UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, July 23, 2021

Albanian Language Media:

COVID-19: 19 new cases, no deaths (media)
Kurti calls on Kosovo population to vaccinate (Klan)
President Osmani received by Japan’s FM Motegi and Emperor Naruhito (media)
Beqaj: Kurti's approach to dialogue is right but unrealistic (Telegrafi)
Questions regarding Kosovo's international organisation membership bids (RFE)
Thaci’s lawyer provides guarantee for his release from detention (media)
Unwavering trust between Ankara and Belgrade (RFE Albanian)

Serbian Language Media:

22 years since the murder of 14 Serbian harvesters in Staro Gracko (media)
Odalovic: It is certainly known who committed the crime in Staro Gracko (RTS, N1, Beta, KiM radio)
Petkovic with Veselinovic: Mistreatment of Serbs must end (Kosovo-online)
Rakic: We’ll continue to provide assistance, as it is only way to save our people (Kosovo-online)
Serbian pilgrims banned from entering Kosovo (Radio KIM)

Opinion:

Should Kosovo recognise Serbia? (Prishtina Insight)
11 years since the opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s independence (KoSSev)
Non-Papers and the elephant in the room: Rule of law in the Western Balkans (EWB)

International:

Montenegro Rules out Changes to Kosovo Border Agreement (Balkan Insight)
Serbian interior minister in Madrid to discuss police cooperation, Kosovo (Euractive)

Albanian Language Media

COVID-19: 19 new cases, no deaths (media)

19 new cases of COVID-19 and no fatalities from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. Seven persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 126 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

To date, 343, 330 vaccines have been administered in Kosovo.

Kurti calls on Kosovo population to vaccinate (Klan)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti called through a Facebook post on the population of Kosovo to receive the vaccines against COVID-19.

"We have provided the vaccines. They are safe. Kosovo is the only country in the region that uses only vaccines approved by the United States Federal Drug Agency and the European Medicines Agency, namely Pfizer and AstraZeneca. Now all citizens over the age of 18 can be vaccinated and can choose the vaccine they want to receive," Kurti wrote.

President Osmani received by Japan’s FM Motegi and Emperor Naruhito (media)

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani was received in a meeting by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Toshimitsu Motegi. She expressed gratitude for the continuous support of this country to Kosovo.

"The Republic of Kosovo is Japan’s most reliable partner in the Balkans, so we expect its further support for strengthening the international position of Kosovo, respectively gaining new recognitions and membership in international organizations," Osmani reportedly said at the meeting with the Minister Motegi.

According to Osmani, the two countries could increase cooperation by inviting Japanese investors to invest in Kosovo. She said that there is room to increase cooperation in the field of education, defense, health, environment, etc., and confirmed the readiness of the Kosovar side for full engagement in this regard.

On the eve of the official opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Osmani was received by the Emperor Naruhito of Japan, together with other world leaders.

During the reception organized by Emperor Naruhito, President Osmani also had brief conversations with the French President Emmanuel Macron, the First Lady of the USA Dr. Jill Biden as well as with representatives of other countries.

Following the meetings with the heads of state of Japan, President Osmani is expected to meet with the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Beqaj: Kurti's approach to dialogue is right but unrealistic (Telegrafi)

Belul Beqaj, political science professor from Pristina, spoke to Telegrafi about the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and Prime Minister Albin Kurti's approach to the process which he said is right but at the same time unrealistic.

"I think that in the third meeting it would be better and fairer for Albin Kurti to publicly and unequivocally say that they did not reach any agreement with Slobodan Milosevic's former collaborator, because his approach is right but it is not - realistic," Beqaj noted.

"No transparency can be expected from a process that determinedly affects political survival. Unfortunately, public words are disproportionate to facts. I don't anticipate this trend to change, on the contrary it will become even more mystical," he continued.

Questions regarding Kosovo's international organisation membership bids (RFE)

In almost 12 months now, Kosovo has not applied for membership in any international organisation, Radio Free Europe in Albanian reported, adding that this comes after the White House meeting in September of 2020 where Kosovo agreed to respect a one-year moratorium on new membership bids. This period is set to expire at the end of September.

The Kosovo Government did not comment on when it plans to apply for membership in international organisations while officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora stated several applications are being prepared.

Donika Emini, from the CiviKos Platform, considers the Government of Kosovo should have used the one-year period to prepare for applying for Interpol and UNESCO membership. "The government should have been clear from the outest in a very detailed way about where it intends to join, what are those institutions and who leads the process on the part of Kosovo institutions."

