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NATO Vows to Prevent Violence in North Kosovo (Balkan Insight)

Amid growing nervousness in Serb-majority northern Kosovo, NATO commander says the alliance is more than ready to deal with any trouble on the streets. The Commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force in Naples, Admiral James Fogo, has said that NATO is ready to react if violent incidents erupt in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo – after a leading Serbian Orthodox cleric in Kosovo, Abbot Sava Janjic, warned of the risk of “staged” violence there. “Political leaders are trying to solve some difficult issues; not everyone agrees in democracies,” Fogo said on Wednesday during a tour of NATO sites in

Can Kosovo’s Wartime Truth Commission Achieve Reconciliation? (Balkan Insight)

Kosovo is preparing to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission - but while some believe it could build dialogue between Kosovo’s Albanians and Serbs, critics claim it’s a political tool for President Hashim Thaci.

See at: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/can-kosovo-s-wartime-truth-commission-achieve-reconciliation--06-25-2018

Judge Says Kosovo to Get Tough on Threats to Media Freedom (Balkan Insight)

A judge in Kosovo says his new role in coordinating cases involving journalists shows the judiciary is serious about protecting media freedom. The man tasked by Kosovo’s judiciary with overseeing court cases involving attacks or threats against journalists says his appointment is evidence of a renewed commitment to protect media freedom in the country, where reporters have frequently come under fire. Arben Hoti was given the new brief at the Pristina Basic Court on June 18 following a spate of high-profile attacks on journalists. In an interview with BIRN, Hoti said he had already contacted

Transgender Man Challenges Kosovo to Accept His Identity (Balkan Insight)

Accepted by his family but rejected by the state, a transgender man in Kosovo is going public about his struggle to officially change his first name in his ID documents from female to male. Born a girl, Blert Morina always felt like a boy. “There wasn’t any particular moment when I thought, ‘now I feel like a boy, or a man.’ Since I was a kid I have taken it for granted… I’ve always seen myself as a man,” Morina told BIRN. But for Kosovo’s conservative society, that’s not enough. Now 28, Morina is the first member of Kosovo’s transgender community to go public in challenging the state over

Returning Terrorists Threaten Balkan Security, Europol Says (Balkan Insight)

Europol report highlights return of foreign terrorist fighters from conflict areas to the countries of the Western Balkans as a matter of concern. Europol's latest report on the terrorist threat in the EU says one of main threats to the countries of the Western Balkans is the return home of foreign terrorist fighters, FTFs. “Hungary asserts that around 1,000 individuals from the Balkan states joined IS between 2014 and 2016 and expects a significant number of them to return to their former home countries, facilitated by organised crime groups engaged in illegal migration,” the