Opinion: Despite Shared Yugoslav Past, a Study in Contrasts

April 26 - May 9, 2013 Issue No. 110 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 NEWS Bad Loans Soar as Kosovo Economy Stumbles > page 2 NEWS Kosovo and Serbia Reach Historic Deal in Brussels > page 5 NEWS Ruling Portrays MP as Ringleader in Killings > page 7 NEIGHBOURHOOD Albania Faces The Cayman Islands offer visitors stunning views - and for companies across the world, a tax haven with little financial transparency. (Photo/Louish Pixel) Questions Over Bullets for Libya Caymans Key to PTK Sale > page 9 CULTURE ACP Axos Capital’s buyout of the state telecoms company is financed through a Caribbean tax haven but the purchasers Airbrushing the deny claims that they’ve got something to hide. Ottomans By Nate Tabak and Parim Olluri cent stake in PTK, is putting Self-Determination party have Practices Act. There was and there together at least $250 million in voiced suspicions about the deal is no corruption in this transac- financing through an entity it con- and suggested that ACP Axos tion,” Budden added. “The people n offshore shell company in trols in the Cayman Islands. could be a front for dubious local of Kosovo should be very proud to a tax haven is playing a cen- Jan Budden, the managing interests. finally have an investor like us.” > page 14 - 15 Atral role in financing the director of ACP Axos Capital Budden rejected those claims. But ACP Axos Capital’s financ- 277 million euro purchase of a con- Partners, revealed the financing “The negative reactions in the ing arrangement via the Cayman trolling interest in Kosovo’s state telecoms company, PTK, raising arrangement in an interview with press and among some politicians Islands seems bound to further questions about who exactly is Prishtina Insight last week. make foreign investors less willing fuel suspicion. buying the country’s most prof- On April 16, Kosovo’s govern- to enter Kosovo,” Budden said. Thousands of companies Kosovo’s only English-language itable publicly-owned company. ment declared ACP Axos Capital “False accusations and rumours around the world operate entities newspaper is available: The Hamburg-based ACP Axos Partners consortium the winner of are not helpful to Kosovo.” in the Cayman Islands. Capital Partners, the leader of the the majority stake in PTK. Since “We strictly follow and are com- Delivered to consortium purchasing a 75 per then, media and the opposition mitted to the Foreign Corruption continues page 2 Your Door

Captive Brown Bears Gain Clearing the Cultural ‘Mines’ From Newsstands Fresh Start of the Balkan Wars across Kosovo

Kasandra has had a tough life. The Kosovo playwright Jeton Neziraj Sent To brown bear spent her first 10 years living believes he belongs to the company of the Your Inbox in a small cage at the Gjeraqina restaurant few artists in his home country that the near Suhareka. state does not control and who are thus free When the Four Paws organisation found to deliver a wider humanistic message and From Kasandra in March, she was underfed. use art to awaken in people the “view of our partners These days, she is... the other”. For him ... feature page 10-11 culture page 19 see page 16 for more info

