Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: Our membership in EU structures, response to Serbia threats (media)
• Osmani welcomes opening of NATO Tactical Air Base in Albania (media)
• Begaj: Banjska proved how fragile security is in our region (media)
• Maqedonci: Air base in Albania, NATO’s message for Western Balkans (media)
• Haradinaj on NATO air base in Albania: A base for regional security (media)
• Baerbock: Security and stability of Western Balkans, crucial for EU (RFE)
• Konjufca: Government can propose draft statute for Association (RTV21)
• Svecla on reports about Russia arrest warrants for Kosovo police officers (Kallxo)
• Gashi: Fake news concerning security of Kosovo – the main problem (Kallxo)
• Kurti meets anthropologist Janet Reineck (media)
• Jaksic, Trajkovic to Vucic: You suffered a debacle in Banjska (media)
• Gruhonjic: West’s reaction to terrorism on September 24, serious slap to Vucic regime (Albanian Post)

Serbian Language Media:

• Mijacic: An opportunity for OSCE to conduct an impartial study on security in Kosovo with special emphasis on Serbs and impact on migration (KoSSev, KiM radio)
• How Serbs in Kosovo live one month after dinar was abolished (RTS)
• Principals of primary schools in north: CBK regulation made regular teaching impossible (Kosovo Online)
• Serbian Democracy files appeal to Ombudsperson over rejection of petition against allocation of land to Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs (social media)
• KDI criticizes CEC and MLSGA – Why process of verifying signatures to recall mayors takes so long (KoSSev)
• Filipovic: It is important that KFOR’s mandate is fulfilled in line with UN Resolution 1244 (Radio KIM, EWB)
• Milicevic: Government of parties currently in opposition would respect fact that Serbs live in Kosovo (Kosovo Online)
• Lawyer: Detention of Zarko Zaric extended for two more months (Kosovo Online)
• Fahri Musliu: ”Vucic would not end his political career if he recognized Kosovo independence” (KiM radio, Media Center)

Opinion:

• The Myth of Rising Defence Spending in Balkans Needs Unpacking (Balkan Insight)

International:

• Kosovo Journalist Chronicles Rigged Trials of Milosevic’s ‘Ferocious Regime’ (BIRN)

Humanitarian/Development:

• Leposava, one of the last remaining Serbs in Pristina dies (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti: Our membership in EU structures, response to Serbia threats (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said today in his address at the conference “Bridging the Western Balkans: Parliamentary Diplomacy for Regional and Euro-Atlantic Cooperation” in Pristina that Serbia is trying to obstruct the progress of the region towards European integration, and he called on the west to react by allowing Kosovo to move toward integration in EU structures.

“The Euro-Atlantic perspective must be strengthened. By aligning with NATO principles and values, those that really want this can use a series of opportunities. The path toward Euro-Atlantic integration is not a path you can start on your own … I believe that democratic progress must not be taken for granted. Serbia wants to obstruct the progress of the entire region. The European Union and NATO have rightfully responded to Russia’s aggression … Serbia’s security threats in the Western Balkans must be treated by using the same approach, by giving Kosovo the status of candidate country for the European Union and membership in the Council of Europe,” he said.

Kurti said that in the two years of his governance, Serbia sent its army to the border with Kosov o four times, “sponsored terrorists and continuously disseminated lies and a false narrative to justify its aggressive acts against Kosovo and the region”.

Kurti said that all powers need to support Kosovo’s democratic progress. “Parliamentary diplomacy is needed more than ever. The path toward regional cooperation has its obstacles too. There are still historical grudges that often risk dividing us. The idea that some ethnicities, races, and groups are superior to others is an old stereotype,” he said.

Osmani welcomes opening of NATO Tactical Air Base in Albania (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani welcomed the opening of the NATO Tactical Air Base in Albania, saying that “it marks a significant step in strengthening the Alliance’s presence in the Western Balkans, contributing to enhanced security in our region and beyond. Where there is NATO, there is peace and stability!”

