LOCAL PRESS

 

Chepurin: Serbia is Russia’s important partner (Tanjug/RTS)

The Russian Embassy in Serbia has marked the state holiday Day of Russia. Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin conveyed that Serbia was Russia’s important and reliable strategic partner in Europe and the Balkans and that it highly appreciated the sincere mood of the Serbian leadership and people for improving cooperation in all directions. Chepurin stressed that Russia firmly supports Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, peace and stability in the Balkans.

 

Tachi: Working group to be set up for Serb municipalities (Tanjug)

The Kosovo authorities will in the next few days set up a working group to establish the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), Kosovo President Hashim Tachi told Tanjug on Thursday. Tachi could not specify who the members of the working group will be, but noted that there will be no representatives of Serbia. I respect Serbia’s legitimate interest regarding its people who live in the territory of Kosovo, but Kosovo is an independent state, Tachi said.
He also reiterated that the ZSO will have no executive powers and that it will be based on the Brussels agreement, Kosovo laws and a decision of the constitutional court of Kosovo. Sources in the EU headquarters confirmed to Tanjug that Edita Tahiri, who heads Pristina’s delegation in the technical dialogue with Belgrade, was in Brussels on Wednesday for bilateral discussions with officials of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Earlier on, Pristina announced that Tahiri would travel to Brussels to raise objections over Serbia’s blockade of an agreement on telecommunications and a country code for Kosovo. Sources in Belgrade said that Tahiri was summoned to the EEAS headquarters to explain the delay in implementing the agreement on the ZSO. Tanjug’s diplomatic sources in Brussels said that all open issues in the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue were discussed at the meeting.

 

Cornerstone laid for returnee residential complex in Kosovo (Tanjug)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric and Ivan Todosijevic, an official of the interim municipal authority of Zvecan, on Thursday laid the cornerstone for a residential complex for returnees to the Kosovo and Metohija municipality. The complex, named Sunny Valley is expected to have 300 housing units and other buildings. Today is the beginning of a new era of a return of Serbian citizens who have been expelled from Kosovo and Metohija, Djuric said, adding that the start of construction works marks the 17th anniversary of the start of the Serb exodus from Kosovo in 1999. It is not a project of hatred against anyone, but a project of love for our own nation, aimed at alleviating the consequences of ethnic cleansing, bloody expulsions and extermination of Serbs in Kosovo, Djuric said. “The policy of Aleksandar Vucic’s government is a policy of return and we will together persist in the fight to accomplish a significant objective in Kosovo and Metohija... This is not just a Sunny Valley, but a valley of hope, a valley of future for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” Djuric said. The complex is expected to become home to around 1,500 returnees.

 

Serbian Mufti Numan: Secession of Kosovo didn’t bring good to anyone (Novosti)

What good has Kosovo’s secession brought to anyone? Just how many are there Serbian sanctities that have been preserved through centuries, even during the Turkish period. Today, all of them have found themselves overnight in some sort of independent state, far from those who respect them and who confess in them their own faith, Serbian Mufti Abdulah Numan tells Novosti. “I am not a politician, nor do I intend to be, but what have we got from Kosovo’s secession or the division of B&H into the Republika Srpska and Federation B&H? The Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks have nothing from that. Even the atheist and dictator Tito managed to bring Bosnia to a state-of-affairs of some kind of tolerance and religious co-existence, which is almost unimaginable today.” Numan stresses that all nations of the former Yugoslavia are “people of one root” and almost identical language and that they need to live together again. Divisions, barriers and borders, according to him, are a path towards their destruction. “Fragmentation of states and numerous borders cannot survive physically, psychologically or financially. They cut the soul of the region, which can be healed by nations only if they stop insisting on differences, petty interest and false patriotism. We should clearly state that the Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks are no butchers or murderers, as Europe sees them. We must be people, brothers, firmly determined for peace and forgiveness,” opines the Serbian Mufti.

