UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, July 18, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Borrell demands moving forward with implementation of Agreement (media)
Kurti with QUINT and EU ambassadors discuss opening of Iber Bridge (Koha)
Svecla and Krosser talk about security in northern municipalities (RTK)
Ministry of Defense with close to 8 million euros agreement with Germany (Koha)
Kurti: Serbia's crimes in Kosovo cannot disappear or be forgotten (RTK)
Kosovo processes indictment against Radoicic, Serbia requests documents from EULEX (RFE)
Haxhiu: It is important to have accurate data on war crimes (RTK)
Former KLA soldier detained in North Macedonia under arrest warrant issued by Serbia (media)
Hoxhaj: Invitation to Osmani in London shows Europeans do not want Kurti at Summit (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Vucic arrives in London for European Political Community summit (Tanjug)
Djuric: Serbia to complete all difficult EU accession reforms by 2027 (media)
Consent reached to abolish visas for Serbian Coordination Directorate passport holders (Danas, social media)
KFOR conducts exercise near Decani Monastery: Safe environment for all communities in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, social media)

International Media:

Kosovo Public Misinformed by Authorities About War Crimes, BIRN Report Warns (Balkan Insight)
World Bank Urges Heatwave-Stricken Balkans to Act Together on Climate Change (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Borrell demands moving forward with implementation of Agreement (media)

The EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, has requested that Kosovo and Serbia engage in dialogue mediated by the EU in good faith and in the spirit of compromise. He also demanded that the dialogue end "without delay with a comprehensive, legally binding agreement for the normalisation of relations in accordance with the EU acquis and international law".

"The main priority is to move forward with the implementation of the Agreement on the way to the normalisation of relations". Borrell recalled that the respective European path of Kosovo and Serbia passes through dialogue.

He made these comments after a meeting he held on Wednesday in Brussels with the Serbian foreign minister, Marko Djuric. He has also asked Serbia to fully harmonise with EU policy in relation to Russia.

"Borrell underlined the importance of Serbia's alignment with the positions and decisions of the EU in the field of foreign and security policy, including in the context of Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. He emphasised the EU's strong expectation from Serbia to increase its efforts towards full harmonisation, including restrictive measures. Full alignment is essential for an EU candidate country to demonstrate its strategic orientation and progress towards EU membership," the EU statement said.

Kurti with QUINT and EU ambassadors discuss opening of Iber Bridge (Koha)

Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, met on Wednesday with the ambassadors of the QUINT countries and the Head of the European Union Office in Kosovo.

In the announcement of the Prime Minister's Office, it is stated that the meeting discussed, among other things, the latest developments, the security situation and the rule of law and the overall development.

"In the context of information and coordination with our international partners, the topic of treatment in this meeting was also the importance of coordinating institutional actions for the opening of the bridge over the Iber River for cars as well, in order to enable full freedom of movement, which helps citizens on both sides of the bridge, without distinction, and at the same time serves the development of the economy and the market through the easier movement of goods and capital", the announcement states.

Kurti was accompanied in this meeting by the first deputy prime minister, Besnik Bislimi and the minister of internal affairs, Xhelal Svecla.

Svecla and Krosser talk about security in northern municipalities (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, received on Wednesday the Secretary of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of Germany, Bernd Krosser, who was accompanied by the Ambassador of Germany in Kosovo, Jorn Rohde and his team.

The Office for Public Communication of the Ministry of Internal Affairs through a press release announced that Minister Svecla discussed the general security in Kosovo, especially in the northern municipalities. And on this occasion, he has expressed his concern for the lack of handing over to justice the terrorists who carried out the terrorist attack in Banjska and the shelter that Serbia is providing for them, as a constant threat to the security of Kosovo.

According to the communique, Secretary Krosser discussed the Berlin Process, where Kosovo remains an active party to this process. The next Ministerial of Interior Ministers within the framework of the Berlin Process was also discussed.

Further in the communique, it is said that both sides agreed on further cooperation, as a guarantee of security in the region and beyond.

Ministry of Defense with close to 8 million euros agreement with Germany (Koha)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Defense of Germany have signed an agreement for a donation, in the amount of 7.74 million euros. According to the announcement of the Ministry, the agreement was signed within the framework of bilateral cooperation with Germany.

"With this agreement, which amounts to 7.74 million euros, it is intended that through the purchase of various specialised equipment, the operational capacities of the National Training Center for Search and Rescue and the National Guard will be advanced," the Ministry's announcement states.

The agreement was signed by the acting secretary general of the Ministry of Defense, Gafurr Dugolli and the German attaché in Kosovo, lieutenant colonel Oliver Palkowitsch.

Kurti: Serbia's crimes in Kosovo cannot disappear or be forgotten (RTK)

Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, recalled the Battle of July 1998, which he said began on July 17 in the city of Rahovec and in the village of Fortesa. According to Kurti, the KLA was protecting the civilian population from the infiltration of Serbian military and police forces in Rahovec, as Serbian forces killed 150 Albanian civilians.

