LOCAL PRESS 

Vucic: There can be no reason for liquidation of entire nation (Tanjug/RTV) 

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic pointed out today that the mass crime committed on 17 March, exactly 17 years ago, must never be forgotten, and added that there can be no reason for liquidation of an entire nation. “There may be a time when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time to rebel against injustice, these words of Elie Wiesel, a former Nobel laureate, oblige us forever not to remain silent against crime, whoever and why committed it,” said Vucic in his address marking the March pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija. For a mass crime, for a pogrom, the question “why” is unnecessary and does not exist, he underlined. He said that there could be no reason for liquidation of an entire nation, for punishment because of name, religion or nation. “There is no ‘because’ that can justify someone’s intention to crush and destroy a nation, which are all meanings of the Russian word pogrom, which we, with clear reason, call what happened to our people, and the Serbian cultural and religious heritage on this day 17 years ago,” Vucic said. Vucic said that the pogrom surpasses all other crimes, because it is not only an act, but an intention, a policy, a premeditation for some region, country, to be forcibly cleansed of members of other nations and religions. “We have no right to be silent,” Vucic said.

March pogrom engraved in people’s lives (RTS) 

Today is the 17th anniversary of the March pogrom of Serbs, when Albanian extremists and members of the so-called KLA expelled from Kosovo and Metohija more than 4,000 Serbs, their property, a large number of religious facilities were burned or destroyed, while many were killed and disappeared, including members of international forces. UNMIK estimates that about 60,000 Albanians took part in the pogrom, which began on 17 March and lasted for two days, at 33 locations. As many as 800 houses were destroyed, and 35 Serbian churches and monasteries were desecrated, burned and destroyed. The Chair of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun told the morning press review of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS)  that the cause for the violence on 17 March was the status and then the standards, but even afer so many years we see that it has not happened yet because the Serbs are still second-class citizens.“A large number of people did not return to Kosovo and Metohija. The Albanians in central and southern Kosovo and Metohija have managed to complete an ethnic Kosovo,” Drecun said, adding that no one was doing anything to get the Serbs back. According to him, the March pogrom showed that the Albanians are ready for violence if they are not given the status. Drecun emphasized that, to his knowledge, the ringleaders of the March events are, in addition to the KLA, Hashim Thaci, Ramush Haradinaj and Agim Ceku. He added that in the events of 17 March there were also injuries among members of the Albanian corpus, considering that they clashed with the international forces. “Official documents state that 58 members of the Kosovo protection corpus were injured. They did not clash with the protesters, they entered into clashes with the international forces. I have recordings where the Swedish corpus fires at the crowd, and then shots are heard from automatic weapons from the crowd,” said Drecun.

“However, not all KFOR members behaved the same, the Italians did not allow the burning of Serb houses, as in the places where the Germans were, where they did whatever they wanted,” Drecun explains and points out that he received footage of the violence from the Americans.

It is also interesting that Harri Holkeri, as he said, had the information that a pogrom was being prepared, but that he did not react. Drecun emphasizes that everything indicates that it was an organized event because the Albanians had the tacit support of the international community.

Seventeen years since the pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija – obvious planned ethnic cleansing (RTS)  

It is seventeen years since the mass pogrom of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. In a wave of organized Albanian violence on 17 March 2004, 19 people were killed, more than 4,000 Serbs and non-Albanians were expelled, six towns and nine villages were ethnically cleansed, 39 churches and monasteries, 935 Serb houses and dozens of social facilities were set on fire and destroyed. Former deputy prime minister of Serbia and head of the Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija Nebojsa Covic told RTS that the violence against the Serbs was an organized criminal enterprise. “The international factor, that is, their services, participated in that organization, regardless of the fact that they tried to make it all seem spontaneous and accidental. They constructed the alleged killing of three Albanian children with whom the Serbs had nothing to do. It was like a trigger,” Covic points out. He emphasized that everything was obviously planned, in order to continue the ethnic cleansing in the region of Kosovo and Metohija. “Since the arrival of KFOR and the international forces, the ethnic cleansing of Serbs under the control of international forces has intensified. It is obvious that this is not about human rights, but about territory. They are interested in territory, while they are not interested in human rights,” Covic said. He says that the problem in the realization of their project is caused by Serbs, so, as he says, if they do not have the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, they do not have a problem. “Our security structures did not have any information. We did not have any announcement,” Covic recalls.

