• Osmani will travel to Washington for Board of Peace inauguration (Kanal 10/RFE)
• Konjufca in the Hague: Verdict to be in line with the history of KLA (Albanian Post)
• “Freedom has a Name”: Over 130,000 people took part in the march (Reporteri)
• Osmani on 2nd term: In hands of MPs; ready to continue my contribution (Kanal 10)
• EU: Waiting for clarifications from Kosovo authorities on faculty in the north (Kossev)
• US Embassy: Today 18 years ago, US formally recognized Kosovo (all media)
• Muja: I expect that Konjufca will be in charge for talks with Serbia (Kosovo Online)
• ‘You never really leave’: How three exiles gave a Kosovo village new life (BIRN)
• Sandulovic says he was beaten for apologizing for crimes in Kosovo (A2CNN)
• Serbian police ‘chase down’ protesters as clashes erupt in Belgrade park (BIRN)

Osmani will travel to Washington for Board of Peace inauguration (Kanal 10/RFE)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani confirmed on Tuesday that she will be in Washington on to take part in the first inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace. “We feel really proud to have joined President Trump, the United States of America, and other allies in this international organization, which was founded in Davos and the first inaugural meeting very soon in Washington D.C., and I will travel there to represent the Republic of Kosovo,” Osmani said in an interview with Kanal 10.

Osmani said that a lot of good work has been done, “including support for membership in NATO” and “as a result of a very close work with the Trump administration”. This support, she added, is “shown in the letter that the US President sent to Kosovo on the 18th anniversary of independence”.

Media advisor to Osmani, Bekim Kupina, told Radio Free Europe today that the President will take part in the official ceremony of the establishment of the Board of Peace. US President Trump said in several social media posts that the ceremony will be held on February 19 at the Trump Institute of Peace in Washington D.C.

Konjufca in the Hague: Verdict to be in line with the history of KLA (Albanian Post)

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Glauk Konjufca, who is in the Hague for the closing statements of former KLA leaders, said he hopes that the court’s verdict will be in line with the history and glory of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

“They [the former KLA leaders] have already received an unfair punishment, because the process has been prolonged. We all believe that there has been a violation of their basic rights provided by the UN Convention, the European Charter for Human Rights and our Constitution. That is the right for a person to be tried within a reasonable amount of time,” he said.

Konjufca argued that the Specialist Chambers proved to be a monoethnic court and that the focus was unjustly only on the KLA.

“I am here to confirm once again that our fight, the fight of the people of Kosovo, was a fair fight, a pure and defensive fight. Our objective was not to attack any people. The sole target of KLA combatants were Serbian police and army, the occupying forces that committed crimes in Kosovo, killed children, women and the elderly and over 12,000 citizens of our Republic. No institution can change this truth,” he said. 

“Freedom has a Name”: Over 130,000 people took part in the march (Reporteri)

The platform “Freedom has a Name” that organized the march “Justice, not politics” in downtown Pristina on Tuesday in support of former KLA leaders standing trial in the Hague, said that over 130,000 people took part in the march. “The square and main streets of Pristina were overfilled with people from all municipalities, the region, and the diaspora. The mass participation, civic organization and the clear message turned this march into a historical moment of solidarity and civic position,” the platform said in a statement on Tuesday. “This march proved clearly that when the people speak, they speak with dignity, responsibility and a powerful voice”.

Osmani on 2nd term: In hands of MPs; ready to continue my contribution (Kanal 10)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, in an interview with Kanal 10, spoke about the possibility of another term in office, saying that the decision is in the hands of Kosovo MPs. She said she has good relations with the majority of MPs, regardless of parties, and that she is ready to continue her contribution. “When I said that I think that it is in the interest of Kosovo to continue with the works we have started, especially with getting our country closer to internationals … I said it with full conscience that this matter is in the hands of MPs. I know most of them, they know me, they have seen my work; now it is up to them to assess it, the same way that we and the people of Kosovo have assessed that it is for the good of our Kosovo to continue with another term in office. If they think differently, we will find new ways to contribute and to serve our country. Whatever path is chosen, it is completely fine,” she said.

EU: Waiting for clarifications from Kosovo authorities on faculty in the north (Kossev)

The European Union told the news website today that it is waiting for clarifications from Kosovo’s authorities regarding the letter sent to the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Mitrovica North. “The European Union is waiting for clarifications from the Kosovo authorities regarding the latest correspondence sent to the Faculty of Technical Sciences in North Mitrovica. The Prime Minister pledged to address the integration of the Serbian-run health and education structures in consultation with Kosovo Serbs and the EU, in particular with the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue,” the EU said in its response. 

Koha news website carries the same statement from the European Union on the topic. It also recalls that almost a month ago, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, in a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Kosovo, said that the gradual integration of Serbian-run systems of health and education into Kosovo’s system would be done in coordination with the international community and the Serb community in Kosovo.

