1 ______

Kosovo*

January 6, 2018: Kosovo court finds four opposition MPs guilty of using offensive weapons in 2015.1

January 16, 2018: Prominent Serb politician, Oliver Ivanovic, is shot and killed in Mitrovica causing tensions between Kosovo and Serbia to rise.2

January 17, 2018: Kosovo police track down the vehicle used in the political assassination and continue to look for the perpetrators.3

January 22, 2018: Kosovo and Serbia agree to share information relating to the investigation of the murder of Ivanovic.4

January 22, 2018: Kosovo imam pleads not guilty to inciting terror in sermons. Scheduled witnesses claim that Shefqet Krasniqi inspired relatives to fight in Syria.5

January 29, 2018: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia are announced to likely establish a RECOM regional fact-finding commission that will determine facts about war crimes and human rights violations that occurred from 1991 to 2001.6

February 1, 2018: Naser Kelmendi, a Kosovo Albanian with Bosnian citizenship, is found guilty of “the unauthorized possession with intent to distribute, sell and/or export/important dangerous narcotic drugs” and sentenced to jail for six years.7

February 2, 2018: Montenegro’s National Security Council intends to formally propose the deployment of two military officers to join KFOR, a NATO-led mission which has maintained peace in Kosovo since 1999.8

February 6, 2018: The European Commission offers help to the six EU aspirant Balkan countries under the condition that the states implement reforms and commit clearly to the “fundamental values” of the Union.9

February 6, 2018: Serbian nationalists and members of right-wing movements (including Serbian Action, Identity Generation, and Cultural Club Lighthouse) plan protest march on Kosovo Independence Day.10

February 10, 2018: Two police officers are arrested on suspicion of having tampered with evidence at the scene of Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic’s murder.11

2 ______

February 13, 2018: Betim Ibrahimaj is reported to have been killed in the Syrian conflict zone. He was on the run from Kosovo authorities, who wanted him for his alleged role in recording an ISIS propaganda video at Badovci Lake near Pristina in July 2015.12

February 13, 2018: Two policemen in north Kosovo have admitted in court to tampering with evidence at the crime scene where Oliver Ivanovic was shot.13

February 16, 2018: Presidents Hashim Thaci of Kosovo and Filip Vujanovic of Montenegro issue a joint statement agreeing to work together on identifying points of disagreement over the controversial issue of border demarcation.14

February 19, 2018: Serbian community members working with the Kosovo Security Force are threatened in pamphlets posted around the town of Zubin Potok, in predominantly Serb northern Kosovo. The Kosovo Police have launched an investigation into the group that signed the pamphlets, an organization calling themselves “Severna Armija,” or Northern Army.15

February 20, 2018: Serbian President Vucic claims that at the time of his death, Kosovo Serb Oliver Ivanovic had been in a longtime dispute with Milan Radoicic, a local Kosovo Serb business owner who allegedly holds much power in northern Kosovo. Kosovo President Thacim says that Ivanovic’s murder was not ethnically motivated.16

February 28, 2018: Kosovo delays Montenegro border demarcation vote.17

March 1, 2018: Murat Jashari and nine other individuals are indicted as alleged members of the organization ‘People’s Eye,’ who shot the Azem Vlassi, the former head of the League of Communists in Kosovo.18

March 8, 2018: Kosovo’s Special Prosecution assumes responsibility of the Ivanovic murder probe from the Basic Prosecution in Mitrovica due to the “complexities of the case.”19

March 13, 2018: Kosovo acquits Deputy PM Fatmir Limaj of charges of failing to take reasonable or appropriate measures to prevent the killing of two ethnic Albanians while he was a KLA officer in October 1998.20

March 14, 2018: Wess Mitchell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, states after a meeting with Serbian 3 ______

President Vucic that the US supports Kosovo’s right to establish its own armed forces.21

March 21, 2018: After a contentious negotiation process, punctuated by tear gas on four separate occasions, the Kosovo parliament ratifies a border agreement with Montenegro.22