is supported by: 2 April 26 - May 9, 2013 news Caymans Key to PTK Sale from page 1 2007, is housed at a firm called ultimate owners of the Cayman Campbells Corporate Services vehicle are: untransparency is one The British territory, located in Limited, a firm that specialises in of the purposes of using tax the Caribbean, has no corporate giving foreign companies a pres- havens,” Capussela said. income tax and does not make pub- ence in the Caymans. Budden, however, said ACP lic even basic information such as While Budden declared that Axos was fully transparent with the names of company directors. ACP Axos “is not a front for any Kosovo officials about its offshore The Caymans have allowed com- Balkan investor”, he was never- financing arrangement. panies to operate entities largely theless vague about the source of “Financing agreements from on paper and avoid billions of its funding. Axos Cayman for the PTK transac- euros in taxes by funneling profits “The final structure is under tion in excess of 250 million USD through subsidiaries. The practice evaluation with our investment have been checked and approved is commonplace, with major cor- partners, banks and tax advisors. by in the qualification process,” porations including Microsoft and The money comes from US and Budden said. Exxon Mobil utilising offshore European investors,” Budden said. The Minister of Economic arrangements. ACP Axos, based out of a house Development, Besim Beqaj, whose But the Caymans and other off- in Hamburg, bid for PTK in a con- ministry led the privatisation, shore finance centres have also sortium with Najafi Companies, declined to discuss ACP Axos’s been used for nefarious purposes. an American private investment financing. The American energy company, firm. Kosovo first attempted to sell Enron, used the Caymans to help Najafi, whose representatives PTK in 2011. The process was conceal its fraud. declined to speak with Prishtina dogged by accusations of corrup- Budden said that ACP Axos Insight, is a small company that tion, and the government can- Capital controls an entity called primarily uses internally-generat- celled the sale after only one bid- ACP Axos Capital Partners is buying a 75 per cent stake in PTK. (Photo/Petrit Rrahmani) Axos Cayman, which he said has ed money and says that it “seeks to der was left in the running. served as a vehicle for investments make strategic investments in profit in 2012, has been plagued by Telecom Italia and Britain's BT since 2007. He said AXOS undervalued assets”. In the second and final attempt, corruption scandals, mismanage- Group. The company said it will Cayman’s founding investors In February, Najafi acquired the five bidders were qualified to bid, ment and a bloated payroll, and is create 1,000 jobs, in part through included DCM, a venture capital European operators of Cinram, including former US Secretary of in need of millions of euro in call centres that will serve compa- firm, and Columbia Capital, which manufactures Blu-Ray State Madeleine Albright’s invest- investment. nies outside Kosovo. which previously was in a consor- discs, CDs and DVDs. ment fund. While the proceeds of the priva- The suspicions about ACP Axos’ tium with ACP Axos in the PTK “We have known Najafi for a Eventually, only two bidders tization fell short of the earlier business practices aren’t surpris- Bid. very long time - a very good remained, ACP Axos and M1, a expectations, the sale is neverthe- ing, said Ken Lefkowitz, managing The Cayman Islands’ business investor from the US,” Budden company owned by the former less welcome news for the govern- partner at New Europe Corporate register does not list such a com- said. Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib ment. The International Monetary Advisory in Sofia, who served as pany. It does however list an Axos But the identity of other PTK Mikati. Fund had warned that construc- an adviser to one of the prospec- Limited. investors remains unclear. The M1 bid just 150 million euro, tion of a highway to Macedonia tive bidders for PTK. Reflecting the Caymans’ lack of financing arrangement will make compared to ACP Axos’s 277 mil- wouldn’t be possible unless PTK “Axos are damned if they do, transparency, the registry only it difficult to determine true own- lion euro, leading some observers was sold. damned if they don't - in my expe- offers basic information: the com- ership, said Andrea Capussela, for- to suggest that the Lebanese offer Kosovo retains 25 per cent of rience, public opinion in Kosovo is pany name, the type of company, mer head of economic affairs of was only intended to make the shares in PTK, while the country’s biased towards suspicion of busi- the date of registration and forma- the International Civilian Office, process seem more competitive. postal service will be spun off into ness, to the extent that practices tion, a file number and address. ICO, which supervised Kosovo In 2010, the government said it a new publicly-owned company. viewed as quite usual and ordi- The registry charges about 28 euro after independence. hoped to get 300-600 million euro Budden, of ACP Axos, said the nary elsewhere are considered for the information. “It will almost certainly be for PTK. But the telecoms compa- new PTK will be run from suspicious in Kosovo,” Lefkowitz Axos Limited, established in impossible to ascertain who the ny, which posted a 56 million euro Prishtina, with the help of said. Bad Loans Soar as Kosovo Economy Stumbles A 30-per-cent spike in non-performing loans points to a decline in the country’s overall economic health. compared to 9.2 million euro from “Raiffeisen Bank has continued Europe. “Smaller banks are really push- the same period in 2012. The to take a careful approach in On top of that, even official gov- ing down the interest rates,” Thaqi increase amounts to 85 per cent. increasing loans by being focused ernment data, known for painting said. By Jeton Musliu and The sample is small but is never- more on the quality of loans than rosy pictures, put the unemploy- Banks should start publishing Nate Tabak theless a symptom of a troubling their volume,” Tahiraj said. ment rate at 39 to 41 per cent. Other their interest rates, which they gen- trend in Kosovo’s economy. The bank gave 402 million euro estimates put it as high as 45 per erally don’t do, to make it easier for According to the Central Bank, in loans in 2012, down slightly cent. borrowers to shop around, Thaqi here’s a lot of bad news in Kosovo’s banks recorded a large from 410 million the previous year. “Slowing economic growth is said. “Banks are hiding informa- Kosovo newspapers. But spike in loans that are in default or Tahiraj would not disclose the concerning because we’re starting tion,” he said. Tsome of the worst is buried are on the verge of doing so. amount of non-performing loans, at from a very low point,” said Berat Thaqi said more reforms are far in the back without big, sensa- By the end of 2012, banks report- but said they were within what the Thaqi, an analyst with GAP. needed for banks to further tional headlines. ed 130.6 million euro in bad loans, bank considers acceptable limits. Thaqi said one problem is that increase lending and drop interest These stories, written by the compared to 99.1 million in 2011, a “The bank allocates sufficient growth in bank lending slowed rates. banks, are notices for auctions of rise of more than 30 per cent. reserves to cover potential losses down significantly 2012. Loan defaults can prove especial- loan collateral. The items are big Bad loans made up 7.5 per cent from bad loans,” Tahiraj said. According to the Central Bank, ly troublesome for banks because and small, from pipes to entire fac- of the total of 1.76 billion in loans the total value of bank loans - 1.76 the sale of collateral is often tied up tories. issued by banks in 2012, compared Signs of slowdown: billion euro - marked an increase of in a dysfunctional court system, Mufail Hoxha, of Viti, lost a to 5.7 per cent the previous year. 3.7 per cent from 2011. By compari- Thaqi said. Improving court proce- four-acre plot of land that he used Provisions for bad loans have Meanwhile, the increased strug- son, the increase was more than 16 dures, he said, would make banks as collateral for an 80,000 euro loan dented bank profits. Kosovo’s nine gles of borrowers offer a troubling per cent from 2010 to 2011. more inclined to lend. from the NLB bank. banks posted a profit of 19.2 mil- picture of the economy as a whole. The data suggest that banks are One encouraging development is Hoxha invested the money in his lion euro in 2012 up from 36.6 mil- “In general, bad loans show the being more conservative about the establishment of a National concrete factory. He upgraded the lion euro the year earlier. economic situation of Kosovars their lending. Credit Registry, which will make it plant’s technology with the hopes But, placed in context, Kosovo’s has deteriorated,” Agron Demi, Still, one positive sign is that faster and less expensive for lenders of boosting production. banking sector has the lowest rate head the Gap Institute, a think Kosovo’s notoriously high interest to screen borrowers, Thaqi said. But Hoxha couldn’t keep up of non-performing loans in the tank, in Prishtina, said. rates are falling. They dropped to “Banks will now have lower with the interest payments. “The region and adequate capital Indeed, Kosovo’s economy has 13.4 per cent in 2012 from 14.1 per costs to get [borrowers’] informa- loan was for 36 months, but I did reserves to cover the losses from slowed, reflecting a trend across cent in 2011. tion. This should affect interest not have enough money to circu- any bad loans. Europe. According to the IMF, That means businesses and indi- rates,” he concluded. late and achieve the business plan In short, Kosovo’s financial sec- Kosovo’s GDP growth is expected to viduals are having to spend a bit Additional reporting by Petrit because I was supposed to pay the tor does not face immediate sys- dip to 2.9 per cent this year, down less to get loans from banks, even if Collaku. interest every month,” Hoxha told tematic risks because of bad loans. from 3. 