Kosovo Serb media not invited to roundtable on threats against journalists
(RTK2)
The Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday held a roundtable on assaults and pressure against journalists. The meeting was not attended by Serbian speaking media representatives. Officials of the Journalists Association of Serbia in Kosovo said they had not been informed in time, and OSCE officials stated that the main organiser was Prosecutor’s Office, while OSCE provided some sort of technical support only.
Chairman of Journalists Association of Serbia in Kosovo Budimir Nicic says that his Association representatives had a lot to say on the topic assault against journalists, as well as on their murdered and kidnapped colleagues. He adds that even Serb media were not invited to the meeting so that they could cover the event, but a late invitation was sent to a few Serb media.
“The invitation reached a few Serb media and journalists at 19:30, with a note that they were supposed to confirm their participation at 16:00 on that day. Maybe at the Prosecutor’s Office they have some paranormal capacities of travelling back in time, but to my knowledge, Serb media and Serb journalists are not in possession of any such a time machine that travels back in time,” Nicic said.
According to Nicic, it is particularly concerning that the mistake was made by the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office, the institution which enforces law regardless ethnic or any other background.
“What can we expect after this what happened? Can we expect that such a prosecutor’s office will tell us who the murderers of our colleagues are, who the kidnappers of our colleagues are, and who assaulted our journalists? I think this is intolerable, and I expect that the Prosecutor’s Office will launch proceeding against itself, both for discrimination and for this type of work, and punish those who are responsible for this failure. What we found out unofficially was that our Association representatives were not invited to the meeting because they (Prosecutor’s Office) do not like the name of our Association, the Journalists Association of Serbia, which is scandalous if it is true,” Nicic added.
Officials of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo said that problems occurred because representatives of Journalists Association of Serbia were invited late, but not at speakers’ capacity. For this reason, the OSCE has asked Prosecutor’s Office for an explanation.
Senad Sabovic, OSCE Spokesperson, said: “I reiterate that we as a support organisation to the meeting, several times called on Public Prosecutor’s Office to include Mr Nicic and some more people as speakers; however, as we later found out, it was rejected, and consequently we agree with the Association’s conclusion that it is not fair. There is no legal or any other reason for it not to happen. It is about a registered association in Kosovo, which is very active in society.”
Imer Mushkolaj, Press Council representative, cancelled his participation in the conference, as a sign of solidarity with his Serb colleagues. In his informal correspondence, Mushkolaj stated as follows:
“I sent a letter to the Chief Prosecutor’s advisor. She told me that it was not true, and that she has evidence that everybody was invited.”
RTK2 also reported that they asked the meeting’s organiser for an explanation. Instead of an interlocutor, they were informed by telephone answer machine that one of the officers was on annual leave, and email address of a second person to contact was provided. As RTK2 reported, they followed the instructions, but until this TV story was broadcast, they did not receive any reply.
Hoti: We will not block forming of institutions
(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)
Candidate for Prime Minister of the LDK-AKR-Alternativa coalition, Avdullah Hoti, said that June 11th elections gave a clear message to the whole political spectrum in Kosovo, including LDK.
Through a Facebook post, he said that LDK will not be an obstacle to creation of country’s institutions.
“We will not make any blockade in forming of the country’s institutions. We will respect the right of the largest parliamentary group PAN (PDK-AAK-Nisma) to try and form the Government. We will not enter coalition with them, and let’s clarify that they are not winners of election but only the largest parliamentary group,” Hoti wrote among others.
He called on the Central Election Commission (CEC) to be more efficient and conclude the election process in order to clear the way for creation of institutions.
PDK, AAK: Result of June 11 elections will not be reflected on local ones
(KTV)
The June 11 elections turned down many strongholds of political parties.
PDK, however, continues to think that the outcome of the June 11 elections will not follow this party on the local ones of October 22.
Nait Hasani of PDK says that there was support same as disappointment of the electorate in last elections, but local elections will show a different result from the general ones.
Hasani says that for PDK these elections are very important because they will put the party in motion to get updated.
AAK also is convinced that it will score bigger victory in the October 22 elections and will manage to retain the municipalities they have, and restore those that they lost in the 2013 elections.
Pal Lekaj from this party has not ruled out the opportunity to be back with the PDK and Nisma për Kosovën, but there is still nothing final. He calls Vetëvendosje’s growth as an increase from accidental votes.
In Vetëvendosje also say the outcome will differ from June 11 elections, as they expect the growth to be twice as big.
KTV tried during the day to get a statement from LDK officials, but they have not responded to the interest of this TV station.
This TV broadcaster also reported that the CEC starts preparations for local elections, and that the vote recount of 425 ballots will conclude in two days.