Begaj: Banjska proved how fragile security is in our region (media)

Albanian President Bajram Begaj said today that the opening of the NATO air base in Albania marks a new chapter in the history of the defense and security of Albania and the entire region. “It is the result of cooperation between allies. From this base, we are sending together the message of peace and proving that NATO stands ready to defend the freedom of allies. The NATO air base symbolizes a bridge where the past and the present unite,” he said. Begaj also said that the attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo in September last year “proved how fragile security in our region is”.

Maqedonci: Air base in Albania, NATO’s message for Western Balkans (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, said today that the opening of the NATO air base in Albania is NATO’s message for the Western Balkans. “I think that for Albania in particular, but also for the whole of Western Balkans, it is of strategic importance to have such an air base, to create a secure environment in the Western Balkans, and at the same time to stop any potential threat from those that don’t want stability in the Western Balkans,” Maqedonci said in an interview with Ora News.

Haradinaj on NATO air base in Albania: A base for regional security (media)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, said in a Facebook post today that the NATO air base that was opened in Albania today is “base for regional security in the Balkans. “The closer we are to NATO, the more free and safe we are, but Kosovo’s full membership in the Alliance would make security even fuller. I commend Albania for its natural alignment in the Alliance, but I cannot help but express my deep indignation with Albin Kurti’s government, which is humiliating Kosovo by walking away from the political contract with NATO’s leaders,” Haradinaj said.

Baerbock: Security and stability of Western Balkans, crucial for EU (RFE)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said today that the countries of the Western Balkans deserve greater support in their path toward membership in the European Union. Before her trip to Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, she said that the EU cannot afford to have what she called “gray zones” of security. “We cannot afford to allow gray zones in Europe, and we need to do everything that we can to close the avenues that Russia can use its policy of instability, disinformation, and interference … This includes support for the countries of the Western Balkans to strengthen their democratic institutions, to improve their sustainability and to offer economic opportunities for the people,” she said.

Konjufca: Government can propose draft statute for Association (RTV21)

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca said in an interview with the TV station today that the Kosovo Government can propose its draft statute for the Association/Community of Serb municipalities and that it can include parts of the EU-presented draft.

Konjufca argued that the EU draft should not be sent for interpretation to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, and that the implementation of the agreement on the Association can begin when the Ohrid agreement is signed. “When the time is right, the government will propose its own draft and will take parts from the [EU] draft, so this is not a rejection. I don’t think this draft [EU] should be sent to the Constitutional Court. According to the agreement from 2013, this is a completely internal issue of Kosovo, and [EU Special Representative Miroslav] Lajcak himself said that this is not a matter of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia. This is an international obligation that will be implemented when the time comes, and according to the [Kosovo] government this will happen when the Ohrid agreement is signed,” Konjufca said.  

Svecla: We need to be prepared to defend ourselves from cyber-attacks (Kallxo)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, said at the opening of the Conference on Cybernetic Security and Privacy in Pristina today that Kosovo “needs to create professional staff that will help us deal with cyber-attacks”. “Russian cyber-attacks, before and during the aggression are evidence of the power that they [the attacks] have,” he argued.

Svecla said that such conferences are very important to exchange experiences. “The cyberspace has revealed the risk coming from individuals, criminal groups, and also state actors … The Government of Kosovo has a vision of creating a safe and sustainable cyberspace for all,” he said.

Spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Kosovo, Katherine Judd, said the project has not finished yet and that she wants to motivate everyone to take part in training for cyber security. “The United States supports Kosovo in this respect,” she said.

Former Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovic, shared an experience from his country with cyberattacks. “Unfortunately, Montenegro experienced an exceptionally large attack in August 2022 and in September the same year. I am sure we will still have problems in the future from the attack in 2022, and even international experts could accurately pinpoint who carried out the attack,” he said.