US Embassy: Today 18 years ago, US formally recognized Kosovo (all media)

The US Embassy in Pristina said in a Facebook post today that 18 years ago “the United States has formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state”. “President Bush responded affirmatively to Kosovo’s request to establish diplomatic relations between our two countries. The establishment of these relations will reaffirm the special ties of friendship that have linked together the people of the United States and Kosovo. “…As Kosovo today begins its life as an independent state, the United States pledges to continue to be its close friend and partner.” – Statement from Secretary Rice, February 18, 2008.

Muja: I expect that Konjufca will be in charge for talks with Serbia (Kosovo Online)

Professor of political sciences in Pristina, Basri Muja, in an interview with the news website said that he expects that Principal Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca will be in charge of talks with Serbia in Brussels, being that the name of previous chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi is not in the government cabinet list.

Muja said he believes that Bislimi, who was appointed chief negotiator in 2021, did a good job. “Bislimi is, if I may say, a hardline politician. I think he did a good job as much as the talks with Serbia can prove difficult. I also believe that the success of the talks does not depend much on one person. However strong one of the representatives may be, that is not a decisive factor,” he argued.

‘You never really leave’: How three exiles gave a Kosovo village new life (BIRN)

In the third instalment of BIRN’s series about war-displaced refugees’ continuing links to the Balkans, three former journalists from Kosovo explain how they organised a literature festival to bring people back to a small village.

By the time NATO bombs began falling on Yugoslavia in March 1999, Faik Luta, Ragip Luta and Valbona Luta were already far from their homes in Kosovo. Based in London, Faik and Ragip were working for the BBC World Service’s Albanian-language radio channel, reporting on a war that was consuming their families and reshaping their country from a distance.

“We were telling the world what was happening in Kosovo, but we didn’t know where our own sisters and broader family were,” Ragip Luta recalled. “That was the hardest part – being journalists and refugees at the same time.”

From studios in Bush House in central London, the BBC World Service’s former headquarters, they broadcasted daily updates while trying to track the fate of relatives scattered across Albania and North Macedonia. 

“You sit in front of a microphone and speak calmly,” Valbona Luta said, “but inside you are thinking: what if this is the last time I hear from them?”

More than a decade later, their lives had settled into a different rhythm in Britain. Yet Kosovo remained part of everything they did.

“You never really leave,” Faik Luta said. “You build another life, but your country stays with you.”

Then came an unexpected idea. 

Instead of returning only as visitors or retired journalists, the three decided to return with culture. In a village that few outsiders could even find on a map, on the shores of the Batlava Lake, northeast of the capital Pristina, they imagined a gathering of poets, musicians and writers from Kosovo and the world. And the three witnessed that it takes a village to raise a baby – or a festival in their case. 

“We thought: if war scattered us across Europe, maybe literature can bring people back,” Valbona said.

What began as a personal act of return soon became something larger: the Festival of Literature Orllan, turning a quiet rural village into an international meeting point for artists from London, Pristina, Sarajevo and beyond.

“It sounds impossible now,” Ragip said. “But we really believed a village could become a stage for the world.”

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/MT7Ns

Sandulovic says he was beaten for apologizing for crimes in Kosovo (A2CNN)

Nikola Sandulovic, leader of the Serbian Republican Party, in an interview with A2CNN, described how he was beaten by Serbian secret services after apologising for crimes committed in Kosovo and laying flowers on the grave of a young girl. “There was an attempted assassination against me, organised by Aleksandar Vucic, because I wanted peace and apologised for the crimes that the criminal Serbian authorities committed in Kosovo, among others against the Jashari family. I came to extend a hand of reconciliation and laid flowers at the grave of the 7-year-old girl Blerina Jashari, while in Serbia, it was presented as if I laid flowers on the grave of a terrorist. I paid for this almost with my life. I was beaten for nine and a half hours in the building of the Serbian secret service and was taken to the Military Hospital in a state of clinical death,” Sandulovic said.

“After that, they took me to prison, where I was in God’s hands. Thanks to the engagement of President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti, as well as the American service, I was released and then recovered,” he argued.

Serbian police ‘chase down’ protesters as clashes erupt in Belgrade park (BIRN)

Student protest groups from three Belgrade University faculties said on their Instagram accounts that dozens of fellow students were arrested late Tuesday at a demonstration in a park in the Serbian capital, mostly on their way home after it had ended.

“The police are chasing and arresting [protesters] … They are everywhere. On the side streets, around the university and student dormitories,” said a post by Students in Blockade, one of the main Instagram accounts for student protesters.

Videos published on social media showed police in full riot gear chasing people through the park and arresting them. Serbia’s Interior Ministry has yet to confirm how many were held.

The park protest was triggered by two events: violence at an earlier demonstration this week in Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad, and the construction of a new aquarium by the authorities in Belgrade which has seen parkland fenced off.

On Monday, protesters gathered outside the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, where an event was being held to mark the 200th anniversary of Serbia’s cultural and literary institution Matica Srpska, attended by government and ruling party officials.

Amid a heavy police presence, supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party faced off against protesters near the venue. A group of hooded men then rushed at the protesters and started assaulting them, it was alleged.

On Tuesday evening, speaking to pro-government Pink TV, President Aleksandar Vucic appeared to justify the attack.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/VaZu4