7 per cent in 2011. loans are harder to get. Prishtina Insight. Only one bank, Raiffeisen, While 2.9 per cent GDP growth Thaqi, author of a forthcoming Value of non-performing Stories like Hoxha’s are becom- responded to Prishtina Insight’s would make most European finance report on lending in Kosovo, said loans in Kosovo ing increasingly common as more questions about lending. ministers blush - the eurozone is the decline in interest rates is a 2012 - 130.7 million euro (7.5%) people and businesses default on Y Bank spokeswoman Iliriana projected to contract by 0.3 per cent direct result of efforts by smaller 2011 - 99.1 million euro (5.9%) their loans. In January and 2010 - 84.7 million euro (5.9%t) M Tahiraj said Raiffeisen had been this year - the increase isn’t so banks to lure customers from the February, banks put up 17 million Source: Central Bank of C conservative about whom it lends impressive from the perspective of largest institutions, Raiffeisen and euro of loan collateral for auction Kosovo K to. the second poorest country in ProCredit. news April 26 - May 9, 2013 3 Limaj ‘Didn’t Order Torture or Editor’s Word Murders,’ Ex-Adviser Says Their A former legal adviser to the Kosovo Liberation Army told the war crimes trial of Fatmir Limaj that the ex-commander didn’t order the abuse of prisoners at the Klecka jail. Move According to the indictment, rule-of-law mission, EULEX judges request to remand him in custody. Limaj and the other co-defendants, because “the prosecution failed to In a previous trial at the Hague y now, the Champagne also former KLA fighters, “violat- meet certain procedural stan- Tribunal in 2005, Limaj was that most surely was By Edona Peci ed the bodily integrity and health dards”. acquitted of war crimes against Bflowing through the cor- of an unspecified number of Serb But in December last year, Serbs and Albanians suspected of ridors of power in Brussels is and Albanian civilians and Serb EULEX and local judges ruled the collaborating with long gone. The hangover known prisoners of war”. evidence admissible again. Serbia during as reality is here. ormer top KLA legal adviser Albanian civilians suspected of Limaj told the court on the Kosovo The EU-brokered deal Sokol Dobruna told the court collaboration with the Serbian Wednesday that “after the death of war and between Kosovo and Serbia is, Fin Prishtina on Wednesday regime, Serbian civilians and Witness X, the work of the defence returned indeed, a breakthrough. But its that Limaj never gave orders to Serbian police and military per- has become more difficult as there home to a mistreat or kill people detained in ultimate success - or failure - sonnel were allegedly detained at will be no chance to confront him hero’s wel- the Klecka prison during the late hinges on what happens on the Klecka, which according to the with his testimony”. come. 1990s conflict. ground in northern Kosovo. indictment also served as a deten- Limaj was initially acquitted Asked whether Limaj, who is Perhaps lost in the Thaci- tion centre for KLA soldiers inves- of the charges in May last now a lawmaker with Kosovo’s rul- Dacic-Ashton drama is that this tigated or sentenced for discipli- year but the prosecution ing party, had ever called for tor- predominantly Serb part of nary offences. successfully appealed ture or killings, Dobruna respond- Dobruna said that the main against the verdict and Kosovo is, in fact, inhabited by ed: “No.” coordinator of the prison was the case was sent for a real people who aren’t going to He said that he had never even Agim Zogaj. retrial. change with a stroke of a pen in seen Limaj at the detention centre. He said he had close contacts The ex-commander Brussels. “I don’t have any information with Zogaj, who was also known as turned lawmaker And the message voiced by that he was at the Klecka prison,” ‘Witness X’ in the trial but was and his co-accused many in the north in the wake he said. found dead in a park in Germany are under house of this historic pact to normal- Limaj, a lawmaker with the in September 2011. arrest after the ize relations is betrayal: that Democratic Party, is one of ten In March 2012, Zogaj’s state- court last week Belgrade traded them for a tick- suspects on trial over the Klecka ments and diaries were found rejected the et to the EU. jail and alleged war crimes inadmissible as evidence by EU prosecution’s Fatmir Limaj is one of 10 people on trial in the Klecka case. This is understandable and to against civilians. a large extent true: leaders in Serbia have relinquished their authority of Serbs in northern Clinic in Kosovo Organ Trafficking Case Sold Kosovo in favour of Prishtina’s to get in Brussels’ good graces. As the trial of alleged members of an illegal kidney-trading ring in Kosovo nears its end, it emerged that the Medicus But this agreement, in spite clinic at the centre of the charges has been sold. of its inherent offensiveness to down the private clinic as part of people-trafficking, organised crime, the unlawful exercise of them, is a victory for Serbs in the initial investigation. The build- crime, fraud and falsifying docu- medical activity and grievous bodi- the north. It acknowledges real- ing was seized based on a judge’s ments, described the trial as “dubi- ly harm. Dulla, one of his assis- ity and supports their desire to By Edona Peci order and Dervishi was barred ous”. tants, is accused of unlawful med- manage their own affairs from entering the premises. “The prosecution only made sup- ical activity and grievous bodily through an association of The former clinic boss and his positions. The evidence presented harm. municipalities. son, Arban Dervishi, are amongst in the case cannot prove that my Dulla’s defence lawyer Hilmi While we often reduce the utfi Dervishi, former clinic seven Albanians charged with client was involved in the activities Zhitia urged the court to throw out north to being a population of boss of the Medicus clinic human trafficking, organised he is charged with,” Dushi said. the first charge and find his client smugglers and hired thugs who Lwho is among those on trial crime and unlawful medical activi- Similar statements were also not guilty on the second count. manage roadblocks, there are, for alleged organ trafficking, sold ties allegedly carried out in the made by defence lawyers for two “In the decisions over organ the clinic last autumn because he in fact, law-abiding people who clinic. other defendants, Sokol Hajdini transplants, surgeons were respon- could not pay his taxes and energy deserve to have their voices Two foreigners, Turkish doctor and Sylejman Dulla. sible and not my client as an anaes- bills, his defence told the court in respected. Yusuf Sonmez and Israeli Moshe “Nothing has been proven with thetist,” Zhitia said. Prishtina on Tuesday. The so-called parallel struc- Harel, are also indicted over the any piece of evidence that my The Medicus clinic was also The announcement was made tures — while certainly prob- allegations and are being sought client did anything he is charged mentioned in a Council of Europe after EU rule-of-law mission prose- lematic at times — also reflected for arrest. with,” said Fazli Balaj, defence report which alleged that elements cutor in the case, Jonathan Ratel, the simple fact that Serbs in The indictment says around 30 lawyer for anaesthetist Hajdini. of the Kosovo Liberation Army ordered EU police officers last northern Kosovo just want to do illegal kidney transplants took The anaesthetist is charged with traded the organs of prisoners week to observe the clinic outside their own thing. place at the clinic. people-trafficking, organised during the 1999 conflict. the Kosovo capital after receiving Poor people from Turkey, Russia, These people don’t want information that there was new Moldova and Kazakhstan were Prishtina’s interference and activity at the building. allegedly lured by false promises that’s their right. There is no “I was told the sign of the clinic that they would receive up to 15,000 urgent need for them to was changed from ‘Medicus’ to euro for their kidneys, which were embrace Kosovo authority, ‘Medical clinic’,” Ratel said. sold to rich transplant patients. either. Trying to force it will “It’s my reasonable belief that The prosecution has alleged that backfire. one or more doctors known to us in some cases recipients paid more Instead, Serbs in the north were at the clinic,” he added. than 70,000 euro for a kidney trans- deserve a chance to run their But Dervishi’s defence lawyer, plant. own lives. They, in turn, have a Linn Slattengren, called these However, all defendants have claims “unethical”, explaining that responsibility to observe basic pleaded not guilty except one, “new owners are running the clin- tenants such as the rule of law. Driton Jilta, who pleaded guilty to ic”. How they define themselves unlawful medical activities. “Apparently they have been isn’t so important. Jilta’s defence and that of three licensed as a new clinic and new The government and its inter- other defendants made their final doctors are operating in it,” national backers should resist statements on Tuesday. Slattengren said. the urge to pressure these Petrit Dushi, defence lawyer for The Medicus Clinic has been sold, according to the defense team of Lutfi Dervishi, the In 2008, investigators closed Serbs. In the same token, Arban Dervishi , who is accused of former head of the clinic. Belgrade must follow through on relinquishing its quasi Editor-in-Chief: Parim Olluri, Jeton Musliu and Design & Layout: “Rrjeti” authority. Artan Mustafa Donjeta Demolli. Arben Grajqevci What’s next, of course, isn’t [email protected] certain. But that decision needs Marketing, Sales & Printing: Lindi Printing Center to happen in the likes of Publisher: BIRN • Balkan Investigative Reporting Editorial Team: Zvecan, Kosovska Mitrovica Jeta Xharra, Marcus Tanner, Distribution: Copyright © BIRN Network • Mensa e Studenteve, first floor • 10000, and Zubin Potok, not in [email protected] Prishtina • Kosovo • Phone: +381 (0) 38 24 33 58 Nate Tabak, Petrit Collaku, www.prishtinainsight.com Belgrade, Prishtina or Brussels. 4 April 26 - May 9, 2013 news Serbia and Kosovo Work on Deal Action Plan Teams from Kosovo and Serbia have headed to Brussels to agree on implementing the recently agreed EU-led deal.

