• US hopes to further partnership with Kosovo, including resuming strategic dialogue (Express)
• Dugolli meets Iowa Secretary of State, “discuss special relations” (media)
• Letter from Washington: Trump scores big on small Balkan playing field (BIRN)
• UNMIK chief meets UNHCR Central and South-East Europe representative (Kosovo Online)
• Kosovo leaders’ messages on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (media)
• Security camera footage debunks claims of police violence in north Kosovo (Prishtina Insight)
• Head of Islamic Community of Kosovo condemns burning of the Quran in Gjakova (media)
• Bajrami and Terras discuss Kosovo’s European path (media)
• UN Special rapporteurs warn of violations of freedom of expression in Serbia (N1)
• Sofronijevic: Our drivers are neither criminals nor tourists (Kosovo Online)

US hopes to further partnership with Kosovo, including resuming strategic dialogue (Express)

A US State Department official told the news website on Tuesday that the US appreciates its close and long-term partnership with the people of Kosovo, and that it hopes to further this partnership, including resuming the Strategic Dialogue. The official also said that the US looks forward to pushing forward the joint agenda for peace, stability and mutual economic prosperity in the Western Balkans.

Dugolli meets Iowa Secretary of State, “discuss special relations” (media)

Most news websites reported on Tuesday that Kosovo’s Ambassador to the United States, Bujar Dugolli, met with Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate. “They highlighted the special relations between the State of Iowa and Kosovo and discussed furthering cooperation in different areas. Ambassador Dugolli and Secretary Pate said that Kosovo and the United States shared joint priorities in strengthening regional stability and promoting democratic values, based on sustainable friendship and special partnership,” the Kosovo embassy said in a Facebook post.

Letter from Washington: Trump scores big on small Balkan playing field (BIRN)

Keen to show loyalty to the US president, some Balkan states signed up to Donald Trump’s contentious ‘Board of Peace’. Others, meanwhile, are looking to the US for new business partnerships instead of towards Russia or China.

If what has been happening since the beginning of the year can even be classified as an order at all. Trump, who thrives in chaos, has reshuffled the deck and launched a new redistribution of power that could end with the collapse of existing global alliances and the dominance of superpowers, grabbing everything within their spheres of interest.

In such a scenario, our region would undoubtedly fall under the imperial ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, in the new world (dis)order, Balkan leaders are no longer choosing between West and East, but whether they are on Team Trump or not.

The starting point of this global sorting into camps was Venezuela. Some insisted on respect for international law and condemned the incursion into the country and grabbing the President, Nicolas Maduro. Others believe that justice has finally been served because Venezuelans have been freed from a dictator who had oppressed and impoverished them for years.

Read more at: https://shorturl.fm/6qHug

UNMIK chief meets UNHCR Central and South-East Europe representative (Kosovo Online)

UNMIK chief Peter Due met on Tuesday in Pristina with UNHCR Central and South-East Europe representative Nicole Epting. “They shared views on the current Kosovo context & discussed cooperation + issues related to protection, returns & reintegration, efforts to strengthen sustainable solutions & institutional capacity building,” UNMIK said in a post on X.

Kosovo leaders’ messages on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (media)

Kosovo caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti, in a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday, said that Kosovo honors “the memory of the 6 million Jews and millions of others who were murdered by the Nazi regime and their collaborators — the horrific acts that finally led to the international recognition of the crime of genocide. As survivors of the last genocide of the twentieth century, the people of Kosova hold a special sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust, and are well placed to understand the significance of that eternal maxim: ‘Never Again’.”

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in a post on X that on International Holocaust Memorial Day, Kosovo remembers “the millions of innocent victims murdered and persecuted during the Holocaust. We honor their memory and renew our commitment to never forget the past and to stand against all forms of hatred, today and always”.

Security camera footage debunks claims of police violence in north Kosovo (Prishtina Insight)

A claim that Kosovo Police assaulted a young man at a checkpoint in North Kosovo sparked widespread outrage and calls for intervention, but camera footage later revealed the allegation was false.

On January 13, the Kosovo police stopped a vehicle for a routine check near the Bistrica Bridge checkpoint on the Mitrovica–Leposavic road, an area with an ethnic Serbian majority population.

It was a regular day until KosovoOnline, the local Serbian-language media outlet, published an interview, recorded outside the North Mitrovica hospital, with a man named Sasa Blazic claiming that his son was beaten by Kosovo police officers.

Blazic said that, based on what his son told him, the incident was triggered by a sticker of the football team Red Star Belgrade with the Serbian state emblem on the phone of one of the three young men in the vehicle. 

“A masked police officer took the phone, removed the sticker, threw it in my son’s face, and dragged him to a concrete pillar. They kicked him, threw his documents back into the car, and told him to leave,” Blazic alleged. 

The interview provoked a rapid reaction on the social media network Telegram with users calling for the Serbian army to enter Kosovo. 

Moreover, the same night, a report reached the North Mitrovica Police Station from the local hospital claiming that a young man had been beaten by Kosovo Police officers.