 

Serbian, Kosovo chambers of commerce bolster cooperation (Beta)

The Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo have agreed to put in more effort to bolster cooperation between the business communities, the Serbian Chamber announced. According to the press release, a meeting took place in Berlin, during preparations for continuing an inter-chamber technical dialogue, organized by the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations. The two chambers pointed out the need to remove bureaucratic barriers to business and the free flow of people, goods and services in the region by boosting partnership dialogue among the chambers and governments of the Western Balkans. “The two chambers also agreed about the next activity in implementing the energy and construction agreement, and analyzed business support projects with which the two chambers will apply for bilateral donor and EU fund financing,” the press release reads.

 

EU reacts to Serbian tabloid’s anti-Vucic conspiracy claim (Tanjug/B92)

Tabloid Informer editor-in-chief’s accusations of conspiracy aimed at the EU and the U.S. have been described as completely baseless by the European Commission (EC). “These allegations are completely without any basis and we are confident that the authorities in Serbia are well aware of this,” EC spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told Tanjug in a written statement late on Thursday.

It added that the EU is firmly and unreservedly committed to the European perspective of Serbia.

At the same time, the statement recalled that the EU is the largest provider of financial assistance to Serbia.  “And this is primarily related to the Serbian government and takes place completely transparently,” the EC statement added. Besides reminding that the EU is Serbia’s main trade and investment partner, the European Commission also stressed that European institutions continuously provide support to Serbia on its European path, where the EU Delegation in Belgrade has a central role. “We give praise where it is deserved, but we are critical, as friends should be, where we must be. The EU will continue to stand for democratic and economic development and the rule of law in Serbia as well as in any other place,” the statement said, according to Tanjug.

On Thursday, Informer’s editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vucicevic said he had concrete evidence that ambassadors of the EU countries and the United States in Belgrade are involved in an attempt to radicalize the protests against the Savamala demolitions and the editorial and managerial changes at the RTV broadcaster. Their goal, according to Vucicevic, are clashes in the streets and causing a kind of a color revolution in Serbia.  “This country is beginning to function as a strong state. However, in addition to judicial, legislative and executive powers, somebody is trying to introduce the ambassadorial power here. This power is much more powerful than we think,” Vucicevic told Pink TV. The tabloid on Thursday published an article under the headline, "The killing of Vucic is starting," which claims that head of the EU Delegation Michael Davenport and U.S. Ambassador Kyle Scott want to destabilize the government of SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic and are counting on the help of many public figures. In this context, the daily mentioned satirist Zoran Kesic, Program Director of Transparency Serbia Nemanja Nenadic, actors Branislav and Sergej Trifunovic, journalists Tamara Skrozza and Antonela Riha, President of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) Vukasin Obradovic, Director of the Foundation Slavko Curuvija Ilir Gashi, and founder of the Center for Cultural Decontamination Borka Pavicevic. The Democratic Party (DS) said it was condemning the attack of the PM-designate’s favorite newspaper aimed at public figures and civil society activists, and called on the authorities to protect all those who have targets painted on their foreheads. The SNS reacted to this by saying that the DS had painted targets on all citizens, adding that the people are the victim of their greed. Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic also reacted to say that state authorities should distance themselves from Informer’s claims about Scott and Davenport.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Dodik: Russia does not influence decision-making or governance, unlike the Western countries (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik said in Eastern Sarajevo that he agreed with the opinion of the managing board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) that as of lately there had been hate speech in the country and radical rhetoric and pointed to statements by former Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the opening of the Ferhat Pasha Mosque in Banja Luka and Islamic Community in B&H chief Husein Kavazovic’s public statements. “They absolutely speak the language of hatred. As for me, I do not hate either Bosniaks or Muslims. I do not hate anyone, but I love Serbs. I am not ready to accept anything that would be bad for Serbs. I never understood their good intentions that way,” Dodik told reporters. He said that it was high time for PIC to be closed, remarking that foreigners were not helping anything good happen in B&H through their actions. “They have become stuck in the mud of changing the Dayton accords. The high representative was the person who devastated the political system as it was established by international contract and the Council only meets to justify his hefty 24,000 Euros monthly salary and say that he was essential,” Dodik said. Commenting on claims that RS was under great influence from Russia, he said that such remarks came “from those who want to present themselves as big analysts and media experts and make stupid claims”. “If there are any influences here than that is the enormous influence of the West in B&H in the decision making process and in the form of micromanagement in B&H. This can be proven in every spot. RS continues to have good relations with Russia and that will not change, because someone in Sarajevo imagined that Russians were walking around and saying what needed to be done,” the RS president said. The Russian Embassy in B&H has expressed reserves about a part of the communiqué of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board concerning B&H’s Euro-Atlantic integration, thus drawing attention to the absence of a consensus in B&H about the country’s prospects for NATO membership. Meanwhile the RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic says that the conclusions of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) in B&H are irrelevant and that she has not read their communiqués for years because she doesn’t see the point.

