UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, April 4, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Kosovo leaders meet QUINT ambassadors, discuss CoE membership (media)
Kurti: Future of our country is everyone’s right and responsibility (media)
Haxhiu: Ministry executing order on immovable property in Banjska case (media)
Hetemi: It’s not a problem if they dismiss us (Indeksonline)
Azemi: Kurti has great problems; he’ll send Kosovo to elections in autumn (KTV)
Borrell: We’re concerned with lack of preliminary consultations on Dinar (media)
Hasani: NATO must not shift attention away from Western Balkans (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Starovic: Kurti's visit to north is demonstration of force and hostility towards Serbs (Kosovo Online, social media)
Milenkovic: Kurti's visit to north unsettles citizens, causes even greater mistrust (Kosovo Online)
Arsenijevic on Kurti’s visit to north (KoSSev, social media)
Serbian Government to hold extraordinary session Thursday, Vucic to attend (Tanjug, media)
Dacic meets with Armenian Deputy FM (media)
UNMIK Head Ziadeh met Serbian List, civil society in Mitrovica North (Radio KIM, Kosovo Online, social media)
KFOR Bronze Sabre 2024 exercise concludes (N1)

International Media:

Serbian Prosecutor Urges Prison Sentences for Kosovo Killings (Balkan Insight)
Belgrade Faces June Repeat Poll, as Party Deal on Elections Fails (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Kosovo leaders meet QUINT ambassadors, discuss CoE membership (media)

All media reported on Wednesday that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Assembly Speaker Glauk Konjufca met with the QUINT ambassadors to discuss the process of Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe. No other information was released from the meeting.

Kurti: Future of our country is everyone’s right and responsibility (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X on Wednesday that he visited “all 4 northern Serbian-majority municipalities, incl. the place where our policeman, Afrim Bunjaku, was killed by Serbian paramilitary forces last September. The future of our country is everyone's right & responsibility, and together we will work for a bright tomorrow.”

Haxhiu: Ministry executing order on immovable property in Banjska case (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that through the officials of the Agency for Administering Seized and Confiscated Property, the ministry has started implementing the final prohibition order with a temporary measure on immovable property in the Banjska case. “The Agency has started identifying the property mentioned in the order, including the villa that is believed to have been in the ownership of the chief criminal, Milan Radoicic, at Ujman [Gazivoda] Lake in Zubin Potok and other property, in line with the Law on the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Wealth, and in line with the court’s order,” Haxhiu said.

Hetemi: It’s not a problem if they dismiss us (Indeksonline)

Mayor of the municipality of Leposavic, Lulzim Hetemi, said on Wednesday that he “approximately” knew about the visit of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and that he was not notified in advance “because of security reasons”.

Hetemi said he does not expect problems with the process of census. “I am certain there won’t be any problems, because the process is for the good of the citizens,” he said.

Commenting on the voting process on April 21 for his and the three other mayor’s dismissals, Hetemi said: “it was allowed by the government of the Republic of Kosovo, and if we are dismissed it won’t be a problem.”

Azemi: Kurti has great problems; he’ll send Kosovo to elections in autumn (KTV)

Visar Azemi, member of the chairmanship of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) said in an interview with KTV on Wednesday that Prime Minister Albin Kurti will send Kosovo to early elections this autumn and that “he no longer has anything to offer to the country”.

According to Azemi, the LDK is in a race with Kurti’s Vetevendosje for the first position, “and not with the PDK for the second position”.

He argued that as a result of Kurti’s governance, Kosovo is under sanctions today “which have stopped our development”. “He opposed the decision on the Decani Monastery [while he was in the opposition] and then he easily made the concession. This is a different Albin Kurti,” he said.

Azemi also said that Kurti has great problems from international pressure to meet his obligations. “Kurti will not conclude his mandate, and autumn could be his option to send Kosovo to elections,” he said.

Borrell: We’re concerned with lack of preliminary consultations on Dinar (media)

EU High Representative Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that the European Commission is concerned about the lack of Kosovo’s preliminary consultations about the regulation of the Central Bank of Kosovo which also affects the use of the Serbian Dinar in Kosovo.