He says that he and his associates did not manage to get in touch with KFOR at that time, so they went to Kosovo and Metohija via Bela Zemlja and came to the Gracanica Monastery. “We did not have any weapons. We had a changed identity. We were very lucky. We entered Gracanica and only then got in touch with the KFOR commander,” Covic said. He stressed that it is impossible for such brutal ethnic cleansing to take place in the presence of tens of thousands of heavily armed NATO soldiers.

Seventeen years ago 28 people were killed, 4,000 expelled from homes in Kosovo (Beta) 

The Freedom, Democracy and Justice Initiative, whose founder was the assassinated Kosovo politician Oliver Ivanovic, has recalled that exactly 17 years ago, on 17 March 2004, “Albanian extremists, supported by the Kosovo Liberation Army structures, carried out a horrible pogrom, destroying everything that was Serb.” The party stated that back then 28 people were killed, 900 beaten and seriously injured, and that 19 cultural monuments of the highest category along with dozens of Serbian Orthodox churches were razed. “Numerous valuable frescoes, icons and church objects were destroyed. Some 4,000 people were forced out of their homes across Kosovo and Metohija. More than 950 homes belonging to Serbs, Roma and Ashkali were set on fire. Serbs were ethnically cleansed from six towns and nine villages,” the Initiative added in its press release. What triggered the pogrom was an accident in which on 16 March 2004, three Albanian boys drowned in the Ibar river in the village of Cabra, in the Ibarski Kolasin area, for which Albanians accused the Serbs. Although the pogrom enfolded in the presence of 38,000 KFOR soldiers and 8,000 UNMIK police charged with ensuring safety for all people in Kosovo, the organizers of the violence were not punished, while the direct perpetrators were sentenced to minimum prison terms.

REGIONAL PRESS 

B&H CC enables all its employees to get vaccinated against coronavirus in Serbia; Reactions (N1)

The Constitutional Court (CC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), with the help of colleagues from Serbia, enabled all its employees to get vaccinated against coronavirus in Serbia. Employees of the B&H CC received the first dose of vaccine in Uzice on Monday and now they are waiting for information about revaccination. “The first vaccination of employees of the CC of B&H was successfully performed on 15 March 2021, in the General Hospital in Uzice, and revaccination will be subsequently agreed and organized in cooperation with the competent institutions of the Republic of Serbia,” the B&H CC stated in a press release.  Our Party (NS) has deemed this as capitulation of B&H. “The Constitutional Court excluded itself from the general state of distress, acknowledged the capitulation of its own country in the face of pandemic challenges and went to another state to be vaccinated because the state in which it represents the supreme judicial power is unable to procure vaccines,” NS stated. While judges are going to neighboring countries to get vaccinated, B&H Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic is asking the EU for a stronger engagement. “Solving this problem would send important messages to the countries of the Western Balkans that this region has not been forgotten and that it will be part of the EU in the future,” Turkovic underlined.  Meanwhile, the EU still has no answers as to when and how many vaccines will be delivered through IPA funds. The only thing that is clear is that Pfizer vaccines will be delivered. “Two contracts must be signed for the delivery of the vaccine from the European Union (Pfizer), coordinated by Austria. Austria is still in negotiations with Pfizer. As soon as the negotiations are completed and the contracts are signed, the vaccines will be able to be delivered to B&H,” Austrian Ambassador to B&H Ulrike Hartmann stated in a press release.