 

Reactions to the announced protests in RS (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik dubbed the protests announced by the Alliance for Change in Prijedor as the biggest case of petty politics. The demonstrators will protest against the sale of natural resources and state capital in the Ljubija Iron Ore Mine. The RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic says the protest against the sale of natural resources and state capital in the Ljubija Iron Ore Mine will be used to deceive the public and shift the attention from the opposition’s failures in RS and at the State level. Nikola Kovacevic, a member of the State Property Commission, told Srna on Thursday that the statement by High Representative Valentin Inzko that the right to the ownership of state property that is no longer under a ban and that it belongs to B&H as the only legitimate holder of that right is very political. Milenko Djakovic, head of the Prijedor city board of the Democratic People’s Alliance (DNS), is urging his fellow citizens to think whether they should go to the opposition protest on Thursday or go out to polls with dignity in October and state their political opinion then.

 

RS Assembly not received a request for a special session dedicated to a population census (Srna)

The RS Assembly speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic said that this legislative institution has not yet received a request for a special session dedicated to a population census. B&H Foreign Affairs Minister Igor Crnadak said that he will ask at a session of the B&H Council of Ministers that the director of the B&H Statistics Agency Velimir Jukic withdraw his decision on a program for the population census data processing.

 

Central Electoral Committee verified applications for participation in the local elections (Srna)

The B&H Central Electoral Committee verified applications for participation in the 2 October local elections filed by 107 political parties, 309 independent candidates and 58 representatives of national minorities.

 

SDP collecting signatures to dissolve parliament (Hina)

The parliamentary group of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Thursday afternoon started collecting signatures of MPs to dissolve parliament, with SDP parliamentarian Ranko Ostojic saying the goal was to collect a majority, at least 76, to force the speaker to put the item on the agenda. Ostojic said the signatures would be collected for a short time and that the SDP, unless it collected at least 76 signatures, would drop the initiative. “We believe this is the best we can do at the moment. We will invite not just the opposition, not just our coalition, but all those responsible MPs who believe that this is the way out of this agony and disgrace.” He would not say how many signatures the SDP group had. “We have collected enough signatures at the very start which should mean that this is serious.” The Croatian Labor Party has already put into procedure a motion for dissolving parliament, but Ostojic said they were on the same list as the SDP and that he expected other MPs to join them. “We think the agony should be ended by returning the mandate to citizens.” Ostojic said it was important for the parliament speaker to understand, when presented with 76 signatures, that he had the duty to honor that. He said that despite the Standing Orders, such an initiative certainly can't remain aside. He said the SDP was not gloating because of the government crisis, which has improved the party's rating in opinion polls. “We are calling for a new election and returning the mandate to citizens, because this disgrace should be stopped.” Ostojic said he did not believe Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) secretary-general Domagoj Milosevic’s claim that the HDZ had a new parliamentary majority.

 

HDZ official: We have secured enough votes for reshuffle (Hina)

The newly-elected secretary-general of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Domagoj Ivan Milosevic, said on Thursday that the HDZ had enough support in the parliament to regroup the parliamentary majority and that it would result in a government reshuffle. “We have the support of a sufficient number of MPs in the parliament to regroup the parliamentary majority. By regrouping the parliamentary majority, we will enable a government reshuffle,” Milosevic told reporters outside the party headquarters. He underlined that the HDZ would not back down from its motion for the impeachment of Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic and called on him to resign. Milosevic said HDZ chief Tomislav Karamarko would say who the new prime minister would be. He confirmed that Finance Minister Zdravko Maric was one of the people the HDZ had considered for the post of the next Prime Minister.