March 23, 2018: Kosovo acquits ex-Imam Shefqet Krasniqi of inciting terrorism and national, racial and religious hatred, and tax evasion.23

March 23, 2018: The Serbian Interior Ministry cancels a junior women’s handball game slated to take place in Belgrade for security reasons. The game was cancelled after videos of Serbian fans singing nationalist songs surfaced.24

March 26, 2018: Kosovo special police forces are deployed to parts of Serb-run northern Kosovo after the Kosovo Foreign Ministry banned Aleksander Vulin, the Serbian Defence Minister, and Marko Djuric, the head of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo, from entering the country.25

March 26, 2018: Kosovo authorities deport the head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, after arresting him in North Mitrovica for illegally entering the country.26

March 27, 2018: Leaders of the Kosovo Serb party say they will create their own unilateral government, the Association of Serbian Municipalities, independently of Pristina.27

March 28, 2018: Political analysts say that recent tensions caused by the deportation of the head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo boosts the patriotic image of their respective leaders.28

March 29, 2018: Kosovo police arrest five Turkish nationals, all of whom worked for Mehmet Akif schools in Kosovo, which are operated by Gulistan Educational Institutions.29

March 30, 2018: Kosovo Prime Minister Haradinaj fires the head of Kosovo’s Intelligence Agency, Driton Gashi, and Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Flamur Sefaj, after six Turkish citizens residing in Kosovo are deported back to Turkey without the PM’s knowledge or approval.30

April 2, 2018: President Erdogan of Turkey criticizes Kosovo PM Haradinaj for firing the Kosovo Interior Minister and the head of the Intelligence Agency and accuses him of “protecting terrorists.”31 4 ______

April 19, 2018: Survey conducted by the Open Society Foundation and IPSOS Strategic Marketing shows that only a small portion of respondents viewed Kosovo as a main problem facing Serbia.32

April 26, 2018: The Kosovo Special Prosecution Office indicts former Serbian fighter on charges of pillage, willful destruction and crimes against personal and human dignity.33

April 30, 2018: Kosovo Prime Minister Haradinaj tells Spanish newspaper El Pais that Kosovo will never recognize Catalonia as an independent state, stressing that the separatist issues of Kosovo and Catalonia are different.34

May 4, 2018: Behgjet Pacolli, Kosovo’s Foreign and Deputy Prime Minister, travels to Asia to gain further recognition of Kosovo as an independent country and to participate in the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, of which 36 of the 57 member countries have recognized Kosovo.35

May 4, 2018: The East West Initiative (EWI) implores Western countries and lawmakers to boost American and EU influence in the Balkans, and promotes western style institutions in the region. The think tank suggests that the US encourage the EU to reopen Kosovo-Serbia dialogue to reach Serbian recognition of Kosovo’s independence.36

May 7, 2018: Right-wing Serbs launch the “People’s Initiative Stand Up for Kosovo,” which calls for a referendum on an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.37

May 7, 2018: The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague announces that US prosecutor Jack Smith has been appointed as the new Specialist Prosecutor by EULEX. Senior Kosovo Liberation Army members are expected to face indictments, and current Kosovo politicians who were top KLA members during the 1999 war face charges.38

May 7, 2018: Pristina Basic Court extends the custody of Dejan Slavic, a Serb, on suspicion of committing war crimes against civilians. The Serbian government’s office for Kosovo declares the arrest and detention to be illegal.39

May 8, 2018: The Football Federation of Kosovo rejects a request by Serbian soccer club Red Star to play in the mainly Serbian town of Gracanica.40

5 ______

May 9, 2018: President Thaci meets Chancellor Merkel in Berlin to discuss the halted EU-dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. Merkel had congratulates Thaci for Kosovo’s constructive role in the Serbian dialogue, the Montenegro border agreement and the statute for the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.41

May 11, 2018: Serbia’s National Security Strategy lists the uncertain status of Kosovo, inter-ethnic tensions and the migrant crisis as three of several threats to Serbia’s national security.42