Three agreements signed during visit of B&H Presidency members to Ankara; Turkey to donate 30,000 COVID-19 vaccines to B&H; Dodik comments RS parliament conclusions for Turkish media (ATV)

Serb member and Chairman of the B&H Presidency Milorad Dodik, Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency Sefik Dzaferovic and Croat member of the B&H Presidency Zeljko Komsic arrived in Ankara on Tuesday for an official visit to Turkey. ATV reports that the B&H delegation was welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the highest honors, after which they proceeded for the official meeting. At the meeting, three agreements between the B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) and the Turkish Government were signed, i.e. agreement on cooperation in infrastructural and construction projects, agreement on recognition and exchange of driving licenses between the two countries and memorandum on cooperation on promotion of investments. The B&H delegation discussed with Erdogan infrastructural projects, including the construction of the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway. On the occasion, the agreement on cooperation in infrastructural and construction projects, on behalf of B&H, was signed by B&H Minister of Communications and Transport Vojin Mitrovic. After the signing, Mitrovic said for the media that the priority project is the construction of the Belgrade-Sarajevo-Belgrade, important for B&H, but also for Serbia and all the Western Balkans countries. At a press conference held after the meeting, Dodik said: “We have great expectations with regard to the construction of the Belgrade-Sarajevo-Belgrade highway. I think that everyone who doubted it until today can be assured the project will certainly be implemented. It is important that we make joint efforts and that the project is implemented equally in Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of B&H”. Erdogan said: “We discussed the project of friendship, stability and development, the Sarajevo-Belgrade highway project at the meetings today. As you know we laid the foundation stone for the part this project in Serbia on 9 October 2019 and today we talked about what can be done to accelerate the part of the project in B&H. The protocol on cooperation in infrastructural and construction projects, signed today, will contribute to accelerating these activities”.  It was agreed that the next meeting of B&H and Turkey will be joined by Serbia and will be held in Sarajevo. Dodik proposed that Russia joins the meeting as the fourth participant. Erdogan announced that Turkey will donate 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to B&H. Dodik stated that solidarity expressed by Turkey will certainly have great importance for B&H citizens and the country that is crippled by the failure to ensure vaccines for its citizens through global and collective systems of procurement. He noted that Erdogan’s worry about everyone in B&H represents the best example of how authorities in B&H should behave as well. Dzaferovic said that citizens look forward to the Sarajevo-Belgrade-Sarajevo highway, reminding that the agreement on its construction was signed and this is the beginning of implementation of the construction. He stressed that except for traffic connection between Sarajevo and Belgrade, stability of the region is also of great importance for the Western Balkans. The B&H and Turkish officials also discussed connecting of B&H to the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. Dodik stressed that successful implementation of gas pipeline that reached Serbia is encouraging and that B&H is interested in using gas from it. ATV reports that Dodik gave an interview for TRT Turkish national public broadcaster, where among others, he answered questions related to the political situation in B&H and the meaning of the RS parliament conclusions with the focus on “peaceful separation”. Dodik said: “We primarily want the agreement between, Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, based on the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) and the letter of the DPA without the High Representative (HR) and his intervention”. Dodik added that if the agreement proves to be impossible, because people with such difficult history should take it into consideration, the option should be considered, noting “it would be ridiculous to talk about the war, that is absolutely not our goal. Our goal is peace and we want the peace to be sustainable”.

Dodik: Despite fact that Turkey is bit more inclined towards Bosniak political elites, in official talks, it wants to show that it is for cooperation in whole of B&H (RTRS)