 

Petrov: HDZ should prove support of 76 MPs or nominate new deputy PM (Hina)

Deputy Prime Minister Bozo Petrov of the Bridge party said on Thursday that neither he nor Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic would step down and that the other Deputy Prime Minister, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Tomislav Karamarko, is the only one who should resign. Petrov called on the HDZ to line up the 76 deputies allegedly supporting it in parliament for a government reshuffle or to nominate someone else to replace Karamarko as deputy prime minister, or else a snap election will be called. “Neither Oreskovic nor I are responsible for this situation. I personally put my head on a platter, I’m not even sure why anymore,” Petrov told reporters outside the government building. He added that the HDZ had two options - either to line up deputies in parliament to prove that it has the support of the required 76 MPs to reshuffle the government or to nominate a new First Deputy Prime Minister. “Let them show these 76 votes or we are going to an election. Oreskovic is working in the government and I'm certain you will hear his response soon,” Petrov said.

 

MPs submitted resolution on support for NATO membership (CDM)

MPs of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Positive Montenegro (PCG), the Social Democrats (SD), Liberal Party (LP) and the minority parties submitted a draft resolution on support for Montenegro's membership in NATO and demanded an emergency Parliament’s session to discuss the document. The draft resolution states that during the ten years since the independence restoration, Montenegro showed a clear vision and persistence in achieving strategic foreign policy priorities – membership in NATO and the European Union. “Convinced of the results Montenegro achieved and the reforms it conducted in order to achieve long-term security and stability, promote the rule of law, strengthen democratic and economic environment, we express once again the firm commitment of the state to become a part of European and Euro-Atlantic community,” the draft document says. The draft resolution also says that the Euro-Atlantic and European integration are the pillars which today’s Europe is based on and that they are guarantors of stability, security, cooperation among European nations, but also the foundation of peace, economic and social prosperity that Europe has achieved since the Second World War. “The membership of Montenegro in NATO... represents a historic decision, not only for Montenegro, but also for the alliance. Our neighbors will get another friend in the alliance and NATO will get a sincere and reliable promoter of its values at the historically unstable region of the Western Balkans,” the draft resolution says. “Bearing in mind that the integration of Montenegro into NATO represents interest of the state and society as a whole, we invite representatives of political parties who support membership in NATO to continue and intensify their activities in this regard, but also those having opposite attitude to constructively engage in the dialogue on this topic with arguments, without prejudices and daily political frictions,” the document says. As the MPs stated, it is necessary to continue the dialogue, which would be open to the professional public, non-governmental sector, the media and the academic community, with the aim to achieve a better understanding of the importance of integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. The document adds that NATO membership is a strategic goal of Montenegro, which guarantees the stability and security of the country, the preservation of its territorial integrity and sovereignty. The draft resolution states that full membership in NATO will ensure further strengthening of Montenegro and its institutions in terms of dealing with regional and global security challenges, including threats such as cyber-crime, migrations, religious and national extremism, terrorism, organized crime and corruption. The request for scheduling the session of the Parliament to discuss the draft resolution was supported by the MPs of DPS, PCG, SD, LP and the minority parties.

 

U.S. will support Montenegro until the end of NATO accession process (RTCG)

The recently signed protocol on the accession of Montenegro to NATO represents a signal to the partners to start the ratification process, said the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, pointing out that during the final stage of accession to the alliance, Montenegro would enjoy strong US support. Defense Minister Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic met Work at the Pentagon. After a welcoming ceremony, she presented the activities carried out by Montenegro and its Defense Ministry in the final stage of accession to NATO, as well as the possibilities of further cooperation in the field of defense, particularly when it comes the participation and contribution of Montenegro to peace and stability both regionally and globally. Work congratulated Montenegro for its success and the results achieved so far. He particularly emphasized the impressive contribution and significant participation of Montenegro in international global initiatives, adding that he hoped new possibilities for cooperation at the bilateral level as well as with other partner countries would be opened up in the future. In addition to meetings at the Pentagon, Pejanovic-Djurisic also participated in the conference Future Enlargement of NATO and New Frontiers of European Security organized by the Atlantic Council in Washington yesterday. Speaking at the panel “How to Become a New NATO Ally: Success Stories and Future Steps”, the minister presented Euro-Atlantic integration process from the Montenegro’s perspective. “We went through an intense and exhausting stage of Euro-Atlantic integration and in cooperation with partners, we managed to reach the goal. During the turbulent years in the Balkans at the end of the last century, Montenegro knew to preserve peace. Therefore, we want to further consolidate the stability of the whole Western Balkans by joining the alliance and clearly committing to the values ​​ characteristic for democratic countries”, the minister said. The Minister also stated that, despite all current challenges and threats that we lately faced, Montenegro managed to present its position to the partners in the right way. “Receiving NATO invitation and signing the accession protocol are the results of which make Montenegro a positive example of how commitment and focus to a specific goal lead to success”, she said. She expressed the hope that partners would continue to support Montenegro during the process of ratification of the accession protocol in order to fully effectuate the alliance’s enlargement policy. In addition to Pejanovic-Djurisic, Mikheil Janelidze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and Hanna Hopko, the Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Parliament of Ukraine, also participated at the panel.