Thaci’s lawyer provides guarantee for his release from detention (media)

Former President Thaci's lawyer, Gregory Keohe, has sent to the Court his petitions for the release of the former president from detention.

In these submissions, Keohe, in addition to counter-arguing the facts presented by the Prosecution, also provides details about the guarantees offered for Thaci's release from detention.

Although the Kosovo government was not ready to come out as a guarantor of the release from custody of the KLA leaders in The Hague, this readiness has been shown by two other countries, reports lajmi.net.

This is confirmed in the submissions of the lawyer of former President Thaci, Gregory Keohe.

The latter, while giving details about the countries in question, says that one of them is a contributing country to the Special Chambers.

“Most importantly, since the First Decision, the defense of Mr. Thaci has now received written guarantees from two countries ("Third States"), one of which is a contributing state, to facilitate the release of Mr. Thaci in their respective territories," it is said in Keohe's submission.

However, it is not known which of the countries have offered guarantees for Thaci's release, as Slovenia was also mentioned.

Thaci's American lawyer further says that the Specialized Prosecution has completely removed the time context of when it planned to start the trial, the news website further reports.

He says that in Kosovo, Thaci no longer has the influence he had before and that he does not pose any risk of interfering in the procedure in case of his release from detention.

"Since the decision of the pre-trial judge on January 22, 2021 that the conditions for detention on remand were met, the circumstances of these proceedings and Mr. Thaci, they have changed significantly. After voluntarily resigning from the Office of the President on November 5, 2020 and surrendering to the DSK detention center, Mr. Thaci has now spent almost eight months in prison. The SPO's original claim that it would be able to meet its intelligence obligations to allow the trial to begin in the summer of 2021 has been exposed as a monumental misinterpretation (or miscalculation) on its part, at the pace of the discovery of the SPO that is likely to delay the trial until mid-2022. During this eight-month period, the area of political support for Mr. Thaci and his influence in Kosovo have largely evaporated, with the February 2021 elections placing the former President in the weakest position of his political career. At the same time, the pre-trial judge has decided what can easily be described as the broader regime of witness protection imposed before a Kosovar or international court," it is said in Keohe's submission.

Unwavering trust between Ankara and Belgrade (RFE Albanian)

"If anyone makes a decision to recognize Kosovo as independent, at the same time we will launch a campaign to withdraw recognition," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on July 22.

In this way, Vucic responded to the warning of the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that he will work for the new recognitions of Kosovo.

"I have a lot of respect for Turkish President Erdogan and we want better relations with Turkey, but we have our country and our interests and we will act in harmony with them," Vucic said during a visit to Kragujevac, a town in Serbia.

A day earlier, the President of Serbia was summoned to the Washington Agreement, which he signed with the then Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti, in September 2020, under the auspices of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

"Belgrade and Pristina have an obligation to refrain from the campaign of withdrawal and lobbying for the recognition of Kosovo's independence," Vucic said on July 21, adding that he would " try to talk " about Erdogan's warning with my Turkish colleague.

"This is not Turkish," Vucic said during a visit to the Manasija monastery in eastern Serbia.

What did Erdogan say?

As reported by Reuters on July 19, Erdogan stated that he "hopes to have the opportunity to speak with U.S. President Joe Biden at the UN General Assembly, regarding the international recognition of Kosovo, in order to work together so that even more countries recognize Kosovo.”

"We try to get as many countries in the world as possible to recognize Kosovo," said the Turkish president on the eve of his visit to the Turkish part of Cyprus.

According to the list published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of Kosovo, there are 117 countries that recognize independence.

Will such a warning shake the relations between Serbia and Turkey, which have intensified in recent years in the political and economic field?

Political analyst Firat Hamdi from the Phoenix Political think-tank does not believe such a thing.

"Vucic wants to say that something like this will be bad, while Erdogan wants to say that he will support Kosovo's independence, but this will not change the situation of their cooperation on the ground. Turkey has always supported Kosovo's independence and I am not sure that this is something big," Hamdi told Radio Free Europe.

Turkey recognized Kosovo on February 18, 2008, just one day after Pristina declared the country's independence.

Hamdiu emphasizes that Erdogan and Vucic are "pragmatic leaders" who focus on points of cooperation.