RTRS carried an interview with Milorad Dodik. Speaking about the significance of the bilateral agreements that were signed between B&H and Turkey on Tuesday, especially the agreement related to the construction of Sarajevo-Belgrade-Sarajevo highway, Dodik stated that one has been waiting for ages for a road that should connect Sarajevo and Belgrade via Visegrad, i.e. “to make a ring via Tuzla and Bijeljina.” “I would say that it will connect the heart of the Balkans in that regard. It will enable fast communication,” Dodik underlined. Dodik stressed that it is very important to us to have a stable partner in terms of securing the funds. “At the moment, elaboration related to concrete funds will not be done because we need far more people to make certain projects. But, we are definitely moving forward. This is the next step from the memorandum that I signed about a year and a half ago. Now, we are moving towards the operationalization of that, to be able to hire companies so that they could design and begin to work,” Dodik underlined. He stressed that expropriation of land has already been carried out on the section between Raca and Bijeljina and that property-legal relations for that section have been resolved, recalling that Serbia promised that it will allocate EUR 100 million for the construction of this section. “There is also the Corridor 5c which is a European corridor. I have been informed that all talks with EU institutions on financing that corridor will be completed by mid this year and no later than the fall. Therefore, we would not only connect Sarajevo and Belgrade, but also Belgrade and Banja Luka,” Dodik underlined. Asked whether he managed to acquaint Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the situation in B&H and the relations between Bosniaks and Serbs in the region during their meetings in the past two years, Dodik said that I believe that they know that very well. “I just finished an interview for their (Turkey’s) national television. One of the questions was related to the latest stances of the RS parliament. They asked me to explain what peaceful separation means. One should not be naive. When you come to a country and a national television asks you something then that has to do with an official policy. We said that we primarily want talks and agreement between the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats on the basis of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) and the letter of the DPA without the High Representative (HR) and his intervention and if that cannot be accomplished in any way, I believe that it is quite polite to also discuss peaceful separation because people and peoples who have such a difficult past should absolutely think about that as well. It would be quite stupid to initiate stories of any kind of war or anything like that. That is not our goal. Our goal is peace and we want peace to be sustainable, and I will not say at all costs, but in any way, peace that is conditioned by the fact that people live freely and that there are no coercions neither political nor of any other kind,” Dodik emphasized. Dodik stressed that he believes that Erdogan is well acquainted with the situation in B&H and that despite the fact that Turkey “is a bit more inclined towards the Bosniak political elites” in official talks, it wants to show that it is for cooperation in the whole of B&H.

Sattler, Nelson, Kavalec meet B&H MPs and discuss electoral reform (Dnevni avaz)

The Head of the EU Delegation to B&H Johann Sattler, US Ambassador to B&H Eric Nelson and Head of the OSCE Mission to B&H Kathleen Kavalec met on Tuesday with representatives of B&H parliament, whom they introduced with the importance of electoral reforms and restoring of citizens’ trust into election process. “B&H parliament and the Council of Ministers will convene inter-agency working group (IAWG) without delay to focus on meaningful and achievable electoral reforms needed for the EU path and for citizen confidence in the electoral process. The IAWG process must be inclusive and transparent to credibly implement the three pillars of reform: limited constitutional change to address ECHR rulings, election law changes to implement B&H Constitutional Court rulings and technical reform to improve election integrity,” reads the statement published at US Embassy’s Twitter account.

HDZ B&H, SDA delegations meet in Mostar, agree it is necessary to create positive atmosphere in FB&H (Dnevni list)

Working groups of HDZ B&H and SDA, which are dealing with problems in functioning of the executive and legislative authorities in the Federation of B&H (FB&H), held a meeting in Mostar on Tuesday. Participants of the meeting assessed it is necessary to create positive atmosphere and conditions for solving of all problems that are deemed as priority by the two delegations. HDZ B&H was represented by FB&H President and HDZ Vice President Marinko Cavara, member of HDZ B&H Presidency and Deputy Speaker of the FB&H House of Representatives (HoR) Mladen Boskovic and Speaker of the FB&H House of Peoples (HoP) Tomislav Martinovic, whilst SDA delegation consisted of SDA Vice President and FB&H HoR Speaker Mirsad Zaimovic and SDA Vice President and FB&H Minister for Refugees Edin Ramic. Tuesday’s meeting between delegations of HDZ B&H and SDA failed to produce concrete results, stressing it is important to continue the talks and to come up with tangible results in the future. Next year is an election year, which is why several key political issues, foremost the reform to the Law on Elections of B&H, has to be closed down this year, otherwise the institutional crisis will deepen even further.

