Albanian Language Media:

• Prime Minister Kurti’s interview for Vecernji List (media)

• Lajcak describes meetings with leaders from Kosovo and Serbia (media)

• AAK to hold new roundtable today on “grave political situation” (media)

• Gap between opposition and government grows amid thirst for power (Koha)

• Mustafa: Government can be ousted with a stronger opposition strategy (Kosovapress)

• Demiri thanks European MP for “tireless engagement” in Kosovo’s processes (media)

• Pristina University to have course on Roma language soon (Radio Free Europe)

Serbian Language Media:

• Commemoration of Staro Gracko crime held, families still wait for justice (RTS, media)

• Pristina authorities banned Petkovic from attending commemoration of Staro Gracko crime (RTS, Kosovo Online, Radio KIM)

• Jevtic: “Plainclothes officials” filmed those present at Staro Gracko crime commemoration ceremony (Tanjug, Radio KIM)

• EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak compares April elections north of Kosovo to “landmine“ (N1, FoNet)

• US delivers 66 Humvee light armored vehicles to Serbian Army (N1)

• Serb arrested at Jarinje on Friday released after making statement (RTS)

Albanian Language Media

Prime Minister Kurti’s interview for Vecernji List (media)

The leading story in most news websites is Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s interview for the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List. Kurti argued that “Brussels and Washington have bet on the wrong horse in Serbia, the President there. In the end it turned out that it was not a horse at all, but a fox”. He added that no one imagined that one year and five months after the Russian aggression in Ukraine, Serbia would not impose sanctions against Moscow, and would even allow Sputnik to keep a regional base in Belgrade. 

“Brussels and Washington allowed Vucic not to sign the Brussels and the Ohrid agreement, and then allowed to violate the agreement, and we are now in a situation where there is a drastic asymmetry in approach. Penalty measures against me, and on the other hand pardoning for President Vucic. This is injustice. But they say that these measures will be short-term, provisional, and reversible, so let’s see. With international factors, both the Europeans and the Americans, we have regular communication and coordination, but we also have slight differences, at times in terms of tactics, and sometimes in terms of strategies. But as far as values, interests and objectives are concerned, we have no differences,” he said.

Commenting on the elections in the four northern municipalities, Kurti said that the international community had promised the participation of the Serbian List. He said that in November last year, “the four mayors in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo resigned collectively together with 10 MPs in our Assembly and 547 police officers in the north, in fact they wanted the system of our Republic to be ruined as a result of the vacuum they reacted. But this didn’t happen”.

He said that Kosovo had to hold new elections and that it was not a choice of his government but a provision in the Constitution and a requirement of the law. “Then we ended up with four Albanian mayors, who truly have a fragile legitimacy because the turnout in the elections was very low, but nevertheless they have several percentages in the elections, while the others have zero legitimacy. You can get the office of the municipal mayor only through elections, not through violent actions, violence against NATO, our police, and reporters, not with shock bombs and bullets. I am ready to hold early elections. Moreover, I made an additional concession by reducing by 25 percent of our police in and around the municipal buildings. In addition to this we will hold regular consultations with KFOR and EULEX to assess the overall security situation and to reduce the presence of our police,” he added.

Kurti argued that the authorities are not fighting the Serb population but criminals and perpetrators of various crimes, “and not only Serb criminals, because organized crime is multiethnic”.

Kurti said that in the last two years, the authorities have closed 16 smuggling routes in the north and eight laboratories for producing drugs and five crypto labs in the north of Kosovo.

Lajcak describes meetings with leaders from Kosovo and Serbia (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that on the margins of the International Symi Symposium in Greece, he had “a valuable meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti. We engaged in a lengthy and constructive conversation about the current situation in the north of Kosovo and the path towards de-escalation, in line with the EU27 statement from 3 June, and the implementation of all Dialogue agreements.”

Lajcak said that on Wednesday he hosted talks with Kosovo’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Chief negotiator of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi, and the Director of the Office for Kosovo and the Chief negotiator of Serbia Petar Petkovic. “We dedicated extensive hours to discussions on a comprehensive list of Dialogue issues, including the implementation of the 27 February Agreement and the necessary de-escalation in the north. We agreed to continue these discussions and our work on several documents in the coming period. I also met with President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, who visited Brussels the same day. We agreed on the importance to urgently take steps to de-escalate the situation in the north of Kosovo and make swift progress on normalization of relations,” Lajcak said.