"During the street fighting, Albanian civilians were tied to electric poles as human shields for the Serbian forces. Two people were reportedly seen hanging on electric poles, several others were massacred by cutting their throats and gouging out their eyes, while others were reported to have been run over by armored vehicles and tanks," it is said among other things in the Opinion approved by the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 23 September 1998. In this opinion, there is also talk of executions in and around the synagogue and mosque in Rahovec, where Serbian police forces had shot a group of refugees, including women and children, killing many of them," Kurti wrote on Facebook.

Kosovo processes indictment against Radoicic, Serbia requests documents from EULEX (RFE)

Before the fall, it is not expected that any indictment will be filed in the case of the attack in Banjska, say Radio Free Europe (RFE) sources in the Special Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo. At that time, it will be a year since armed groups of Serbs attacked the Kosovo police in this village in the north, killing Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku, writes RFE. In the armed clashes that followed, three more Serb attackers were killed.

The responsibility for the attack was taken by Milan Radoicic, a former politician and businessman from the north of Kosovo, who is believed to be in Serbia. Investigations, in parallel, are being conducted by the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade.

Radio Free Europe's sources in the Special Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo say that "the work on the case is in the final phase" and that ‘the investigations in the case of Radoicic have reached their final epilogue’. "After the completion and examination of some peripheral reports, we will proceed further", they say.

Contacted on July 15 by Radio Free Europe, the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade said that ‘investigations are ongoing.’ "In these investigations, the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade cooperates with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Customs Directorate and other state bodies of the Republic of Serbia, while in order to ascertain the full factual situation - through the Ministry of Justice - it has also contacted EULEX [EU mission for the rule of law in Kosovo]".

"From EULEX, documentation has been requested regarding the critical event of September 24, 2023, in Banjska. The documentation, until today, has not been submitted", says the statement.

RFE asked EULEX about this request of the Serbian prosecution, but this mission requested that the questions be forwarded to the European Union Office in Pristina. In a written response to the RFE, this office confirmed that it has received this request two weeks ago and that it has been forwarded to the relevant authorities in Kosovo.

"We still have not received any response [from the Kosovo authorities]", the statement states, where it is also emphasised that, in October of last year, the Serbian authorities were also forwarded a request from Kosovo for mutual legal cooperation in the case of the attack in Banjska. "We have not yet received any response [from the Serbian authorities]", the EU Office in Kosovo informs and adds that the Kosovar authorities, meanwhile, have requested mutual legal cooperation with the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that such a request has been sent to the Sarajevo officials.

Haxhiu: It is important to have accurate data on war crimes (RTK)

The report "The other that does not exist" which analyses the content published in the field of transitional justice throughout the year 2023 in Kosovo, has been published. During the presentation of the report, published by the Balkan Network of Investigative Journalism, BIRN Kosova, it was said that Kosovo institutions do not yet have a confirmed list of victims in the last war in Kosovo. There are few memorials that tell about the last war in Kosovo, and most of them are ethnic and present only the victims of one ethnicity.

The Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, said that Kosovo has never had institutional documentation regarding the war in Kosovo, so she added that there are only reports that talk about victims but not numbers of war crimes. "It is important to have accurate data about the crimes that happened, we have established, by law, the institute that will be responsible for documenting the crimes that happened during the war. This will then give us an overview of these crimes", she said.

The journalist and author of the report, Kreshnik Gashi, said that there are many findings in this report regarding the lack of data on the work of the institutions in relation to the last war in Kosovo. "Kosovo's institutions do not have dedicated spaces within their web-pages that talk about transitional justice and in which complete information is provided about the data on the war in Kosovo. Unfortunately, the institutions do not yet have a confirmed list of victims, including all categories of victims," he said.

Besim Kelmendi, Acting Chief State Prosecutor, said that the presented data will also contribute to the documentation of war crimes. "The system of cases has been made, now we have a clear situation of evidence, but it is not public due to the criminal procedure code," he said.

"If we talk about the missing, we talk about 1,600 people, we don't talk about so many Albanians and so many Serbs. These are people we should not divide into ethnic groups", said Dusan Radakovic, Director of the Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture.

And Atdhe Hetemi, director of the Institute for Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo, said that the data presented are a valuable contribution to the Institute of War Crimes.

This panel also requested the publication of the UNMIK and EULEX archives, because, according to them, the public of Kosovo has the right to have these materials and to understand what happened.

Former KLA soldier detained in North Macedonia under arrest warrant issued by Serbia (media)

The former KLA soldier, Blerim Ramadani, has been detained by the Police of North Macedonia, with an arrest warrant issued by Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has confirmed for KSP.

"Our ambassador in North Macedonia, Mr. Qehaja, has been intensively committed to handling this case and as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we are working with the Macedonian authorities to ensure the quick release of Mr. Ramadani", reads the answer.

The Organization of KLA War Veterans, branch in Ferizaj, has also reacted saying that the fabricated indictments and arrests of fellow soldiers are unjust and disturbing for all veterans.

