CORRIGENDUM: UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, July 31, 2023

Note: The correct headline under Serbian Language Media should read: MTS DOO: We acquired operators when Act on which investigation was based was not in force (KoSSev)

Albanian Language Media:

Journalists protest in downtown Pristina in support of Klan Kosova (media)
Ministry: First decision on Klan Kosova was right (Kosovapress)
Kusari-Lila: All facts to be revealed; no one can threaten media freedom (media)
Ministry suspends certificates of five more businesses (Koha)
Rohde welcomes decision to send KPC draft law to Venice Commission (media)
Turkish Ambassador to Kosovo: No military solution for the north (Telegrafi)
Haradinaj: Kosovo is in deep crisis; opposition to unite on no-confidence motion (KSP)
Abdixhiku asks for support for “New Road”: National awakening is necessary (AP)

Serbian Language Media:

Disconnecting water supply in Kosovo with violation of citizens’ rights (Voice of America, Kosovo Online, media)
Petkovic meets Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister, discuss with him security situation in Kosovo (RTS)
Vucic thanks Uganda for supporting Serbia's territorial integrity (Tanjug)
Mitrovica municipality promised to be at service of citizens, yet they refuse to answer journalists’ questions (KoSSev)
Djuric: Not sure US will supply evidence for sanctions against BIA chief (N1)
UNS: Unobstructed work of Klan Kosova TV should be enabled (Radio KIM)
MTS DOO: We acquired operators when Act on which investigation was based was not in force (KoSSev)

Opinion:

With destructive ambiguity, EU itself sank dialogue, and now sanctioned Kosovo (Koha)

International:

Kosovo journalists protest government's suspension of private television station (AP)

Albanian Language Media

Journalists protest in downtown Pristina in support of Klan Kosova (media)

One of the leading stories in the media today is the protest by Kosovo journalists in downtown Pristina in support of Klan Kosova TV station, following a decision by the Ministry of Industry to suspend the business certificate of this media last week. Radio Free Europe reports that the journalists held a big banner which said “democracy dies in darkness” and whistled all the time as they moved from one square to another in downtown Pristina. Some media put their working equipment, such as cameras, tripods, and microphones, on the ground as a sign of solidarity with Klan Kosova. According to Nacionale news website, there were hundreds of journalists protesting today.

Klan Kosova editor-in-chief Gazmend Syla said in an interview for the Associated Press that the suspension of the business certificate was unfair. “We believe this is a kind of pressure to stop us from what we are doing,” he said, adding that they would oppose the government’s decision in court.

Kallxo quotes Naim Sadiku, member of the Board of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, as saying that the journalists have been faced with what he called a wild campaign from the ruling party. “We denounce their harsh language against the journalists and the media. As the Association, we at the same time call on the Court to treat the case of Klan Kosova fairly and free from political influence,” he said.

Ministry: First decision on Klan Kosova was right (Kosovapress)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, said in a press release today that the Appeals Review Committee for the Registration of Businesses, after verifying all available documents for Klan Kosova, has concluded that the first decision on the matter was right and in full compliance with the applicable legislation.

“This, after the Committee secured the current documentation from the respective institution in North Macedonia on the ‘True Owners of the Entity’, in which documentation it found that Kosovo is again presented as part of Serbia,” the press release notes.

The Ministry also said that “every party in procedure has the right to complain to the decision of the Kosovo Business Registration Agency. However, violations of the Constitution can never be considered as ‘technical’ issues”.

Kusari-Lila: All facts to be revealed; no one can threaten media freedom (media)

Head of the Vetevendosje parliamentary group, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, said today that all facts concerning the issue of Klan Kosova and the suspension of their business certificate must be revealed. She made these remarks when asked by reporters if she would support the protest of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo against the suspension of Klan Kosova’s business certificate.

During a press conference in Pristina, Kusari-Lila called on the owner of Klan Kosova to present explanations about the matter. She argued that the media did not complete all the required documents and that Kosovo is still presented as part of Serbia in the documentation.

Kusari-Lila said that there is no statement by the owner of Klan Kosova as to “why a business with the address Gjakova, Serbia, is registered in Kosovo”. “The Association of Journalists of Kosovo represents the journalists but the same had the opportunity in the Kosovo Assembly to be present in two committees – the Committee for Media and Administration and the Committee for Budget – which treated for almost five hours the issue of Klan Kosova. There was very little presence from the media. I encourage you to read the transcripts and learn about the processes that characterise the decision-making at the Independent Media Commission and which found very serious violations,” she said. “It is very important to reveal all facts and to learn why nationals of the Republic of Kosovo, born in Kosovo, go to Serbia, get Serbian nationality, register a business there, and then go to North Macedonia, and then come to Kosovo to buy a medium.”

Kusari-Lila also said that no one can threaten the freedom of the media.

Ministry annuls certificates of five more businesses (Koha)

Kosovo’s Minister of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Rozeta Hajdari, said today that the certificates of five more businesses have been annulled, which according to her, include anti-constitutional denominations.

