Amid feverish reports of the possible partition of Kosovo, or that Kosovo Serbs may unilaterally declare their autonomy, President Thaci on Friday insisted that partition and ‘territorial swaps’ were not on the agenda.
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Friday moved to dampen down speculation about an ethnic partition of the country, saying he was working only on the eventual inclusion of ethnic Albanian parts of Serbia into Kosovo.
“There will be no partition, autonomy or swapping of territories, I am just working on Presheva/Presevo, Medvegja/Medvedja and Bujanoc/Bujanovac [in Serbia] joining Kosovo,” Thaci stated.
According to him, Belgrade would find that hard to contemplate, but he would put the issue on the table.
Thaci said he also saw the recent debate on this subject as positive, “despite deliberate – or not – misinterpretations and misunderstandings.”
“We jointly will probably find a solution at the end of this process. Parliament will have the last word,” he added.
Thaci also said it was time that Kosovo citizens had “a stronger voice” in the discussions with Serbia, by allowing their right to hold a referendum.
“I am conducting the necessary talks that in the near future will make it possible for the voice of citizens to be enabled through a referendum, especially on such agreements I consider as important for citizens to express their will,” he added.
Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj meanwhile called an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council, at which he warned that Kosovo authorities would react to anyone acting against the law.
“Anyone committing acts that violate Kosovo’s laws and international agreements will get an answer from the rule-of-law authorities,” Haradinaj stated.
Anyone entering Kosovo aiming to cause incidents would also be dealt with. “If anything happens, we are in a state of readiness to act,” Haradinaj said.
A leading Serbian Orthodox cleric in Kosovo, Abbot Sava Janjic, warned of the risk of “staged” violence in Kosovo on July 31.
The Abbot of the famous Visoki Decani monastery posted on social network accounts that “much disturbing information is circulating […] in Kosovo, among them news of an imminent scenario of a mutually staged incident in North Kosovo, which would provoke reactions on both sides & plunge #Kosovo into a partition scenario”.
In Serbia, President Aleksandar Vucic called an urgent meeting of the National Security Council for Saturday morning.
The Serbian newspaper Kurir reported that the meeting had been called because of “the situation in Kosovo”, and because of an alleged plan by Kosovo Albanians to take over Ujmani/Gazivode lake in northern, Serb-run Kosovo.
On Wednesday, BIRN Kosovo reported that Kosovo Police had ordered its uniformed staff to suspend all their summer holiday plans, citing operational duties.
In a letter to the staff, the director of the department for operations, Rashit Qalaj, said the decision remained valid until further notice.
Amid concerns about the recent tensions, Ilir Deda, an MP from the opposition Alternative, demanded the resignation of President Thaci in an open letter published on Friday.
Deda said Thaci’s earlier statements had implied the partition of Kosovo and such acts were anti-state.
“I call on you to unequivocally withdraw from such a political adventure and resign. Your resignation would save Kosovo from destruction and enable you to live in Kosovo as a former leader and citizen who has accepted his own mistakes and repented of them,” Deda wrote on Facebook.
“Accepting a mistake is an act of nobility, while implementing Kosovo’s dissolution plans is a crime and betrayal,” he added.
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