Albanian Language Media:

• Sources: Lajcak to meet separately Kurti and Vucic in Davos (Koha Ditore)
• Lajcak: I informed EU member states about achievements in dialogue (media)
• Svecla: All police patrols will be equipped with long rifles (media)
• KFOR publishes photos of Turkish soldiers training (Gazeta Express)
• Govt reacts to EU: Liberalization with Serbian passports is ill-intended (RTK)
• A drug suspect hits police officer in the north with his car and runs away (RFE)
• German MP: Vucic’s autocratic behavior can no longer be tolerated (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Serbian List condemns shooting by Kosovo police during attempted arrest, say they endangered lives of citizens (Kosovo Online, media)
• Office for KiM: Kosovo police demonstrated excessive use of force in Mitrovica North (Kosovo Online)
• Nenezic: The wasteland of Kosovo’s lawlessness: Defense or the last days of property in the north (KoSSev)
• More than 450 people signed petition to overturn decision on land allocation to Kosovo Interior Ministry on the first day (media)
• Von Cramon in Gracanica: It cannot be disputed that this belongs to SOC (Radio KIM, media)
• Church in Zupce village robbed again (KoSSev, Radio KIM, media)
• Kosovo minister says police to carry assault rifles (N1, KoSSev)
• Lajcak to meet Vucic, Kurti separately in Davos (KoSSev, media)

Albanian Language Media

Sources: Lajcak to meet separately Kurti and Vucic in Davos (Koha Ditore)

The daily reports on its front page this morning that in the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak is expected to meet separately with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj said the meetings will help Lajcak discuss further steps in the dialogue between the two parties, “as there are concerns about the positions of the parties”.

Lajcak: I informed EU member states about achievements in dialogue (media)

EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that he informed last week the ambassadors of EU member states in Brussels about the achievements made in the Dialogue since my last presentation in October and expectations for 2024. “Notably, both parties formally acknowledged each other’s vehicle license plates and completely abolished the sticker regime, a positive step in implementing the Agreement on the Path to Normalization. Substantial progress was also realized in the implementation of the Energy Roadmap. As the week draws to a close, I am finalizing my preparations for the upcoming dynamic week, during which I will be in Davos 🇨🇭 participating in the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. I will participate in several panel discussions and have numerous bilateral meetings,” Lajcak said.

Svecla: All police patrols will be equipped with long rifles (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, said last Friday that from now on all police patrols in Kosovo will be equipped with long rifles. “The purchasing of these weapons for police patrols all over the Republic of Kosovo will lead to increased efficiency in combating crime and guaranteeing a more secure environment, public order and greater security for our police officers,” Svecla said in a Facebook post.

KFOR publishes photos of Turkish soldiers training (Gazeta Express)

NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, published in a Facebook post on Sunday photos of “Turkish Soldiers assigned to Regional Command East, conducting CRC training”. “KFOR Soldiers are a well trained professional force, always ready to conduct operations in accordance with UNSCR 1244 to maintain a safe and secure environment for all communities living in Kosovo and freedom of movement,” the post notes.

Govt reacts to EU: Liberalization with Serbian passports is ill-intended (RTK)

The Kosovo Government has reacted again to the European Commission about the efforts of the Commission to allow Kosovo Serbs equipped with Serbian passports to travel freely in the European Union. In a response to RTK, an advisor to Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi said Kosovo has not yet received an official reply from the EU about a letter that Bislimi sent to them on the matter in November last year.

“We have continuously emphasized that this proposal by the European Commission contributes negatively to the integration of the Serb community, given also the high current interest to be equipped with passports after visa liberalization, but it [the EC] also seeks to legitimize illegal passports that violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo,” the advisor said.

He also said that the Kosovo government will seek to stop the proposal, which he referred to as damaging and ill-intended, and called on all Serb citizens to continue to apply for the Kosovo passport.

A drug suspect hits police officer in the north with his car and runs away (RFE)

Kosovo Police said in a statement on Saturday that one of its officers was hit with a car by a drug suspect in a village in the north of Kosovo. The suspect didn’t respect the police orders to stop for a control in the village of Suhodoll in Mitrovica North, hitting a police officer with his car before running away on foot from the site. Police officers used their weapons “to protect lives and to put the situation under control,” the police statement notes. No injuries were reported from the shots fired by the police officers. Drugs were found in the vehicle of the suspect.