Serbian Language Media

22 years since the murder of 14 Serbian harvesters in Staro Gracko (media)

22 years ago, in Staro Gracko near Lipljan, after the arrival of KFOR in Kosovo, 14 harvesters - residents of this village - were killed. A memorial service will be served by the Bishop of Raska and Prizren, Teodosije, while the director of the Office for KiM, Petar Petkovic will also pay tribute to the victims, reported media.

British KFOR units conducted an investigation, the case was then handed over to UNMIK. In 2017, due to the "lack of evidence", the Special Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo suspended the investigation against seven suspects. The crime in Staro Gracko falls under the mandate of the Special Court for War Crimes in Kosovo.

Kosovo's president, Hashim Thaci, was the first Albanian official to pay tribute to slain Serb harvesters. Three days before the 17th anniversary of these murders, he laid flowers at the monument to the reapers. The families of the Serbs who were killed in 1999, however, did not want to receive the Kosovo president and there were also sharp reactions from the Kosovo opposition, whose representatives claimed that Thaci admitted that "Albanians are terrorists", recalled KoSSev.

RECOM: The perpetrators remained unpunished

On the eve of the anniversary, RECOM stated that the names of fourteen harvesters were forever written in the Kosovo Book of Remembrance.

"At around 8 pm, their families found machines and tractors in a field with harvested wheat, and the body of Slobodan Janicijevic, 150 meters away. With British soldiers, in another field, they found the bodies of other harvesters. They were all killed with cold weapons. Neither UNMIK, nor EULEX, nor the Kosovo War Crimes Prosecutor's Office have punished the perpetrators of this war crime," RECOM said.

Serbian Coordination: There is a culture of impunity for crimes against Serbs in Kosovo

The Coordination of Serbian Associations of Families of the Missing, Killed and Died in the Former Yugoslavia reminded of the crimes in Staro Gracko.

"On July 23, 1999, in the days of lawlessness and systemic violence against Serbs, which occurred after the adoption of UNSCR Resolution No 1244, despite the presence of tens of thousands of members of the international military and civilian mission in Kosovo and Metohija, Albanian criminals - members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army shot at the harvest field and then massacred 14 Serbs - residents of the village of Staro Gracko," said the statement, reported KoSSev, citing Sputnik.

"Neither for this, nor for numerous other crimes, which were committed against Serbs in an organized and systematic manner by members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, no one was responsible," read the statement.

"Recalling this crime, the Serbian Coordination points to the historic failure of UNMIK, KFOR, EULEX and the self-proclaimed authorities in Pristina to build a society in Kosovo and Metohija in which there will be basic rule of law and respect for basic human rights for Serbian people," they said, Sputnik cited.

Odalovic: It is certainly known who committed the crime in Staro Gracko (RTS, N1, Beta, KiM radio)

The President of the Commission for Missing Persons, Veljko Odalovic stated , on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the murder of 14 harvesters in the village of Staro Gracko in Kosovo, that it is known who committed the crime, but that there is no epilogue yet, as in other crimes against Serbs before or after the arrival of an international mission, reported media.

"They turned their mission into something opposite to what they came for. They did not provide guarantees, security or protection. After a year, when we went to the cemetery, we had to return because a bomb had been planted," Odalovic told RTS.

Odalovic said that those dates should be mentioned so that they would not be forgotten and pointed out that it would be fought for the perpetrators of that crime to be convicted.

22 years ago, 14 harvesters were killed in the village of Staro Gracko near Lipljan, and that is one of the most serious crimes against Serbs after the arrival of the international mission in Kosovo, for which no one has yet been held accountable.

The murder took place on July 23, 1999, and in 2017, the Special Prosecutor's Office in Pristina suspended the investigation into that crime.

In an attack on a group of Serbs in a field during the harvest, four members of the Janicijevic family were killed from an ambush - Slobodan, Mile, Momir and the youngest Novica, who was 17, then Andrija Odalovic, brothers Jovica and Rade Zivic, Stanimir and Bosko Djekic, Sasa and Ljubisa Cvejic, Nikola Stojanovic, Miodrag Tepsic and Milovan Jovanovic.

Petkovic with Veselinovic: Mistreatment of Serbs must end (Kosovo-online)

Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic met yesterday in Gracanica with Srboljub Veselinovic from Prizren, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Veselinovic was arrested by Kosovo police the day before at Jarinje crossing point and transferred to Prizren where he gave the statement in a court and was released afterwards.

He was summoned under suspicion of “stealing electric energy” although he hasn’t lived in Prizren for decades, the portal added.

