Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti says that differences with Osmani are not insurmountable (media)
• KFOR Commander: We are prepared in case of increased tensions (media)
• KFOR commander meets mayor of Peja and religious authorities (media)
• Muja: Opening of Iber bridge does not endanger continuation of EU punitive measures (Albanian Post)
• Kurti on the Kusari-Lila conversation with Radojicic: It is a fabricated situation (RTK)
• Haradinaj to Kurti: You can't hide behind patriotism you never had (media)
• Justice Ministry: Kosovo is the first in region to initiate drafting of Draft Law against Femicide(Klan)
• Sadik Duraku's detention in Serbia, extended (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Djuric: While on EU path, we will strengthen cooperation with all (Tanjug)
• The Kosovo government's hide-and-seek game regarding expropriations in the north (Kosovo Online)
• Petronijevic: Sadik Duraku's custody extended for a month (Kosovo Online, RFE)
• The Fatherland movement: A large number of citizens from the north went to vote in local elections in Serbia (KiM radio)
• A Serb arrested on suspicion of desecrating the cemetery in Donje Korminjane (KoSSev)
• What happened to the road leading to the Oklace village in Zubin Potok? (KoSSev)
• Pristina: Learning Serbian and Albanian is not a betrayal of national interests (KiM radio, Kosovo Online)

 

Albanian Language Media

Kurti says that differences with Osmani are not insurmountable (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, while talking about the relations with President Vjosa Osmani, emphasized that although there are sometimes differences, close cooperation is not lacking. A few days ago, Osmani stated that recently there has been a lack of communication between the two institutions - the government and the Presidency. 

"We have close cooperation. This does not mean that we did not have discussions with Speaker of Parliament Konjufca, with Foreign Minister Gervalla, and with President Osmani, sometimes differences, but I do not believe that there are any that are insurmountable", said Kurti on Wednesday. 

He also spoke about the punitive measures from the European Union, for which he considers that the delays in their removal are related to the elections of the new European Parliament.

"This does not depend on us, everything that depends on us has already happened. At that time, we were unfairly punished due to the escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo, and this escalation had a clear address in terms of responsibility and guilt, the de-escalation happened, but then there was also the re-escalation in September of last year when they killed our sergeant Afrim Bunjaku. Now the situation has de-escalated again, will it re-escalate, the answer is in Belgrade, that's where the pressure should be applied to have peace, security and stability in the region. I believe that the removal of these measures, which is being delayed, has more to do with the internal dynamics of the European Union and especially with the fact that they are in the election campaign for the new European Parliament that will be held on June 9. I wish for the highest possible participation, in which case I invite our diaspora who have the right to vote to do so", said Kurti. 

KFOR Commander: We are prepared in case of increased tensions (media) 

The commander of KFOR, Ozkan Ulutash, has said that KFOR is closely monitoring developments in terms of security.

The Minister of Defense of Kosovo, Ejup Macedonci, said a few days ago that Serbia has deployed three brigades near the border with Kosovo.

In an interview for "KosovaPress", Ulutash said that he is in regular contact with the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Serbia, Milan Mojsilovic, with whom he met a few days ago in Belgrade. 

"KFOR is closely monitoring developments, which are important for regional stability, and our mission is determined to continue the effective implementation of our UN mandate to ensure a peaceful and secure environment for all people living in Kosovo, and to adapt to any development that may affect regional stability", said Ulutash. 

KFOR commander meets mayor of Peja and religious authorities (media) 

The commander of KFOR, Major General Ozkan Ulutash, met on Tuesday with the mayor of Peja Municipality, Gazmend Muhaxheri, Father Sava Janic, abbot of Decan Monastery and Musli Arifaj, imam of the mosque in Peja. KFOR announced that these meetings were part of the regular interactions of Major General Ulutash with many of his interlocutors in Kosovo and throughout the region. 

"The KFOR commander reiterated KFOR's unwavering commitment to support all efforts towards sustainable security throughout Kosovo, for the benefit of all communities, and the EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina", it is said in the KFOR communique.