 

Special German Envoy says it is Zaev’s turn to decide when he will partake in elections (Telegraf.mk)

German envoy Johannes Haindl has finally presented concrete steps aimed at solving the current political crisis in Macedonia during his third visit to Skopje, Telegraf.mk reads. He decisively said that the exit from the crisis lies in the implementation of the Przino Agreement and that all political leaders are responsible for their failure to effectuate its provisions. What is important is that Haindl has stressed that the date of elections has to be set first, and then the political factors should move toward fulfilling the terms for fair and democratic elections. “First, the parties should reach an accord on the elections date and to do what is necessary to meet all the terms for free and fair elections. Second, the special prosecutor has to be able to fulfill its term without any obstructions and freely. And third, parties should agree to implement the urgent priority reforms without any ado as soon as possible and to address the shortcomings underlined in the Priebe report,” Haindl scored. The remarks Haindl shared with the Macedonian public are opposite to Zoran Zaev’s expectations. Two days ago, the SDSM leader said it was necessary to establish a government that would organize and hold the elections, without stating a precise date when this enterprise could take place. Until now, SDSM has twice managed to push for a postponement of the already scheduled elections. “For us, regular, fair and democratic elections are an imperative. As soon as these terms are met we'll participate in the ballot,” Zaev said. That is why the representatives of the international community are being much more careful now and are demanding the parties to set the elections date, and firm guarantees that Zaev will not run away from facing the citizens this time. VMRO-DPMNE has a well-constructed stance on this matter, i.e. that SDSM will be enabled to become a part of the government 100 days prior to holding the elections, in line with the Przino Agreement.

 

Milos Zeman: Macedonia dealt with migrant crisis better than some EU member states (Telegraf.mk)

President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman, after meeting his host, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov in Ohrid, stressed that the Republic of Macedonia has made a lot when it comes to dealing with the challenges posed by the refugee crisis, even more than some states of the European Union “Here I am in Macedonia to express my respect and personal recognition for the way the Macedonian people dealt with the migrant crisis, while defending not only their, but also the border of Europe. Our position is that Macedonia showed far more courage than some of the EU Member States and NATO and therefore I want to express the full support of the Republic of Macedonia for its full Euro-Atlantic integration,” Zeman said. President Ivanov for his part stressed the need for a global and coordinated engagement and enhanced cooperation between countries in tackling all the new challenges, particularly the security risks and threats, expressing gratitude to President Zeman for the overall support that the Czech Republic has given to Macedonia in dealing with the refugee crisis - with the presence of Czech police officers, as well as the assistance in equipment for border control. As for the Macedonian strategic goals - membership in EU and NATO, in the talks with Czech guest Ivanov stressed the need to invigorate the process of enlargement of both organizations. His objection is that the integration of the region into the EU and NATO is essential for regional peace and stability, and the most suitable answer to all challenges like migration and security and will also contribute to strengthening democratic institutions and economic development. “We have seen that the status quo does not bring anything good. Rather, the blocking of European and Euro-Atlantic future contributed to blocking policy processes and internal stagnation in Macedonia,” Ivanov said, expressing belief that the Czech Republic as a proven and principled friend and partner will continue to support Macedonia in achieving its strategic objectives. President Ivanov in Ohrid handed Milos Zeman the highest state decoration of the Republic of Macedonia, the Order “September 8^th” as an expression of gratitude to him personally, but also to the Czech people and their country and to all previous Czech leaders for all prior support and help. The visit of the high Czech delegation continues on Friday with a Macedonian-Czech business forum as an opportunity for making contacts of businessmen of the two countries to intensify and promote economic cooperation that is not on the level of requirements and existing potential which can be detected from the mutual assessments.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia: PM Says ‘Top City Officials’ Ordered Buildings Demolished (OCCRP, by Igor Spaic, 10 June 2016)

