July 19 - August 30, 2013 Issue No. 116 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 NEWS Stalled Reform Weighs on Elections > page 4 NEWS Police to Buy Vehicles Despite Delays, Probe > page 5 NEWS Edi Rama Fosters Hotline to Kosovo > page 6 GUIDE Summer Guide 2013: Staying in Kosovo > pages 14 CULTURE Dokufest returns for 12th year > page 19 Legacy and Renewal OPINION Prishtina filigree-makers put countless generations of family experience into exquisite creations. While older jewelers lament waning interest, one young silversmith sees a bright future in the craft. The Dichotomy of Story on pages 12-13 Vetevendosje > page 21 INSIDE PRISHTINA Food Not Perfect, but Rerouted Highway Stirs Dardha is Delightful > page 22 Emotions in Village We’re on Holiday Prishtina Insight resumes its While businesses in Kijeve say the new highway route will damage them, land speculators are eying a tidy profit. regular bi-monthly publication Prishtina and Peja was announced schedule on August 30. in March as part of a larger proj- By Mehdi Mulaj ect to expand the highway. However, local residents, the Ministry of Agriculture and eco- Kosovo’s only English-language he village of Kijeve in nomic experts dispute the merits Kosovo is rarely in the spot- newspaper is available: of the deviation, saying it will Tlight. It had the dubious dis- hurt businesses, destroy prime tinction of being mentioned by the Delivered to farmland and cost too much. Your Door late American diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Principal beneficiaries of the That was back in 1998 during the scheme include owners of land on From Newsstands Kosovo conflict, when he suggest- which the new road will be built, across Kosovo ed that the war-torn community some of whom bought plots just might be the most dangerous place before the new route was formally in Europe. announced. A portion of highway connecting Prishtina and Peja is set to be rerouted in Kijeve. Sent To Since then, the village located The government expects to pay of land where the road was to be Bacaliu said his purchases were Your Inbox between Prishtina and Peja has 5.8 million euro in total to buy up been off the radar. But now it is the land in question, though it has announced, according to Malisheve not connected. He faces a criminal From back in the news, at a centre of a not said what it plans to pay for municipality records. indictment for allegedly threaten- our partners dispute concerning a plan to individual parcels. “People have been talking about ing a businessman who planned to reroute a section of a highway. In February and March, Valdet this road deviation since 2008,” buy some of the land in question. The planned 2.75-kilometre devi- Bacaliu and Bashkim Gashi sepa- Gashi said, admitting that he hoped see page 16 for more info ation from the road connecting rately purchased multiple parcels to capitalize on the road project. continues page 2 is supported by: 2 July 19 - August 30, 2013 news Editor’s Word Roaming- Free Zone s one of Kosovo’s neighbors, Serbia would seem an ideal des- Atination for a weekend getaway. Getting lost in the metropolitan hub- bub of Belgrade can be a refreshing change from the insular world of Prishtina. But going to Serbia requires consid- erable more forethought than a trip to nearby Albania, Macedonia or Montenegro. It means not being able to use a Kosovo number for the duration — roaming is not supported for Kosovo mobiles — and then there is the some- times tricky matter of entering Serbia in the first place. Some speculators purchased land in Kijeve shortly before the highway deal was announced. People who attempt to enter Serbia from Kosovo are regularly turned away at the border if their passports lack an open entry stamp issued at one of Rerouted Highway Stirs Emotions in Village Serbia’s official borders. At least publicly, roaming and entry issues have not gotten much attention from page 1 designation, although that is required by we’re not visited by people using the road, in the talks between Belgrade and law. we have no chance of doing business,” he Prishtina. But they ought to. Osman Morina, owner of the local Stone Lah Nitaj, an advisor to the Minister of added. On July 24, leaders from Kosovo and Factory, said Bacaliu and Avdi Gashi threat- Infrastructure, blamed a simple lack of coor- Burim Kryeziu, owner of Wolf, a car parts Serbia are due for their next round of ened him with death at his factory. “They dination for the failure to request a permit company, is equally worried. “We will be EU-mediated talks. told me, ‘If you buy that land – we’ll kill and insisted that the road would be built as damaged as a business. There is no reason Up for discussion are telecommuni- you,’” Morina said. planned. for the road to deviate,” he said. cations and energy issues. Kosovo’s Morina reported the case to police on “It was approved and underwent public Haki Kryeziu, owner of the Euro Benz continued lack of its own international February 15, which