Svecla on reports about Russia arrest warrants for Kosovo police officers (Kallxo)

The news website reports that recently there have been media reports that Russia has issued international arrest warrants for several officers of Kosovo Police, including the head of the Special Operations Unit, Besart Ahmeti. Asked to comment on the reports, Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs Xhelal Svecla said: “we know, we have received official information about the matter. This is neither my nor Besart’s concern … you cannot expect something different from Russia”.

Gashi: Fake news concerning security of Kosovo – the main problem (Kallxo)

Kreshnik Gashi, editor at Kallxo.com, said in a debate about disinformation that the main problem is fake news “concerning the country’s security”. “There was fake news that KFOR stopped Kosovo’s ministers and some people working for Kosovo’s institutions to visit the north. This was disinformation. There was also a load of unconfirmed news about a plan to assassinate the [Kosovo] Prime Minister during his visit to North Macedonia. Then there was also fake news that the Kosovo Security Force bought F14 jets, and this was then distributed on the web. There is also fake news related to current political developments, but the main problem we keep facing are news related to the security of the country … The alleged information that Kosovo ministers were banned from going to the north, this has a certain objective, and that is to increase interethnic tensions in our country and create uncertainty among the people,” he said.

Kurti meets anthropologist Janet Reineck (media)

Several news websites cover Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s meeting with anthropologist Janet Reineck. A press release issued by Kurti’s office notes that “they talked about the importance of cultural heritage, the challenges, and the potential of rural tourism in our country. Also, they discussed the importance of the unity of our people in state building, and the role of young people in this direction. Prime Minister Kurti, thanking Ms. Reineck, for her work and contribution to Kosovo, said he was ready for opportunities for closer cooperation in the future. Through this cooperation, it is intended to strengthen the promotion of cultural heritage and advance rural tourism in Kosovo.”

Jaksic, Trajkovic to Vucic: You suffered a debacle in Banjska (media)

Several news websites report that leaders of the Serb National Council, Marko Jaksic and Momcilo Trajkovic, in an open letter accused Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic about “his ties to the attack in Banjska” in the north of Kosovo in September last year. They claim that the attack could not have happened without Vucic’s permission. “If you thought about fighting [in the north of Kosovo] why didn’t you send the special forces of the Gendarmerie and the Special Anti-Terror Unit, but you sent untrained youths that did not even go through military training,” they asked. According to them, Vucic should be held responsible for the death of three young Serbs.

Gruhonjic: West’s reaction to terrorism on September 24, serious slap to Vucic regime (Albanian Post)

Dinko Gruhonjic, president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina, said in an interview with Autonomija today that the reaction of the international community to the attack in Banjska in the north of Kosovo was “a serious slap” against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “The way that Kosovo’s authorities reacted effectively to the effort of ‘little green men’ modeled according to Putin’s annexation of Crimea, is proof that Kosovo’s authorities cooperated with western intelligence service and ‘fooled’ Vucic who believed that he could carry out a kind of blitzkrieg in Kosovo,” he argued.

Serbian Language Media 

Mijacic: An opportunity for the OSCE to conduct an impartial study on security in Kosovo with special emphasis on Serbs and the impact on migration (KoSSev, KiM radio)

Few things related to the current extensive debate on the issue of security and trends in the depopulation of the Serbian community in Kosovo, wrote Dragisa Mijacic for KoSSev portal. 

”One side led by ESI, supported by several Western journalists and Kosovo Albanian politicians, claim that this phenomenon is nothing dramatic, but something that can be explained by migration trends in the Balkans. According to their claims, the migration trends of Serbs from the south of Serbia are even more dramatic.

The other side, led by think tanks and non-governmental organizations active in the Serbian community in Kosovo, as well as Serbian analysts, claim that Serbs are leaving Kosovo in dramatic numbers, mainly due to the lack of security and institutional pressure from the Kosovo government.

Each side supports its claims with findings from analytical papers and public opinion, accusing opponents of being biased and one-sided, analytically stupid or influenced by political support of one side or the other.