On July 6, the Business Registration Agency, which operates under the Ministry, started the reverification of documentations of registered businesses. According to Hajdari, from a total of 660 reviewed files, 48 have resulted with anti-constitutional denominations, presenting Kosovo as part of Serbia. “Immediately after receiving the Committee’s report, the Business Registration Agency has initiated the administrative steps foreseen by law, by issuing decisions to annul the certificates of five businesses from a total of 48 businesses with anti-constitutional denominations. These five businesses, in the documentation of the owners or authorised representative, include anti-constitutional content such as: “Gnjilane – Serbia”, “Pristina – Serbia”, “Djakovica – Serbia”, “Kosovska Mitrovica – Serbia”.”

Hajdari said that in the coming days, the Business Registration Agency will issue decisions for other businesses that have committed violations.

Rohde welcomes decision to send KPC draft law to Venice Commission (media)

German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, welcomed today the decision of Kosovo Assembly President, Glauk Konjufca, to send the draft law on the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council to the Venice Commission. “Indeed the right move. Following the recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission will ensure that the law is in sync with European standards,” Rohde wrote in a Twitter post.

Turkish Ambassador to Kosovo: No military solution for the north (Telegrafi)

The Ambassador of Turkiye to Kosovo, Sabri Tunc Angili, said in an interview with the news website today that his country will always be a reliable partner of Kosovo.

Angili said that Turkiye strongly supports the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. “There can be no military solution to the issue. Only a diplomatic solution would ensure sustainable stability. Therefore, all parties must work to achieve progress in the process of dialogue. Escalation is not useful,” he said.

Angili said that Turkiye wants de-escalation in the north which would pave the way to the resumption of dialogue. “In this respect, elections in the north with the full participation of the Serb population would provide the necessary ground for meaningful negotiations. Turkiye will be ready to contribute to the process if both parties want us to do so,” he added.

Commenting on Kosovo’s purchasing of Bayraktar drones, Angili said: “for the time being, the purchasing of new military equipment is not on our agenda. It is important that their purposes are for defence and our cooperation in defence is in full compliance with the NATO framework and is not aimed against any third country, including Serbia”.

Haradinaj: Kosovo is in deep crisis; opposition to unite on no-confidence motion (KSP)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, said today that the Kurti-led government has plunged Kosovo into a deep crisis, and called on the opposition parties to unite for a no-confidence motion against the government. He made these remarks during a meeting with businesses today, as part of a series of discussions about the current situation.

“The Assembly, as the house of the people, has several instruments, and among the most important ones that democracy has is the no-confidence motion,” Haradinaj said. He also called on the opposition to immediately collect 40 signatures to initiate the motion.

Abdixhiku asks for support for “New Road”: National awakening is necessary (AP)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdixhiku, posted a video message on Facebook today, asking for support for the initiative “New Road” which began with the idea of an alternative to the “wrong policies” of the Kosovo government.

In the last few weeks, the LDK leader met with journalists, university lecturers, leading businesses and civil society organisations, and said there would be similar meetings with all social groups.

“Between the confronting battles about the past, between extreme social polarisation, between insults, divisions, and factions, I chose a new road. A road toward the future which today is slipping irreversibly,” he said.

Abdixhiku also said that joining around the New Road is an obligation of every citizen, because according to him, the road of peace, development, and well-being, needs to be determined now, because the New Road has started and will not be stopped.

Serbian Language Media

Disconnecting water supply in Kosovo with violation of citizens’ rights (Voice of America, Kosovo Online, media)

Numerous studies and reports have shown that the right to use Serbian language, which according to Constitution is an official language in Kosovo and has an equal status as Albanian, has been violated on a daily basis by representatives of highest Kosovo institutions, as well as by local officials, representatives of public companies, but also by those whose job it is to enforce law and order, Voice of America (VoA) reports.

One of the latest examples happened a few days ago in Laplje Selo and Gracanica, where the Regional water supply company Pristina carried out an action of disconnecting consumers who have debts towards this company.

The workers and inspectors of this company, VoA writes further, accompanied by Kosovo police, several Albanian media teams and a spokeswoman of this company, entered the yards of people unannounced and carried out disconnecting action. The action received great attention among Albanian public. In numerous Albanian media and on social networks, the attitude of Kosovo police officers, who asked some Serb citizens to speak "Albanian" and "only Albanian", was particularly emphasised.

Ljubinko Karadzic from Laplje Selo, one of those who were disconnected from the water supply network, said the action of the water supply company was "a well-staged performance for the public and a display of force of representatives of Kosovo institutions".

In less than 24 hours, more than 100,000 people watched the video in which the Kosovo police officers "order" Karadzic to speak Albanian, entitled "Oh speak Albanian, only Albanian - Serbian citizens are not allowed to speak Serbian", on the social networks of certain Albanian media. There are more than 500 comments, most of which support members of the police. Some however argued that Serbs have the right to use their own language and that police officers should have either known Serbian or have a translator with them. Currently that video generated almost 300.000 views and 1.700 comments.