Petrovic blames Belgrade for his poor election result
(RTK1)
The ballot count so far has not brought good results to Serb Independent Liberal Party (SLS), which is led by Slobodan Petrovic. It seems that his party will have only one seat in the Kosovo Assembly.
Concerning this unsatisfactory result, Petrovic blamed Belgrade authorities for openly supporting Srpska List.
“Let me tell you a true joke that it was Belgrade Government that voted for Srpska List, whereas Kosovo Serb citizens and residents voted for us,” Petrovic said.
Regardless how the process will go on, Petrovic says that SLS would keep its positions and promises, irrespective of ethnicity.
According to Petrovic, SLS is willing to cooperate with any political entity, whose main aim is fight against corruption, improving lives of citizens on the ground, and fighting poverty. He believes that those are fundamental issues, rather than establishment of the Association, or opposing the Army.
Klokot/Kllokot deputy mayor doesn’t recognise his institutions
(Klan Kosova)
He was turned to a symbol of Serbian extremists by interrupting any activity of the “Mirëdita/Dobardan” festival, which took place a few weeks ago in Belgrade. With those actions, he hindered even former Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga from taking part in the event. However, Milos Stojkovic works for institutions of the Republic of Kosovo; he is deputy mayor of Klokot/Kllokot, whereas in Serbia he introduces himself as representative of displaced persons, Klan Kosova reported.
In addition, a video recording shows Stojkovic saying that Serbians never committed any crime in Kosovo, crying out “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia.”
Nevertheless, it seems that those activities have not made any fuss in Klokot/Kllokot municipality. Srecko Spasic, the mayor, said off record on Thursday that he was not intending to dismiss Stojkovic. Moreover, Spasic said there was nothing scandalous in the statements of his deputy, who receives his salary from the budget of Kosovo, while spending most of his time in Serbia.
On the other hand, the Albanian deputy mayor of Klokot/Klokot Hasan Rashiti said that Albanians, an ethnic minority in the municipality, have complained against his Serb colleague’s behaviour. Rashiti explained that the Municipal Assembly was never convened to discuss the provocations made from Serbia by the deputy mayor.
Mogherini and Hahn write to Hoxhaj: Kosovo’s future is in EU
(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)
The future of Kosovo and of the entire Western Balkans is in the European Union. This was stated by the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who, together with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, wrote a letter to Acting Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs Enver Hoxhaj.
Mogherini guarantees her support for Kosovo on her path toward the European Union.
Hahn, on the other hand, said that he will continue to be committed to the objective of a common future of Kosovo, the Balkans and the European Union.
“Mothers’ Call” against Resource Centre for Missing Persons
(KTV)
Members of the “Mothers’ Call” organisation are determined not to support the NGO Resource Centre for Missing Persons, which was established by Bajram Qerkini, who is at the same time Coordinator of Families in the Governmental Commission for Missing Persons. They say that no one dares to makes their children equal with criminal who were murdered while they were committing crimes.
Showing an office with women, KTV reported that all of them have lost their children and they spent most of their time in these premises surrounded by their photos.
Everyone knows the history of Ferdonie Qerkezi, this TV broadcaster continued. She has lost her four boys and husband, while Luljeta Sharani and Resmie Haxhibeqiri remained with a girl each, since their boys were killed during the war in Kosovo.
Establishment of joint associations with Serbs in the name of their missing is unacceptable to them, referring to the Resource Centre for Missing Persons which was established a day earlier.
“Mothers’ Call” once again called on President Hashim Thaçi to stop the initiative for reconciliation before the fate of missing persons is known, while they called on Bajram Qerkini not to speak in the name of their children.
Relations between Serbs and Albanians better, CRDP research finds
(RTK2)
The Centre for Research, Documentation and Publication (CRDP) presented results of the research on the “Concept of Reconciliation in the Context of Kosovo”, which indicates that relationship between the Serbs and Albanians has improved, but also that most believe that Serbia is responsible for the conflict.
According to results of a two-year research by CRDP, 81 percent of respondents still think that Serbia is the cause of the conflict in Kosovo.
Researcher Adnan Hoxha noted that this attitude varies among different ethnic groups, with 83.9 percent of Albanians, 11.5 percent of Serbs, 66.7 percent of Roma, 100 percent of Ashkali, Egyptians and Turks, 60 percent of Bosniaks, and 42.9% of Gorani. The “Concept of Reconciliation in the Context of Kosovo” aimed at establishing the best way to overcome the disagreements between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo.
Rule of law is one of the prerequisites for reconciliation, research results show.
The survey covered 1,040 citizens of Prishtinë/Pristina, Prizren, Klinë/Klina, Pejë/Pec, Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north, Gjakovë/Djakovica, Kamenicë/Kamenica and Gracanica/Graçanicë.
