Headlines - 09.02.2013 Thaçi: Monument in Presevo was a trap (Zëri) Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi said in an interview for Austrian paper Die Presse that the deterioration of the situation in Presevo Valley was a trap devised by certain local Albanian politicians together with politicians from Belgrade. According to Thaçi, Kosovo is paying the price for this. Speaking about the dialogue with Serbia, Thaçi said that in the upcoming meeting with Serbian PM Ivica Dacic on 22 February, he will raise the issue of disbanding Belgrade’s parallel structures from the north. He said he was hopeful that a solution will be found for normalizing the situation in the north. Serb structures in the north close to being legalized (Zëri) US officials are reported to have stepped up pressure on Belgrade regarding northern Kosovo. They have demanded resolution of the problem of Serb parallel structures as soon as possible because they are interested in closing the issue of the north this year. International sources said that Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic who is taking a visit to the US has discussed the issue with State Department officials. “He will accept holding local elections led by OSCE in Kosovo and this way the same structures there will become legal,” said a Serb official in Belgrade. NATO doesn’t support KSF becoming an army (Koha Ditore) According to a senior NATO official, Kosovo may decide to transform its Security Force into an army but it would not have the support from NATO in this regard. The official said that KSF’s future status is still unclear and is a topic of discussion within the Alliance. Four NATO member states have not yet recognized independence of Kosovo and they are against the idea of Kosovo becoming an army. The unnamed official however did say that there are also countries that believe Kosovo’s Security Force should transform into an army but that this process would take years and should happen in coordination with NATO. Ankara sees dialogue with Serbia as way to resolve disagreements (dailies) Turkish Defence Minister Ismet YImaz said the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is the only way to resolve existing disagreements. In a visit to Kosovo, Ylmaz said the door of dialogue should never be closed as new discontents can lead to new hostilities. “For us, preserving Kosovo’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty are vital and should be supported and protected,” said Ylmaz. Police prevents protest in front of Decan Monastery (Zëri, Express) Zëri reports that after three protests against the decision of the Supreme Court to give socially-owned property to the Orthodox Monastery in Decan, the organisational council of the protests tried yesterday to place two placards at the entrance of the Monastery. However, the posting of placards saying “Monastery, don’t try to take our land” and “Do not steal our future” were prevented by the police. The protesters were told they could not proceed with placards. “Leave the placards here and you are free to go,” was the order of the Decan police commander Sejdi Dobra. Protesters accused the police of fueling tensions. “Do not prevent us in our goal because the responsibility for the situation’s escalation will be borne by the command chain of the Kosovo police,” said protesters. Express quotes reports from RTK saying that protesters expressed determination to continue protesting in the coming days.