Headlines - 24.10.2013 Thaçi, Rama, and Erdogan inaugurate new Pristina Airport terminal (dailies) Turkish and Albanian prime ministers, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Edi Rama respectively, joined their Kosovo host Hashim Thaçi yesterday to inaugurate a new terminal at the “Adem Jashari” Pristina Airport. On the occasion, Erdogan said he feels at home in Kosovo and expressed belief that the opening of the terminal will boost economy. Erdogan also pledged to cooperate closely with Kosovo and Albania in all fields. “Turkey will unreservedly continue support development and reconstruction of Kosovo”, said Turkish PM. After the opening ceremony, the three prime ministers went on to visit the city of Prizren. There Erdogan said that “Turkey is Kosovo and Kosovo is Turkey” because the two people have a same culture and civilization. Albanian PM Rama said that the feels privileged to be in Kosovo for the inauguration of a new terminal. “This is a perfect opportunity to be proud and grateful to Kosovo and its example”, said Rama. However, the largest opposition party, Democratic League of Kosovo, criticized Thaçi for having used the visit of Edrogan and Rama for electoral purposes, particularly to voice support for its candidate in Prizren, Ramadan Muja. LDK said Thaçi presented Muja to the crowd gathered to greet Erdogan as the current and the future mayor of Prizren. Jacobson: Manipulation of elections is unacceptable (Koha Ditore) Koha Ditore carries an interview with US ambassador to Kosovo, Tracey Ann Jacobson. Jacobson says that elections of 3 November should be fair and free, without manipulations, otherwise Kosovo can suffer consequences. She insists that any kind of manipulation in the election process is unacceptable but adds that she trusts Kosovo political leaders who are committed to ensure regular elections. Ambassador Jacobson has emphasized the importance of elections, which are the best chance for Kosovo to send a good signal that it has moved forward in the development of democracy. In the interview, American ambassador talked about the necessity to reform of elections system in Kosovo, while insisting that it would be a mistake if Kosovo goes into parliamentary elections without the election reform, which is already delayed and warns that holding of Parliamentary elections without election reform it would be a mistake and would endanger relations of Kosovo with the West. “If election reform is not done at least six months or more before of general elections, then there is possibility that EU will not recognize the result of those elections as legitimate and this would be a big problem for Kosovo,” says Tracey Ann Jacobson. Local elections to be discussed today in Brussels (Kosova Sot) Kosova Sot reports that Kosovo delegation will travel today in Brussels in the framework of technical dialogue. Unlike last time, it is expected that the Kosovo team will be led by Deputy Prime Minister, Edita Tahiri. She told the newspaper that even though she wasn’t present in the meeting last week she was well-informed by the members of the Kosovo delegation. “There will be analysis about security issues, because there are cases when we hear threats about candidates, especially those who are in four Serb municipalities, and which are experiencing different forms of pressure,” said Tahiri. Hoxhaj admits not all criteria have been met for visa liberalization (dailies) Kosovo Government has still work to do in the path towards visa liberalization process, said Kosovo Foreign Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, after meeting his counterpart from the Kingdom of Netherlands, Frans Timmermans. “There are some technical issue left for us as a Government to be done, but I believe that next spring there could be political will in many European capitals and in Brussels itself to take important political decisions for Kosovo citizens to travel without visas”, said Hoxhaj. Dutch minister has failed to meet also Kosovo Prime Minister Thaçi. The reason for the cancellation of the meeting was not given by the prime minister’s office but it is reported that Thaçi was indisposed because of the visit of Turkish and Albanian prime ministers. Minister Ismajli in Belgrade (Tribuna) Minister of Economic Development Fadil Ismajli will meet on Thursday regional counterparts in a conference that will take place in Belgrade. Ismajli will attend the 11th meeting of the ministerial council of the Energy Community which will also be attended by representatives from the Energy Community Treaty and European Commission. The paper notes that this is the first time a Kosovo economy minister takes part in a meeting of such level in Belgrade. Reciprocity in the visits (Tribuna) Tribuna newspaper reports that Minister of European Integrations, Vlora Çitaku, Minister of Finances, Besim Beqaj and as the Minister of Health, Ferid Agani have made official requests to visit Presheva valley during this month. If the requests are refused, then Kosovo Government would not accept any visits of officials from Serbia. The Integration Minister has confirmed shortly for newspaper that she made the request for the visit. “Yes I want to visit the Valley,” said Çitaku.