Serbs agree to demolish wall in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north

(KTV Interactive, 23:00hrs) 

Around 16:00hrs of Thursday a group of Serb citizens gathered close to the bridge over Ibër River, respectively near the wall that was built illegally months ago. But, at the time of reporting by KTV, late on Thursday, Serb citizens dispersed and situation was calm.

While the Serbs gathered near the wall on Thursday, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic met in Raska with mayors of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo, as well as with Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Branimir Stojanovic.

After this meeting, Vucic said that Mayor of Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North Goran Rakic has accepted to demolish the wall.

“Even according to Kosovo laws this is under direct competences of local self-governments, so under Goran Rakic’s competences from Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North. It does not count, not even Kosovo laws are valid. Nothing counts. It must be demolished. Goran Rakic accepts that the wall will be demolished, not because he thinks evil about his people, or because he is a coward, but because he wants to preserve peace. But then, they told us that even this is not enough, they want to make us responsible for everything,” Serbian PM Vucic said.

Mayor of Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North Goran Rakic and Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Branimir Stojanovic said that Serbs are living in fear because of things being done by Prishtinë/Pristina.

Vucic himself, at a longer press conference held during the meeting break, said that he got assurances from Brussels that Hashim Thaçi and Isa Mustafa will no longer tell stupidities. Above all, he called on Serbs to stay calm and not take unilateral actions.

In the meantime, Kosovo Police said that no incidents were marked and that situation was peaceful.

Thaçi calls on Serbia not to evoke fear and hatred among Serbs in Kosovo

(All monitored broadcasters, RTK1&TV21)

In a press statement, the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi expressed his concern about, as he said, the Serbian propagandistic campaign, with which it is continuing to evoke fear and ethnic hatred among the Serb community living in the northern part of Kosovo.

According to President Thaçi, this propaganda orchestrated by Serbia aims the intimidation of citizens of Kosovo living in the north of the country and prevention of their full integration process in the institutions of Kosovo.

Thaçi invited Serbia to renounce from such practices, while he said that the European Union and NATO must warn Serbia to refrain from the scenario of promoting a new conflict in Kosovo and the region. Full statement of Kosovo President, in English, can be read here: http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,4727#.WJPg7FXaeJA

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, also reacted. In a statement to Radio Free Europe, he reemphasized the pledge of Kosovo Government to dialogue, peace, stability and normalization of relations with its neighboring countries, RTK1 reported.

Regarding the latest statements of the Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, who said that Serbia is trying to preserve peace and stability in the region, Mustafa said it is widely known that “the Republic of Kosovo is the best regional example and beyond of maximum commitment for democratic forms of solutions of any disagreement.”

However PM Mustafa said that Kosovo welcomes declarative commitment of Serbia for peace and stability. PM Mustafa also said that “Kosovo Serbs are completely safe and they are protected by laws and institutions of Kosovo and nobody has a reason to be concerned related to this issue.

Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj, also reacted against latest statements of Serbian officials, other TV broadcasters reported.

Gecaj: ASMM will have more competencies compared to existing Association

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Wednesday evening’s high level meeting in Brussels lasted for four hours and it was considered as a failed meeting. Only the High Representative Federica Mogherini, who held separate meetings with the sides, reiterated after the meeting that they are helping ease tensions between the two countries, KTV reported.

“In our meeting today we followed up on the discussions we had in the Dialogue on 24 January. I am encouraged by the constructive engagement shown by both sides. This commitment and political will contributes significantly to reducing tensions and we will continue to work in this spirit,” Mogherini press statement writes.

State leaders from Kosovo and Serbia stayed loyal to EU High Representative by not giving any details regarding 01 February meeting. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated for Serbian media that they will do everything to preserve peace, but they do not expect anything from Prishtinë/Pristina.

Kosovars did not break the promise to not make media statements, either.

“You know that after each meeting in the past there were hot statements by the parties which do not impact positively on the normalization of relations, and I believe that this was the EU request. It is being respected. I believe and hope that this will be respected further,” said Deputy Minister of Local Government, Bajram Gecaj.

Gecaj also responded to the statement of Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic, who said they will request independence for the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities. Gecaj qualified this as yet another crazy statement of the Serbian President.

“It is expected that this Association will have little more additional competencies compared to the existing Association, because if this was not the case then we would not need to go to Brussels to negotiate. It will have something more, but not also including executive functions. What President Nikolic said it would mean inclusion of executive functions, and this will not happen. We have an agreement which has been signed in 2013 and which has been ratified. It obliges the Government of Kosovo to establish the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities,” Gecaj said.