Mehmedagic pays official visit to NATO HQ in Brussels, confirms continuity of cooperation between OSA and NATO (Oslobodjenje)

Director of the B&H Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) Osman Mehmedagic paid an official visit to the NATO in Brussels upon an invitation of NATO Assistant Secretary General David Cattler. The invitation to the Director of B&H OSA was sent shortly after B&H delivered the new document of the Program of Reforms to the NATO HQ, confirming its commitment on the path to Euro-Atlantic integration. “B&H is a close partner, its Presidency of three members just adopted a decision several days ago to continue to develop its partnership with NATO. We in the NATO welcome this”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the beginning of March. The daily noted that the meeting in Brussels confirmed continuity of cooperation between OSA and NATO, especially knowing it was organized in spite of difficult conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the entire Europe. It was stated after the meeting that this is also a recognition to Director Mehmedagic, who has already proven himself as a serious partner of NATO in the Western Balkans.

Parliament Committee endorses bill on Civilian War Victims (Hina)

The parliamentary committee on human and national minority rights on Tuesday endorsed a bill on civilian Homeland War victims, whose rights are currently regulated by a law from 1992 which, despite having been amended 12 times, does not cover all civilian victims. Under the bill, the rights can be exercised by Croatian as well as foreign nationals, provided they were Croatia’s residents during the 1991-95 war. It is estimated that the bill will apply to 2,500 more beneficiaries. Among other things, the bill facilitates eligibility for the family disability allowance and increases the individual disability allowance. Committee chair Milorad Pupovac (Independent Democratic Serb Party) said it was important that the bill covered all Homeland War victims and that it should define collaborators more precisely.

Djukanovic: Now is the time to define pro-European platform more clearly (CdM)

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said that the strength of the Democratic Party of Socialists is highly respectable and it’s what disables nationalism and chauvinism that have risen again in the Western Balkans (WB), heading towards Montenegro. “I think it’s good that Montenegro’s ready for the change of platform for future actions. To date, we have mainly operated on a platform that was sovereigntist, pro-Montenegrin and which represented a demarcation line compared to another, anti-Montenegrin platform. Now is the time to define a pro-European platform more clearly, and I’m sure that some parties, including those that make up the ruling coalition today, which could accept and essentially accept Montenegro as a civil state, multiethnic society and future EU member, would join the DPS,” the President pointed out. The DPS’ result in the Niksic elections, according to him, was excellent. He also recalls that the local elections in Niksic happened several months after the parliamentary elections, held on 30 August, interrupting the 30-year rule of the DPS. “The majority of political observers both in Montenegro and the region assumed that it’d signaled the beginning of the end of the DPS, as was the case of all parties that were in power for too long. It didn’t happen in this case. Our results are better compared to the parliamentary election results, announcing our stable role at the Montenegrin political stage and a leading role in representation of Montenegro’s European future, and, I believe, our imminent return in power.” On rhetoric of his political opponents, Djukanovic says: “They had been considering me as a major problem for their failures for 30 years, and today, they consider both me and the party I run, the last barrier for the realization of their plan – Montenegro to be the prey of a ‘Greater Serbia’ again. That is why they are not talking about anyone else, if only they could see the back of Milo Djukanovic. They were wrong. The Niksic elections best proved it. I think that 99.9 percent of European, democratic parties would be overjoyed and wouldn’t believe that they won 40 or 41 percent in some elections.”