German MP: Vucic’s autocratic behavior can no longer be tolerated (media)

German MP Josip Juratovic argued in an interview with Montenegrin newspaper Pobjeda that the European Union must review pre-accession negotiations with Serbia following irregularities recorded in the latest elections there. “In our foreign policy, we cannot always choose the partners we negotiate with. But in this situation in which the campaign leader ignores irregularities in the election and openly violates democratic rules, then we can no longer tolerate this and I am not alone in the position that further negotiations for pre-accession between Serbia and the European Union must be ‘frozen’,” Juratovic said.

Serbian Language Media 

Serbian List condemns shooting by Kosovo police during attempted arrest, say they endangered lives of citizens (Kosovo Online, media)

Serbian List in the strongest terms condemned use of firearms by Kosovo police in the densely populated part of Mitrovica North, during the run up for a motor vehicle on the streets on January 13, adding that by their shooting the security of the Serbian families residing in the area, those who were on the street and at their homes was the most directly endangered, Kosovo Online portal reports citing the statement.

“A number of bullets fired by Kosovo police officers ended up in the windows of the children’s and living rooms of family homes, damaged the façades on the buildings and instilled fear and anxiety among our citizens”, Serbian List said in a statement.

Serbian List added they do not support anyone carrying out criminal acts, but demand that rules of engagement in the police actions which clearly stipulate it is not permitted to endanger lives of citizens and children are respected. They warned that use of firearms could have led to the killing of innocent people, given that firearms were used, as it was said, in the middle of the day, when dozens of citizens with their children were on the streets for a walk. Serbian List also demanded condemnation of the shooting by Kosovo Police Inspectorate and international representatives in Kosovo.

Office for KiM: Kosovo police demonstrated excessive use of force in Mitrovica North (Kosovo Online)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija said in a statement on Saturday that Kosovo police by their action in the densely populated part of Mitrovica North again demonstrated excessive use of force with one goal only – to intimidate and carry out the terror against Serbian people - Kosovo Online portal reports.

“It is a fact that (Albin) Kurti’s squadrons are easy to pull the trigger whenever they are in the Serbian areas, so today they fired several bursts, which ended up in the houses, windows and buildings of the Serbs”, the Office said in a statement. The Office also said it was only by sheer luck no one was injured or killed during the shooting that occurred on weekend, in the middle of the day, adding it caused great anxiety among the Serbian people “who have suffered so many times already from (Albin) Kurti’s police officers”.

Serbian media also reported that Kosovo police deputy commander for the North region, Veton Elshani said the police used firearms at the vehicle which refused to stop, hit a police car and one police officer. It was suspected that the driver had narcotics in his vehicle.

Nenezic: The wasteland of Kosovo’s lawlessness: Defense or the last days of property in the north (KoSSev)

We don’t ask for much: we would only like to have our life and property and that we are free to live as we want - reads the letter of Serbs from Kosovo addressed to Sultan Abdul Hamid Kano II, 1899, Dragutin Nenzic, legal professional and property rights expert wrote in an article for KoSSev.

As readers of the KoSSev portal are no doubt already aware, last week, on the holiday of St. Stefan, to whom the Banjska Monastery is dedicated, a translation of the verdict arrived by which it annulled the decision on expropriation of land in the municipalities of Leposavic and Zubin Potok to construct bases. A similar verdict was already passed in October at the request of a group of landowners from Leposavic affected by the expropriation, so it can be said that the whole process has been brought back to the beginning.

However, the system does not like the Serbs, and whoever does not understand that, does not understand anything, even though there are examples from history (like the one quoted in the introduction) right in front of one’s nose, which, as is the case with Kosovo, always happen again and again. In order to avoid situations like this one regarding expropriation, that system has developed a number of new forms of usurpation of property, to which it tries to subjugate the north of Kosovo, all applying the Self-Determination program “Alternative for the North“ from 2012.

Let’s start with the most luxurious one – in the past period, the police forces were entrusted with the use of the spas in Banjska, as well as a villa on Lake Gazivode. While the villa was confiscated as part of the criminal proceedings, the situation with the spa is a bit more complex, since it was once given to the church by RMHK Trepca, which was completely ignored by the Pristina Privatization Agency, which entrusted it to the police. In addition to such legally questionable behavior, the question of justification can also be raised, since nowhere in the world is it normal for the police to use such luxurious facilities.

