• COVID-19: 2,236 new cases, 8 deaths (media)
• Kurti ready for Berlin, not for "Open Balkans" (Klan)
• Osmani, UN organisations representatives talk Afghan refugees sheltering (media)
• Abdixhiku: Regional economic cooperation incomplete without all countries (RTK)
• Minister Mehaj confirms Kosovo will soon receive new military vehicles (RTK)
• Vucic: Those not united around Serbian List cannot win trust of people (Klan)
• VV in Albania protests Serbian musician performance in Korce (Express)
• Albanian artists a rarity at Serbia’s biggest music festival (Prishtina Insight)

COVID-19: 2,236 new cases, 8 deaths (media)

2,236 new cases with COVID-19 and eight deaths from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 138 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 14,249 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo. 22,119 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, marking a new record. To date, 644,212 vaccines have been administered in Kosovo.

Voice of America quoted an official at The White House as saying that the United States plan to ship 35,100 doses of Pfizer vaccines to Kosovo through COVAX.

Kurti ready for Berlin, not for "Open Balkans" (Klan)

The Kosovo Government has definitely rejected the "Open Balkans" regional cooperation initiative. Instead, the executive, led by Albin Kurti, is now advocating for the Common Regional Market agreed by the Western Balkan leaders in 2020 at the Sofia Summit in Bulgaria.

Jeton Zulfaj, political advisor to Kurti, spoke about Kosovo’s approach towards regional initiatives. He said that the government of Kosovo would not sign any agreement from which Kosovo citizens would benefit less than citizens of other countries in the region, and that would deny Kosovo’s independence.

Osmani, UN organisations representatives discuss Afghan refugees sheltering (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani received on Thursday United Nations Coordinator for Development Ulrika Richardson, Erol Arduc from UNHCR and Anna Rostocka from IOM. They discussed Kosovo's preparations for resettlement of citizens from Afghanistan under the U.S. Special Immigrant Visa Program.

Representatives of the three organizations thanked President Osmani for the readiness of Kosovo to shelter citizens from Afghanistan and at the same time offered support to Kosovo institutions to come to the aid of refugees.

President Osmani on the other hand reiterated that Kosovo is open to citizens from Afghanistan.

"We are open to welcoming the people of Afghanistan, because no one knows their pain better than we do. Moreover, we are doing this together with our strategic ally - the United States," Osmani said.

Abdixhiku: Regional economic cooperation incomplete without all countries (RTK)

Lumir Abdixhiku, leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) was received on Thursday in Skopje by the Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, where the perspective of the two neighboring countries, the latest political developments in the region, as well as party cooperation between Kosovo political representatives were discussed, informs a press release issued by LDK.

Abdixhiku and Zaev stressed that the two countries should maintain and foster interstate partnership and cooperation.

At the meeting, the chairman of the LDK, reiterated that any regional economic cooperation cannot be complete without the involvement of all Western Balkan countries, even less without the involvement of the European Union.

Above all, economic cooperation must be preceded by the acceptance of the political reality, as a precondition of a prosperous region.

According to the press release, the parties agreed to continue open and fair meetings and communications.

This meeting is a continuation of a series of meetings, where days ago Abdixhiku together with deputy leader Lutfi Haziri met with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and discussed the issue of interstate cooperation.

In the coming days, Abdixhiku will meet with other leaders of neighboring countries to discuss the European partnership and perspective.

Minister Mehaj confirms Kosovo will soon receive new military vehicles (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defense Armend Mehaj, has confirmed that Kosovo will soon receive new military vehicles. Mehaj, informed through a post on the social network "Facebook" that tactical armored vehicles, complete with the integrated armament platform and equipment needed to fulfill the mission, will be a very important system of Kosovo’s military capabilities.

“One of my short-term operational objectives is to strengthen the military capacity to conduct defense and international peacekeeping and stability operations,” Mehaj wrote.

Vucic: Those not united around Serbian List cannot win trust of people (Klan)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday that unity preserves the identity and is a survival for the Serbs in Kosovo. He stressed that those who do not join the Serbian List in the local elections will find it difficult to gain the trust of citizens.

Vucic also talked to reporters about the dialogue process in Brussels. “We need to talk, and we hope that Pristina will understand that it is necessary to talk. Everything else is a waste of time and leaving problems to future generations,” Vucic said.

VV in Albania protests Serbian musician performance in Korce (Express)

The Vetevendosje Movement branch in Albania held Thursday a symbolic action against performance of Serbian musician, Goran Bergovic, who is expected to organise a concert as part of the Beer Festival of Korca, Albania, Gazeta Express reports.

A big banner reading “Bregovic ‘tambour’ of genocide” was hanged by the Vetevendosje activists in a multi-store building in the main square of Korca. In a statement issued by the Vetevendosje’s branch in Albania is stated that the action was organised in solidarity with 20 associations representing families of the missing persons during the war in Kosovo who asked the Municipality of Korca to cancel Bregovic’s performance.