Hoxhaj: Invitation to Osmani in London shows Europeans do not want Kurti at Summit (media)

The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Enver Hoxhaj from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), through a Facebook post, said that President Vjosa Osmani was invited instead of Kurti, and this, according to him, shows that Kurti is increasingly isolated in major international events. "Last week, he was not even invited to the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO in the USA , where the 25th anniversary of liberation is among the greatest successes of NATO in its history and security in an insecure world is the priority of every country, and Kosovo has never been more threatened than now! He doesn't even travel to London, since he hasn't been invited to Great Britain either. Today I realised that, since the European Union makes the protocol of invitations for this Summit, it is the Europeans who do not want Kurti at the Summit", Hoxhaj wrote.

He also said that even Osmani is not giving Kurti space anywhere, making him isolated not only in the world, but also in Kosovo.

It has been more than a month since the high representative of the EU, Josep Borell, handed over to the European Council the report on the lifting of the measures against Kosovo, and there is still no decision by the member countries on this matter, nor does anyone think that this should happen! Sanctioned and isolated, today Kosovo is a democracy without election options, a meaningless sovereignty and a country without any international credibility", said Hoxhaj.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic arrives in London for European Political Community summit (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has arrived in London for Thursday's European Political Community summit.

Participants of the summit will discuss advancement of bilateral and multilateral relations with a view to strengthening security and stability, as well as energy and migration on the European continent.

During the summit, to be held at Blenheim Palace near London, Vucic will attend a round table discussion on defence and securing democracy and have a series of bilateral meetings with European officials, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch PM Dick Schoof.

Djuric: Serbia to complete all difficult EU accession reforms by 2027 (media)

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on Wednesday Serbia would by 2027 complete all difficult EU accession reforms relating to economic, political and all other spheres of life, Tanjug news agency reported.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels after a meeting with EU foreign policy and security chief Josep Borrell, Djuric said he would like to see Serbia's efforts towards EU accession finally valued 27 years after the country had set out on that political path. "We want that to be recognised as early as this autumn in the form of opening of new clusters and chapters. That is important for our positioning on the European path. It is important for our living standards, economy but also for the society we want to have", Djuric said.

He also discussed the position of Serbs in Kosovo with Borrell, emphasising the importance of addressing their concerns. “Their position is terrible. I pointed out the fact that systemic discrimination against Serbs in our southern province continues. Yesterday, 100 new notaries were appointed in Kosovo and Metohija, and not a single one of them is of Serbian nationality, despite a large number of qualified and skilled Serbian applicants. I cite this as an example because we discussed many specific aspects of the violation of the collective political and human rights of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija”, Djuric added.

Consent reached to abolish visas for Serbian Coordination Directorate passport holders (Danas, social media)

Ambassadors of EU member states have reached in principle the consent on regulation that would include residents from Kosovo, holders of Serbian Coordination Directorate issued passports, in visa-free regime, as the entire Western Balkans, and that regulation should be adopted by foreign ministers on July 22, Danas daily reported.

“At today's #COREPER II, Ambassadors agreed in principle on a regulation ensuring that the whole #WesternBalkan region be subject to the same visa regime. This would exempt holders of Serbian passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate from needing a visa for stays of up to 90 days in Member States. The Council will now need to adopt the regulation at its next meeting on 22 July”, Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council 2024 said in a post on X social network.

Serbs from Kosovo, holders of Coordination Directorate passports, were the only ones in the region still needing a visa to travel to the EU, after visa liberalisation for Kosovo entered into force on January 1, 2024.

KFOR conducts exercise near Decani Monastery: Safe environment for all communities in Kosovo (Kosovo Online, social media)

Soldiers of the tactical reserve battalion of KFOR conducted an exercise in Decani, together with the soldiers of the KFOR Regional Command West, Kosovo Online portal reported citing statement published on KFOR Facebook profile.

“Soldiers from #KFOR Tactical Reserve Battalion (KTRBN) and from #KFOR Regional Command West conducted a joint exercise in Deçane/Dečan. Units simulated different manoeuvres to protect the Monastery and secure its surrounding areas. This training is part of KFOR’s daily activities to ensure a safe and secure environment for all communities living in Kosovo.

KFOR continues to implement its mandate - based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999 - to contribute to a safe and secure environment for all people living in Kosovo. KFOR is the third security responder, after the Kosovo Police and the EU Rule of Law (EULEX) mission, respectively, with whom we work in close coordination”, KFOR wrote in a post.

International Media

Kosovo Public Misinformed by Authorities About War Crimes, BIRN Report Warns (Balkan Insight)

One-sided narratives and incomplete documentation provided by the authorities fuel misinformation about war crimes and transitional justice in Kosovo, a BIRN report launched on Wednesday says.

Public institutions in Kosovo, including government institutions, independent agencies and justice institutions, do not have platforms properly informing the public about war crimes and transitional justice, a BIRN report launched in Kosovo on Wednesday concluded.

Kreshnik Gashi, managing editor of BIRN and Internews Kosova publication in Albanian, Kallxo.com, and co-author of the report ‘The Other’, Who Does not Exist, said: “There is no information about judicial processes in the Kosovo justice institutions [Kosovo’s Judicial Council and Prosecution] and there is no archive of proceedings at the ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia] in the Hague, nor of UNMIK and EULEX war crimes trials in Kosovo.”