PODGORICA (Reuters) -Police in Montenegro said on Monday they had detained dozens of Turkish and Azeri nationals after a weekend of violence triggered by the stabbing of a Montenegrin man in the capital Podgorica by a group of Turks.
President Jakov Milatovic has called for calm, while Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said his government would temporarily suspend a visa-free regime for Turkish nationals.
The Montenegrin man was stabbed on Saturday night after an exchange of insults with a group of Turkish citizens, though his injuries were not life-threatening.
Dozens of local people on Sunday retaliated by vandalising vehicles with Turkish number plates and at one point forced some Turkish citizens to barricade themselves in a casino.
The police said they had detained two people suspected of being involved in the stabbing incident, a Turkish national and an Azeri, as well as an additional 45 Turkish and Azeri citizens suspected of lacking legal residence documents.
They fined seven of those detained and ordered the deportation of eight others, police said in a statement.
Out of 100,000 foreign citizens registered permanently or temporarily in Montenegro, around 13,000 are Turks, Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said.
Officials say there has been an increase in the number of Turkish citizens opening businesses or seeking work in Montenegro, a tiny Adriatic state of around 620,000 people heavily reliant on tourism, ahead of its expected accession in the coming years to the European Union.
“With the aim of preserving economic activity and good bilateral relations, we will initiate intensive discussions with the Republic of Turkey in the coming period to find, in the spirit of good cooperation and partnership, the best model (of visa arrangements) in our mutual interest,” Spajic said on X.
President Milatovic condemned the violence.
“There must be no room for collective guilt or the stigmatization of an entire people,” Milatovic said. “Montenegro needs a more responsible immigration policy: firm against abuses and crime, fair towards all who respect our laws.”
(Reporting by Stevo vasiljevic, writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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