The announced performance of Serbian musician has prompted reactions in Kosovo and Albania saying that Bregovic has never raised his voice against Slobodan Milosevic’s apartheid in Kosovo during 90s, and even organised a concert against NATO’s intervention against Serbian military targets in 1999 as part of efforts to stop Serbia’s ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. Despite calls the local authorities of Korca stated that the beer Festival will be held normally and Bregovic is expected to perform as early announced by organisers.

Albanian artists a rarity at Serbia’s biggest music festival (Prishtina Insight)

After Goran Bregovic’s performance in Korca sparked a wide public debate about cultural exchange between Albanians and Serbs, BIRN research shows that ethnic Albanian artists appearing at Serbia’s Exit festival is also still uncommon.

This month, a performance at the Korca Beer Festival in Albania by Goran Bregovic, a musician born to a Croat father and Serb mother, incited many calls for a boycott, and sparked a wide public debate.

While it is not Bregovic’s first performance in Albania, he held a concert in Tirana in 2006, appearances by artists with Serb heritage are rare at major festivals organised by ethnic Albanians – with the public response to Bregovic’s show in Korca perhaps an indication as to why.

However, research by BIRN’s KALLXO.com suggests that the same is also true vice versa, with ethnic Albanian artists rarely performing at Serbia’s biggest cultural events.

Exit Festival, held every year since 2000 at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, is Serbia’s largest music festival. Over the past 20 years, many of contemporary music’s biggest names, including Snoop Dogg, Guns ‘n’ Roses and David Guetta have all performed at the festival.

Considering its dimensions (over 200 artists played the festival in 2019 alone), the number of ethnic Albanian artists that have performed at Exit is revealing. KALLXO.com combed over the line-ups at Exit for the last 10 years, and while there have been appearances by a handful of electronic artists with Albanian heritage, no Albanian bands or singers have performed in that time.

Gjergj Emini from PLUR Agency, a promotion company that works in partnership with Exit, tells KALLXO.com that ethnic Albanian artists to have appeared at the festival include DJ Vegim, electronic duo Adriatique, and DJ Regard, who was scheduled to perform at the 2020 edition of Exit, which was cancelled.

KALLXO.com also reached out to the management of Exit to find out which Albanian artists have performed at the festival over the years. However, at the time of publication, no response was received.

A changing picture

Kosovo Albanian Vegim Hashimi (DJ Vegim) has performed at Exit twice, in 2010 and 2016. Speaking to KALLXO.com, Hashimi said that his first appearance 11 years ago was accompanied by a number of problems.

“The first time I played in 2010, I remember that it caused a big deal because my name was billed including ‘Pristina, KS’,” Hashimi said. “[Serbian newspapers] Kurir and Blic covered this with front page headlines like: ‘Exit festival recognizes Kosovo as a state.’ Afterwards, it was decided to remove the state designations and abbreviations for all artists.”

The DJ added that his appearance at the festival was accompanied by a heavy security presence. “I had 20 bodyguards who were ‘in action’ for the two hours while I played,” he said. “I have never had such security in my life.”

Hashimi told KALLXO.com that, due to the furore in the Serbian media, as soon as his set was over he left the festival and returned to Kosovo. However, the DJ also stated that his performance at the 2016 edition of Exit festival alongside Kosovo Serb DJ Flekitza was completely different.

“The second time, in 2016, I played with Flekitza and the reception was very different,” he says. “No one cared that we were from Kosovo. It was a great contrast to the first time.”Increasing Albanian attendees if not artists

While ethnic Albanian artists at Exit may be rare, the number of Albanian attendees is growing. Gjergj Emini from PLUR Agency states that initially young Kosovo Albanians were reluctant to attend the festival, but that this has changed over time.

“We are a point of sales in Kosovo, and the number of young people that want to go to Exit is extremely high,” he told KALLXO.com. “We expect that next year there will be a large number of young people from Kosovo who want to attend this festival.”

Emini added that his agency works well with Exit and that attendees from Kosovo are well received in Novi Sad.

Addressing the issue of cultural exchange between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, poet and writer Bujar Meholli told KALLXO.com that while culture can unite people, without a change in Serbia’s approach to Kosovo, it is difficult to expect mutual participation in cultural events, including at Exit.

“Artists like Stromae, Pet Shop Boys and Paul Kalkbrenner have played at Exit, so we are talking about an important cultural event for bringing people together through music,” Muholli said. “But if we look at the performances of Albanian artists at this festival, we cannot say that their presence is significant.”

However, cultural critic Ilir Muharremi told KALLXO.com that artists from Kosovo should perform in Serbia, and those from Serbia in Kosovo. “Art does not need to be mixed with politics,” he said.

However, Muharremi also made a distinction between what he described as “pure” artists and those associated with nationalistic ideologies and regimes of the past.

“Why shouldn’t pure artists perform in Serbia?” he asked. “Nobody denies Serbian artists from coming to Kosovo – apart from those who promote nationalism or have engaged in criminal propaganda.”