The mystery of who was behind April’s bizarre midnight demolition of buildings in Belgrade has been solved, according to Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic: top city officials gave the orders, but he’s sure they did it out of “pure” motives. On the night of April 25, a group of about 30 men armed with baseball bats knocked down multiple buildings in Belgrade using heavy equipment, allegedly mistreating several locals. At a Wednesday press conference, Vucic said that the “highest city officials” are behind the destruction of the neighborhood. “I am certain that their motive was pure,” said Vucic. “I am certain they wanted to create something much nicer there,” by cleaning up the area which he said criminals had been misusing for their own financial gain.

Vucic did not identify any of the officials, saying that prosecutors and police would reveal more details. He said the perpetrators will face legal consequences, but that he does not intend to urge the authorities to speed up the process. The demolition occurred as the votes in Serbia's snap Parliamentary elections were being counted. Witnesses said several black cars with tinted windows arrived at the riverbank neighborhood of Savamala, Hercegovacka Street. Critics say that the neighborhood was demolished to make way for a massive government project called the Belgrade Waterfront. The government’s contract with a United Arab Emirates-based company to construct a residential and commercial complex is to include construction of the largest shopping mall in the Balkans. Vucic said that earlier reports claiming the perpetrators tied up witnesses were not true. According to Balkan Insight, one of the witnesses who said he was tied up, Slobodan Tanaskovic, died last month from a heart attack. According to the Serbian Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), which published exclusive footage of the event, the group also mistreated passersby, taking away their mobile phones and warning them not to report the activities. Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic said that some witnesses managed to call the police, who ignored their pleas for help. According to Jankovic, recordings of telephone conversations indicate police refused to take action because of orders from “the top”. Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, however, denied those allegations, insisting police officers were not ordered to stand down that night. As weeks passed without answers, thousands of citizens gathered on May 11 to protest in front of the Belgrade Assembly over what they saw as an inadequate reaction by authorities, asking for resignations of several top city officials, including Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali. Both Vucic and Mali initially denied any involvement by city or state institutions in the destruction of the neighborhood, and stated that they have no information on who might be responsible. Vucic said the perpetrators should be prosecuted for the way the operation was conducted, but noted the demolished buildings lacked construction permits. According to KRIK, the owner of some of the property destroyed that night denies that. KRIK further reported that, when asked if Mayor Mali has lost his trust, Vucic expressed his support for Mali, calling him one of the best mayors Belgrade has ever had.

 

Serbia’s Young Albanians Suffer in Schoolbook Dispute (BIRN, by Natalia Zaba, 10 June 2016)

A long-running political dispute over Albanian-language textbooks for ethnic minority pupils in Serbia has meant that many of them cannot have proper lessons in their mother tongue.

Belgrade, Presevo, Bujanovac

The Ibrahim Kelmendi primary school in Presevo is the biggest school in Pcinj County and one of the biggest in Serbia. The school has 1,600 pupils, and at first glance, it is no different from other similar schools. A large building, slightly dilapidated but obviously recently renovated, it stands out from a line of similar buildings along the main street in Presevo. The classrooms look ordinary - a board for the teacher to write on, desks, chairs and cupboards. Only the lessons seem a bit different, because they all consist of the teacher dictating while the children take notes.