The draft also proposes more judges coming from the Serbian minority. By Edona Peci An Association of Serbian Municipalities with broad powers will include the four Serb-run northern municipalities of North osovo and Serbian negotia- Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan and tors have headed to Zubin Potok. KBrussels to firm up the Since the end of the Kosovo con- details of the recently agreed deal flict in the late 1990s, northern on Kosovo. Kosovo has been beyond the Kosovo's Deputy Prime Prishtina government’s control, Minister, Hajredin Kuci, said he while Serbia has continued to expected to present ideas on imple- finance local security, judicial, menting the plan on Thursday in health and educational institu- Brussels to the EU foreign policy tions. chief, Catherine Ashton. Hardline Serbian nationalists “We expect to agree on the have slated the plan as a sell-out. implementation plan [with Serbia] Serbs living in the northern by April 26,” the Kosovo Prime Serbian half of the divided Kosovo Minister, Hashim Thaci, said on town of Mitrovica have also con- Wednesday. demned the agreement, staging “The fate of the agreement will several mass protests during depend on its implementation," he recent days. added. "All Kosovo institutions Kosovo's Prime Minister said he will have to engage in the imple- Protests by Serbs in north Mitrovica reflect one of the main challanges of implementing the deal. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) was aware “there will be chal- mentation with guarantees and al and needed to be made more and monitoring, the minister told concerns the future of the Serbian lenges” in implementing the support from the European Union, concrete. the media in Belgrade. community in Kosovo. agreement in the northern part of the US, [EU law and order body] “The agreement has been Kosovo and Serbia adopted a 15- The deal envisions that the local Kosovo, but expressed a belief that EULEX, NATO and the OSCE,” he reached but now we have to see point draft agreement on normal- Serbian community there will “there will be success”. added. how it will be implemented," he izing relations, allowing both sides choose its own police command- Thaci called on Serbs in the Serbia's Justice Minister, Nikola said. to advance their integration into ers, while the composition of the north of Kosovo to “not fear the Selakovic, meanwhile said some "Every comma, every full stop” the European Union, on April 19. police generally will reflect the implementation process of the details of the plan were still gener- of the deal needed careful analysis The draft agreement mainly ethnic structure on the ground. agreement”. EU Recommends Membership Serbia Head of Talks For Serbia Kosovo Office Quits Following the breakthrough deal between Belgrade and Prishtina, the European Commission has recommended that Serbia should be granted a start date for over EU Deal EU accession talks. Aleksandar Vulin, director of government’s Office for Parliament and the Council said. Commission on Monday adopted a Kosovo, said he is resigning in protest against the conclu- It also recommended that a proposal that would allow Stabilisation and Association Prishtina to participate in EU pro- sion of a landmark deal with Kosovo, which he said ought By Bojana Barlovac Agreement be launched with grammes. to have gone to a referendum. Kosovo. “If the Council agrees, and once erendum. The move comes after Belgrade the agreement is signed by both Kosovo Serb leaders are due to and Prishtina agreed on the future sides, Kosovo would be able to par- meet Serbian top officials and dis- he European Commission of Serb-run northern Kosovo in the ticipate in 22 EU programmes,” said in a report on Monday By Prishtina Insight cuss the agreement shortly. tenth round of EU-led talks on the report said. Asked if the Belgrade team Tthat it has recommended Friday. The specific terms and condi- that “negotiations for accession to could have done a better job in the The result of the talks was seen tions for the participation of the European Union should be ulin told Serbian public EU-led negotiations, he said that as crucial for an important EU Kosovo in each particular pro- opened with Serbia”. service broadcaster, RTS, he did not know. report on Serbia’s progress. gramme will be determined by a “The Commission considers Von Tuesday evening that he “What we accepted is a miracle The European Commission rec- memorandum of understanding that Serbia has met the key priori- resigning as head of the govern- compared to what we were first ommendation is to be submitted to to be agreed by the European ty of taking steps ment office on Kosovo after offered but it is not good enough the European Council, after which Commission and Kosovo. towards a visi- Belgrade and Prishtina agreed a but I think our people deserve the Council may grant Serbia an EU foreign policy chief ble and sus- deal on the future of Serb-run more,” Vulin noted. accession talks date in June. Serbia Catherine Ashton said that the tainable northern Kosovo in the tenth The EU-mediated dialogue got EU candidate status in March recommendations to open negoti- improvement round of EU-led talks. between Kosovo and Serbia was 2012. ations for EU membership with of relations The draft agreement envisions launched in March 2011, three The Commission also said that Serbia and to open negotiations with Kosovo,” that the local Serbian community years after Kosovo declared inde- Serbia had made efforts to reinvig- for an SAA with Kosovo marked a the joint will choose their own police com- pendence. orate the reforms in the key areas decisive break with the past and a report to the manders, while the composition of The aim was to normalise rela- such as the rule of law, particularly common step towards a European European the police force will reflect the eth- tions between the two countries, judicial reform and anti-corrup- future. nic structure on the ground. The both of which aspire to EU mem- tion policy, the independence of "I would like to pay tribute to draft also proposes more judges bership, in the context of Serbia's key institutions, the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo coming from the Serbian minority. continued refusal to recognise media freedom, anti- for their courage and vision, According to Vulin, who was Kosovo's independence. discrimination poli- "I am honoured to have been appointed head of the Office in Vulin also said he feared a new cy, the protection of able to contribute to this July 2012, the first reason for his wave of recognitions of Kosovo's minorities and the process," Ashton said on Monday. resignation was because he statehood, urging Serbia to business environ- EU Enlargement Commissioner thought the issue should have strengthen ties with Russia and ment. Stefan Fule said that Serbia and gone a referendum. China in order to prevent this. The Belgrade- Kosovo had proved they can both He also said that he had prom- As of now, 99 of the 193 UN Prishtina deal focus on the future rather than ised the Kosovo Serbs that the member states have recognised also delivered staying entangled in the past. agreement would be different from Kosovo, including 22 of the 27 EU results for "Our recommendations today the one now accepted. member states and the US. Russia Y Kosovo. The are therefore clear: both Serbia “I gave my word to Kosovo Serbs and China have supported Serbia M European and Kosovo deserve to move on that the agreement would be dif- in refusing to recognise the former C decisively in their EU perspec- ferent,” Vulin said, adding that he Serbian province as an independ- K Stefan Fule, EU Enlargement Commisioner tives," Fule said. supported their demand for a ref- ent country. news April 26 - May 9, 2013 5 Kosovo and Serbia Reach Historic Deal in Brussels Belgrade and Prishtina finally agreed on the future of Serb-run North Kosovo in the tenth round of EU-led talks last Friday.

By Bojana Barlovac

fter four hours of EU-mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina, the Atwo delegations sealed a long-awaited deal, the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said last Friday afternoon. "I want to congratulate them for their determination over these months and for the courage that they have," Ashton said after the meeting. The two teams adopted a 15-point draft agreement, presented by Ashton in the ninth round of talks, on April 17. According to Ashton, the text of the agreement has been initialled by both prime ministers. The draft agreement envisions that the local Serbian community will choose local police commanders, while the composition of the police will reflect the ethnic structure From left, Kosovo Prime minister Hashim Thaci, EU foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic. on the ground. The draft also proposes more judges coming from the Serbian minority. agree to it or reject it. it. On Thursday, the European Parliament A so-called Association of Serb The agreement “will help us heal the "It is in the interests of all concerned; of adopted a resolution on Serbia's progress at Municipalities with broad powers will wounds of the past,” Kosovo Prime the people living in Kosovo, those living in which the Rapporteur for Serbia, Jelko include the four Serb-run northern munici- Minister, Hashim Thaci told media shortly Serbia and the region as a whole," Fule said. Kacin, urged the Council to set a date for the palities of North Mitrovica, Leposavic, after he signed agreement today in Brussels. Earlier on Friday, NATO Secretary beginning of accession negotiations with Zvecan and Zubin Potok. EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that Serbia, which he said would "boost reform- Since the end of the Kosovo conflict in the Fule dubbed the deal historic for Serbia- NATO will do everything to implement an oriented forces in the country and help eco- late 1990s, northern Kosovo has been beyond Kosovo relations, for the entire Western agreement reached by Belgrade and nomic recovery". the Prishtina government’s control, while Balkans region and for the EU. Prishtina. The EU-mediated dialogue between Serbia has continued to finance local securi- "This ground-breaking agreement would He met Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Kosovo and Serbia was launched in March ty, judicial, health and educational institu- not have been possible without their Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, last Friday 2011, three years after Kosovo declared inde- tions. courage and commitment during difficult morning to discuss NATO’s role in securing pendence. Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said: negotiations," Fule said in a statement. safety for Serbs in Kosovo. The aim was to normalise relations "This is so far the most favourable text for He also said that it was crucial now that The results of the latest talks are seen as between the two countries, both of which the Serbian side". He said that he initialled the political leadership and general public crucial for an important EU report on aspire to EU membership, in the context of the text for which both Serbia and Kosovo in both Serbia and Kosovo support the Serbia’s progress, whose presentation has Serbia's continued refusal to recognise will decide in the upcoming days whether to agreement and actively help to implement been postponed. Kosovo's independence. Kosovo Parliament Approves Agreement With Serbia After a long and tense debate on Sunday night that was interrupted by protests, parliament in Prishtina voted for the deal with Belgrade on the future of Serb-run northern Kosovo.