Security situation in Kosovo north stable

(Most monitored broadcasters, TV21)

Kosovo Police reports that security situation in the north is stable. Referring to tendentious speculations of some Serbia media as if the Kosovo Police has increased its presence in certain locations and as an outcome of which came to the gathering of about 200 persons in the afternoon hours of Thursday in King Peter Street in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë, Kosovo Police told TV21 that the overall security situation is stable and there is no need to have concerns that might be raised from these media speculations.

Yee: Kosovo to fulfill its obligations

(Most monitored broadcasters, Klan Kosova)

In the series of meetings with senior US officials, the Kosovo Assembly Speaker, Kadri Veseli, met with Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Hoyt Brian Yee.

Close relations between the United States of America and Kosovo, as two friendly countries, was the key topic of this meeting.

The senior US official, Yee, said that Kosovo must fulfill all its obligations as a state, since, as he said, fulfilled obligations strengthen its statehood.

On the other hand, Speaker Veseli pledged that Kosovo will fulfill all its obligations and continue consolidation of its statehood.

Thaçi: There will not be a war between Kosovo and Serbia

(Summary of Klan Kosova – Debate show)

On Thursday evening Klan Kosova Debate Zone show hosted Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, to discuss the wall in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North, dialogue with Serbia, Albanian-Serbian relations, and situation of Albanians in Macedonia.

Asked if dialogue has an end, President Hashim Thaçi stated that Wednesday’s meeting was difficult, but he could conclude that situation was not exaggerated. Kosovo is in peace and dialogue is being held for normalization of relations, reconciliation between the two countries, he said.

“It was not a pleasant and easy meeting, but with many difficulties and a heavy one,” Thaçi said.

He also said that there are disagreements between the parties, but the aim of the meeting was to ease tensions. “I believe in peace and good neighbourhood,” he stressed.

Asked if he believes in success of dialogue, Thaçi said he is optimistic that good things will be achieved and that dialogue was already successful. He announced that dialogue will not be a short one, but it will end with mutual recognition of two states.

On the other hand, Albanian PM Edi Rama said that Albanians, Kosovo and Albania, are together to promote peace, but also to defend their territorial integrity. According to him, the ‘absurd wall’ or ‘absurd train’ reflects a nightmare of the neighbours, and not of Albanians. He said that neighbours are to feel pity about this.

Rama said that if Serbs want to get on trains that send them back in history, but which do not have anything to do with Kosovo, then there is nothing that Albanians can do about it. “But, if they want to violate a centimetre of our territory, we are ready to respond,” Rama said.

Rama said that Albanians will not fall prey to such politics. He underlined that peace is not easy, and praised the approach of Kosovo leaders who did not allow violation of Kosovo’s integrity. He said that Belgrade and Skopje should learn from Prishtinë/Prishtina.

“There are hysteric calls to raise the imagination of a conflict, in which Albanians are not part. Serbia will have this nightmare until it recognizes Kosovo,” Rama stated.

The show moderator said that there are claims for taking away the northern part of Kosovo, to which Rama responded: “The issue of Kosovo territory has been closed with signing of Kosovo’s independence. Kosovo and Albania are together in promoting peace. They are together in defending sovereignty. There is no chance for Kosovo to be infringed in its territory. That wall in reality does not challenge Kosovo’s sovereignty. It is a brutal expression of a very backward ideology. I am convinced that no matter how this situation will end up, it is not of those situations where the other party will look good,” Rama said.

“A grotesque history that will be solved,” he added.

“We are on the right side of the history, and the right side is on the side of the bridge, and not on the wall,” Rama concluded.

President Thaçi, on the other hand, told citizens not to be worried because there will not be a war between Kosovo and Serbia.

“I do not believe there can be a war. We will respond to Serbia’s call for wars with peace. “Kosovo was provoked with the train,” he said, adding that Serbian citizens did not support the train.

“The ones that started the train stopped it. We were obliged to defend the Constitution,” he said.

“The wall will be demolished by the ones who built it. We are obliged to respect Assembly’s Resolution, too” Thaçi underlined.

One of the show participants asked President Thaçi if difficult topics are being discussed in Brussels, for the fact Kosovo and Serbia Presidents were also involved in talks.

Thaçi said that Kosovo has a good tradition of dialogue. “We won in Rambouillet because we were on the right side. Kosovo and Serbia sat around the same table as equal for the first time in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue,” President Thaçi said.

He stressed that cooperation between President and Prime Minister of Kosovo is excellent.

Asked what were benefits of the meeting he had with Serbian PM, and if he believes he has contributed to relaxation of Kosovo-Serbia relations, Albanian Prime Minister Rama said: “It is a process that pushes forward a very important, strategic project of Albanians and I believe in the context of united Europe, of all the ones that do not want our children, next generation to live with inherited wounds of a very heavy past, or to be divided by walls that at the end of the day do not bring economy, wellbeing, better life in these areas that we call the Balkans.”