led to prosecutors filing discussion procedures, passed through all petrol station, said his business would also dialing code and the illegal presence of indictments on May 21. The case has been the filters and was approved in the current suffer. “It will inflict significant damage on Serbian mobile operators will be on the submitted to the Basic Court of Gjakova. form, which we expect to implement,” Nitaj my company because my main sales come agenda. Gashi denies the charge. “I threatened said. from traffic on the Prishtina-Peja road,” he While the dialing code and the illegal nobody,” he said. Bacaliu said he visited operators are important issues, the Morina’s factory with Gashi, but did not ability of mobile users in Kosovo and threaten the businessman, either. Serbia to roam in each other’s country “We went to the factory and talked. We seems a more pressing question. told him we were working those lands … and At best, it is a serious inconvenience. should be entitled to buy them but that if we At worst, it is potentially a safety issue were not interested in them, he could freely in the event of an emergency. purchase them,” Bacaliu said. “I never Freedom of movement from Kosovo threatened him or anyone else.” to Serbia has certainly improved since 1999. Both EU and Kosovo citizens can Benefits disputed: travel to Serbia using national ID cards, without needing a Serbian entry The Minister of Infrastructure, Fehmi stamp. Mujota, told MPs in May that the road devia- But for others, who travel with pass- tion, decided in 2010, was preferable to ports, entering Serbia from Kosovo can widening the existing road as the proximity be fought with trouble. Serbia’s reason- of existing buildings and a cemetery would ing for this, going back to 1999, is that make widening the road complicated and entering Kosovo without passing expensive. through a Serbian border checkpoint But economic analyst Ibrahim Rexhepi first amounts to illegal entry. disputes this assessment, saying the devia- tion is the costlier option. “It is logical and While seasoned Kosovo hands know Businesses say they will lose money because of the project. this issue well, many leisure travelers economically more sustainable to continue do not. They face tense, confusing working in the old trajectory,” Rexhepi said. “We save will millions of taxpayers’ said. encounters with police and a time-con- The new road will also destroy some 13 money from the budget, while providing a Nitaj, from the Ministry of Infrastructure, suming circuitous route to Serbia via hectares of farmland, according to the top-quality road,” he added. acknowledges the complaints but says they Macedonia. Ministry of Environment and Spatial will not change the plans. Aside from coming across as petty, Planning. Businesses worried: “We understand these concerns, which much like the practice of “annulling” Idriz Gashi, an official in the Ministry of are legitimate and always welcome, but we Kosovo passport stamps, it discourages Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Representatives of 25 nearby businesses are speaking about a project that was internationals living in Kosovo from Development, said the land is prime agricul- say they have complained to the Ministry of approved earlier and passed through all traveling to Serbia more frequently. tural land. Infrastructure, the Office of the Prime respective mechanisms - and about the This policy sends the wrong message “The land in question is of a very high Minister and the Ombudsperson about the implementation of our budget, which we’re about Serbia and goes against basic quality, considering its type, texture and project. legally bound to do,” he said. international standards of freedom of drainage,” he said. “It is among the best “We oppose it because we’ve made large- The Office of Prime Minister did not movement. It hearkens back to the available in the region.” scale investments to construct facilities respond to Prishtina Insight’s questions 1990s instead of reflecting the world of Gashi also said his ministry was not con- close to the existing road,” said Morina, about the complaints by the time of publica- 2013. sulted about the road project, or given a owner of the stone factory. tion. The Ombudsperson’s office said it is request for a permit to change the land-use “We depend entirely on road traffic. If reviewing the complaints. Editor-in-Chief: Parim Olluri, and Design & Layout: Artan Mustafa Donjeta Demolli. “Rrjeti” Publisher: BIRN • Balkan Investigative Reporting [email protected] Arben Grajqevci Y Network • Mensa e Studenteve, first floor • 10000, Editorial Team: Marketing, Sales & M Prishtina • Kosovo • Phone: +381 (0) 38 24 33 58 Jeta Xharra, Marcus Tanner, Distribution: Printing: Lindi Printing Center C Nate Tabak, Petrit Collaku, [email protected] Copyright © BIRN K news July 19 - August 30, 2013 3 Thaci Hails End of Serbian Parallel Structures By Edona Peci rime Minister Hashim Thaci said A Serbian flag in north Mitrovica.