• Thaci: Border correction should not be confused with land swap (Klan Kosova)
• Haradinaj: If Trump calls a meeting, we’ll immediately suspend tariff (media)
• Final settlement between Kosovo and Serbia not expected this year (Zeri)
• Constitutional Court playing attorney’s role for President Thaci (Koha)
• Apostolova: Tariff is impeding European Reforms Agenda (media)
• Kosnett: Kosovo continues to be held back by corruption (media)
• Kosovo’s Ministry of Defense reacts to Dacic’s threats (media)
• Dacic on whether U.S. and Russia support Kosovo partition (Koha)
• Serbian Minister: Police and Army ready to be deployed in the north (media)
• Hoti: EU to react to Serbia’s threatening statements (media)
• Turkey responds to U.S. on deportation of Turkish nationals from Kosovo (Epoka)
• Opposition planning to call urgent session on Gulenists case (Koha)
• Hoxhaj complains about violation of regional cooperation agreement (Koha)

Thaci: Border correction should not be confused with land swap (Klan Kosova)

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said in a debate with political commentators in Klan Kosova on Thursday evening that his idea for border correction with Serbia is being misinterpreted as an initiative for land swap with Serbia. “My idea is very clear. Serbia has been talking about Kosovo’s partition for years now. We had to respond to Serbia … Border correction means an independent and sovereign Kosovo including Presevo Valley, Medvedja and Bujanovac,” he said.

“No one should confuse my idea for border correction with the idea of exchanging territories. I have always said that land swap is a deal and I am against this idea … I see nothing wrong with Presevo Valley joining Kosovo. I have faith in this principle, vision and idea … Border correction will be done in a peaceful way,” Thaci added.

Thaci said Kosovo would respond to threats coming from Belgrade. “I am the Supreme Commander of the Kosovo Security Force. Kosovo will respond directly to any threat coming from Serbia. We will respond with our army and police, as a nation, if Serbia does not stop its war-inciting rhetoric. We will be uncompromising in protecting our integrity and independence,” he added.

Thaci said Kosovo’s partition is an old idea of Serbia and that it will never happen. He also said that a final settlement with Serbia would be voted in a referendum. “I don’t believe that any member of parliament will vote against the unification of Presevo Valley with Kosovo,” Thaci said.

Thaci argued that Milan Radojicic is the main suspect behind the assassination of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic in northern Kosovo. He said that investigations by Kosovo’s security institutions imply that Radojicic is behind it and that it is crucial for Kosovo to resolve the case. Thaci even claimed that according to the leads “the current government in Belgrade gave the order to assassinate Ivanovic and the world must know this”.

Haradinaj: If Trump calls a meeting, we’ll immediately suspend tariff (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said in an interview to RTV Dukagjini on Thursday that Pristina would immediately suspend the import tariff on Serbian goods if there is a contract according to which Serbia will recognize Kosovo’s independence at the end of the process of dialogue.

“When I wrote my first letter to explain that Kosovo does not block processes, I said that if President invites the parties to a meeting, we will immediately suspend the tariff because we would know that it is serious and that there is a contract in the process,” Haradinaj said.

“I am telling both the Americans and the British that need to force Serbia to stop purchasing arms from Moscow in the amount of the goods it sells in Kosovo and that in that case we would review our position on the tariff.”

Haradinaj also said he would rather resign his post than threaten Kosovo’s relations with the United States of America. He also said that partners in the ruling coalition are free to leave the government if they don’t like his policies.

Final settlement between Kosovo and Serbia not expected this year (Zeri)

The paper reports on its leading front-page story that a final settlement between Kosovo and Serbia is not expected to happen this year, as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is not ready for this and because both countries are expected to go to early general elections this year.

Unnamed sources told the paper that in their latest visit to Brussels, it was made clear to the Kosovo delegation that an agreement is unlikely this year. A final agreement is also being delayed as a result of the import tariff on Serbian goods and the two parties have not met in Brussels for several months now.

Constitutional Court playing attorney’s role for President Thaci (Koha)

The paper argues on its front page that the Constitutional Court of Kosovo by all means wants to accept President Hashim Thaci’s request about the mandate of EULEX. The paper notes that Thaci has been instructed by Arta Rama Hajrizi, President of the Constitutional Court President, how to better draft his question in order for the Court not to dismiss his request on whether an international agreement that he signs would be deemed as ratified. The paper also recalls that in his first request submitted in September last year, President Thaci referred to the precedent for extending the mandate of EULEX, which was done only through the letter exchange between the President and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini.

Apostolova: Tariff is impeding European Reforms Agenda (media)

Several media quote Nataliya Apostolova, head of the European Union Office in Kosovo, as saying that the import tariff on Serbian goods is impeding the launch of the European Reforms Agenda (ERA 2).