The lessons are held this way because there are no Albanian-language textbooks for ethnic Albanian pupils in Serbia - the result of a years-long dispute about whether such textbooks should exist, and if so, what should be in them, particularly the books for teaching history, geography and other subjects that would touch on Albanian issues, which are highly sensitive in Serbia. The Serbian authorities fear that the textbooks might promote politically unacceptable ideas such as the independence of Kosovo. “You want textbooks from Kosovo or Albania to be used in Serbia, and you want [pupils in Serbia] to be taught that Kosovo is independent… That will not be possible,” Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in December. But Zejni Fejzulah, the principal of the Sezai Suroi secondary school in Bujanovac, said that Albanian-speaking children were being discriminated against in Serbia. “Serbian pupils living in Kosovo have the Serbian curriculums and they have no problem in obtaining textbooks from Serbia. Why should we be prohibited [from obtaining Albanian-language books?]” Fejzulah asked.

Protests in southern Serbia

In order to solve the problem of the non-existent Albanian-language textbooks as quickly as possible, the National Council of the Albanian National Minority - the state-recognised representative of Serbia’s Albanians - appealed to Kosovo’s education ministry last year for help. It asked for a donation of textbooks in Albanian for pupils in the south of Serbia. The Kosovo education ministry sent a truck carrying a total of 103,222 textbooks, but when it reached the Serbian customs office in Presevo, it was held there for the next six months. The president of the National Council, Jonuz Musliu, appealed to the Serbian education ministry on several occasions, as well as to the prime minister, but they said that the disputed textbooks could not be allowed in. In March, the truck was sent back to Kosovo, and Musliu organised protests in the southern towns of Bujanovac and Presevo, saying that Serbia was violating the rights of its Albanian minority by preventing children from learning in their first language. But Besa Sahiti, principal of the Ibrahim Kelmendi primary school in Presevo, said that the claim that ethnic Albanian children in Serbia have no textbooks in their first language is not true. “We have books, but there is a question of what is missing from those books. Children should learn the history of their own country, their own people, they should sing Albanian songs, but our children do not have that option right now,” Sahiti told BIRN. From 2010 to 2014, the Serbian education ministry, in cooperation with the National Council and the Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, a state body that coordinates communication between ethnic Albanian representatives and Serbian officials, provided a series of 88 textbooks in Albanian for pupils in primary and secondary schools. Books for grades one to four were provided from Albania, said Sahiti. For contentious subjects, teachers prepare notes from textbooks in Serbian which they translate to Albanian and then dictate to the pupils during lessons. Subjects like geography, history, arts and music are contentious because they are areas in which the Serbian and Albanian narratives clash. In the Albanian teaching of geography, Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja are part of ‘Albanian soil’ - a description that is unacceptable to the Serbian authorities.

A historical problem

The former mayor of the Presevo municipality, Ragmi Mustafa, said that the problem with the textbooks has existed for decades. “It started in Milosevic’s time, but no government has dared to give back the right to [have their own] textbooks to the Albanians,” Mustafa said. He admitted however that it was not completely correct that ethnic Albanian pupils have no textbooks in their native language. Textbooks for teaching Albanian language and literature have been imported from Albania, other textbooks have been translated from Serbian into Albanian, and a few have also been written by authors from Presevo. On top of that, four more textbooks on Albanian language and literature for secondary schools and two for pre-school have been secured, but a total of 140 textbooks for secondary schools are still missing. Bujanovac school principal Zejni Fejzulah, who is also the president of the education committee at the National Council of the Albanian National Community, said that about 10,000 pupils attending lessons in Albanian in the municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja are suffering because of the absence of textbooks. He said the best solution would be to import the textbooks from Kosovo, because the Albanian curriculum and structure of education is different from the Serbian in many ways.

But the head of the Coordination Body, Zoran Stankovic, insisted that the source should be Albania rather than Kosovo. “We are advocating having as many textbooks from Albania which pass the procedure established under the law and which do not have disputable content such as history and geography,” Stankovic said. But although the National Council has the right to propose textbooks to be accredited by the Serbian education ministry of Education, it has not proposed any from Albania because it wants the books to come from Kosovo.

The view from Belgrade

Serbia’s Office for Human and Minority Rights says that the claims that ethnic Albanian children cannot be educated in their mother tongue are too harsh. It argued that hundreds of children have been educated in Albanian over the past school year, and said there were also scholarships for deprived pupils. Pupils attending lessons in Albanian in Serbia can, after they finish secondary school, continue their education both in Serbian and Albanian, at faculties set up by the University of Novi Sad in Medvedja and Bujanovac. The Coordination Body also gives scholarships to those who want to continue their studies in Novi Sad itself, and since 2011, scholarships have been awarded to 27 Albanians from Presevo and Bujanovac. One of the scholarship students was Dafina Aliji, who studied tourism and management in Novi Sad.