Rama underlined Kosovo is the divisive point between him and Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic, Albania and Serbia. He also said that ways to dialogue should be found in order for people of these territories to live better. He believes that exchanges in the trade, economic, touristic level create conditions for increased communication between people that brings benefits for all.

“Albanians of Kosovo and Albanians in general throughout their history have a major difference from Serbs. Kosovo Albanians did not fight to take something that did not belong to them away from Serbs. They fought to finally take something that was unjustly taken away from them and it was being kept hostage with force – their homeland,” he said.

“We as Albanians do not have to feel weak when neighbours occasionally return to the past. It is their problem. Albanians won the war, and the challenge now is to win peace,” Rama added.

He said that Albanians are ready to respond to violation of any centimetre of their territory.

Another student of political studies asked PM Rama if Kosovo and Serbia are closer to peace or war due to recent infringement of Kosovo sovereignty.

“Sovereignty was not infringed. They built a wall without permit and they were inspired by elections in Serbia. No war on the horizon, for 1001 reasons there is one only way – the way to move on the right direction and be on the right side of history, as we did until now,” he continued.

In the meantime, Kosovo President was asked if division of Kosovo was ever discussed in talks. “Serbia aims to divide Kosovo. It has never been discussed, nor will it ever be.”

To the question if Ramush Haradinaj’s arrest warrant issue was discussed in talks, Thaçi said that Kosovo cannot talk to Serbia about arrest warrants. He believes that US and EU will put pressure on Serbia to invalidate these warrants.

When asked if Albania demonstrated weakness because it did not issue a single statement regarding the Serbian train, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that Tirana did the right thing and it did not fall prey of these provocations. He said that he feels pity when neighbours do such things. “Serbia is in difficult position in this situation. The wall directly affects the community that built it,” Rama said.

Responding to a question on non-transparency of dialogue and why opposition and civil society are not part of talks, Thaçi said he considers dialogue was very transparent and accountable. He reminded that when he was running the talks as Prime Minister, he used to report to the Assembly of Kosovo and citizens through it. He assured that all relevant things are made public and that no secret things are being discussed in talks.

To the question, how could the wall be built overnight and no institution of Kosovo knew about it, Thaçi said that the same people that initiated the train also initiated the wall issue. “It was very easy to remove that wall through other mechanisms, but we are investing on peace, on understanding and on the best interethnic relations. Serbs in the north are the ones that are paying the highest price in these provocations of Belgrade authorities,” Thaçi considers.

According to Thaçi, Serbs of Kosovo are victims of Serbian politics. Referring to statements of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic regarding the attacks on Kosovo Serbs, Thaçi said: “No one thought of attacking Serbs. They are our citizens. We protect them. We serve them. We stand close to them. They are only victims of nationalism of Belgrade authorities… Most citizens of the north are against walls, they are for bridges,” Thaçi added.

Responding to a student’s question why the wall was not treated as a construction without permit, Thaçi said: “There are more constructions without permit in Prishtinë/Pristina. There are way less in the north.”

To the comment that he has influenced Kosovo academic Rexhep Qosja to build the story for division of Kosovo, Rama said he was accused of asking unification of Albania with Kosovo, he was accused of asking for Kosovo division, but whenever Kosovo and Albania are discussed he thinks of unification and not division. “The issue is how to unify and not divide. The issue is also what will we unify and what we will divide, and how to materialize our unification path by standing behind our values, by standing behind our national and European inspiration and by standing behind the strategic project of peace. This is my concern. It is not how will it be divided, because there is nothing to divide here, there is simply something to unify,” Rama responded.

Referring to the wall built in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north, the Albanian PM was asked what would his actions be in case Greek community would build a similar wall in Himara, Albania, Rama sternly stated: “One correction here, there is no Greek community in Himara. Himara is Albanian and it is important to always remember this because we often face an effort to create an opposite idea, which is the old idea of our neighbours, nevertheless let us not get deepen in this polemics.”

President of Kosovo denied a comment of one of the participating students, who said that Kosovo does not have authority in the north.

“Since 25 July, we have police forces in the north, we have custom officers there, we have free movement, there are no more barricades, and we have integration of parallel structures into police bodies. They are people, too. They were in barricades, now they have joined the Kosovo Police. They are in the justice system. The other thing, which also is the most important one, for the first time after 15 years, we have organized local and general elections according to Kosovo laws and Kosovo Constitution,” Thaçi emphasised.

