the only image we see is of a wounded NATO soldier.
“Everyone in the West knows it’s Pristina’s fault. But (Kosovo Prime Minister Albin) Kurti knows that whatever he does, America, Germany and Britain will protect the so-called independence of Kosovo,” Vucic said as quoted by Russia Today, Saturday (3/6/2023).
(esn)