It is indeed very difficult to come to a sound and unbiased conclusion on this matter for many reasons. Above all, there is no reliable statistical data that explain the extent and proportions of Serbs in Kosovo, so the trends are explained by polls that are methodologically questionable.

There are only two public opinions that follow public security trends in Kosovo – the NGO Aktiv published one recently, and the other, UNDP recently.

Bearing in mind that the NGO Aktiv is an organization that is active in the Serbian community in Kosovo and that their report focuses only on the opinion of public security among Serbs, let’s look at what the numbers of the UNDP report say.

UNDP‘s “Public Pulse Summary” report is published twice a year, surveying trends in public opinion in the spring (usually April) and in the fall (usually November). This week they released the 25th edition of this survey, which focused not only on public safety, but other issues as well.

Explaining the figures on the public safety of Serbs, the ruling party in Kosovo attributed the results to the success of the Kosovo government in the fight against crime.

First, the trend figures provided by Self-Determination are misrepresented – they are not the results from 2022, 2023 and 2024, but from November 2022, April 2023, and November 2023.

However, let’s see what the UNDP survey says about this particular issue.

The results of the UNDP Survey for the period from April 2020 to November 2023 clearly show that more than half of the respondents from the Serbian community feel unsafe when they are outside! 

The most dramatic drop was between November 2021 and November 2022, when the Kosovo government began deploying special units of the Kosovo Police in the North.

In November 2022, only 15.3% of Kosovo Serbs felt safe when outside. At the same time, 80.43% of the total population felt positive about their safety. The huge disparity in security between Serbs and others clearly explains the nature of the Kosovo Government’s policy.

The latest data from November 2023 presented by UNDP show that out of 37.6%, only 6.2% of Serbs feel very safe, while 31.4% feel somewhat safe. These figures are much higher among other ethnic groups in Kosovo, Albanians, or others.

The GoK cannot boast about the results even in terms of general security. Following the deployment of special police units to the North on September 21, the overall public security figure dropped to 73.64%. The latest data also shows a drop from 82.85% to 79.73%.

Self-Determination discusses a positive trend from November 2022 to November 2023, but has deliberately neglected to mention a more drastic drop from November 2021 to November 2022. Their claim that security is increasing may be true, but it is still far from the levels before the special police forces of Kosovo were sent to the North.

To conclude, the UNDP – Public Pulse surveys clearly show that the Serbian community in Kosovo feels insecure, much more than any other community in Kosovo.

My conclusion is that these trends of opinion are strongly correlated with the politics and police actions of the Government of Kosovo.

There is a need for qualitative confirmation of hypotheses about how security concerns are related to migration trends among Kosovo Serbs.

Those given by NGO Aktiv or NGO CASA have been questioned by several Albanian and international experts who have studied this topic.

This could be a good opportunity for a credible international organization like the OSCE to conduct an impartial and comprehensive study on security issues in Kosovo with a special emphasis on the security of the Serbian community and the impact (security) on migration trends.”

How Serbs in Kosovo live one month after dinar was abolished (RTS)

The work of Clinical Hospital Centre (CLC) in Mitrovica North was put in jeopardy and the food for patients is getting short, following the ban of dinar in payment transactions in Kosovo, Serbian public broadcaster (RTS) reported on Sunday. Pristina banned dinar a month ago. The pensioners and beneficiaries of social remittances are the most endangered.

Ljiljana Kucaj lives with her daughter and 4-year granddaughter in an unfinished house in Gracanica. They live on one pension and social remittances. In the past month they needed to go to central Serbia to get this money. And this, they said, is not paying off.

“Is it worth giving 5000 dinars (approximately 43 euros) for a two-way trip? It does not pay off at all. I worked for this pension, I worked for 33 years. My starting pension was 13.400 dinars (approximately 115 euros), it has doubled now, but it is worth nothing because you can not withdraw it”, Ljiljana Kucaj told RTS.