“I consider the decision to studying in Novi Sad as one of the best in my life. The professors, the colleagues and others in Novi Sad have made a maximal effort to make my stay comfortable and pleasant,” Aliji told BIRN. After completing her studies, she returned to her hometown of Ranjice and is currently working as an assistant for refugees at an international organisation in Presevo. But she said that many of her classmates did not apply for scholarships in Novi Sad because of their poor knowledge of Serbian. Due to insufficient knowledge of Serbian and the desire to study in their mother tongue, Albanian pupils from the south of Serbia mostly choose to study in Kosovo, Tetovo in Macedonia or in Albania.

Rights guaranteed by law

A study about the possibilities of improving the teaching of Serbian as a second language in the Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja municipalities, carried out at the request of the Coordination Body, showed that by the time they leave school, the vast majority of Albanians’ knowledge of Serbian as a second language is at such a low level that even basic communication is not possible. With the help of the Coordination Body, the OSCE and the British embassy in Serbia, the education ministry initiated a programme to teach Serbian, which it said had made significant improvement in pupils’ knowledge. The Serbian constitution guarantees ethnic minorities not only individual but also collective rights, meaning they have the right to decide on certain issues related to their culture and education and the official use of their language. “In this way, for a long time now, minority politics based on the preservation of the national and cultural identity of national minorities, along with their integration into society and public-sector jobs, has been ongoing in our country. The same rules apply to the Albanian national minority,” the Office for Human and Minority Rights said. Deputy Ombudsman Robert Sepi argued meanwhile that compared to other minorities in Serbia, Albanians are relatively integrated, although any problems tend to become politicised. “About the integration of the Albanian national minority, the Ombudsman can speak only from the point of [people who have addressed the Ombudsman’s office], and the results achieved in the protection and promotion of their rights. Seen in this way, the Albanian national minority, with certain exceptions that get media attention, is integrated,” Sepi told BIRN. “Are there obstacles and resistance to this integration? Yes, on both sides, very persistent and strong, which gets media attention,” he added. Jonuz Musliu and Presevo former mayor Ragmi Mustafa both insist that Serbia discriminates strongly against Albanians, and have both spoken publicly on several occasions about Kosovo being their country, not Serbia.

However Skender Saqipi, the editor-in-chief of Titulli.com, a bilingual Albanian/Serbian news website in Bujanovac, told BIRN that although Belgrade was at fault for the textbook problem, politicians in Albanian-majority areas of the country were also using the issue for political purposes. “The Serbian government primarily responsible and culpable for this situation, because it didn’t have enough will to solve this problem, but on the other side, the truth is that Albanian politicians are also part of the problem as they have no clear plan for solving the problem of textbooks,” Saqipi told BIRN.

A solution on the horizon?

Jeff Bieley, an OSCE coordinator in Bujanovac, said Serbia’s Albanians had the right to education in their first language, but the government and the National Council of the Albanian National Minority must first come to an agreement on what to do about the textbooks.

“The textbook issue is a top priority thing to be solved, but everything needs to be done in cooperation with the NCA [National Council of the Albanian National Minority] and the relevant authorities,” said Bieley. In March this year, Serbian education minister Srdjan Verbic signed an agreement with representatives of the country’s ethnic minorities to commission the necessary textbooks, and a total of 134 million dinars, just over a million euros, was assigned to cover the costs. But representatives of the National Council of the Albanian National Minority, despite being invited, did not sign the agreement. Milovan Suvakov, the education minister’s assistant for development and higher education, told BIRN that despite this, the ministry will go ahead with the project on its own. “We do not have a partner for that task,” Suvakov said. The Council did not respond to BIRN’s requests for an explanation of its reasons, but it seems clear that as another school year comes closer to its end, the politically-charged textbook problem is not going to be resolved immediately. This article was written as part of the project ‘Digital Magnifying Glass: Online Media Cooperation in the Search for Political Responsibility’, which is supported by the British embassy in Belgrade. Its content does not reflect the position of the British embassy.