Borrell also said that the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities is an obligation for Kosovo according to international law. “As the parties showed no readiness to engage in negotiations about the statute of the Association, the EU prepared the European Draft Statute, in consultation with international legal experts, and which respects the relevant Dialogue agreement and the legal framework of Kosovo (as well as the red lines as much as it was possible”,” he said.

Borrell also said that the draft statute was presented to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on October 21 last year. “On October 26, Kosovo informed the EU that it would accept the European Draft Statute under the condition that the Agreement on the path toward normalization between Kosovo and Serbia, its annex and the EDS are officially signed by the Prime Minister of Kosovo and the President of Serbia … However, the President of the Republic of Serbia refused any form of signature,” he said. Since then, Borrell added, Kosovo’s representatives did not engage in discussions about the Association.

Hasani: NATO must not shift attention away from Western Balkans (media)

On the first day of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Albania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Igli Hasani, highlighted the need for NATO not to shift away its attention from the Western Balkans because it contributes to peace and stability in the region.

Referring to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s commitment at the Vilnius Summit, on Albania’s expenses for defense, Hasani said that the 2 percent quote of the GDP is the minimal level of engagement and not the maximum. On the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Hasani also expressed Albania’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Serbian Language Media

Starovic: Kurti's visit to north is demonstration of force and hostility towards Serbs (Kosovo Online, social media)

Serbian Ministry of Defence State Secretary, Nemanja Starovic, said the visit of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to the north was a demonstration of force and hostility towards the Serbian people, Kosovo Online portal reported.

Referring to Kurti’s visit to northern municipalities, Starovic said In a post on X social platform that these were the scenes hard to imagine in any European city.

"Imagine living in a city somewhere in Europe, where the mayor, chosen by three percent of the people, rules, where the authorities are enforced by police ninjas who don't speak the language of the local population. Suddenly, the guy who calls himself PM comes, surrounded by 100s of troopers armed to their teeth, proclaiming you will not be able to receive your salary, pension or childcare benefit anymore, just because you're of the wrong ethnicity. All the streets being eerily empty, people just waiting for him to leave, to revert to last bits of normalcy left...", Starovic said in a post. He also asked whether such a scene portrays anything other than occupation.

"Well, that was today's reality for the local population in northern Kosovo, as interim Prime Minister Kurti decided on yet another demonstration of force and hostility towards the Serbian people who remained in the province", Starovic added.

Milenkovic: Kurti's visit to north unsettles citizens, causes even greater mistrust (Kosovo Online)

Marko Milenkovic from Mitrovica North-based non-governmental organization New Social Initiative said the visit of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to the northern municipalities was problematic because it causes unease among the Serbian population due to, as he pointed out, a relationship of distrust and non-partner cooperation. Milenkovic also emphasized that Kurti's visit was not announced, and it was not clear what its purpose was.

"To be honest, the visit came unannounced, there was no prior notification or transparency up to the moment of the meeting and with whom Kurti is meeting and what the goals of that meeting are. Many details are missing. Even after the meeting in Leposavic, there is a lack of information regarding the purpose and goals of this visit. At this moment, speaking from the perspective of the citizens, I believe that such decisions and actions without prior announcement and transparent content and information about them only serve to unsettle citizens and are not conducive to a positive atmosphere on the ground. Citizens are worried by the recent decisions made by the government in Pristina and their lives are endangered, primarily due to the decision related to dinar. There are also many decisions on the ground at the local level in the municipalities by representatives of those municipalities, who are illegitimate and therefore do not represent the citizens democratically", Milenkovic told Kosovo Online portal.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/fnGJO

Arsenijevic on Kurti’s visit to north (KoSSev, social media)

Leader of Serbian Democracy Aleksandar Arsenijevic commented on the statement of Serbian List on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti visit to the north yesterday, in particular the part saying that Kurti with this visit aimed at scoring political points, KoSSev portal reported.

Arsenijevic said in a post on X social platform that Serbian List has nine MPs in the Kosovo Assembly and that “those MPs should have been on the ground today to ask him (Kurti) what is he doing in the north, and not hide in mice holes as usual”.