“I am meeting my ends by using what I managed to save from earlier remittances. How much one can save there, it is only me knowing what it feels like. Everything is expensive, prices are rising, the child is growing and has needs”, Suzana Kucaj added.

Decision of Kosovo Central Bank to ban dinar in payment transactions also affected the work of the Clinical Hospital Center in Mitrovica North, which has 500 beds for patients, the management of the center warned.

Employees are not able to withdraw their salaries, ambulance vehicles may run short of fuel, hospitals without heating and patients without food – because all this is paid in dinars.

“We are obstructed in twofold – there is some sort of ban, which we had not seen in written, to ban the import of food from Serbia. Our suppliers are not able to buy the food that was not part of a bid documentation. The other way is that we can not pay for those foods in dinars, and they (suppliers) are in problem, and so are our patients”, Director of CHC Zlatan Elek said. The CLC management appealed to international community and political stakeholders to make Pristina postpone its decision on dinar abolishment.

Principals of primary schools in north: CBK regulation made regular teaching impossible (Kosovo Online)

Principals of elementary schools in the north of Kosovo held a meeting to discuss the new situation in educational institutions after the decision of Kosovo Central Bank of Kosovo to abolish the dinar on February 1, reported portal Kosovo Online. 

Milorad Jovanovic, the president of the active primary schools, said that the situation is alarming, that normal work and functioning have been prevented, as well as that this decision will mostly affect hygiene, food, and heating in these institutions.

“The public procurement system is not functioning due to the reduced inflow of dinars, and the suppliers do not want to deliver the goods. This leads to the expressed possibility of epidemics occurring in schools, because there are no means for maintaining hygiene, disinfection, and pest control of the school premises, which is difficult to implement,” he said.

Jovanovic said that they can’t even get to sponges and chalks, in the era of digitization and artificial intelligence, because of this unreasonable regulation taken by Pristina institutions. 

He recalled that in the past years, the distribution of textbooks in Kosovo, which is provided by the line ministry in Serbia and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, has been prohibited as well.

“This school year, we had to oblige parents to go to Raska or Novi Pazar, to expose themselves to additional costs and to pick up textbooks, because this is impossible at the crossings,” he recalled,  adding that families on social assistance are the most threatened by this.

Jovanovic underlined that it is not about only children of Serbian nationality, but other minorities also attend schools in the north – Bosniaks, Roma, Egyptians, and others.

“Is this a story that these children are prevented from attending classes regularly, which is a category guaranteed by the constitution? That is probably their goal,” he concludes.

He noted that they face many other problems, such as firewood, that is, heating in the schools. 

“According to the plan of work of primary schools in Serbia, therefore and in KiM, we have mandatory excursions, graduations, trips, and we do all this through public procurement, and everything is paid in dinars. Since there are less and less dinars, parents can’t pay their installments, so the school gets into trouble, and becomes subject to lawsuits,” says Jovanovic. He also said that the problems are also school snacks that parents pay for their children, and now, he notes, parents are not in a situation to pay for it.

Serbian Democracy files appeal to Ombudsperson over rejection of petition against allocation of land to Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs (social media)

“We wish to inform the public that we filed a complaint with the Ombudsman Institution in Kosovo in relation to the rejection of our petition of 2,216 signatures to call a referendum with the aim of reviewing the decision on the allocation of municipal land — better known as Military Overhaul — to Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs”, Serbian Democracy said in a post on its official Facebook account.

“In the following, we attach our Request with a petition, the Response of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly to our Request, as well as the Complaint to the Ombudsman.

We ask that the Institution of the Ombudsman urgently challenge the illegal decision of the North Mitrovica Municipality and to dissuade the aforementioned municipal authorities and the Ministry of Internal Affairs from future illegal actions in this direction!”, the statement added. 