May 11, 2018: The Kosovo Ministry of Justice and the country’s Islamic Community sign an agreement to de-radicalize individuals charged or convicted of terrorism, specifically those who have returned or are returning from Syria and Iraq.43

May 11, 2018: The Serbian government continues to hint that a referendum amongst Serbian citizens will determine a solution of the ‘Kosovo issue.’44

May 15, 2018: Serbian Orthodox clerics criticize the Serbian president for considering a compromise with Kosovo regarding Kosovo’s independence.45

May 15, 2018: Serbian President Vucic states in an interview with the London Financial Times that he is “obsessed” with resolving the Kosovo problem, and sees the future of Serbia to be with the EU.46

May 16, 2018: The Basic Court in Mitrovica acquits Serb ex-policeman, Zoran Vukotic, of beating and killing four ethnic Albanians in May 1999.47

May 17, 2018: The daily newspaper Koha Ditore reports that the Kosovar government will send a legal package affecting the Kosovo Security Force to the country’s cabinet. The package proposes no immediate transformation of the army but instead removes restrictions on the KSF’s stated mandate and mission.48

May 18, 2018: The Pristina Basic Court jails eight Kosovo citizens after finding them guilty of planning an attack on the Israeli national football team, while the team was playing a game in Albania in November of 2016.49

May 25, 2018: Kosovo’s Mitrovica Basic Court sentences Zoran Vukotic, formerly a Serbian policeman, to six years in prison for war crimes against ethnic Albanians in 1999.50 6 ______

May 25, 2018: Kosovo President Hashim Thaci refuses to appoint an ethnic Serb judge to the Constitutional Court, citing the judge’s criminal conviction in Serbia for smuggling.51

May 28, 2018: Violent protests against displaced Serbs attempting to visit a local Eastern Orthodox Church erupt as local ethnic Kosovar Albanians attempted to block the road. One Serb is injured, another is detained by police after local Albanians identified him as a suspect in the 1999 killings of Albanian civilians.52

May 29, 2018: Serbia’s Missing Persons Commission announce that the identity of five human remains found in a mass grave in Kosovo will be determined by forensic experts. The Commission states there is reason to believe that the remains belong to Kosovo Serbs that disappeared during the 1999 Kosovo War.53

May 30, 2018: Kosovo artist Eliza Hoxha is banned from entering Serbia for bringing photographs and a catalog into Serbia that displayed the flags of Kosovo and Albania and symbols of the KLA.54

May 31, 2018: Kosovo leaves the Brussels talks with Serbia, citing ‘outstanding deals’ on issues regarding energy, freedom of movement, mutual recognition of university diplomas, integrated border management, Kosovo regional representation, opening the dividing bridge in Mitrovica.55

*Prepared by Robin O’Luanaigh and Talia Andreottola

End Notes

1 Die Morina and Labinot Leposhtica, “Kosovo court finds four opposition MPs guilty,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 2 Barbara Surk and Richard Pérez-Peña, “Oliver Ivanovic, moderate Kosovo Serb leader, is killed,” The New York Times, accessed June 7, 2018. 3 Perparim Isufi and Filip Rudic, “Kosovo police tracks car origin in Ivanovic murder,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 4 Filip Rudic, “Kosovo, Serbia agree to share information on Ivanovic,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 5 Labinot Leposhtica, “Kosovo imam denies inciting terror in sermons,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 6 Sven Milekic, “Balkan states ‘expected to sign truth commission agreement,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 7 Die Morina and Labinot Leposhtica, “Kosovo court jails Kelmendi for drugs running,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 8 Dusica Tomovic, “Montenegro officers to join NATO force in Kosovo,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 7 ______

