A heart symbol and the letters "Mitrovica" now cover a road in the north of the country, replacing the previous symbol that contained the heart symbol and "K. Mitrovica" in Cyrillic.
Visar Syla, chief of staff of the mayor of this municipality, Erden Atiq, told KOHA that this is a municipal project, which will remove Cyrillic signs throughout the municipal area.
The decision of the Municipality of North Mitrovica has immediately prompted a reaction from Serbian political parties. During the removal of this symbol and the placement of the letters “Mitrovica” in the Latin alphabet, the Serbian List has produced an election video opposing the action. Milan Radojević, this party’s candidate for mayor of this municipality in the October 12 elections, has accused the government of “provocations by the Kurti regime.”
The Civic Initiative "North for All" has blamed Mayor Atiq for this action. They have described Atiq as a man "who hates his fellow citizens" and that at the end of his mandate, with the intention of "harming the majority community in his municipality", he removed a symbol. They have said that the removal of the sign offends not only the majority of citizens in North Mitrovica, but the entire Serbian community in Kosovo.
"Because the denial and removal of the Cyrillic alphabet from public life, which is a constitutional and legal category, is a direct attack on its multiethnic and multicultural character," it is stated in response to this initiative.
Meanwhile, local media have also emphasized the omission of the word "Veriut" as the official name of the municipality. Regarding this issue, Syla briefly said that the budget was only enough to write "Mitrovica".