The above mentioned documents in Serbian are available at: https://shorturl.at/jxL03

KDI criticizes CEC and MLSGA – Why process of verifying signatures to recall mayors takes so long (KoSSev)

It has been more than a month since the verification process of signatures collected to recall the mayors in northern Kosovo started. While the Central Election Commission (CEC) Chair Kreshnik Radoniqi announced that this process will be discussed this week, Kosovo Democratic Institute (KD) said it has been incomprehensible why the deadline for verification of signatures had not been set. Elections in the north were also the topic of a meeting between Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and EU Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina talks, Miroslav Lajcak in Antalya, while Osmani few days ago linked elections in the north with abolishment of EU punitive measures against Kosovo, KoSSev portal reports.

CEC received petitions to dissolve mayors in three northern municipalities on January 25, while a petition for Zubin Potok, as confirmed by its spokesperson Valmir Elezi, was received earlier.

Naim Jakaj, KDI senior researcher, said the deadline for verification of sginatures was not set in a single provision of the administrative instruction, adding that this issue must be regulated by the Ministry of Local Self-governance Administration and CEC.  He argued this issue should have been resolved in preliminary consultations between MLSGA and CEC, so the latter could adopt the sublegal act, and not leave this issue to the discretion of CEC.

“Therefore, although citizens initially used the right to oust mayors, this right in practice is delayed without CEC response, because there is no deadline for it”, he said.

He added it is incomprehensible why the process of verification takes so long, given that CEC currently has no other obligations. He underlined it is incomprehensible why the deadline was not set precisely in the instruction, and why CEC did not take any initiative to adopt a sublegal act that would be clear on the deadline.

Asked when elections in the north could be held, he responded he can’t mention any concrete timeframe, and listed reasons for it.

“We can’t give a concrete answer to this question, because signatures are not verified yet, there is no CEC decision in this regard. Also, after verification a voting to dissolve mayors must be held, and it is still unknown if that would be announced because the basic condition to hold the voting – to gather signatures of at least 20 percent of registered voters in the municipality – had not been fulfilled yet”, he said.

Filipovic: It is important that KFOR’s mandate is fulfilled in line with UN Resolution 1244 (Radio KIM, EWB)

Serbian Ambassador to NATO Mission in Brussels, Branimir Filipovic said it is of crucial importance that mandate of KFOR Mission in Kosovo is fulfilled in full scope in line with UN SC Resolution 1244 and Military Technical Agreement, that Belgrade-Pristina dialogue runs unobstructed with implementation of what had been agreed upon and without unilateral acts, Radio KIM reports.

Filipovic also said in an interview with European Western Balkans portal it was important to act preventively to every provocative Pristina’s decision, which brings risk of destabilization.

“The responsibility of the security guarantor in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija in no way can be transferred to anyone else, since KFOR is the only legal military formation in the Province, the only partner of the Serbian Army in securing the administrative line, the key guarantor of the implementation of the Brussels Agreement and practically the only guarantor of the safety and survival of the Serbs, their properties, religious and cultural heritage in the Province”, Filipovic said.

He also said an extreme concern for the security situation in Kosovo, because of endangerment and intimidation of Serbian community members by Pristina and its failure to fulfill obligations from the Brussels Agreement, was also reflected in the recent extraordinary session of the UNSC.

He recalled that Serbia requested this session in relation to the latest unilateral and illegal decisions of Pristina to abolish dinar.

Read the full interview at: https://shorturl.at/dioQ8 

Milicevic: Government of parties currently in opposition would respect fact that Serbs live in Kosovo (Kosovo Online)

If results of upcoming parliamentary elections in Kosovo were such that Self-Determination cannot independently form a government, as shown by the latest opinion polls, Miodrag Milicevic, the executive director of Mitrovica North-based NGO Aktiv believes that a new government composed of opposition parties would be more likely than a post-election alliance between a party from the opposition and the ruling Self-Determination.

From the perspective of the interests of the Serbian community, he says that previous governments were more acceptable than the government of Albin Kurti, adding if parties that are currently in opposition were to come to power again, they would respect the fact that Serbs live in Kosovo.