He said that people from barricades today are in Kosovo institutions, adding that it was unthinkable for Kosovo Police Unit to go Jarinje as they did in the recent train case. He considers that this progress would not have been achieved without 25 July and dialogue in Brussels. He also insisted that the wall will be removed.

Regarding non-inclusion of missing persons issue in dialogue, Thaçi said: “My aim is to raise this issue at the highest institutional level between Kosovo and Serbia, with the presence and guidance of EU representatives. But we should be very open and sincere with each other in this case. Here come some reciprocal responsibilities. We know that Serbia has committed genocide in Kosovo, but at the same time we should be careful and responsible to also listen to Serb associations regarding their missing ones,” Thaçi said.

He announced starting consultations for establishment a commission for truth and reconciliation on 7 February. He said that Kosovo needs recognition, rather than material compensation from Serbia.

Asked if Edi Rama consults Kosovars regarding talks with Serbia and in case a military action from Serbia happens, will Kosovo and Albania come together to respond, Rama stated:

“Kosovo was part of Serbia when the war of Kosovo Liberation Army started. And, no matter that it was part of Serbia, in the liberation war, which was defensive war and not a conquering war, Albanian state directly collaborated with the KLA. Now, how do you imagine this? This question is not debatable. But, when we sit and blow the imagination that we should get ready for war because Serbs built a wall to themselves. They built that wall to themselves. It is the same as saying that because some people closed the door to themselves, we should now go open the door for them by force. No, we should convince them to open the door ‘dear friends’ because isolation is your misfortune.”

“This is a game of war. It is not war,” Rama said talking about the wall and train.

President Thaçi was asked if talks with Serbia have failed, and if there is a plan B in case these talks failed.

Meanwhile, Albanian Prime Minister Rama laughingly responded to this question by saying: “B – is called Bashkim [Unification in Albanian].”

On the other hand, Thaçi called on Albanians and Serbs in the north in particular not to be concerned. He emphasised that they will not be attacked by anyone. He also called on them not to allow Serbia to manipulate them. “I believe that recognition of Kosovo will come from Serbia. I am certain, Serbia will not be integrated in European family without recognizing Republic of Kosovo,” he added.

To the information shared by host moderator that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North Mayor Goran Rakic have announced the decision to demolish the wall, President Thaçi said: “I think this is a wise action of theirs!”

Referring to Edi Rama’s visit to Serbia, Thaçi said Belgrade needed to hear the truth that Kosovo is an independent from Albania. “There is no peace for the Balkans for as long as there is no peace between Albanians and Serbs,” Thaçi stated.

Host moderator told Edi Rama that Serbian PM Vucic has expressed concern regarding his visit to Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK), saying that he has visited a radical political party.

“I have visited Vucic himself. Imagine that I do not visit Ramush Haradinaj’s party. According to him, I must visit him and not this one. He should be careful not to visit extremists, because people will remember that he was with them. Whilst I visit with greatest pleasure those that he calls Albanian extremists of Kosovo, because they are Kosovo liberators. For them they are extremists, to us they are liberators,” Rama replied.

Rama said he hopes that Ramush Haradinaj will return to Kosovo next week, and they will keep insisting to clear all arrest warrants against Kosovars in the EU countries.

“From the contacts that we have officials, Mr Haradinaj will definitely not be extradited to Serbia. He will return to his family in the coming days,” President Thaçi stressed during this show.

Speaking about situation in Macedonia, Albanian Prime Minister underlined that Macedonian state should mark progress in respecting rights of Albanians. He said that there cannot be Macedonia without Albanians.

According to him, it is irrelevant who will lead the Macedonian Government, but for Albanians to enjoy their rights as a state-building people. Rama said that Albania is interested to see a stable Macedonia and that it is time for Macedonian politicians to understand they can treat Albanians as second hand citizens.

Kosovo President, Hashim Thaçi, told Debate Zone show that Macedonian state structures should feel bad that Macedonia discriminates Albanians there for years.

“An insulting fact of Macedonian Government in relation with Albanians – they do not allocate funds for 12 kilometres of road only for Albanians not to be connected through roads,” Thaçi said.

Nevertheless, Thaçi added that Albanians are an important and crucial factor for building the Macedonian state. He also said that 3 or 4 per cent of Serbs in Kosovo have more rights than 33-34 per cent of Albanians in Macedonia.

“We do not feel bad that Serbs enjoy these rights. At the contrary, we feel very good,” Thaçi said.

He said that no economic investments were made in areas that Albanians live. “It is at our interest for Macedonia to become part of NATO as soon as possible. We have no aspiration for changing of borders, but opening of borders with Macedonia,” he finished.