AAK to hold new roundtable today on “grave political situation” (media)

The parliamentary group of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo will hold a roundtable today with war associations, the associations of political prisoners and missing persons, and former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, “on the grave political situation in Kosovo and possible modalities how to emerge from this situation”. The roundtable will be held in the Kosovo Assembly.

Gap between opposition and government grows amid thirst for power (Koha)

Koha reports that the violence that broke out in the Kosovo Assembly on July 13 continues to be a topic between the ruling Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), with both parties trading accusations on who incited the physical incident. Vetevendosje MP, Armend Muja, told Koha that for some time now he noticed a tendency by PDK MPs to cause violence in the Assembly and that, according to him, this comes as a result of the fact “that they have lost their financial privileges”. Meanwhile, PDK MPs argue that the incident in the Assembly was orchestrated by the government to cover up its failures in governance.

Mustafa: Government can be ousted with a stronger opposition strategy (Kosovapress)

Former Prime Minister of Kosovo and former leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Isa Mustafa, said in an interview with the news website that the Kurti-led government can be ousted with a strong opposition strategy, and criticised the ruling party, Prime Minister Kurti and President Osmani.

Commenting on the physical incident at the Kosovo Assembly on July 13, Mustafa said it was a sad development and that when similar incidents happened in the Assembly in 2015 it was difficult for him to justify them in international meetings.

According to Mustafa, violence in the Assembly and outside it was installed by the Vetevendosje Movement and that “this disease is being inherited now”.

Mustafa argued that the government must implement the agreements reached in Brussels and Ohrid and that Prime Minister Kurti cannot create incidents to avoid his obligations.

Demiri thanks European MP for “tireless engagement” in Kosovo’s processes (media)

Charge d’Affaires of Kosovo to Israel, Ines Demiri, said in a Facebook post that she hosted the Austrian member of the European Parliament, Lukas Mandl, and thanked him for his “tireless engagement in all important processes for Kosovo”.

Pristina University to have course on Roma language soon (Radio Free Europe)

The Language Centre at the Philological Faculty of Pristina University is planning to open a first course for Roma language. Lindita Rugova, dean at the Philological Faculty, said everything is in the planning phase. “I have an idea to start a course for Roma language, not a program or department, but a course at the Language Centre, which we established two years ago … Maybe we will start in autumn,” she said in an interview with Radio Free Europe. 

Rugova said the idea is for the course to be initially free-of-charge and that they have almost secured a teacher for the Roma language who is also a linguist.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in Kosovo confirmed to the news website that there are 10 ten teachers from the Roma community in Kosovo, but that their level of education is not clear.

Meanwhile, the organization “Roma Versitas” in Kosovo, which works on integration and inclusion of the community through education, says that securing teachers for the planned course could be a challenge.

 

Serbian Language Media

Commemoration of Staro Gracko crime held, families still wait for justice (RTS, media)

Memorial service was held and tribute paid in a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of Staro Gracko crime, near Lipljan, in which 14 Serb harvesters were murdered in 1999, RTS reports. One of the most serious crimes targeting the Serbs in Kosovo upon arrival of international military and civilian forces remains unresolved up to date, Serbian media recalled. 

International judiciary gave up on the investigation in 2017, citing lack of evidence, while Serbs continue insisting that those responsible are found and face justice.

Slavica Janicijevic, whose 17-year old brother was the youngest victim of this crime, with her father and an uncle also murdered, said everything was in the hands of the international community that was responsible for the security at that time.

“Why did EULEX make the decision (to close the investigation) without consulting us? If they came here to stay temporarily? And we live here, it means we should have been consulted, and not make a unilateral decision to stop looking for perpetrators”, she said.

Members of the families and Staro Gracko residents think there was sufficient evidence to shed light on this crime. Seven Albanians, members of the former KLA, were under investigation for this crime.

International missions responsible for the investigation, disregarded the fact that one of the suspects had in possession a pistol of one of the Serb victims, Jovica Zivic, RTS recalled. Layers and legal professionals argued that the suspect should have explained how he came into possession of it, but he did not, RTS said.  

Pristina authorities banned Petkovic from attending commemoration of Staro Gracko crime (RTS, Kosovo Online, Radio KIM)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija said in a statement that Pristina authorities banned Director Petar Petkovic from attending the commemoration of the 24th anniversary of Staro Gracko crime in which 14 Serb harvesters had been murdered, RTS reports.