“I believe they would have a policy that fosters interethnic relations to the extent that it involves acknowledging the fact that Serbs live in Kosovo and that addressing the priorities of the Serbian community is primarily tied to the government in Pristina, as well as the progress of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina”, he said.

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

Lawyer: Detention of Zarko Zaric extended for two more months (Kosovo Online)

Lawyer Dejan Vasic told Kosovo Online portal that detention of his client Zarko Zaric had been extended by two more months. Zaric is accused of allegedly committing war crimes in Kosovo.

Zarko Zaric returned to his home village Ljubozda near Istok in 2017 and lived in the village ever since. He was arrested on August 5, 2023, in front of a church in this village, after the liturgy he attended ended.

“Since he was arrested his house was burglarized and his life destroyed. We wanted a detention measure to be replaced with house arrest. The court showed no understanding of it, and I will try in the appeals process to stress this issue and the stance and hope to do that with success”, he said.

“(…) our stance since beginning was that the court should make distinction when it comes to the war crimes cases for those living in Kosovo and for those who have no residence here”, he added. 

Fahri Musliu: ”Vucic would not end his political career if he recognized Kosovo independence” (KiM radio, Media Center)

Journalist and publicist Fahri Musliu said in the program ‘Slobodno srpski’ (Free in Serbian) that the state of so-called post-conflict society in the Western Balkans lasts too long, and old things are “recycled”, reported KiM radio.

“Every night on Belgrade and Pristina televisions you have scenes from the war. No way to end this, you keep having that problem. If we start from the fact that the entire policy or political situation from the 90s is recycled and instead of producing something positive, it produces hatred, division, violence, and it is not a “post”, but a continuation of the conflict”, said Musliu.

He accused politicians in the Balkans of not respecting time or people.

“What they should do today, they will do after 10 years, maybe in a more difficult version. For them, people are numbers. And the number is zero, which has no significance,” he believes, adding that with such behavior the authorities in Pristina and Belgrade are feeding each other, they think they are getting some patriotic points, but they are very wrong, they will be forgotten very quickly if they do not bring some capital decisions.

The solution is in Belgrade

He says that the Serbian-Albanian problems surrounding Kosovo could have been resolved a long time ago, and that it primarily depends on Belgrade.

“If Belgrade had been ready to say after the war – yes, we recognize Kosovo as a state, with certain conditions, itemized, guaranteed by the international community, which could have been resolved a long time ago. And what would happen? Both Serbs and Albanians started a new life, a new path, they cannot love each other, it is important that they respect each other,” says Musliu.

He called on Serbian President Vucic to recognize Kosovo as a solution.

“It doesn’t take much, it doesn’t take much for Vucic to make a decision, go on television and say – dear citizens, the Government of Serbia and I have made a decision recognizing the independence of Kosovo. We want our citizens in Kosovo, the Serbs, to live normally, we want to bring the relations between Serbs and Albanians to some kind of normality and to plant some kind of reconciliation, which is the key,” believes Musliu and states that if this reconciliation of Serbs and Albanians does not happen, there will never be peace between the two largest nations in the Balkans.

Commenting on allegations by the “yellow press” in Belgrade, but also in Pristina, that he is the biological father of Aleksandar Vucic, Musliu said that these are slanders that do not interest him.

“These are slanders that are popular in the Balkans, people are amused by it, but it is very harmful for the person, for the family… Privacy is a sacred thing protected by all possible international conventions and laws. You cannot put a label on someone and destroy the person. I am lucky that I have a healthy family,” says Musliu.

However, he has his own opinion about Vucic as a politician.