twice interrupted by protests that the local Serbian community against the deal by the opposition will choose local police command- Self-Determination Movement. ers, while the composition of the By Edona Peci Several of the party’s MPs first police will reflect the ethnic struc- held up banners with slogans like ture on the ground. The draft also “The resolution of submission to proposes more judges coming from Kosovo’s assembly approved the deal after a tense debate. osovo’s parliament voted Serbia”, urging parliament not to the Serbian minority. after midnight to endorse back Thaci over the agreement. A so-called Association of Serb region, to “not be scared by the Bosnia… the north of Mitrovica is Kthe deal struck in Brussels After a short break, the session Municipalities with broad powers agreement” as it will be “in their becoming like [the capital of Serb- on Friday, with 89 lawmakers vot- continued but was again inter- will include the four Serb-run interest”. run Bosnian entity Republika ing in favour, five against and one rupted when surveillance tapes of northern municipalities of North “Don’t become a victim of those Srpska] Banja Luka,” said the abstention. telephone conversations between Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan and who, on your behalf, have benefit- party’s leader, Albin Kurti. Prime Minister Hashim Thaci Thaci and his party officials, Zubin Potok. ed during the last 14 years from The deal reached on April 19 is told MPs at the extraordinary ses- which are the subject of an EU Since the end of the Kosovo con- the lack of rule of law in the considered to be crucial to Serbia sion of parliament that the agree- rule-of-law mission investigation, flict in the late 1990s, northern north,” Thaci said, promising that and Kosovo’s ambitions to join the ment with Serbia “seals the exten- were played loudly in another Kosovo has been beyond the Serb parallel structures will European Union, with Belgrade sion of Kosovo’s sovereignty, legal- attempt to derail the proceedings. Prishtina government’s control, diminish over time. hoping to get a date for the start of ity and constitutionality in every While the debate continued while Serbia has continued to But the Self-Determination EU accession talks. corner of its territory”. inside parliament, more than 100 finance local security, judicial, Movement lawmakers said the The Prishtina authorities also “It is not an ideal agreement, demonstrators protested in front health and educational institu- deal was harmful for Kosovo, hope that the agreement is a step Y but it is the best possible agree- of the building where police had tions. claiming it would create a dysfunc- towards Serbia’s recognition of M ment,” he added. stepped up security measures. Thaci called on Serbs in Kosovo, tional system. Kosovo’s independence, which was C But the five-hour debate was The draft agreement envisions especially those in the northern “Kosovo is turning into a declared in February 2008. K 6 April 26 - May 9, 2013 news Kosovo Officials Under Pressure to Stop Moonlighting Anti-Corruption Agency wants to outlaw the widespread practice of officials taking outside employment.

public functions, “an official may exercise his/her activities in the area of science, sport, education, By Njomza Salihi culture and humanitarian activi- ties, unless otherwise provided for by other laws.” here was nothing heroic The Anti-Corruption Agency about government officials wants to change that. Earlier in Tundertaking several extra April, the agency’s head, Hana jobs, the speaker of the Kosovo Preteni, recommended that the Assembly, Jakup Krasniqi, recent- government outlaw the practice of ly complained. officials moonlighting. “What kind of supermen are “I can’t be sitting on this chair those officials who have up to five and on another one at the same jobs? Can they do all their tasks time,” Preteni told Prishtina properly as the laws require?” he Insight. asked, addressing MPs on April 10. According to the agency’s latest “This is impossible. People who annual report, released in April, have these posts violate the law 979 officials, including 13 minis- every day and no one bothers them ters and 66 MPs, reported having about it.” at least one outside job while some Teaching at private universities is common for public officials. In fact there is nothing illegal had as many as five. about government officials taking source of extra income for politi- breaking the law by holding down ernment, also called for tough additional jobs and nearly 1,000 Lucrative lecturing: cians. a job as lecturer, but would leave powers to enforce them. did so last year. Bekim Salihu from the GAP academia were the law to change. The agency’s decisions should The 2011 Law on the Prevention institute, a think tank, told “When a law or article prohibits be legally binding, Preteni, the As Prishtina Insight reported in of Conflict of Interest, states that Prishtina Insight that a large num- Rame Buja as a minister from agency’s head, wrote. Currently, January, private colleges and uni- during the discharge of his or her ber of public figures are also pro- being a university lecturer, he will only the courts can enforce them. versities have become a favourite fessors in universities. immediately resign,” Morina said. Meanwhile the Anti-Corruption “One of the sectors that has Stavileci similarly said he would Agency’s annual report said it had been used most by people in poli- choose his official job over his pursued 244 cases of public cor- tics is universities,” Salihu said. extra post as a lecturer at Illira ruption in 2012, including 80 car- “They claim they are there for aca- University. ried over from 2011. They resulted demic affairs, and in government “If there is a law that prohibits in indictments against 144 offi- for public ones.” holding another job, I would only cials. Eight MPs, Behar Selimi, keep the minister’s job, so as not to The agency also reported that 99 Xhevahire Izmaku, Arben Gashi, not violate the law,” he said. per cent of Kosovo officials, 3,869 Haki Demolli, Vjosa Osmani, Lutfi Bekim Salihu, of the GAP in all, declared their assets last Zharku, Aferdita Berisha Shaqiri Institute, said that Kosovo’s insti- year, the highest number since and Muhamet Latifi, have declared tutions have purposefully avoiding 2007. that they lecture in private col- regulating the issue of outside The agency filed indictments leges. employment. “There has been a against the 32 officials who did not The ministers of Education, lack of commitment in working in declare their wealth, Preteni said. Rame Buja, and of Agriculture, this area,” he said. Blerand Stavileci, both from the Officials’ Outside Employment: ruling Democratic Party of New law needs teeth Kosovo, PDK, also lecture in pri- 670: two outside jobs vate colleges. In addition to placing new 117: three outside jobs Arber Morina, spokesperson of restrictions on officials’ outside 26: four outside jobs the Education Ministry, told employment, the Anti-Corruption 6: five outside jobs Rame Buja, minister of education, lectures at AAB Riinvest in Prishtina. Prishtina Insight that Buja is not Agency, in its proposal to the gov- EU Official Dampens Visa Liberalisation Hopes Brussels’ top representative warns Kosovars not to expect to be able to travel to the EU without visas soon. claims of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci The diplomat said he expected some who in December 2012 said that Kosovo had issues to be resolved soon, including already met the requirements, and Brussels Green Card membership, which would By Bardh Shkreli was to blame for any remaining delays. allow Kosovo drivers to use their insur- “The negative opinion on Kosovo must ance throughout Europe, which most change in Brussels. The judgmental atti- Europeans are able to do. tude of Brussels is disappointing for the For now, Kosovars often have to pur- he EU’s top official in Kosovo, people of Kosovo,” Thaci said. chase additional costly insurance to drive Samuel Zbogar, has downplayed In October 2012, the EU approved the in most European states. Likewise, most Texpectations in Kosovo that Brussels launch of a Feasibility Study for Kosovo as European car insurance policies are will soon ease visa restrictions on a precondition for signing a Stabilization invalid in Kosovo. Kosovars. and Association Agreement, SAA, a key “Our people are working in this direc- In an interview with BIRN’s “Life in step toward an eventual EU membership. tion with the Green Card Bureau in Kosovo” programme last week, the Kosovo was hoping to sign the agreement Brussels trying to find a solution to this Slovenian diplomat said Kosovo still had by the end of 2012 but the EU said then that problem,” he said. to make progress on the rule of law, Kosovo still had to meet a number of pre- Zbogar was also asked about scandal including cutting the backlog of court conditions. emerging in his native Slovenia concern- cases and fighting corruption and organ- Zbogar said he anticipated that negotia- ing Telekom Slovenije, which owns ized crime before EU is likely to lift visa tions for a SAA would begin this summer. Kosovo’s IPKO, the second largest mobile requirements. phone providers. “It is better to be positively surprised Hopeful on Phone and Bank Among other allegations, Slovenian than disappointed. I don’t want to raise the authorities have accused the ex-manage- expectation of the people of Kosovo regard- Codes, Insurance ment of Telekom Slovenije of making a 10- ing visa-free travel,” Zbogar said. million-euro payoff to a businessman to However, Zbogar expressed optimism Zbogar discussed several practical abandon his purchase of a mobile opera- that so-called visa liberalisation could hap- issues that have continued to vex people in tor’s license, paving the way for IPKO to pen before his term ends as the EU’s special Kosovo because of the country’s disputed obtains it. representative in Kosovo in 2016. status, starting with the lack of a single “This is hard,” Zbogar said. “First, I rep- Kosovo remains the only country in the international phone dialing prefix — the resent the European Union. Second I can- region whose citizens need visas to travel to country uses those of Monaco, Slovenia not comment on such court cases. This is a Y the passport-free Schengen Area, which and Serbia — an international bank code case that is being developed in Slovenia M comprises most of the EU. and membership of Europe’s Green Card and what implications it will have in C Zbogar’s comments appear to deflate the car insurance system. Samuel Zbogar, the top EU official in Kosovo, is taking a Slovenia remain to be seen.” K cautious done on visa liberalisation. (Photo/OECD) news April 26 - May 9, 2013 7 Ruling Portrays MP as Ringleader in Killings Ex-KLA supreme commander - who hasn’t been charged - played a key role in politically motivated crimes committed by the defunct intelligence service, SHIK, ruling says. should maintain holiness of the war and Salihaj had pointed a gun at him, accord- not taint it with lies.” ing to the ruling. The ruling establishes Syla as a central The court also connected Azem Syla to By Florent Spahija figure in the now-defunct intelligence the murder of Ibush Kllokoqi. According agency SHIK and its forerunner, ZKZ, two to the ruling, he was killed on the orders shadowy services linked to the KLA and of SHIK in 1999, after the war, because it PDK. was suspected that he had collaborated zem Syla, the former supreme com- The case was in large part based on the with the Serbian authorities. mander of the Kosovo Liberation testimony of Nazim Bllaca, a self-pro- According to the ruling, Syla was pres- Army and current MP, proudly A fessed SHIK assassin who shook Kosovo ent when the murder weapon was given to announced in October that EULEX had in 2009 when he went public with revela- Bllaca. ended its investigation of him in connection tions about killings carried out by the The testimony of Bllaca in regards to with killings committed after the war. Syla said it was “for the common good.” intelligence service. Azem Syla was “consistent, detailed, logi- But a December court ruling in Sadik Abazi, Shaban Syla, Driton cal, with no major contradictions and con- Prishtina, which saw five men convicted in Hajdari, Bekim Syla, and Shpresim Uka vincing,” according to the ruling. case involving a killing and two attempted were convicted in the case and sentenced “Nazim Bllaca is telling the truth about killings, portrayed Syla as the ringleader to lengthy prison terms. Driton Hajdari, Azem Syla regarding the events in the of a criminal group responsible for mur- Bekim Syla, and Shpresim Uka remain at indictment,” the judges wrote. ders and assassinations following the end large. Syla’s role a ringleader was also sup- of the war. According to the ruling at the district ported by witness Fatmir Prapashtica. Details of the ruling, including Syla’s court of Prishtina, Syla gave the order to The owner of the Flur cafe in Sunny role in the case, were only made public kill Adem Salihaj, a former mayor of Hill, he recalled how Sylaj would sit at a this week. Ferizaj and member of the Democratic table in at the bar and summon those EULEX has not charged Syla or com- League of Kosovo, LDK, in 2000. named in the case for meetings. “Before mented on its investigation. But the rul- Syla was seated in the Opel Omega talking, this person had to give his mobile ing suggests a prosecution is likely, as the armed with a hand gun. Shpresim Uka phone to the driver of Azem Syla,” judges in multiple instances referred to and Nazim Bllaca were in a BMW ahead of Prapashtica told the court. Azem Syla hasn’t been indicted in connection with his involvement in the crimes. Salihaj to slow down the car. “When the Syla faced other troubles in 2012. In the post-war killings and attempted killings. Syla, a member of the ruling right moment came, the Omega car went March, he was ordered to leave Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, did not near the car of Salihaj and Shaban Syla Switzerland after a court found that he granted asylum in Switzerland in 1994 - respond to Prishtina Insight’s questions directed the gun to the victim. Adem had abused the country’s social security was serving as a MP in Kosovo. about the ruling, but he previously dis- Salihaj reacted immediately by directing system by taking around 425,000 Swiss Syla, in an interview with RTK, insisted missed EULEX’s investigation into the his gun to Shaban Syla,” the court said. francs, claiming he was unfit to work. that all assistance that he had received post-war killings, saying: “Everyone But Shaban Syla didn’t open fire - either The authorities there stopped the pay- from the Swiss state, had been received because of a malfunction or because ments after learning that Syla - who had “in a correct manner”. Police Appeal Coffee Smuggling Indictments Ruling Expected in Police and a prosecutor are at odds Telekom over whether an alleged attempt to illegally transport coffee into Serbia Slovenije Case was tantamount to smuggling.