Read full article at: https://shorturl.at/g1289

More than 450 people signed petition to overturn decision on land allocation to Kosovo Interior Ministry on the first day (media)

As previously announced Serbian Democracy on January 13 started collecting signatures to overturn the decision of Mitrovica North Municipal Assembly to allocate almost three hectares of land of the so-called Military Overhaul to the Kosovo Interior Ministry.

On the first day, within a few hours more than 450 signatures out of 1.870 necessary ones were collected, KoSSev portal reported. The signing continued on Sunday and is planned to continue in the upcoming days. Aleksandar Arsenijevic, leader of Serbian Democracy said the citizens got actively involved in this initiative “to overturn a shameful decision that is not in the interest of our citizens”. He also called on his co-citizens to extend support to the initiative in the upcoming days.

Arsenijevic said that Kosovo special police base is planned to be built on this location. “This is nothing new, that is the plan of Self-determination, current authorities in Pristina, which already in 2012 in 13 points, and under point 4 made this very decision to build a base for Kosovo special forces at this land parcel, same as at crossing points Jarinje and Brnjak, where they have built bases already”, Arsenijevic told KoSSev, adding he and his co-citizens do not wish armed special police to walk though parks and school yards on a daily bases and have a base in the town.

Von Cramon in Gracanica: It cannot be disputed that this belongs to SOC (Radio KIM, media)

"It cannot be disputed that this Monastery belongs to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), and that those who try to rewrite history will not have much success", Viola von Cramon, European Parliament member and rapporteur for Kosovo said, following the visit to Gracanica Monastery, Radio KIM reports. Raska-Prizren Eparchy Bishop Teodosije received Von Cramon at Gracanica Monastery on Sunday.

“I do not know what to say, I think these kind of statements speak for themselves, I mean if you want to rewrite history, you can do, but I do not think you will be very successful. I think you have all the evidence you need for declaring this as the Serbian Orthodox Church. Of course, in Germany you could say that all Protestant churches have been Catholic before, and most of them were built before Protestantism was established. But that is not the question here, and I would hopefully call for rationality and for reasonable people that this fact would not be questioned”, she told the journalists in Gracanica.

Church in Zupce village robbed again (KoSSev, Radio KIM, media)

Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Fathers in the village of Zupce, in Zubin Potok municipality was robbed on January 13, KoSSev portal reports. Around three to four thousand dinars were taken from the church left there by the believers. The souvenir shop, although broken into, was not robbed. Milan Djukic, Kosovo police chief operations in Zubin Potok confirmed the incident to the portal. Surveillance cameras were not operational, as they were broken during the previous robbery that took place at the end of August last year. This church had been robbed on several occasions.

"Our church is being robbed for the umpteenth time... Even God is tired of it", local residents, who reported the theft told the KoSSev portal.

Last year in February, Kosovo police arrested a young man, suspected of serious attempted theft in this church. It is a 22-year-old man from the neighboring Kosutovo village. He was also suspected of several other thefts of religious objects in this municipality. As KoSSev portal learnt unofficially he was only briefly detained back then.

Kosovo minister says police to carry assault rifles (N1, KoSSev)

Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said Friday that all Kosovo police patrols will be armed with assault rifles from now on, N1 reports.

According to Svecla, the procurement of those weapons will improve the efficiency of the police in fighting crime, enabling a safer environment, public order and greater security for police officers. Svecla’s post on Facebook included photographs of police officers demonstrating a type of automatic rifles which seem to be Croatian-made VHS, N1 said. In a post Svecla also thanked Croatia for “close and correct cooperation” with Pristina institutions.

Reacting to Svecla’s announcement, Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs, Bratislav Gasic said “the act was extremely provocative and dangerous to raise tensions in Kosovo and Metohija”. He added this act demonstrates “lack of expertise and lack of knowledge that are truly necessary in the fight against crime, and not long barrels pointed at people”.

Lajcak to meet Vucic, Kurti separately in Davos (KoSSev, media)

European Union has confirmed that its mediator for Belgrade-Pristina talks, Miroslav Lajcak will have separate meetings with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the margins of Davos economic forum, which starts in Switzerland today, KoSSev portal reports citing RTK.

EU spokesperson Peter Stano told this to RTK, adding the meetings will be separate, and no joint meeting is expected. “Joint meeting in relation to the dialogue, at a high level or similar, has not been planned”, he said.

Read full Lajcak’s post on positive steps in Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, plans for upcoming week at: https://shorturl.at/avxIQ