Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said he is discussing the invitation from the EU to meet in Brussels along with Serbian President Aleksander Vucic, and he will give a response early this week, while the latter said he has no intention of talking with Kurti.
Kurti said he is committed to the dialogue but had suggested a meeting the week before, shortly after presenting his five-point plan to de-escalate tensions with Serbia, but that this offer had not been taken up.
“I asked for the meeting to be held in the week that he is going to Brussels as a matter of urgency, and I proposed the five-point plan. However, now we have a request that the meeting be next week. Once, it was said the 22nd, then the 23rd and again the 22nd. I will discuss it with my team, and surely we will give an answer at the beginning of next week”, said Kurti.
Meanwhile, Vucic said he will not participate in any meeting in Brussels with Kurti because “I consider it pointless to talk to a person who is not ready to talk.”
“Technically, I will appear at the meeting, and this will be a strategic decision of which the public will be informed, but to talk to Kurti? No,” he added.
Kurti also renewed his calls to release three policemen who were arrested in Kosovo by Serbian forces, in direct violation of the Kumanovo agreement, which put a formal end to the war between Belgrade and Pristina.
On Wednesday, Kurti said the police officers were near an illegal smuggling route 300 metres inside the border of Kosovo when Serbian authorities arrested them.
The Kumanovo Agreement, otherwise known as the Military Technical Agreement, was signed between KFOR, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia in 1999 and marked the end of the Kosovo War. It details a 25km air safety zone and a 5km land safety zone (GSZ)around the Kosovo border, which Serbian military forces cannot enter.
This means not only can they not enter Kosovo, but they cannot set foot on their own territory within five kilometres of the border.
He said that the government is doing everything possible to free the policeman. Meanwhile, the US, UK and Germany have called for the immediate and unconditional release of the three officers.
Sharr Jakupi, head of the Cabinet of Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla, said that the officers, who they refer to as kidnapped, have not received any necessary medical care while in Serbian custody.
“To make matters worse, an officer in desperate need of medical care has been neglected,” he said.
Serbia’s Director for the officer of Kosovo, Peter Petkovic, denied the accusation and said all three have food and medical treatment and called the comments “lies” and “untruths”.
NATO said it is taking all steps to provide a safe environment in the north of Kosovo and taking “very seriously” the recent events.
Oana Lungescu, a NATO spokesperson, said, “KFOR’s implementation of its mandate is steadfast, as evidenced by the deployment of 500 additional troops. We once again remind all parties of their obligations under the Military-Technical Agreement, including respect for the administrative border line, procedures for the Kosovo Police and the 2013 agreement for deploying the Kosovo Security Forces in the north. These obligations are designed to ensure coordinated action, to avoid escalation, to maintain and ensure a secure environment,”
British MP Alicia Kearns also reacted to the situation, welcoming the calls from the US to release the three Kosovar officers immediately.
“Welcome US confirming illegal detention of 3 Kosovar police on “spurious charges”. Unlike Kurti’s decision on Mayors’ offices, this is an illegal act. Yet swift punishment only for Kosovo? As de-escalation key, sanctions may not help, but I call out hypocrisy & lack of balance,” she wrote on social media, referring to potential sanctions to be faced by Kosovo by the EU and US.
The weekend saw multiple rallies in support of Kosovo outside of the country.
In Tirana, hundreds of people gathered outside the prime minister’s office, waving Kosovo, Albania, and EU flags. The protest was an initiative of civil society, with citizens calling for the unification of Kosovo and Albania into one nation and calling out the harsh rhetoric used by the West against Pristina and not with Belgrade.
Banners read, “We want a united nation”, “there is no us and them, only us”, and, “Yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever together”.
Another rally was held in the Austrian capital of Vienna, with protestors calling to protect democracy and peace, and to “stop autocrats and their supporters”.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
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Vučić: Kurti wants war, West does not see Serbia as partner
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