Ulutas: KFOR Isn't Handing Off Ibar Bridge Duty

KFOR commander Major General Ozkan Ulutas said in an interview with the Kosovo Online portal, published on September 2, 2026, that the optimization of KFOR’s deployment does not amount to transferring its mandate or responsibility to Kosovo police. According to him, it’s a matter of repositioning forces to where they’re needed most, not a withdrawal or a scaling back of NATO’s obligations toward Kosovo.

The statement comes a day after the EULEX mission said the security situation in northern Mitrovica is calm and stable, and a week after we reported on Carabinieri patrolling the Ibar bridge, when the visible presence of foreign troops there was the only sign that anything was changing. Now, for the first time, the commander himself is addressing the reasons behind the shift.

Ulutas says the handover of KFOR’s permanent presence at the Ibar bridge is happening gradually and conditionally, in coordination with Kosovo police, EULEX and other stakeholders, and that KFOR continues its visible patrols in northern and southern Mitrovica and across the north of Kosovo.

“KFOR’s optimization does not represent a transfer of mandate or responsibility,” Ulutas told Kosovo Online.

He offers a similar explanation for bringing in Kosovo police to help secure the Visoki Decani monastery, noting that any final decision on a full KFOR withdrawal from the monastery rests with NATO, not with him. The commander says the commitment to the monastery’s security remains firm, and that involving local police follows the same practice KFOR has already used at other protected religious sites in Kosovo, in consultation with representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Ulutas says KFOR takes the Serb community’s security concerns seriously, but that improved overall conditions don’t mean every individual already feels safe enough, nor that incidents are ruled out. He adds that the force posture can be adjusted, paused or reversed entirely if the security situation demands it, and that NATO retains the option to reinforce KFOR should circumstances require it.

KFOR’s mandate, the commander notes, stems from UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999, and it functions as the third tier in a three-tier security response system in Kosovo, behind Kosovo police and EULEX.

The KFOR commander also stresses that a military presence alone doesn’t resolve the substance of the dispute. The path to lasting security is political, not military, Ulutas said, adding that NATO fully backs the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, mediated by the European Union, as the framework for resolving outstanding issues.

EULEX: no mandate for stationary patrols on the bridge

A day before Ulutas’s statement, on September 1, EULEX told Front Online that the mission has no mandate to run static patrols on the bridge itself, but that its Formed Police Unit regularly carries out mobile reconnaissance patrols in the area. The mission assessed the security situation in northern Mitrovica in the following terms.

“The security situation is calm and stable,” EULEX said in its response.

EULEX added that any decision on eventually opening the main Ibar bridge to traffic must account for the interests of all the communities it connects, and that Kosovo police must guarantee the security and protection of all residents, in line with democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law, as stated in the mission’s statement.

Neither Ulutas nor EULEX gave a timeline for when the transition at the bridge should be complete, nor for when Kosovo police might fully take over security at Visoki Decani. Both statements leave the matter open, contingent on how the security situation in northern Kosovo develops.