“They handcuffed me as if I were the most serious criminal and told me that was the procedure. In the court they (behaved) correctly although I was afraid when the judge told me it would be better to plead guilty as the sentence would be milder. I know I never did anything to be arrested for, still I didn’t feel comfortable “, Veselinovic said.

Petkovic said the arrest of Veselinovic was yet another testimony to the misuse of Pristina judiciary.

“On the case of this man, who is approaching nine decade of his life, we can see you may suffer only because you are a Serb, you may get arrested for the things you didn’t do and it is mostly done in way that our internally displaced Serbs are arrested as per some secret indictments, kept in detention for several months and at the end let go”, Petkovic said.

He added this way the Pristina judiciary directly sides with the Pristina authorities to prevent Serbs and other displaced persons from returning to Kosovo.

Rakic: We’ll continue to provide assistance, as it is only way to save our people (Kosovo-online)

Serbian List President and Minister of Communities and Return Goran Rakic visited yesterday Banjska and Gojbulja villages, Vucitrn municipality, together with Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic, Kosovo-online portal reports.

During the visit Rakic told the residents of these villages the ministry he leads would continue to provide assistance.

“As the Minister for Communities and Return, I try to be on the ground every day with my team and specifically help vulnerable families who need help the most. This is the right and only way to save our people in this area and thus show that they are not alone and that all of us here today look after them”, Rakic said.

He added he was “very concerned about the frequent attacks on Serbian property, Serbian people and our church”.

“Every day I use the opportunity to talk about it with all international partners, representatives of KFOR, EULEX, I also appeal for us to use concrete activities to ensure a peaceful life for all citizens. Everyday incidents only show that Serbs are not welcome to return, and those who already live here are constantly pressured to move out. That way we cannot build peace and coexistence”, he said.

Serbian pilgrims banned from entering Kosovo (Radio KIM)

Kosovo police stopped two busses carrying Serbian pilgrims at crossing point Jarinje who were on their way to visit the Orthodox shrines in Kosovo, Radio KIM reports.

The pilgrims belong to two organizations “Dobrocinstvo” (Benefaction) and “Serbian Youth for Kosmet”.

As media reported Kosovo police along with a ban presented a paper to the pilgrims where it was written that “they represent a threat to security and public health”.

While they were waiting at the crossing point, Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic met with the pilgrims at Jarinje. Petkovic was returning from a memorial service to 14 killed Serbian harvesters in Staro Gracko village.

“Such a decision is absolutely impermissible and in the meantime I have called Mr. Lajcak and informed him about this blatant violation of the agreement on freedom of movement as well as that such a terror by Pristina against our people wishing to enter the area of Kosovo and Metohija is unacceptable”, Petkovic said.

Opinion

Should Kosovo recognise Serbia? (Prishtina Insight)

Notions of ethnic cleansing have long plagued Serbia, as demonstrated by the atrocities covered in the three books Albin Kurti presented Aleksandar Vucic with this week and the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia, writes Cedomir Petrovic, an actor and director living and working in Belgrade.

“It is impossible to suppress the Arnauts [Albanians in Kosovo] only by gradual colonisation. The only way to do that is the brutal force of organised state power, and in that we have always been above them. Only a country inhabited by its own people can survive.”

These lines were not written by Hitler, or Goebbels or any of that crowd. It is a paragraph from ‘The Expulsion of Arnauts’, a memorandum written by Vaso Cubrilovic in 1937. Cubrilovic was a professor-to-be at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, and this quote is part of a speech he delivered to the Serbian Cultural Club, led by Slobodan Jovanovic and Dragisa Vasic.

The text is considered one of the fundamental documents of 20th century ‘Greater Serbia’ ideology, which inspired the Serbian authorities during the breakup of Yugoslavia and was used to excuse the ethnic cleansing of Albanians, Muslims and Croats.

Crimes against Albanians were also committed during the Balkan wars by the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro’s military and police forces. About 120,000 Albanians, of both sexes and all ages, were killed.

International

Montenegro Rules out Changes to Kosovo Border Agreement (Balkan Insight)

Montenegro on Friday said changing the 2018 border deal with Kosovo was out of the question – despite the Kosovo PM's earlier vow to correct what he called its 'terrible mistakes'.

Montenegro on Friday rejected making any changes to a vexed border agreement with Kosovo, stressing that the two countries don’t have any border disputes that need resolving.