Kosovo to form army on Dec. 14, says parliament chief

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia

The national army of Kosovo will be officially established on Dec. 14, head of the country’s parliament said on Monday.

"We will officially have an army of Kosovo on Dec. 14, which is the date when the Kosovo Assembly will vote on the proposals of the law on the transformation of the security forces into the army," Kadri Veselji said at a news conference.

In October, the Kosova's parliament voted in support of establishing a 5,000-strong national army. However, Serb minority representatives opposed the move, declaring it "illegal".

Kosovo is a former Serbian province that unilaterally declared independence, but Belgrade insists the country remains part of Serbia.

Since then, tensions have remained between Kosovo’s ethnic-Albanian majority and a small Serb minority in the north.

Responding to the announcement, Serbian director of the Office for Kosovo said that the formation of Kosovo army is the “biggest threat to peace and security in the Balkans.”

"The establishment of this illegal formation would jeopardize everything that has so far been achieved in the process of normalizing Belgrade-Pristina relations,” Marko Djuric said in a statement.

He assessed that such a formation would contribute to “deepening the inter-ethnic distance in the region.”