Serbian Government to hold extraordinary session Thursday, Vucic to attend (Tanjug, media)

The Serbian Government will hold an extraordinary session on Thursday 10 am, with President Aleksandar Vucic to attend, a source in the government has confirmed to Tanjug.

The session will also be attended by Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic, government ministers, security, army and police officials and directors of public enterprises. An action plan and ways in which the government will respond to pressure on Belgrade over Kosovo and Republika Srpska will be discussed at the session, the news agency added.

The agenda will also include regional as well as economic topics, the source said.

Dacic meets with Armenian Deputy FM (media)

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met with Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan in Belgrade on Wednesday. During the meeting Dacic expressed gratitude to Hovhannisyan for the support his country extends to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia.

The parties expressed interest in further development of bilateral relations, based on the traditional friendship and close cultural and historical ties between the two states and peoples, the Serbian MFA said in a statement.

They agreed 2024 was especially important as it was a year in which Serbia and Armenia celebrated 30 years of bilateral diplomatic relations. The parties also expressed readiness to work together on commemorations of the important anniversary, the statement added.

UNMIK Head Ziadeh met Serbian List, civil society in Mitrovica North (Radio KIM, Kosovo Online, social media)

Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) and UNMIK Head Caroline Ziadeh met yesterday with the Serbian List and civil society in Mitrovica North, Radio KIM reports. As part of her outreach visits across Kosovo, SRSG Ziadeh spoke with Serbian List about latest developments that are impacting the daily lives of the population, UNMIK said in a statement on Facebook. The statement added that SRSG Ziadeh spoke with members of the civil society to hear firsthand accounts of the challenges and needs facing the Kosovo Serb community. She emphasized the importance of the trust-building between communities and urged continued engagement within the framework of the EU-facilitated dialogue.

SRSG Ziadeh also visited the shelter for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence in Mitrovica South.

At the same time, Serbian List said in a statement that its president Zlatan Elek spoke about all the problems of the Serbian community, and upcoming UN SC session on UNMIK report and situation in Kosovo.

“All unilateral measures of the Pristina regime were pointed out during the meeting, which endanger survival of the Serbs in those areas, but also disappointment with the international community which, despite everything that (Albin) Kurti is doing, continuously rewards Pristina. In this way a report of Dora Bakoyannis has been adopted and membership (of Kosovo) to the Council of Europe is announced without meeting set requirements, Pristina is being upgraded in its cooperation with NATO and visa liberalization has been granted to it”, Serbian List said in a statement.

KFOR Bronze Sabre 2024 exercise concludes (N1)

KFOR said on Wednesday that its Regional Command West completed an exercise to assess operational readiness and rapid deployment procedures, N1 reported.

A press release said that the exercise was held at Camp Villaggio Italia under the name Bronze Sabre 2024. “It featured a series of joint activities to manage crises and uphold public safety carried out by various national contingents assigned to KFOR. These included crowd riot control, road obstacle removal, helicopter medical evacuations, buildings evacuations, and the deployment of troop-reinforcements”, the statement said.

It quoted the commander of the NATO-led Kosovo Force Major General Ozkan Ulutas as saying that the dedication and professionalism displayed by the exercising forces “reflects our steadfast commitment to contribute to lasting security across Kosovo”.

International Media

Serbian Prosecutor Urges Prison Sentences for Kosovo Killings (Balkan Insight)

The Serbian war crimes prosecution urged the Belgrade Higher Court to send nine former Yugoslav Army soldiers to jail for war crimes against civilians in four Kosovo villages around the town of Peja/Pec in the spring of 1999.

Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric told Belgrade Higher Court on Wednesday that nine Yugoslav Army ex-soldiers should be jailed for participation in the forcible displacement and killings of ethnic Albanian civilians during an attack on four villages near Peja/Pec in April and May 1999.

Vekaric said in the prosecution’s closing arguments that the defendants’ responsibility for the crimes committed in the villages of Qyshk/Cuska, Pavlan/Pavljan, Zahaq/Zahac and Lubeniq/Ljubenic during the Kosovo war had been established based on evidence, testimonies and documentation.