Radulovic: Our mission is EU membership, credible alliance in NATO and improvement of regional cooperation (CdM)

EU membership, a credible alliance in NATO, intensifying and improving bilateral cooperation with the countries of the region, strengthening of the mechanisms of economic diplomacy and professionalization of the diplomatic service – these are the goals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated Minister Djordje Radulovic, in a video campaign titled ‘I sign’ (in Montenegrin: Potpisujem) on the occasion of 100 days of work of the Government of Montenegro. Over the past 100 days, he said, aside from intensifying bilateral ties with neighbors, allies and partners, intensive contacts with representatives of European institutions have been established, clearly and unequivocally confirming full support for Montenegro’s EU membership. “We’re proud to say that our first foreign visits were in Berlin and Budapest. It’s a clear message that we’re ready to intensify our activities in the field of foreign policy and that we aspire to the political West, where we belong.” He continued: “We visited Hungary and Germany. Ministers of foreign affairs of North Macedonia and Slovakia visited Montenegro. We held meetings with almost all ambassadors of the countries with diplomatic missions in Montenegro.” The Minister also noted that the alliance with NATO was strengthened in the time of the coronavirus, whereas the Alliance demonstrated solidarity and unity in the midst of the crisis.

Abazovic at NATO headquarters: Support for Alliance has never been greater (CdM)

Montenegro remains committed to the polices and values of the Alliance and is ready to boost its contribution to NATO activities, as a credible and responsible ally, Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said at the meeting with NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana, during his three-day working visit to Brussels. Abazovic pointed out to the importance of solidarity and unity of the Alliance in facing common security challenges and thanked for the previous and future NATO’s assistance to Montenegro in facing the coronavirus pandemic, the DPM’s office stated. Both sides exchanged views about the global and regional security situation in the context of challenges posed by the pandemic. Charge d’Affaires of the Mission of Montenegro to NATO Radovan Bogojevic and Adviser to the DPM for Internal Policy, Security, Fight against High-Level Corruption and Organized Crime Filip Adzic attended the meeting as well.

New poll: Opposition ahead of Socialist Party (Tirana Times/Gazeta Express/TV 7)

The Albanian media gave quite a lot of space to the new results of the opinion poll presented by Gazeta Express and TV 7, and conducted by the Albanian-Israeli company GeoCartography, which shows that the opposition will win around 71-74 seats in the next parliamentary election, securing the majority to lead the country. While in general the polls conducted in the Albanian media are seen with skepticism, in this case, the company got a lot of attention, especially because it has previously done polls in Kosovo, with excellent results. According to the data, the Socialist Party will win 44.54% of the votes, which means that it will win around 65 to 67 seats in the next parliament. The Democratic Party according to the poll will get 42.18% of the votes, or 61-63 seats. The third biggest party will continue to be the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), with 9.31% of the votes, which will bring 10 to 11 seats. This means that even if the opposition will receive the lowest expected number of seats, 71, it will still have the minimum required number of seats in order to form the majority. For the survey, 3778 people were interviewed, in nine different electoral zones. The poll gave interesting numbers from some of the biggest counties in Albania. In Tirana, according to the poll, the Socialist Party will win 17 seats, DP 16 seats, while LSI 3 seats, meaning that the opposition will triumph in the county that has the largest number of seats available in the parliament. In Fier, the SP will manage to have a clear win with 9 seats, compared to 7 seats that are projected overall for the opposition. In Durres, which is considered a “battle ground”, the poll projects a win for the DP with 7 seats, followed by the SP with 6 seats; DP, SP and LSI will fight until the very end for the last seat available here. In Elbasan, the company projects a tie for the moment between the SP and the opposition, with 7 seats each. In Vlora, the poll projects that the SP will win 7 seats, compared to 4 seats from the DP, and one seat from the LSI. In Korça, both the SP and the DP are projected to win 4 seats each, while the SMI 1 seat. Considering that there are 11 seats in the parliament for the county of Korça, even if the DP will manage to win one of the two remaining seats, the chances are bigger for the opposition to triumph overall in Korca. In Shkoder, DP is projected to win 5 seats, the SP 4 seats, LSI 1 seat, and a remaining seat will be fought between the other smaller parties. In Berat, the SP will win 4 seats, the DP 2 seats, and LSI 1 seat. In Lezha both the SP and the DP will win 3 seats, while LSI will win 1 seat, meaning that even here the opposition will lead. In Kukes, DP would win 2 seats and SP 1 seat.