By Parim Olluri By Kreshnik Gashi

lovenia’s National Bureau of Investigation plans to file indictments against nine people osovo Police are appealing a prose- as part of corruption probe into Telekom cutor’s decision to drop charges in S Slovenije, including how it purchased Kosovo’s Kthe case of an alleged attempt to IPKO. smuggle coffee into Serbia. Drago Menegailja, a spokesman for the Border Police near Kamenica confiscat- National Bureau of Investigation, told Prishtina ed 6,000 kilograms of coffee in a truck Insight that the indictments would likely include belonging to the Devolli Corporation, one charges of abuse of office and fraud, which are of country’s largest and most powerful punishable by up to eight years in prison. companies, on March 7. Menegalija said investigators collected evi- Police said the truck was attempting dence during raids in Slovenia in late March. cross into Serbia near Kamenica, in east- An ad for Devolli’s popular Prince Coffee. “The raids, which had the permission of the ern Kosovo. District Court, were made based on the allega- Officers initially stopped the truck an police confiscated the coffee, while filing Serbia”, Kelani said. “So we stopped the tions that documents would be found that were hour and a half earlier. The driver told a criminal charge against the two repre- truck around 100 metres before the bor- related to economic crimes that caused damages officers he was delivering the coffee to sentatives of Albina Company and the der crossing.” of 25 million euro,” Menegalija said. Albina Company, which was sited several Devolli driver on suspicion of trying to Devolli, maker of the popular Prince Menegailja would not reveal the identities of hundred meters away. smuggle goods into Serbia. Coffee, denied that the shipment was the suspects, but the Slovenian newspaper However, when the truck moved in the However, on March 22, another prosecu- bound for Serbia. Dnevnik said they included four former Telekom opposite direction, officers informed the tor, Ismet Ukshini, dropped the charges “Devolli Corporation had taken on the Slovenije board members, two ex-officials at driver that he was going the wrong away, on the grounds that a crime had not responsibility to deliver the coffee to the Slovenia’s Factor Bank, and the Kosovar busi- police said. occurred. destination that the buyer requested,” nessman Ekrem Lluka. They became suspicious when the This was because the border had not the firm said. Menegailja would not comment on reports in truck re-approached the border. actually been crossed. He ordered that the “However, our company driver deviat- the Dnevnik and other Slovenian newspapers that According to the charge filed by the coffee, valued at 15,000 euro, be returned. ed from the destination route after the investigators suspect that Telekom Slovenije offi- police, the driver and representatives of Police sent a complaint to the Kosovo buyer requested transport of the goods to cials paid Lluka 10 million euros to drop out of Albina Company told officers that the cof- Appeals Court on March 28, challenging the house of the buyer,” Devolli contin- his 2006 winning bid for the second mobile phone fee was headed to the nearby village of Ukshini’s decision. ued. operator’s license in Kosovo. Muqiverce. Kosovo police spokesman Baki Kelani Representatives of Albina Company IPKO, the second highest bidder, went on to Police said they didn’t accept the story dismissed the prosecutor’s reasoning, did not respond to Prishtina Insight’s Y wind the license. because the village lay in another direc- about not crossing the border. questions, but maintained that no M Lluka has not respond to Prishtina Insight’s tion. “There are major obstacles regarding attempt was made to smuggle coffee out of requests for comment. C Together with the duty prosecutor, the the collaboration with the police of the country. K 8 April 26 - May 9, 2013 neighbourhood business Politics Sway Airport’s Lucrative Sponsorships The profitable public company has proven a generous donor to causes dear to the ruling URS, which controls the airport. Markovic, a senior URS member who was Culture Minister from March 2011 to July 2012, received By Aleksandar 3,000 to help equip high school Djordjevic libraries. The only public company that received a donation from Nikola he Radnicki basketball club Tesla Airport in the last two years and three companies con- was the Belgrade Hippodrome. In Tnected with one of Serbia’s 2011, it received 8,000 to refurbish ruling parties, United Regions of its tracks. Serbia, URS, have received 340,000 From 2008 to 2012, the director over last two years from the air- of the company was Boris Ivkovic, port, a public company whose also from the URS. director, Velimir Radosavljevic, was appointed by the same party, BIRN can reveal. No control over spending: Radnicki got 300,000 of the total sum. The other half of a total of Vladimir Todoric, from New Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport. 680,000 that the airport gave in Policy Centre, says that the issue of sponsorships and donations by sponsorships and donations went party was called until 2012, has for the selection of companies and games for the company. to more than 240 other organisa- public companies is poorly regu- been in power since the changes clubs that the airport sponsors or It had also to put the airport’s lated. tions. Each received from 300 to in 2000 with different coalition donates to. logo and banner in a visible place 45,000. “The idea that public compa- partners. Nor had it clarified whether the during matches. nies give donations and sponsor- The case adds weight to fears The biggest beneficiary of the URS or Dinkic had influenced the The airport failed also to that the way in which ruling par- ships is not bad in itself… they airport’s generosity is Radnicki airport’s decisions on whom to answer BIRN’s questions about should help. The problem is that ties post their officials as directors club, from Kragujevac, whose hon- donate money to, or sponsor. whether the club had met its obli- of public companies after elec- these are politically driven deci- orary president is Mladjan Paskaljevic was not reachable for gations and how the airport moni- sions,” he said. tions encourages abuse. Dinkic, the leader of the URS. comment. tors whether the terms of the con- Vladimir Todoric, director of Nemanja Nenadic, from Another is a film production The sponsorship deals with tract are being met. Transparency Serbia, says public New Policy Centre, a think tank, company, Nova Film, owned by Radnicki were the biggest spon- Data that BIRN obtained from said the head of a public company, companies should not be allowed movie director Goran Paskaljevic, sorships that the airport assigned the airport showed that its other to spend money on sponsorships. “usually a party member, can also a URS member. to any single company in both 2011 sponsorships, not related to the “It is indicative that sponsor- decide on how the money will be Another is a publishing house, and 2012. party, were more modest in size. ship in this case is politically spent, which creates room for Stubovi kulture, owned by Dinkic, the URS president, For example, in the last two motivated. The question is why abuse.” Predrag Markovic, also a URS became an honorary president of years, the sports club Partizan they are sponsoring this club and Ironically, in the May 2012 gen- member. Another is Belgrade Radnicki in April 2011. received 30,000, the basketball not some other,” Nenadic told eral election campaign, one of the Hippodrome, a public company “I’ll help as much as I can. I’ll club Partizan got 45,000, the BIRN. main pledges of the URS was to also run by the URS. try to talk with some companies, waterpolo club Partizan got 50,000 “The government should also “de-politicise” public companies. “United Regions of Serbia does banks and businessmen to see if and the football and basketball say something about this as the The URS said it wanted to not influence economic policies or they can support the club,” Dinkic clubs Crvena Zvezda got 7,500 and government controls the public ensure that heads of public com- decisions brought by public com- said at the ceremony where he 3,500. companies and approves their panies and state institutions were panies in any way,” the party told was declared honorary president. The airport also sponsored a financial reports,” he added. selected on the basis of compe- BIRN. The first sponsorships that the company, Zilion Film, to produce a Serbia is struggling with a budg- tence, not party membership. Predrag Markovic told BIRN airport assigned for this club soon movie, White Lions, with 5,200. et deficit that is currently running However, after winning power that at the time his company followed, when the airport and Another company, Vertical media, at 54 per cent of GDP while unem- in May, the coalition of received the donation his active Radnicki signed an agreement got 5,000 and the Serbian ployment has soared to 27 per Progressives, Socialists and URS participation in the company was worth 30,000 for a period of three Basketball Association got 35,000. cent. launched traditional-style negoti- frozen. months. Nova Film, owned by movie Most public companies operate ations on who would run which “I don’t know anything about In July 2011, the airport and director Paskaljevic, who is also a at a significant loss and are heavi- company. that donation, I stopped my partic- club signed an annual sponsor- member of the URS presidency, is ly subsidised by the state. Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport ipation in the company in May ship deal for 120,000. In 2012, the near the top of the list of compa- Todoric says controls over their was again allocated to the URS, 2011 when I became a minister and airport again sponsored the club nies that in 2011 and 2012 received spending are far too weak. The which has controlled the company was not involved in the company’s with 150,000. donations from the airport. The state audit institution is the only since 2004. operations until July 2012, when According to the contract, the production company received body capable of raising the alarm The airport is one of the rare my mandate expired,” Markovic basketball team in return was to about 30,000 in donations over the about abuses, but lacks the public companies in Serbia that told BIRN. provide visibility for airport two yearsfor production of the resources to do so, he concluded. generates money. In 2011, it posted By the time of publication, the adverts on screens during games, movie When Day Breaks. BIRN journalist Gordana a profit of 14 million. airport had not responded to 15 seconds of advertising time on The publishing house Stubovi Andric also contributed to this The URS, or G17 plus, as the BIRN’s queries about the criteria TV stations,and tickets for club culture, owned by Predrag article. Croatia, Bosnia Solve Old Problems in One Year Croatia's fast-approaching membership of the EU has helped the two countries solve decades of problems in only a year, a Bosnian official said, unveiling an analysis of the issue. July, Kapetanovic noted it still upheld its claim during Brussels “People who cross the border sued Bosnia for violating their held some negative implications talks with officials from Zagreb with Croatia with an ID card will rights to run for the State for Bosnia in terms of freedom of but that transit through the not be able to go to other EU Presidency or parliament. By Elvira M. Jukic movement and trade. Bosnian coastal town of Neum, Schengen states,” Kapetanovic The European Court of Human But, he added: “We had the same which separates Dubrovnik area cautioned, adding that Bosnians Rights in 2009 told Bosnia to questions on the table for 20 from the rest of Croatia, will also living close to the borders could change its constitution and allow years... And we have managed to be open to Croats. have special crossing cards since minorities to run for top governing olving bilateral questions solve some of those dilemmas and Another open questions between some own property in Croatia too. posts currently reserved for the between Bosnia and Croatia open questions... although there is the two countries, which both were The analysis came after several largest ethnic groups, Serb, Croats Swas speeded up by the latter's upcoming EU membership, with no room for too much optimism, once part of Yugoslavia, was tran- meetings of Bosnian, Croatian and and Bosniaks [Muslims]. many problems solved over the especially when it comes to sit without passports but only with EU officials held prior to Croatia's In recent months, EU officials past year, a senior Bosnian official exports to the EU market.” ID cards. entrance to the EU. warned Bosnia that it has to imple- said. The official was referring to the However, resolution of that issue Bosnia and Herzegovina signed ment the ruling or see its EU path Presenting the results of analy- unpreparedness of Bosnian insti- requires the approval of EU states the Stabilisation and Association frozen. sis entitled “How ten years fit in tutions and producers to meet EU too, not only Croatia, he noted. Agreement with the EU in 2008 but While Bosnia's SAA is still not in one”, Amer Kapetanovic, from the export standards, an issue that is Kapetanovic said he expected a the agreement was never put into force, and while Croatia is due to Bosnian Foreign Ministry, on still to be resolved. positive solution to the issue, force owing to several conditions join the EU on July 1, Montenegro April 22 said more had been One open question that Croatia adding that Bosnian ID cards are that the country did not meet. has started membership talks, achieved in the past year than in and Bosnia have part-solved was in accordance with EU standards Among them were implement- Serbia and Macedonia have candi- the previous ten. free access to the Croatian port of and that 6-7 million border cross- ing a key human rights ruling date status while Albania has Referring to Croatia's member- Ploce, to which Bosnia lays rights. ings a year did not cause any prob- issued after a Bosnian Roma and a obtained a conditional recommen- ship of the EU, which starts in Kapetanovic said Bosnia had lems so far. Jew, Dervo Sejdic and Jakob Finci, dation for candidate status. neighbourhood news April 26 - May 9, 2013 9 Albania Faces Questions Over Ammunition for Libya Following a UN expert report, Tirana denies knowing that bullets destined for the Gulf ended up in the hands of Libyan rebels.