Muja: Opening of Iber bridge does not endanger continuation of EU punitive measures (Albanian Post)

Armend Muja, MP of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV), has guaranteed that the opening of the bridge over the Iber River for the movement of vehicles does not endanger the continuation of the punitive measures of the European Union imposed on Kosovo in June of last year. According to him, the opening of the Iber bridge is more requested by the Serb citizens of the North than the Albanians in South Mitrovica. 

"I think that the idea of ​​the EU is to create bridges, so it is to build bridges and peace, therefore freedom of movement is one of the main pillars of the EU", he said in a statement to the media.

The Deputy Minister of Local Government Administration, Arber Vokrri, announced that the opening for traffic of the bridge over the Iber River, which connects North and South Mitrovica, will take place during the summer, as the potential for unrest has decreased. 

Kurti on Kusari-Lila’s conversation with Radojicic: It is a fabricated situation (RTK)

Prime Minister Albin Kurti has commented on the publication of the telephone conversation between the head of the MPs of the Vetevendosje Movement, Mimoza Kusari Lila and Milan Radojciq. According to him, it is a fabricated situation and Radojcic has been free in Serbia for 9 months this month. 

Prime Minister Kurti said that he did not hear the conversation, but as he stated, the citizens know who cooperated with Radojcic and that it is very clear why Radojcic has now fled.

"I understand that you are trying at any cost to dramatize a few seconds of a conversation that I don't know how it was taken and where it was taken, how it was cut and by whom it was organized. But once again I am the leader of the LVV and Mimoza Kusari is not a member of the LVV. Even if she were a member of the LVV, there are commissions for these things, the LVV does not have a dictatorial leader who makes decisions as anyone would have wished", said Kurti. 

Telegrafi news website reports that former deputy leader of the Serbian List Slavko Simic told RTVD that there are other conversations between the head of the parliamentary group of LVV, Mimoza Kusari and Milan Radoicic. "As I have stated, there are many other conversations that have taken place", he said. 

Haradinaj to Kurti: You can't hide behind patriotism you never had (media)

The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, said that Prime Minister Kurti sought partnership with Milan Radojcic. 

“Your mask is falling Albin!

Come out and tell why you asked for a partnership with Radojcic when you knew that he has been pursued by the law enforcement agencies and a fugitive from Kosovo since November 2018, and on America's Black List since December 2021?

Also, you still haven't answered a very old question. Why, years after your release from prison, on January 17, 2004, in Dollc of Klina, were you found covered with a blanket, in a car with Serbian agents Gollub and Boban Doncic? 

Answer Albin. You can no longer lie or hide behind the patriotism you never had. The end is coming Albin,” Haradinaj wrote. 

Justice Ministry: Kosovo is the first in region to initiate drafting of Draft Law against Femicide(Klan)

The Ministry of Justice through an announcement on Facebook announced that work has begun on the drafting of the Anti-Femicide Bill. This initiative, according to this ministry, is the first in the region, which aims to strengthen Kosovo's legislation with clear and tough provisions against femicide. 

In the announcement of the Ministry of Justice, it is stated that the Deputy Minister of Justice, chaired on Wednesday the first meeting of the Working Group for the drafting of this draft law, in which case he said that there should be a tightening of the legal provisions, strict measures to prevent femicide by creating mechanisms for identification and follow-up of cases of violence against women and to provide protection and support for women who are at risk.

"Our laws must clearly define femicide as a separate crime and provide severe punishments for its perpetrators. We cannot allow crimes against women to be treated with tolerance or legal ambiguity. Every act of violence against women must be punished with the full force of the law," Sallahu said. 

Sadik Duraku's detention in Serbia extended (media) 

Sadik Duraku, who was detained in Serbia since April 17 under the suspicion of "war crimes" during 1999, has had his detention extended.

His lawyer, Goran Petronijevic, told Radio Free Europe, that the measure of detention was extended due to the risk of escape since Duraku is a foreign citizen and does not live in Serbia. 

"The prosecution, with its passivity, forces us as a defense to prove that he is not guilty. In my opinion, the evidence collected by the Prosecutor's Office does not prove their claims in any way", he said. 

On June 1, Serbian authorities arrested another Kosovo Albanian at the border point in Merdare, claiming that he is suspected of "war crimes".

