Conflict with Türkiye over Kosovo not in Serbia's national interest, says minister

Türkiye is a major power with significant political and economic influence in the Western Balkans, Serbia's defense minister has said, adding that the country views the Kosovo issue in entirely different ways because any conflict with Ankara would not be in their national interests.

Milos Vucevic made the remarks in an interview with Serbian public broadcaster RTS on Monday, a day after Kosovo, which borders Serbia on the south and west, received Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) known as Bayraktar TB2.

"Türkiye is a big country, a power, and has significant political and economic influence in the Western Balkans, and we have to make sure we have the best possible relations with Türkiye. But we look at Kosovo in completely different ways. It's interesting that their military barracks in Prizren are named after Sultan Murat, which is a strong association for all of us in this region," Vucevic said.

The Kosovo Security Forces received five Bayraktar TB2 drones in early May when the largest international exercise, Defender Europe 23, began.

In April, Kosovo Serbs boycotted extraordinary local government elections for four municipalities in the country's north, with only 3.47% of eligible voters casting ballots.

In late May, tensions erupted in Kosovo when Serb protesters attempted to prevent newly elected Albanian mayors from entering three municipal buildings, prompting police to fire tear gas shells to disperse them.

Later, Serbia ordered its army to advance to the border with Kosovo and urged NATO to "stop the violence against local Serbs in Kosovo."

On May 30, after 30 soldiers were injured during unrest in the region, NATO sent 700 more troops to the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the alliance-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Turkish forces were among the reinforcements.

Around 500 additional Turkish soldiers arrived in June amid Serb protests against the election of Albanian mayors in northern municipalities with a large ethnic Serb population, and have been stationed at Camp Sultan Murat, near the capital Pristina.

Turkish soldiers serving as part of a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo are contributing to regional peace and security.

Vucevic said in the interview that the new KFOR commander will a Turkish general for the first time in history.

According to the latest official NATO data, 780 of the 4,511 KFOR soldiers are from Türkiye, while 679 are from the US, and estimates indicate that the number of Turkish contingents in KFOR could reach a thousand members by the end of the year.