• Kurti: The European proposal is not a final agreement (Radio Free Europe)
• Kurti: I didn’t receive satisfactory explanations for Association formation (RTK2)
• U.S. reiterates necessity to form Association of Serb municipalities (Koha)
• Hoti: Because of Kurti’s actions, Association is asked right now (Kosovapress)
• Krasniqi: Most difficult days since liberation; people want to leave (media)
• Petritsch: Kurti cannot avoid Association (media)
• Abazovic supports Kurti on Association (Top Channel/Koha)
• KFOR: Refrain from provocations, seek solutions through dialogue (EWB)
• How Investigators Found the Yugoslav Wars’ Disappeared (BIRN)
• Rama: Vucic and I, completely different views on Kosovo (Albanian Daily News)

Kurti: The European proposal is not a final agreement (Radio Free Europe)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in an interview with Radio Free Europe that he received warnings about the possibility of decreased Western support if Kosovo is not constructive in the talks with Serbia. He however said that Kosovo has proved it is a constructive party in the process.

Asked to comment on the European plan for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, Kurti said the proposal has not been presented as “take it or leave it” but rather as a platform for further discussions.

Kurti: I didn’t receive satisfactory explanations for Association formation (RTK2)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in an interview with RTK2 that the EU proposal for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is a good basis and that he is ready to discuss the agreements reached in Brussels. He also said however he hasn’t received any satisfactory justification to implement the agreement on the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

According to Kurti there is no need to form the Association, but he is ready to talk about the rights of non-majority communities. “I am ready for talks and negotiations about the rights of minorities, non-majority communities. However, you must understand that it is very important that those, who want rights beyond what the Ahtisaari Plan offers, should also justify these rights – why they need more. Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize, why the Ahtisaaari Plan needs to be further extended, what are the justifications about the potential shortcomings of the plan. Those that ask for something else or something more should also give justifications,” he argued.

U.S. reiterates necessity to form Association of Serb municipalities (Koha)

In an exclusive opinion piece sent to Koha, Counselor to the U.S. State Department Derek Chollet and the U.S. special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, have reiterated the necessity to form the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

“There have been a lot of discussions about the Association and time has come to make it clear what is the Association and what is not. In general, the Association would be a structure for municipalities with majority of ethnic Serbs to coordinate on issues and services such as: education, healthcare, urban and rural planning, and local economic development – in other words, functions which all municipalities of Kosovo already have under their responsibilities. It is a way for improving daily lives of citizens, creation of trust between ethnic Serbs and central government, ensuring better ties between the north and other parts of the country and creation of mechanisms for Serbs to greater participation on the social life of Kosovo,” Chollet and Escobar write.

They argue that “Kosovo’s commitment to create the Association does not threaten its Constitution, sovereignty, independence, or its democratic institutions. We strongly oppose creation of any entity like the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH); International community is not asking to impose a solution, instead, we are asking Kosovo to offer its vision for this Association, and we are ready to offer expertise and political support to ensure that it functions for the best interest of Kosovars”.

Chollet and Escobar also write that the EU Special Representative (ESUR) Miroslav Lajcak, has emphasized that there are 14 similar arrangements within the European Union – and none of them threatens the European system of effective government. “Within the EU-facilitated dialogue framework, Kosovo can reject options which threaten its legal structure, but it cannot reject its commitments. As the most pro-Kosovo state in the world, the United States of America are committed to supporting the people of Kosovo to ensure that its constitutional and legal structures are not being threatened,” they note.

The two senior U.S. officials also say that an Association of Serb-majority municipalities would not be monoethnic. “These would be municipalities with Serbian majority where not only ethnic Serbs live, but also other groups – Albanians, Bosniaks and others – whose rights should be guaranteed and protected … As the closest ally and friend of Kosovo we believe that by working on the establishment of the Association, Kosovo will fulfill a critical element needed for building of its future as sovereign, multiethnic and independent state, integrated into Euro-Atlantic structures. We are ready to support Kosovo to fulfill this commitment and stand by your country in every step. The future of Kosovo and Serbia – and their youth, who are now moving abroad looking for more opportunities – might be bright in a Europe which is ‘whole, free and in peace’. All it takes is to use this moment together.”

Hoti: Because of Kurti’s actions, Association is asked right now (Kosovapress)

Former Kosovo Prime Minister and LDK, Avdullah Hoti, argued in an interview with Kosovapress news agency that because of Prime Minister Kurti’s immature actions, Kosovo is in an unfavorable position in the dialogue with Serbia. He said that Kosovo is at a dead-end now and that internationals are asking for the immediate formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.

“I believe the government’s wrong approach has brought us to this situation, where now our international partners are asking for the immediate formation of the Association. In our previous government, we had agreed a dialogue framework with our international partners that do not touch these topics and do not address issues of territorial integrity and sovereignty, that the final agreement needs to be on normalisation and mutual recognition, an agreement within the Constitution of Kosovo, and that we will not agree on anything until we don’t agree on everything,” Hoti said.

Hoti said Kosovo is in the most unfavorable position in the dialogue because of decisions that led to tensions in the north and the withdrawal of Serbs from Kosovo’s institutions.