 

Serbian Language Media

 

Djuric: While on EU path, we will strengthen cooperation with all (Tanjug)

While on the EU path, Serbia will also continue to develop and strengthen cooperation with countries in all parts of the world, Serbian FM Marko Djuric said on Tuesday.

"While building new ones, we will not forget old partnerships and traditional friendships. We will continue to advance comprehensive bilateral relations with the most significant actors in international politics - the US, China, and Russia, as well as with all European partners," Djuric said at the opening of an international academic conference on contemporary international relations, also attended by foreign diplomats and ambassadors posted to Belgrade.

Serbia will continue to successfully raise the level of its relations with friendly states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, he said.

Serbia will not give up on its advocacy of the universality of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter although it itself is facing the consequences of its selective application and the gross violation of international law in the case of the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, whereby Serbia also suffered a historical injustice, he said.

"The unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo-Metohija represents a gross violation of international law but, unfortunately, it is not the worst thing that has happened to us. The worst thing that is happening to us is still the horrible pressure on non-majority communities, especially on the Serb community in Kosovo-Metohija, which is exposed to systematic harassment and violations of collective human, political and economic rights," Djuric said.

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/4eufjkuz

The Kosovo government's hide-and-seek game regarding expropriations in the north (Kosovo Online)

The saying "Pretend all functions as it should" perhaps best illustrates how Kosovo deals with the expropriation of land in municipalities with a Serbian majority. When it was necessary to gain the favor of members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for Kosovo to become a member of this organization, top Kosovar officials persuaded the rapporteur Dora Bakoyannis to respect the obligations she had placed before Pristina, which partly related to expropriation. Once the lock in Strasbourg remained locked, this was forgotten.

"We have obliged Kosovo to ensure that the expropriation is carried out in accordance with the law," Bakoyannis stated on April 16 of this year, during a discussion in the PACE about whether Kosovo should be given the green light to join the Council of Europe.

Bakoyannis repeatedly emphasized that Kosovar authorities need to make greater efforts to explain the reasons for expropriation both directly to the affected parties and to the public at large. This was exactly what was missing on May 31, when the Government of Kosovo adopted the "final decision" on the expropriation of property owners in Leposavic and Zubin Potok, in accordance with, as stated, legally binding court judgments.

Five days later, citizens of these two municipalities still do not know whose parcels the government's decision pertains to.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/3c3fcax2

Petronijevic: Sadik Duraku's custody extended for a month (Kosovo Online, RFE)

The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution has extended the custody of Sadik Duraku, for a month. Duraku is a British citizen originally from Kosovo, who was arrested by the Serbian authorities in April on suspicion of war crimes, his lawyer Goran Petronijevic confirmed.

Petronijevic told Kosovo Online that Sadiku's detention was extended due to the risk of escape because Duraku is a foreign citizen and does not live in Serbia.

"The detention was extended under point 1, we offered bail, the Prosecution is not making a statement. So far, not a single action, not a single piece of evidence from what happened at the very start, nothing has been produced. It stands like that. Honestly, I don't know what they intend, but I am not sure that they are working as they should," said Petronijevic.

Petronijevic also points out that the state does not defend itself in such a way, and that the judicial authorities of Serbia do what they rightly criticize the Pristina authorities for, which is to arrest people without any reason.

Sadik Duraku, who is from Djakovica, was arrested on April 17 at the border crossing between Croatia and Serbia at Batrovci border, on suspicion of having committed a war crime.

The High Court for War Crimes in Belgrade ordered him to be detained for up to 30 days.

After his arrest, the Serbian authorities informed him that the War Crimes Prosecution of Serbia is charging him with charges that he committed war crimes during the Kosovo war in 1999, reported Kosovo Online, citing RFE. 

Based on the decision of the Kikinda Public Prosecutor's Office on detention from April 17, Duraku is suspected of having committed the criminal offense of "war crime against the civilian population", and that there is a suspicion that he was together with unknown persons during 1999, in the area of the municipalities of Djakovica, Prizren and Pec, as a member of the KLA, had beaten, physically and mentally harassed and robbed the civilian population.