9 Filip Rudic, “EU’s new Balkans enlargement strategy demands reforms,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 10 Maja Zicanovic, “Serbian rightists to protest on Kosovo Independence Day,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 11 Die Morina, “Kosovo arrests two police over Ivanovic investigation,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 12 Die Morina and Adelina Ahmeti, “Wanted Kosovo militant reported killed in Syria,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 13 Filip Rudic and Bahrie Sadiku, “Policemen admit evidence-tampering in Ivanovic murder case,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 14 Die Morina, “Kosovo, Montenegro to form joint border commission,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 15 Perparim Isufi and Behar Mustafa, “Serb memebrs of Kosovo security force threatened,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 16 Filip Rudic, “Vucic: Slain Ivanovic ‘feuded with Kosovo Serb businessman,’” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 17 Die Morina, “Kosovo delays demarcation vote once again,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 18 Die Morina, “’People’s Eye’ lawyer calls Kosovo terror group ‘fantasy,’” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 19 Labinot Leposhtica, “Kosovo special prosecutors take over Ivanovic murder probe,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 20 Die Morina, “Kosovo acquits deputy PM Fatmir Limaj of war crimes,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 21 Filip Rudic, “Mitchell tells Serbia US supports Kosovo Army,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 22 Dia Morina, “Kosov parliament approves Montenegro border deal,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 23 Labinot Leposhtica, “Kosovo acquits ex-imam of inciting terrorism,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 24 Maja Zivanovic, “Serbia scraps handball match with Kosovo, citing security,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 25 Die Morina and Maja Zivanovic, “Kosovo deploys special police to stop Serbian visit,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 26 Die Morina, “Kosovo deports Serbian official for illegal entry,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 27 Filip Rudic and Erjone Popova, “Kosovo Serbs to quit Pristina government after deportation,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 7, 2018. 28 Sinisa Jakov Marusic, “Kosovo-Serbia crisis looks ‘arranged,’ experts say,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 29 BIRN team, “Kosovo arrests five Turkish school employees,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 30 Die Morina, “Kosovo minister and spy chief sacked over Turkish arrests,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 31 BIRN team, “Erdogan accuses Kosovo PM of ‘protecting terrorists,’” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 32 Maja Zivanovic, “Kosovo not a priority for most Serbs, survey shows,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 33 Die Morina, “Kosovo indicts Serbian fighter for war crimes,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 34 Die Morina, “Kosovo won’t recognize Catalonia, Haradinaj says,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 35 Die Morina, “Pacolli tours Asia seeking more Kosovo recognitions,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 6, 2018. 36 Mladen Lakic, “West must boost influence in Balkans, think tank says,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 37 Maja Zivanovic, “Serbian nationalists demand referendum on Kosovo,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 38 Die Morina, “New prosecutor appointed for Kosovo war court,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 39 Die Morina, “Kosovo orders custody for Serb war crimes suspect,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 8 ______

40 Maja Zivanovic, “Rising Serbia-Kosovo tension damages sporting contacts,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 41 Die Morina, “Kosovo president to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 42 Maja Zivanovic, “Serbian security strategy lists Kosovo among key threats,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 5, 2018. 43 Perparim Isufi, “Kosovo engages imams to deradicalize extremists,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 44 Maja Zivanovic, “Serbian hints at referendum on Kosovo deal,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 45 Maja Zivanovic, “Serbian Church clerics savage Vucic’s handling of Kosovo,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 46 Marcus Tanner, “Serbian leaders says he’s ‘obsessed’ by Kosovo,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 47 Bahrie Sadiku, “Kosovo acquits Serb ex-policeman of killing Albanians,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 48 Die Morina, “Kosovo works on ‘Plan B’ to develop army,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 49 BIRN team, “Kosovo jails eight for planning attack on Israelis,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 50 Die Morina, “Kosovo convicts Serb ex-policeman of war crimes,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 51 Filip Rudic, “Kosovo president block Serb judge’s appointment,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 52 Serbeze Haxhiaj, “Clash erupts at protests against Kosovo Serb churchgoers,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 53 Die Morina, and Filip Rudic, “Human remains found in suspected Kosovo war grave,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 54 Die Morina, and Filip Rudic, “Kosovo artist’s photographs barred from entering Serbia,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018. 55 Mladen Lakic, “Bosnian Charged with attempting to Join ISIS,” Balkan Insight, accessed June 4, 2018.