The Office said Petkovic timely announced his plan to attend the ceremony in line with applicable agreements, but received a response that the visit was not permitted without any further details provided.

Reacting to the anniversary of Staro Gracko crime, Petar Petkovic said responsibility for the fact that murderers of Serb harvesters have not been brought to justice up to date rests on institutions of Pristina, which he said “by conspiracy of silence about this and many other crimes protects terrorists and criminals”.  

“The responsibility also rests on international missions’ representatives in Kosovo and Metohija, primarily on EULEX which gave up on investigation under scandalous excuse of lack of evidence”, he added.

Petkovic recalled that the cemetery where harvesters were buried was mined and desecrated several times, the same as a memorial plaque to the victims placed on the primary school wall in the center of the village.

Petkovic also stressed that lasting peace in Kosovo can not be built on denial of the crime and the need that perpetrators are punished.

Serbian List in its reaction to the crime anniversary said that “Kosovo institutions’ leaders as per rule will not remind the public about this suffering of innocent Serbs, in order to preserve the narrative that only Albanians were victims, and Serbs are criminals, hoping that as time passes by, this monstrous crime will be forgotten and those responsible not brought to justice”.

They also recalled that Pristina institutions found no perpetrator responsible for desecration of the cemetery where harvesters were buried either.

Jevtic: “Plainclothes officials” filmed those present at Staro Gracko crime commemoration ceremony (Tanjug, Radio KIM)

Strpce mayor and Serbian List official, Dalibor Jevtic said yesterday that “plainclothes officials” filmed those present at the commemoration ceremony to 14 Serb harvesters murdered 24 years ago in Staro Gracko village, near Lipljan, Tanjug news agency reports.

In  a post on Twitter, Jevtic wrote that instead of looking for murderers of the Serb harvesters “the plainclothes officials” recorded those seeking justice.

"Today, in Staro Gracko we remembered the suffering of 14 harvesters in 1999. A lot of emotions, embitterment because of the injustice. A hundred people were present, families, local residents, but also “plainclothes officials” who were filming us. Instead of looking for murderers, they are filming us who are seeking justice", Jevtic said yesterday.

EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak compares April elections north of Kosovo to “landmine“ (N1, FoNet)

EU special envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, compared in an interview with the Vienna-based daily Kurier the elections in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo in April to a "landmine", arguing that this is why the focus in relations between the two sides is not on normalization, but on solving the crisis.

Lajcak said that the willingness to reach an agreement that the sides expressed in Brussels on February 27, and then in Ohrid on March 18, was a historic moment, but added that the path to its implementation has been undermined.

“The extraordinary elections in April in the northern municipalities were one of these landmines and unfortunately we stepped on it. At the moment, our focus is not on normalization, but on crisis management“, Lajcak is quoted as saying.

Lajcak stressed that the priority in his approach to the issue is impartiality.

“Relations between the EU and Serbia are complex, as are the relations between the EU and Kosovo, and impartial work is my priority“, he said, adding that five EU countries that do not recognize Kosovo, including his own, Slovakia, are closely monitoring the situation in regard to Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

US delivers 66 Humvee light armored vehicles to Serbian Army (N1)

The United States delivered 66 Humvee light armored vehicles (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) to the Army of Serbia, procured through a direct commercial contract with the American company AM General, N1 reports.

According to the Balkan Security Network portal, this is the first tranche of a total of 118 vehicles ordered through the same contract.

The US Embassy in Serbia said in an Instagram post that the vehicles are in the barracks in Pancevo and will be used, among other things, for the purposes of participating in international peacekeeping missions. It was also posted that these were not just American vehicles but that it was a NATO standard. What Serbia has in common with other partners in the peacekeeping missions abroad are NATO standards, the embassy added. 

Serb arrested at Jarinje on Friday released after making statement (RTS)

After making a statement to Kosovo police, B.L. from Leposavic arrested on Friday at Jarinje crossing point had been released from the police station in Mitrovica South, RTS reports.

He was summoned because of not responding to the court’s calls over the case from 2018, his lawyer Milos Delevic said.

Earlier, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija reacting to the arrest said “that Kurti’s special police units without grounds and reasons arrested B.L. at Jarinje administrative crossing point”.