President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci held an end-year press conference today where he spoke about main developments in 2018, including dialogue with Serbia. He said he will work in reaching a “balanced” agreement with Serbia in the interest of peace and stability and confirmed that the issue of missing persons will be among the issued to be raised in the dialogue: “The issue of missing persons will be the first item to be discussed and this is already official,” Thaci said.
He said the negotiating team has his full support and that Kosovo is ready for dialogue: “The delegation has legitimacy of the citizens and the responsibility entrusted by the representative of the people. It would be of interest to have broader involvement.” He also said that he would not be joining the team in its upcoming trip to Brussels in January. “The negotiating team has agreed for me to be skiing in Brezovica on 8 January while they are in Brussels,” Thaci said adding: “I will support their work when they seek clarification, advice, and I will always be at their disposal.” Kosovo president said he continued to support rights of Albanians in the Presevo Valley: “I believe in the coming months their right to join Kosovo will be formalized.”
Asked to comment on whether he is fearful of the Specialist Chambers, Thaci replied that anyone invited by this institution should positively respond. “The Assembly has taken its decision on this court and I support it. Kosovo has nothing to hide. The black cloud over Kosovo needs to be cleared. The KLA war was pure and righteous, it is a period all my former fellow fighters and I are the proudest of.” He also spoke about the investigation into the murder of Kosovo Serb political leader Oliver Ivanovic calling on authorities in Belgrade to cooperate. “The main suspects are in Belgrade so it should be more cooperative,” he said.