“We are at the start of launching ERA 2 and I think we will organize a ceremony when the political conditions are right. I am referring to the tariffs that are impeding us from continuing with our procedures,” Apostolova said at a roundtable in Pristina on Thursday.

Kosnett: Kosovo continues to be held back by corruption (media)

The U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Philip Kosnett said on Thursday that Kosovo continues to be to be held back by corruption, attacks on journalists, expulsion of foreign citizens without due process and violence against minorities.

“Kosovo 2018 Human Rights Report released. A step forward taken with passage of revised Criminal Code. Kosovo continues to be held back by corruption, attacks on journalists, expulsion of foreign citizens without due process and violence against minorities,” Kosnett wrote on his Twitter account.

Kosnett made these comments on Twitter following the release of the U.S. State Department report on Human Rights in the world during 2018.

Kosovo’s Ministry of Defense reacts to Dacic’s threats (media)

Kosovo’s Deputy Minister for Defense, Burim Ramadani, reacted on Thursday to a statement by Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic who said that Serbia would send its army in Mitrovica North if Kosovo tries to take control over the Trepca mining complex.

Ramadani said statements coming from Belgrade are an aggressive campaign that resemble Serbia’s policy in the 1990s. “This is a special misinformation war by Serbia and it is a very aggressive campaign. Claims that Kosovo might attack its own citizens are nonsense … These are the same people that led Serbia in the 1990s. They have only changed their posts,” he said.

Dacic on whether U.S. and Russia support Kosovo partition (Koha)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Thursday that Kosovo will lift the import tariff on Serbian goods but in a way that it does not feel embarrassed. “I have already stated that everything now resembles a show. Kosovo will lift the tariff in a way that doesn’t make it look embarrassing,” Dacic told a Serbian TV station.

Asked to comment on a statement by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci that Kosovo’s partition could happen only over his dead body, Dacic said: “this is ridiculous. He is the first one to call for border correction because he wants to take the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja”.

He added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic first suggested the border adjustment idea but that there were no talks on which side would get what in the process. “The United States always ask what Russia thinks and vice versa. Bolton asked me what Russia thinks. Lavrov later told me he had asked Putin,” he added. Dacic said that no solution can be reached without the U.S. but that it has its own problems now. “We see that Biden is entering the presidential race. Biden, Obama and Clinton never wanted to talk about these things. The current administration suits us more. But it will be difficult to resolve this problem before the presidential elections,” he said.

Serbian Minister: Police and Army ready to be deployed in the north (media)

Serbia’s Minister for Interior Affairs, Nebojsa Stefanovic, said on Thursday that Serbian police and army are on stand-by to be deployed in the northern part of Kosovo, if Pristina tries to intervene there.

Stefanovic however said that the security situation in Kosovo is relatively stable. Kosovo’s Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs, Selami Shkodra, reacted to the statement saying that whenever Serbia sent its police and army to Kosovo “they were sent back in shame”.

Hoti: EU to react to Serbia’s threatening statements (media)

Avdullah Hoti, head of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) parliamentary group, called on the European Union on Thursday to react to “Serbia’s threatening statements” toward Kosovo.

“Every day we hear threats coming from Serbia and the most recent case is the threat by Serbian Foreign Minister for a military intervention in northern Kosovo … They know that Kosovo now has its own army and that KFOR is still in Kosovo. So, they know that their threats are in vain. But this language of threats shows that an agreement between the two countries is still very far. This language must stop before any dialogue can resume. The EU must react,” Hoti said.

Turkey responds to U.S. on deportation of Turkish nationals from Kosovo (Epoka)

The Turkish Embassy in Pristina on Thursday expressed the position of the Turkish government on the deportation of six Turkish nationals from Kosovo in 2018. A post on Facebook quoted a spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry as saying that Turkish authorities were achieving “concrete results in the fight against the expansion of FETO terror organizations outside Turkey”.

“It is becoming increasingly evident that this organization constitutes a serious threat not only to Turkey but also to the countries where it operates,” the spokesman said. “We call on our partners and allies to have a more careful approach instead of trying to block our measures against FETO”.

Opposition planning to call urgent session on Gulenists case (Koha)

The paper reports that opposition parties – the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and Vetevendosje – are planning to call an urgent session of the Kosovo Assembly soon to discuss the report of the investigative committee on the deportation of six Turkish nationals in 2018. According to LDK and VV representatives, the draft report – which identified numerous serious violations of rights - is not being finalized on purpose.

Hoxhaj complains about violation of regional cooperation agreement (Koha)

The Kosovo Government has sent a letter to Brussels after Serbia interfered with the work of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), the paper reports on page three. Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hoxhaj argued in a letter to EU top officials, Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn, that Belgrade unrightfully dismissed a civil society representative from the RYCO.

Hoxhaj wrote that the government in Belgrade should be held accountable for the failure to have quorum at the meeting of the RYCO Board in Pristina, because it dismissed civil society representative, Milica Skilevic.