The Fatherland movement: A large number of citizens from the north went to vote in local elections in Serbia (KiM radio)

"On the second of June of this year, the north of Kosovo and Metohija was quite empty. A large number of its citizens, who in the past period were changed residents addresses by the regime of Aleksandar Vucic, rushed to Belgrade first to fulfill their civic duty, and vote there," announced the People's Movement of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija "Fatherland".

According to this movement's opinion, the authorities in Belgrade are not interested in the number of Serbs who will live in Kosovo and who will stay, but "to stay in power as long as possible", they stated.

"The more and more the idea of Greater Albania is realized, the President of Serbia does not mind at all," it added.

It is pointed out that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, last year on May 26 (when the rally was held in Belgrade), had an agreement with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, "to give him buses so that the residents of Kosovo would go to the rally, and Vucic in turn turned a blind eye when the ROSU police raided the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, which they hold to this day".

"This electoral engineering does not bother the representatives of Western countries, who even favorably support these anti-democratic processes. What is unthinkable for them in their own countries is allowed in Serbia, where the migration of voters is quite possible, desirable, and justified," concluded the statement delivered to the media.

A Serb arrested on suspicion of desecrating the cemetery in Donje Korminjane (KoSSev)

The Kosovo police identified and arrested one person in connection with last week's looting of the cemetery in the village of Donje Korminjane. It is a man of Serbian nationality, they claim - based on the evidence.

The police reported on May 28 that the cemetery in this village near Ranilug was damaged, following a report by one person. They started an investigation.

At the time, they did not specify which religious building was in question, but the Serbian aphorist Jovan Zafirovic then claimed that it was a cemetery in the village of Donje Korminjane, and that in addition to the cemetery, the memorial hall was also damaged.

It is an Orthodox cemetery.

Yesterday, in connection with the same case, the police announced that they managed to identify, locate, and arrest the suspect.

According to the evidence they collected, they claim that it is a man of Serbian nationality.

"His arrest was carried out after sufficient evidence was found that the same 28.05.2024. in the village of Donje Korminjane damaged several cemeteries, cemetery stones and some photographs on the cemetery stone. The same person was interviewed based on the legal procedure in the presence of the defense attorney," the police state. A criminal complaint will be filed against him for the criminal offense of "damaging the cemetery".

What happened to the road leading to the Oklace village in Zubin Potok? (KoSSev)

The municipality of Zubin Potok, spanning an area of 332 square kilometres, counts almost 70 villages and hamlets scattered on the slopes of the mountains surrounding the municipality – Mokra Gora and Rogozna. As a result of the highlanders’ difficult life, the majority of these villages are losing inhabitants with each passing year. The lack of asphalt roads, poor electrical energy supply, poor phone signal, are prompting young people to leave these areas, while the elderly households are slowly dying out. The breathtaking nature is not an ally either, especially when it snows or rains. Also, the political crisis in the relations between Belgrade and Pristina, especially in the last couple of years, inevitably influences this mountain population, even though they are on the margins of both systems.

In recent years, the residents of Oklace have reached out to KoSSev on several occasions, expressing a desire to speak out about their misfortunes, in the hope that the „head honchos“ will hear them out. They raised the same issue time and time again – road.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/ya4v264y

Pristina: Learning Serbian and Albanian is not a betrayal of national interests (KiM radio, Kosovo Online)

A prerequisite for a normal life is mutual understanding. We should learn the language of our fellow citizens at school in order to understand how similar we are and share the same problems, it was said at the presentation of "Dictionary of words that have no translation" and "Phrase base" by authors Nora Bezera and Tamara Stankovic realized as part of the Barabar Center project, with the support of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. 

Serbian and Albanian are the two dominant and official languages in Kosovo, for Nora Bezera, linguist, and author of the dictionaries "Words that have no translation" and "Phrase base", both are mother tongues.

"You should not be afraid of the new, you should not be afraid that if you learn Albanian or Serbian, you will lose your identity. You should see it as something that will enrich you, not only in the linguistic sense, but by knowing the language of a community, you will get to know its culture, traditions and history. I believe that it would contribute to a better understanding and a higher degree of tolerance between the communities," said Bezera.

The older generations of Albanian nationality know the Serbian language, while this is not the case with younger generations. Young Serbs and Albanians in most cases live isolated from each other, and when they communicate, they usually do so in English.