Under orders from the prosecutor on duty at the time, the Kosovo Police Inspectorate, IPK, seized footage from security cameras covering the checkpoint, which told a different story.

Read more at: https://shorturl.fm/wqQJV

Head of Islamic Community condemns burning of Quran in Gjakova (media)

All news websites reported on Tuesday that the head of the Islamic Community of Kosovo, Naim Ternava, condemned the burning of the Quran in Gjakova, calling it a vandalistic and criminal act. “I am deeply horrified and shocked by the vandalistic and criminal act of burning and desecrating the Holy Quran, carried out on commission and with a clear criminal mission by still unknown persons in Cabrat of Gjakova. Such an act is completely unacceptable, as it gravely violates the universal human values of world civilization and, at the same time, directly strikes the principles, tradition, and identity of our people. The Albanian people, throughout the centuries, have been known and identified for harmony, coexistence, and interfaith understanding, as well as for respect for the faith, culture, and tradition of others, especially when it comes to sensitive issues related to religion and belief. Unfortunately, these values and principles have recently been targeted by dark movements that, in the name of a distorted ‘Albanianism’ and a so-called ‘return to the roots’, are promoting hatred, division, and violence. Certain individuals and organized groups, by manipulating, slandering, and instrumentalizing public opinion, are spreading hate speech and openly calling for violence against Albanians of the Muslim faith, as well as for the eradication of Islamic heritage and culture. This dangerous propaganda, in some cases even shocking, has been supported even by individuals who are regarded and paid as university professors, taking as examples and models the dark instances of Greek and Serbian genocide against Muslim Albanians. The burning and desecration of the Quran in Gjakova is seen by us as a concrete and alarming act, a direct consequence of these anti-Albanian and anti-Islamic ideologies, which aim to carry out malicious projects based on foreign models that have historically been hostile toward Albanians of the Islamic faith. On this occasion, we call on the competent state authorities to immediately undertake the necessary legal actions against the perpetrators of this criminal act, as well as against the originators, mentors, and ideologues of this dangerous ideology, who operate while hiding behind false slogans of ‘freedom of speech,’ ‘freedom of belief,’ and a distorted version of Albanian identity shaped by their own interests. I once again call on state institutions to take adequate and concrete measures to preserve social cohesion, the authentic values of our people, interfaith harmony, and the general interest of our citizens and our lands,” Ternava said in a statement.

Bajrami and Terras discuss Kosovo’s European path (media)

Several news websites report that Kosovo’s Ambassador to Belgium, Agron Bajrami, met on Tuesday at the European Parliament with the Rapporteur for Kosovo, Riho Terras. Bajrami said in a post on X that they compared notes and exchanged views “on Kosova’s European path, EU enlargement, and the key opportunities 2026 holds for achieving meaningful, irreversible progress”.  

UN Special rapporteurs warn of violations of freedom of expression in Serbia (N1)

UN Special rapporteurs Irene Kahn and Gina Romero warned in a report that they received serious allegations of violations of freedom of expression in Serbia. The report said that the journalists and media staff had been receiving threats in the broader context of the tragic collapse at the Novi Sad railway station on 1 November 2024, and the mass civil protests that ensued.

This is the full text of the report as sent to the Serbian government:

Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association

We have the honour to address you in our capacities as Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 52/9 and 59/4.

In this connection, we would like to bring to the attention of your Excellency’s Government information we have received concerning alleged violations of freedom of expression in Serbia, including alleged pressure on media freedom, including alleged State pressure on removal of Ms. Aleksandra Subotic from her position as CEO of United Media, as well as threats and attacks against journalists and media workers themselves, including journalists from N1 television.

Read more at: https://shorturl.fm/m3WjQ

Sofronijevic: Our drivers are neither criminals nor tourists (Kosovo Online)

Serbia’s Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Aleksandra Sofronijevic visited transport operators today at the Batrovci border crossing, where they have been blocking the freight terminal since yesterday in protest over the new Entry/Exit System (EES), in order to provide both her personal support and that of the state. Sofronijevic stressed that professional drivers are neither criminals, nor tourists, nor migrants, and that they must be allowed to carry out their work normally.

“I came to the Batrovci border crossing to express my clear support—not only my own, but to let them know that the entire state stands with its transport operators,” Sofronijevic said in a video posted on Instagram.

She noted that the problem is not new, dating back to 2014, but that it has now escalated to the point where domestic professional drivers are being detained, arrested, and deported from Schengen countries. “For these reasons, when the problem began to intensify, the Government of Serbia sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as early as June last year, which we reiterated in recent days. In addition, a meeting was held with the EU Ambassador to Serbia, Andreas von Beckerath, and a non-paper was handed over proposing certain short-term measures, as well as permanent long-term solutions,” the minister said.

She expressed the expectation that the European Commission, according to announcements from Brussels, would hold a meeting by the end of the week at which this issue would also be discussed, adding that she hopes it will yield results.

Read more at: https://shorturl.fm/zOyww