Opinion

With destructive ambiguity, EU itself sank dialogue, and now sanctioned Kosovo (Koha)

Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj writes in an opinion piece that “when the dialogue started 13 years ago, the representatives of the European Union that were appointed as facilitators, chose to have as a principle in their approach what was called in the diplomatic language ‘constructive ambiguity’. 13 years later, the approach remains the same. But it has proved to be destructive more than constructive. It has created more problems than it has resolved. Instead of clarifying matters it has made them even less clear. Instead of helping recognise the reality, it has created even more illusions. And in the end, with this approach, the EU itself sank the dialogue to the point where there is talk about the possibility of a new conflict between Kosovo and Serbia. So the dialogue for ‘normalisation’ has achieved the opposite; it has made relations between Kosovo and Serbia even less normal than they were before the dialogue. What is less normal than talking about war”.

Palokaj quotes a former senior diplomat of the European Union, who said on several occasions in the past that “with the approach of constructive ambiguity an opportunity was created to convince Kosovo that the status issue is closed and that there is no going back. But at the same time, Serbia and the five EU member states were able to claim that the status issue is not closed, because this, according to them, could be done only with Serbia’s approval”.

“This approach,” Palokaj opines, “in addition to having proved as unsuccessful, is also manipulative. With this approach, the EU has become part of deceptions. The Kosovo Serbs have been deceived that ‘the dialogue is in their interest’ and that ‘they are living in Serbia, because Kosovo and Metohija are part of Serbia’. But also part of deceptions for the Kosovo citizens that the dialogue ‘is between two states’ and that ‘the objective of dialogue is mutual recognition’. Countries, whose leaders are saying that the objective of the dialogue is mutual recognition, have said this before too. But they have no influence in Serbia for it to accept that this is the objective of the dialogue. And in the end what was presented as an ‘Agreement’ removed mutual recognition as an objective from the agenda, at least for an indefinite period. Here too, the ‘facilitators’ of the dialogue are doing favors for Serbia and the five non-recognising member states by ignoring the requests and positions of countries that have recognised Kosovo”.

According to Palokaj, the biggest damage from the said approach was that it created confusion on the ground which then cause uncertainty, panic, violence, and the outbreak of tensions. “This happened especially with the Serbs in the north of Kosovo. They still don’t know if they need to change their licence plates or not, if they live in Kosovo or in Serbia, or in ‘Kosovo and Metohija as the southern province of Serbia’. They don’t know if the Kosovo Police is their police or an ‘occupying’ police as Serbia tells them and the EU keeps silent. Are Serbs that join the Kosovo police professionals that want to serve citizens regardless of their ethnicity or are they ‘traitors who will be covered in shame and judged by history’.”

According to Palokaj, the EU is now in the phase of efforts to save the dialogue. “Irritated with Kosovo’s behavior, it has sanctioned Kosovo. It hasn’t done anything toward Serbia. And one can see no readiness to change the approach. Dialogue cannot be successful if it doesn’t have a clear objective. If the EU wants to achieve success in the dialogue, it needs to remove several dilemmas. It needs to make clear that Kosovo is a state whether or not it is recognised by Serbia and the five EU members and four NATO members. It needs to say that the dialogue is not for status, but for the normalisation of relations between two countries. And it needs to say this not only in Brussels, Prishtina and Berlin, but also in Belgrade, Bratislava, Madrid, and Athens. It needs to say clearly that all the rights for Serbs in Kosovo must be secured, including the Association [of Serb-majority municipalities], but this needs to happen in Kosovo as a state, where the citizens will have rights but also obligations as its nationals. While it continues to hide behind a status ‘neutral position’, which in practice is a status negative position, the dialogue cannot create normality. And what are called ‘agreements’ will have only illusions created in the heads of diplomats in Brussels which will be ignored by the parties and will create even more problems on the ground.”

International

Kosovo journalists protest government's suspension of private television station (AP)

Kosovo’s journalists on Monday protested against the government’s decision to suspend a private television station’s operations.

Authorities made the move last week because they said there were irregularities concerning the registration of Klan Kosova’s business license that violated the country’s constitution.

Scores of journalists and members of civil society organizations gathered in downtown Pristina in front of the main government building to protest the suspension of the broadcaster’s operations.

The demonstrators said it was a “politically motivated” action taken by the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti. It was the first closure of a media outlet since the end of Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war, they said, holding a banner that read “Democracy dies in darkness.”

Last week, Kosovo’s Ministry of Industry and Trade suspended Klan Kosova’s license, after the documentation of its business registration in neighboring North Macedonia showed that its owners had named Kosovo’s municipalities as if belonging to Serbia, “which is a violation of our constitution,” according to a statement released Monday.