shipped to Libya at the height of by a UN panel of experts suggests International Golden Group. that the flight plan had been the civil war in September 2011 in that Tirana had some information The international Golden Group amended by the carrier officially defiance of an arms embargo. about the final destination of the represented the armed forces of flying to the United Arab By Besar Likmeta Albanian authorities deny ammunition but did not follow it the United Arab Emirates in the Emirates, and the amendments knowing that the weapons, offi- through. deal and signed the delivery verifi- were made outside Albanian air- cially sold to the United Arab A 94-page report prepared by a cation certificate relating to the space. lbania has promised to Emirates through intermediaries, five-member panel and circulated ammunition on their behalf. However, the panel decided that investigate how around were destined for Libyan rebels in by the UN on Tuesday details arms Flight permits were issued in some departments of the A800,000 12.7 mm rounds of Benghazi, and have promised an trafficking cases in the 2011 upris- accordance with an official Albanian authorities were likely ammunition, originating from internal investigation. Albanian surplus stocks, were ing against the Gaddafi regime, as request by MEICO in order to pro- to have possessed sufficient infor- However, evidence discovered well as efforts to track down the ceed with exports of military mation about the amendments assets of individuals linked with material through Mother Teresa but failed to take action. his regime, which are on UN black- airport on September 10, 11 and 12 “Specifically, that information list. to Abu Dhabi International includes a landing permission The panel said the illicit arms Airport. request received by the aviation transfers, both to rebels and the But, after the permits were authorities on 8 September 2012 regime, proven or still under issued, the flight route was for an aircraft whose purpose of investigation, involve more than changed and the three flights landing is recorded as charter in 12 countries. delivered their cargo to Benghazi. route Tirana-Zarzis-Benghazi,” The transfer of ammunition to The fight arrived in Benghazi, the report notes. Libya involved the United Arab after receiving clearance from According to the landing per- Emirates, an Armenian arms deal- NATO and the United Arab mission requested by Ayk Avia, er, and the Albanian and Emirates Air Force, although the the cargo to be loaded on to the Ukrainian official arms exports UN Security Council had imposed aircraft was recorded as a danger- agencies. a no-fly zone over Libya. ous cargo of UN 0300 1.4G, making The shipment was carried out The three flights from Tirana it clear that the cargo was mili- over three days from September 9, are part of some 20 flights of tary material. 2011 from Tirana’s Mother Teresa weapons indentified by the UN “In total, three flights loaded Airport, through an Armenian air panel that delivered weapons to with the same cargo travelled the carrier and flown directly to the Libyan rebels during the con- same flight path between Tirana Benghazi, in spite of the imposi- flict. and Benghazi over three days tion of the arms embargo. DG Arms Corporation secured without being questioned by the DG Arms Corporation, an the carrier, Ayk Avia, and the Albanian authorities,” the report Armenian broker that was seeking ammunition was transferred by adds. to purchase surplus ammunition an Ilyushin IL-76 TD aircraft. Ayk In response to the observations for the United Arab Emirates, con- Avia, a company registered in raised by the UN panel, the tacted Albania’s Military Export Armenia, was previously Albanian authorities responded Agency, MEICO, along with other involved in breaching sanctions by letter, noting that neither the companies in the region in July against the regime in Somalia, domestic nor international air 2011. according to the Monitoring traffic authorities noticed or pre- MEICO preferred to sign a deal Group on Somalia and Eritrea. vented the unilateral modifica- with a state entity rather than an The UN panel discovered that tion of the flight route by the car- independent broker, which led to the 800,000 rounds were part of a rier. the involvement of UKRINMASH, larger deal between UKRINMASH Tirana said the modification of a subsidiary of the Ukrainian and the government of the United the flight route was the result of state-owned Ukrspecexport. Arab Emirates through the “human error” and lack of proper MEICO then sold the ammuni- Armenian agent, including 2 mil- attention by individual air traffic tion to UKRINMASH, which, lion 12.7 x 108 mm rounds and authorities, adding that there was through the Armenian agent, re- 1,000 AK-47 assault rifles. “no plan or decision by the exported it fictively to the United The Albanian authorities told Government to breach the UN A Libyan rebel organises ammunition in 2011. (Photo/BRQ Network) Arab Emirates through the the panel that they were unaware arms embargo for Libya”. Albania's Big Parties Gather Electoral Allies The ruling Democrats and the opposition Socialists have signed up dozens of smaller parties for the two big coalitions ahead of the June 23 parliamentary elections. Albanians and made Albania itself a laughing two electoral coalitions and would run alone stock,” Rama said. in the elections. The ruling Democratic Party of Prime “Albanians need a third alternative, which By Besar Likmeta Minister Sali Berisha will have 25 parties in its is vital for a functioning representative democ- electoral coalition, named the "Alliance for racy and guarantees better governance with Employment, Welfare and Integration". European standards after the parliamentary Apart from the Democrats, the coalition will elections,” Topi said. he Socialists have signed up 37 politi- include the Republican Party, the Movement Albania’s has a long history of contested cal parties in their electoral bloc, for National Development, the Party for polls that do not meet international standards. Tunder a coalition group named the Justice Integration and Unity, PDIU, and oth- The last general elections in 2009 sparked a "Alliance for a European Albania". ers. political crisis between the ruling Democrats Apart from the Socialists the coalition will The general secretary of the Democratic and opposition Socialists, which reverberates include the Socialist Movement for Party, Ridvan Bode, said the goal of the coali- to this day. Integration, LSI, the Greek minority party, the tion was to move the EU integration process The EU sees the general elections on June 23 Ballots in Albania. Union for Human Rights, the Social forward. as the latest test for Tirana’s political elite to per district ranges from four to 32, based on Democrats and other smaller parties. “We believe that the integration process is advance the country’s battered integration the number of citizens in each district. Speaking on Tuesday, the Socialist leader, essential for our future in Europe,” said Bode. goals. Although voting in most of the country will Edi Rama, said the coalition included, left, cen- “This process until now has been held hostage The 140 members of the Albanian parlia- be carried out through paper ballots, two new tre and centre-right parties whose goal was to to political interests,” he added. ment are elected for a four-year term. They are election technologies will be introduced on a restore democracy in Albania. Meanwhile, the New Democratic Spirit, a elected through a regional proportional sys- pilot basis for these elections: an electronic “This is a front that goes beyond the tradi- party created by a fraction of former tem, consisting of closed candidate lists in 12 counting system that uses ballot-scanners in tional opposition… and aims to banish a polit- Democratic Party MPs and former President multi-member districts, which correspond to Fier District and an electronic voter verifica- ical caste, which has become unbearable for Bamir Topi, said it would not join either of the administrative regions. The number of seats tion system in Tirana District. 10 April 26 - May 9, 2013 feature Captive Brown Bears Gain

NGO wants to relocate animals living at restaurants and small zoos, but some owners aren’t sold on the idea.

require reconditioning before they can be released into the reserve. By Petrit Collaku “Today, these bears don’t know how to live free in nature since they are used to living in cages,” Mahmuti said. “The project plans asandra has had a tough a program for their engagement, life. The brown bear spent by starting with games, hiding Kher first 10 years living in a food and other things.” small cage at the Gjeraqina restau- Kasandra still lives in a con- rant near Suhareka. fined space in the refuge but When the Four Paws organisa- Mahmuti said she will be intro- tion found Kasandra in March, duced to an open space soon. she was underfed. These days, The refuge will have a caretak- she is struggling to adjust to her er, a veterinarian and other new life at a new bear refuge employees from surrounding vil- about 20 kilometres outside lages to help out. Prishtina, near Lake Badovc. “People are sceptical about “She is very stressed because this, but this is for the best of the she lived in very small space as a country because we protect the cub for very long time,” said endangered species,” said Afrim Mahmuti, head of Four Mahmuti. Paws in Kosovo. Four Paws has been working on Four Paws, or Vier Pfoten, was the project since early 2012, as established in Austria in 1988. has so far spent 200,000 euro on The animal rights organisation the refuge. The organisation fore- operates across Europe, in South sees spending another 400,000 Africa and the United States, and euro on a second phase of the lobbies governments to change plan. laws for the wellbeing of animals. Kasandra’s former home near Suhareka. The organization runs similar Kasandra is the first resident of projects also in Austria, Bulgaria “She was in a desperate condi- two bears, while the small zoo at what Four Paws is calling The Bear owners skeptical: and Germany, and is starting oth- tion,” said Rifat Morina, an offi- the Te Ariu restaurant has five. Forest of Bears, situated on a 15.6 ers in Albania and Serbia. cial in the Ministry of the There are also bears at establish- hectare plot given by the munici- Some bear owners don’t want The idea for the refuge came Environment who is working ments in Prizren, Mitrovica, Peja pality of Prishtina. to give up their animals. about in 2011, when Austrian with the refuge. and Rugova. Four Paws, in collaboration The Shqiponja mini-zoo in peacekeepers soldiers encoun- Morina said the ministry had The 2010 Law on the with the Ministry of the Prizren has refused to give up its tered Kasandra in a small cage at kept track of endangered ani- Preservation of Nature in 2010 Environment, plans to bring 14 two bears. the Gjeraqina restaurant in the mals, including brown bears, liv- designated brown bears a protect- other bears to the refuge that cur- “We do not trust this shelter,” Duhel village, about 10 kilome- ing at small zoos in restaurants ed species. Brown bears are found rently live at restaurants and said Osman Goranci, the man- ters from Suhareka. since 2005. through the Balkan region, small zoos throughout Kosovo, ager of the zoo. They took photographs, which In Prishtina, the Freskia though it is not known how many some in appalling conditions. The zoo operates as an NGO then appeared in the Austrian restaurant in Germia Park has remain in Kosovo. Mahmuti said the bears will and says it draws thousands of media and sparked outrage.

Y M C K The bear refuge is being constructed about 20 kilometers outside Prishtina. feature April 26 - May 9, 2013 11 Fresh Start

At least 14 brown bears live in confinement in restaurants and small zoos across Kosovo.

visitors each year. In addition to the bears, the zoo has more than 140 other animals. “Today, these bears don’t The zoo has no need of a know how to live free in license because Kosovo doesn’t nature since they are used have any laws that oblige zoos to obtain one. “We have sent to living in cages. The proj- many requests for a license,” ect plans a program for their Goranci said. Goranci said KFOR soldiers engagement, by starting brought the bear cubs to the with games, hiding food and zoo in 2003. Hunters had killed other things.” the mother and sold the cubs. The soldiers confiscated the Afrim Mahmuti cubs. Naim Muja, owner of “Te the refuge, and suggested the Ariu” in Prishtina, which has bears might endanger nearby five bears, is also sceptical of villages by scavenging for food. the bear refuge. The refuge has an electrified He said the Ministry of the fence, backed up by a generator. Environment should pay up if The owner of Freskia, in it wants his bears. Prishtina’s Germia Park, has “We raised them ourselves resigned himself to losing his for many years. We should be two bears. compensated for that,” Muja “All that’s left is for them to said. take them. But I won’t give Muja said he is also con- them up without documenta- cerned about the conditions of tion,” Kastrati said.

Europe's Bear Population

REGION COUNTRIES NUMBER OF BEARS

Iberia: Spain 120 Pyrenees : France, Spain, Andorra 15-17 Apennines: Italy 40-50 Alps: Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland 30-50 Dinaric Pindos: Slovenia, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, 2,100-2,500 Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania East Balkans: Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria 720 Carpathians: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, 8,000 Romania, Ukraine, Serbia Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway 2,600 Northeastern Europe: Finland, Norway, Russia 4,300 Northeastern Europe: Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Belarus 6,800 Source: IUCN 12 April 26 - May 9, 2013 neighbourhood Cash Crisis Threatens Drugs Outreach While the number of drug users rises steadily in Romania, harm-reduction programmes face closure as government funds dry up. Ovidiu’s problems related to the side effects of psychotropic plants, blends of energizing By Marian Chiriac chemical powders - amphetamine- type stimulants - destined to be snorted or injected. “It started to give me a very he air is heavy with the bizarre type of panic”, he says smell of cigarettes as Ovidiu referring to a drug sold under the Tenters the small two-room label “Flower Magic Powder”, Caracuda Centre in a poor neigh- which appeared in 2010 after the bourhood of Romania’s capital, government banned around 40 Bucharest. other substances. The 21-year-old, unshaven and He recalls that under their with a grim face, comes here three influence, he experienced bizarre times a week to get sterile hallucinations. syringes and condoms. But with help and advice from “Most young guys take drugs the Caracuda Centre, Ovidiu has here,” says Ovidiu, gesturing eased off his use of psychotropic towards the slum neighbourhood plants and is now back on heroin of Ferentari. alone. “We actually told con- He says he has been injecting sumers to go back to heroin. drugs, mainly from mind-altering Working on the streets, we plants, since he was 16, and usual- noticed the harmful effects of ly has about four or five doses a mind-altering plants and had no day. other option,” Bogdan Suciu, a The Caracuda Centre is located in an rough and tumble neighbourhood. “I have my first at about seven social worker at Caracuda, says. in the morning when I wake up,” Suciu adds that around 400 peo- tion programmes,” he continues. “We alerted the Health solution.” he said. “It makes me feel good.” ple benefit regularly from the cen- Over 3,000 registered drug Ministry about the problems we The government is having Ovidiu’s life changed radically tre’s services, mainly in terms of users access harm-reduction are facing but we got no answer major difficulties in financing the and for the worse since he became getting free syringes and con- services, like syringe exchange yet,” says Liana Velica, from the country’s ailing public health sec- a drug addict. “My family rejected doms, but also advice on how to programmes, in Romania. Romanian Association Against tor as it is. Addressing the prob- me, even some of my best friends. avoid AIDS or hepatitis. But programmes like the one AIDS, ARAS. lems of drug users is not seen as a I was living the street life… some- “We are proud that some of our that the Caracuda Centre runs are “By the end of May we will run priority. times I didn’t even have some- clients reduced their drug in jeopardy as the government out of the products and of money Ironically, it was just as the new where to sleep. I had nothing. My dependency and went on substitu- says it has no more money for for harm-reduction services,” she psychotropic drugs were growing life was hell for years,” he says. them. adds. “We hope to finally find a in popularity that Romania lost marketing neighbourhood April 26 - May 9, 2013 13 in Romania