“I think that Vucic is a supremely skilled politician, with enormous experience, the experience of Seselj, Milosevic, Djindjic, and so on, he absorbed it. He read a lot of political literature of the authorities in Serbia, starting with Milos Obrenovic to the end, now. I think that sometimes he even has some sort of behavior of Tito’s politics; he balances relations between East and West, America – Russia – European Union… It can be done on two chairs. People say you can’t do it on two chairs, you can, because the West has some interests of its own, and then sees things through that. He is skilled, however, he can easily lose on the issue of Kosovo, as Milosevic lost,” says Musliu, adding that this would not be the end of Vucic’s political career.

“I don’t think he would have finished his political career. He would perhaps go down in Serbian history as a man who solved that problem,” said Fahri Musliu in a guest appearance in ‘Slobodno Srpski’ TV Show. 

Opinion

The Myth of Rising Defence Spending in Balkans Needs Unpacking (Balkan Insight)

By Milica Starinac and Ivana Rankovic, researchers at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy.

Reports of soaring defense expenditures and even ‘arms races’ in the Balkans need to be treated with caution given the chronic lack of transparency surrounding this issue.

Rising defense expenditure trends in the Balkans have drawn a lot of attention in recent years. Frequent announcements by local politicians about large military procurements have contributed to the impression of an “arms race” in the region.

Strong geopolitical currents buffeting the region due to the war in Ukraine, coupled with ever-present tensions and nationalist rhetoric in the region, keep the eye of the public on the defense sectors.

Read more at: rb.gy/pszbk4

International 

Kosovo Journalist Chronicles Rigged Trials of Milosevic’s ‘Ferocious Regime’ (BIRN)

It was November 1999, just a few months after the Kosovo war ended, when Fahri Musliu met Serbian lawyer Dragoljub Todorovic in Belgrade and received an invitation to go to the southern city of Nis the next day and attend the trial of Kosovo Albanian doctor and human rights activist Flora Brovina.

Brovina had been arrested by Yugoslav forces in April that year in Kosovo’s capital Pristina, in the midst of NATO’s campaign of air strikes aimed at making Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic end his campaign of repression against Kosovo Albanians. She was charged with “terrorism” and aiding the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army in its armed struggle against the Yugoslav Federation.

In the months that followed, Musliu, who worked as a correspondent from Serbia for US media outlet Voice of America and Pristina-based daily newspaper Zeri, went from one Serbian town to another to follow the trials of other Kosovo Albanians on similar charges.

“I gladly accepted that invitation even though for me the circumstances were new and the security situation in Serbia was quite fragile and dangerous, especially for journalists working with foreign media,” Musliu reminisced in an interview with BIRN more than 24 years later.

When Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo at the end of the war in June 1999, they transported more than 2,000 ethnic Albanian prisoners to overcrowded Serbian jails to face trial. This is the focus of Musliu’s new book, ‘Rigged Trials of Kosovo Albanians (1999-2001)’, which is an updated version of ‘Hostages’ Trials’, a previous book he published back in 2002.

“They were heavy and emotional cases… It was very sad to see Flora Brovina’s defence, a woman crying in the court,” Musliu said at the book launch event on February 22 in Pristina. Brovina was sentenced to 12 years in prison but amnestied in November 2000 after Milosevic’s regime was ousted.

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Humanitarian/Development

Leposava, one of the last remaining Serbs in Pristina dies (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

Leposava Stojanovic (born in 1933) one of the last remaining Sebs in Pristina died, at the age of 91, doctor Aleksandar Cankovic, who took care of her for years, confirmed, Radio KIM reports.

Leposava became known to the public after the city authorities decided to evict the residents of Pavilion E settlement in the center where she lived together with her neighbors Albanians, Turks, Roma and Bosniaks. She has been fighting for a long time to remain in her apartment, however, had to move out after the building was demolished to construct a city garage on that location, Radio KIM reported at that time. Since then she lived in a rented apartment in Pristina, while the municipality was paying the rent.

She has never left Pristina, and remained living in her apartment alone after the death of her husband. She had good relations with her Albanian neighbors, and, as she said, some of them were helping her. She will be buried in Nis, Cankovic told Radio KIM.