Government published Demarcation Commission’s report (KTV)

Government of Kosovo published the report of the State Commission for Marking and Maintenance of the State Border, where a series of documents and data upon which the work of this Commission for demarcation of the border with the Montenegrin state were summarised. It states that the Agreement on Demarcation is in line with the border of 1974, the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Ahtisaari Plan, and so on.

This report, which was titled “Summary of basic documentation in defining the territory of the Republic of Kosovo,” states that the Commission grounded its work on widely-known international principles for marking and maintaining the border line.

The report, which was prepared by the State Commission for Marking and Maintenance of the State Border, highlights that border line between Kosovo and Montenegro from 1974 until 2015 is the same and unchanged.

Dozens of decrees, maps of the area and maps of Kosovo, documents of the Municipality of Pejë/Pec, cadastral data, statistics, Assembly laws, and photos were included in the 106 pages of this report.

Statement of the US State Department, which considers the Agreement on Demarcation regular; statement of the US President Barack Obama, which also considers the agreement regular; same as the report of international experts engaged by the former President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga was included in this report.

However, the full text of the Agreement on Demarcation, which has never been published by the Government, was not included in this report, too. It has been published at a time when the Government of Kosovo is expected to submit this Agreement for ratification to the Assembly, which is being opposed by the opposition, many experts, as well as civil society.

Mustafa: Arguments for loss of land must be expressed at the Assembly (RTK1)

In an interview with the RTK INFO 3 Live show, the Prime Minister of Kosovo Isa Mustafa said that people who have arguments for loss of land at the border with Montenegro must express them.

He said that demarcation of the border with Montenegro is where it was defined by the State Commission for Marking of the Border even at the time when Kosovo was recognised as an independent state.

Mustafa says that the Assembly is the place to make statements if someone has given away 8.000 hectares of land as, according to him, this is then a criminal offence.

He said that nothing changed in borders, but it is rather the same territory that the United States of America recognised as an independent state.

Prime Minister Mustafa said that Kosovo losses more than visa liberalisation with the non-ratification of demarcation. “Demarcation will happen now or later, but we might remain without visas in case we delay,” he said.

As far as the Association of Serb majority municipalities is concerned, PM Mustafa said that it is like an NGO, which cannot take state decisions. According to him, this was also confirmed by the Constitutional Court.

VV not part of meetings between ruling and opposition parties on demarcation (KTV)

While the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Hajredin Kuçi has announced intensive meetings between the ruling and opposition parties regarding demarcation, such meetings started as of Wednesday morning, KTV reported.

PDK, LDK, AAK and Nisma together with some of the ambassadors of Quint countries have met, but the meeting did not produce any results. This is at least what was said by officials of the political parties that were part of this meeting.

In the meantime, speaking from the Assembly of Kosovo, AAK e Nisma called on MPs not to vote the Agreement on Demarcation with Montenegro whenever it will be submitted to the Assembly for ratification.

KTV reported that representatives of the ruling and opposition parties, without Vetëvendosje, and with the mediation of Ambassadors accredited in Kosovo, met at a roundtable organised far from media glare at one of the hotels in Prishtinë/Pristina suburbs. Participants of this meeting confirmed it for KTV.

Bilall Sherifi, who was part of the meeting, told KTV that a long discussion was made, but AAK and Nisma have not changed their position and they do not accept the current form of the Agreement. Sherifi said there will also be other meetings, but he did not mention any date as when they will happen.

Otherwise, Vetëvendosje Movement has announced that scenes of opposition with teargas will return at the Assembly the day that the Agreement on Demarcation will be discussed.

Excavations began at University of Prishtina campus (Klan Kosova)

Excavations began on Wednesday morning at the University of Prishtina campus, close to the unfinished Orthodox Church, after suspicions for existence of a mass grave in this location.  Prosecutor of the Special Prosecution, Elez Blakaj, also confirmed the beginning of excavations.

Klan Kosova talked with residents living in the buildings close to the Orthodox Church, but only one of them accepted to speak in front of cameras. G.J, a 79-year old Albanian, who stayed in his apartment during the conflict, told this TV broadcaster that he saw Serbian police forces near the Church and the National Library of Kosovo.

Bajram Qerkinaj, a representative of the families of missing persons, told media there are credible witnesses that a mass grave is located in this area.

On the other hand, Prenk Gjetaj, Head of the Government Commission on Missing Persons, said that for now only excavation is being done.

Meanwhile Veljko Odalovic – Head of Serbia’s Government Commission on Missing Persons, who came to oversee the excavations, called for non-politicisation of this issue.

Croatian Ambassador visited Radio and Television of Kosovo (RTK1)

The Croatian Ambassador, Marija Kapitanovic, visited Radio and Television of Kosovo (RTK) where she was accepted by its Director General, Mentor Shala. Ambassador Kapitanovic was interested to know about developments in the public broadcaster, situation of media in Kosovo and the digitalisation process.

On the other hand, Director Shala informed her about developments in RTK and challenges lying ahead of the public broadcaster such as digitalisation of production and broadcast.

During this meeting it was said that non-solution of a sustainable funding and non-defining of RTK property are the two issues that the public broadcaster is facing.

Shala said that budgetary funds allocated by the Government for the second semester of this year to RTK are insufficient and they do not enable appropriate production of programmes.