Krasniqi: Most difficult days since liberation; people want to leave (media)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said on Sunday that Kosovo is facing the most difficult days since the liberation and that people are waiting in lines in front of foreign embassies to get visas and leave Kosovo. Krasniqi made these remarks during the convention of the Democratic Youth of PDK, calling on Kosovo youths to join this party’s forums and raise their voice for the changes they want to see.

“We are witnesses that Kosovo is facing its most difficult days since the liberation. Our country’s economy is not developing; our statehood is being contested, our fight for freedom has been put on trial, while our government doesn’t have solutions for the consequent crisis it has created itself,” Krasniqi said.

Petritsch: Kurti cannot avoid Association (media)

Austrian diplomat Wolfgang Petritsch said in an interview with Kosovo Online that the French-German plan is an important step forward but that it does not mean a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. “The plan is an important step toward normalisation but it does not imply a final agreement. It is a proposal which means that there is a concrete idea how to emerge from this situation … There is no official diplomatic recognition, but according to the German-German cooperation model, pragmatically there need to be important steps in the normalisation of mutual relations,” he said.

Petritsch also talked about the Association of Serb-majority municipalities saying that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti cannot reject the formation of the association. “In Pristina they reject the Association, but they don’t say that the decision of the Constitutional Court, from which they quote only the first article, the second point clearly notes that this community can exist. Both parties, with the help of the EU and the United States, must try to be concrete, what can be included in the agreement and what cant, and how they can get closer. The time has come for concrete negotiations. The agreements reached so far must be respected, so Pristina too needs to respect this principle. Kurti can say that he does not want a certain kind of the Association, but he cannot reject its formation. The principle of international law is that the agreements that are signed must be respected by future governments too. Without this there would be no international relations,” Petritsch said.

Abazovic supports Kurti on Association (Top Channel/Koha)

Montenegro Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic gave support to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti about the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, the news website reports. In an interview with Top Channel, Abazovic said he only thinks positively about Kurti and that he likes his fight against corruption. Asked about the Association, Abazovic said there can be no association on ethnic basis. “Kosovo cannot have municipalities that are Serb or Albanian because all of them are equal as municipalities and they belong to all citizens without any differences. This approach by Kurti is positive for the region,” he said.

KFOR: Refrain from provocations, seek solutions through dialogue (EWB)

NATO has been carrying out its mission in Kosovo for almost 24 years now. With recently increased efforts to reach a sustainable solution on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, but also with the renewed tensions on the ground, the role of KFOR is gaining more and more prominence in the discussions surrounding this issue. For these reasons, European Western Balkans reached out to KFOR in order to shed light on their role in the current crisis, as well as the perspective of KFOR’s future involvement in Kosovo.

“With more than 3,700 troops contributed from 27 countries, including NATO Allies and partners, KFOR remains fully focused on the daily implementation of its mandate — based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999 — to ensure a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all communities in Kosovo,” it was stated by KFOR officials for European Western Balkans. Even though its role has evolved since 1999 as the situation on the ground has improved, “the progress achieved in security and stability testifies the commitment of the International Community to Kosovo.”

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Hls23N

How Investigators Found the Yugoslav Wars’ Disappeared (BIRN)

Criminal investigators, forensic scientists, ballistics experts and DNA specialists worked together on the colossal task of finding 40,000 people who went missing during the Yugoslav wars and establishing how they were killed.

In May 1999, in the midst of the Kosovo war, Serbia’s assistant interior minister Obrad Stevanovic made a grim note in his diary while he was having a meeting with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Under the capital-letter heading “PRESIDENT”, Stevanovic wrote: “No body, no crime.”

“The clean-up of the terrain is most important,” Obradovic also noted in his diary, which was used as evidence at Milosevic’s trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY as evidence of a cover-up to hide the bodies of murdered Kosovo Albanians.

Locating and identifying the remains of some 40,000 people who disappeared and were often buried in secret mass graves during the Kosovo war and the other Yugoslav wars of the 1990s initially appeared to be an enormous task.

But although several thousand still remain missing to this day, the majority of the bodies have now been found by investigators using all the scientific techniques at their disposal.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3wCz6nC

Rama: Vucic and I, completely different views on Kosovo (Albanian Daily News)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said he has completely different views with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, on the issue of Kosovo. “For me Kosovo is a free, democratic, sovereign state. I think in the meantime things are progressing, things are changing. Things are moving in the right direction. Slowly, but they are moving. We used to have no communication and it was impossible to imagine that Serbs and Albanians could be at the same table. So, it will take time, it will take time, but that’s okay”, said Rama for the Montenegrin television, “A plus”. Rama also spoke about President Vucic’s statement at the World Economic Forum recently held in Davos.

“I read President Vucic’s last statement from Davos, and I think it was quite respectable given the way he expressed the need to move forward. Of course, in his characteristic very special way of communication, but he expressed respect”, commented Rama. Regarding the fact that he has good relations with both Vucic and Kurti, despite tense mutual relations, Rama said that there are many attacks between the president of Serbia and the prime minister of Kosovo. “And people ask me how that’s possible, but imagine if everyone looked in black and white and everyone held their positions and no one talked to anyone. Things weren’t going to get any better. So it’s always better to talk to people, try to understand the reasons, present your arguments,” Rama said.