In 2009, outreach workers like Bogdan Suciu, and treatment centres, distributed 1.7 million sterile syringes to drug users. Three years later, that number fell to 0.9 million. But the drug problem is worsening in the meantime. funding from key international donors that emerged on the market in Romania, such the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which were commercialized without UNODC, and the Global Fund to Fight restriction for a while,” the ANA says in its AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. latest report. Their funds had literally kept harm- The report issued early this year noted reduction services like the syringe that 2,163 persons received treatment in exchange programmes alive. 2011 for drug and psychotropic plant con- In 2009, outreach workers like Bogdan sumption, over half of whom were hospi- Suciu, and treatment centres, distributed talised. 1.7 million sterile syringes to drug users. Some 34 deaths were directly linked to Three years later, that number fell to 0.9 the consumption of drugs, which was million. slightly higher than the number in previ- ous years. But the drug problem is The estimated total number of regular worsening in the meantime. drug consumers in Romania is around 45,000 in a country of about 19.5 million. Experts say that hard drug consumption Official data show that drug consump- levels in Romania remains relatively sta- tion has more than doubled in Romania ble, but describe the spike in the use of so- over the last four years. Drug use is on the rise in Romania. called psychedelic plants as concerning. This is mainly due to a rise in the con- In recent years Romania has tried to curb sumption of relatively low-risk drugs, such called psychoactive substances. such products are not always conscious of the sale and consumption of these plants as mind-altering plants. In 2011 Romania adopted an emergency the side-effects of consuming hallucino- but the number of young people smoking The Anti-Drug Agency, ANA, says con- decree banning consumption of psychedel- genic plant leaves," Dr Tudor Ciuhodaru, a or consuming the leaves has not fallen sig- sumption of drugs overall increased from ic plants but it seems to have had little specialist on drug-consumption issues, nificantly. 1.7 out of every 100 persons in 2007 to 4.3 effect. warns. The situation seized public attention last year. New products are always available on the “Around 40 per cent of young people have after the media attributed the deaths of “The increase in drug use is largely market as shop owners find ways around tried these substances at least once. This is several young people to use of such so- down to the new psychoactive substances the law. Sales on the internet are hard to a real problem that the authorities have to track. address carefully,” he concludes. "Young people who are most likely to buy marketing

Times are tough at the Caracuda Centre in Bucharest.

Y M C Demand for treatment is up, but funding is down. K 14 April 26 - May 9, 2013 culture Airbrushing the Ottomans from Historian Isa Blumi argues that strict notions of ethnic and national identity are a relatively new feature in the Balkans, which need to be challenged.

By Jeton Musliu

Isa Blumi, an associate professor of his- tory and Middle East Studies at Georgia State University, is the author of the 2011 book, “Reinstating the Ottomans: Alternative Balkan Modernities, 1800- 1912.”

PI: Your book begins with a photo of Ismajl Qemajli standing alone in the balcony on November 28, 1913, on the first anniversary of Albania’s inde- pendence. You note that this photo was manipulated by the regime of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha who “airbrushed an entire political class from Albania’s history” as that was not a photo of Qemajli alone but with at least a dozen members of his gov- ernment. Why did Hoxha do this? Isa Blumi: The need of “revolutionary” regimes to control history by way of rewriting it means selectively highlighting characters whose role will neatly draw a direct link between the past and the emer- gence of the party in power. This requires erasing others’ contributions. Photographs have long been doctored to serve the propa- ganda interests of the regime in power. What is interesting about Hoxha’s regime is it took existing photographs, those often already well known to people, and doing what they did to this iconic photo of an early period in Albania’s post-Ottoman his- tory. At the same time, Hoxha’s regime also destroyed buildings, gravesites, libraries and eradicated archives. In this respect, one could also speculate on the brutality of this blatant manipulation of a histori- The Ottoman Empire was largely a Balkan empire. cal event by considering it an almost brush out important segments of our past, balance of power that marks the rise of consisted of peoples from our regions in acknowledged and openly manipulative especially the Ottoman. the modern state. As in other 19th-centu- the western Balkans. Thus, many act; if one looks at the picture closely, you ry societies, there are clear examples of Albanians moved to settle other parts of can still see the fingers of those crudely PI: Your book claims that there is at concerted efforts at centralizing state the Ottoman Empire, usually as soldiers, airbrushed out. Now, it may just be a mat- least a 500-year history of multi-eth- power in Ottoman history, and often the ter of incompetence. But perhaps the thereby creating Balkan communities in nicity embedded in the Balkans. How result was struggles between region- regime, already known for its use of vio- Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria, which did they define themselves, these peo- al/local interests and those attached to lence against opponents, meant to use exist still today. ple living in the Balkans from the 15th the expansionist Ottoman state. But to such pictures to intimidate potential oppo- Recall that the Ottoman Empire was a to the 19th century? Why did it work exploit the diversity of these societies, in nents. It is as if the men taken out of the Balkan empire for the most part. The then and not during the 1990s? other words, to purposefully incite com- picture so crudely are meant to remind Balkans, long a culturally dynamic and Blumi: This is a crucial issue that trou- petition and strife between religious everyone of the regime’s ability to cut “mixed” space, could never have been so bles complex societies; the crucial factor is groups or “ethnic groups” was not the anyone out of history, or indeed, of the neatly divided and there are healthy revi- not diversity itself but how that diversity present. It functions as a permanent ges- sionist histories written today that chal- has been used by various interests. It does ture of intimidation, like when people lenge even the notion that Bulgaria, not take much effort by those with the It is also crucial to remember that hung by the state were left for days on dis- Greece, or Serbia in the early 20th centu- resources to punish or favor some groups play in the central square for everyone to conversion into other communities, ry were so homogeneous. Crucially, while whose distinctive qualities only become see, to remind them that the state has the most likely registered in religious communities distinguished themselves by “ethnic” or “national” when certain actors power to do this to anyone. clothing and their religion/sect in the make the distinction either legal, or a part terms, did not constitute ethnic This is a remarkable act that has a long Ottoman era, we also know from the of a negotiated process in diplomatic cir- history in Europe; the symbolic, public groups. If that were the case, there world around us that religion was not a cles. The scale of Ottoman state capacities tearing down of a previous ruler’s monu- definitive barrier to social interaction. to do this, or even the will to do this, is would be no Albanians today. ments, statues, erecting replacements It is also crucial to remember that con- very different than the manner in which which symbolizes a new order, and the use version into other communities, most “differences” are created and then exploit- agenda of an Ottoman ruling class. of these statues/monuments to mask or likely registered in religious terms, did ed by the 20th-century state. Increasingly, Remember, they wanted to keep the highlight mass murder is not unique to not constitute ethnic groups. If that were power in the modern state-building empire intact and sectarianism was the Hoxha or Stalin, and is still very much the case, there would be no Albanians process was concentrated to service a nar- last thing they wanted to see emerge from part of the way we tell history. That said, row set of constituencies who did not need mixed populations. today. Here my points about re-reading the reason I used this photo is to remind to share power with those excluded by this The difference between the Euro- the poetry of Pashko Vasa or the actions my readers that we Albanians, and all of naming process. In the past, wealth and Atlantic empires expanding into new ter- of Sami Frasheri are crucial for they the Balkan peoples, have for the last centu- power had to be shared among various ritories with the Ottomans is that for the were men operating within a still very ry been trying to airbrush out our collec- communities because of their ability to most part - with exceptions - the goal was diverse and integrated society. Their tive Ottoman heritage. Of course, all of resist violently. In many ways, it was the to assure harmony in Ottoman lands. Ottoman world was cosmopolitan and the Albania’s past has been manipulated to only economic, and thus politically expedi- Now, there were times when particularly divisions that they saw being manufac- service various regimes of the 20th centu- ent way to manage complex societies. loyal groups were transported into trou- tured by the manipulative policies of ry, from antiquity, the medieval era to What changed were the capacities of cer- bled, regions, such as Chechens to British/French/Austrian/Russian inter- what happened during World War II. The tain entities to harness the collective abili- Kosovo, and indeed refugees from Nis ests pushed them to promote Ottoman illegitimacy of the Hoxha regime’s manip- Y ties/manpower to gradually concentrate after 1878, when Serbia’s expansion was ecumenicalism, not ethno-national sepa- ulation of the past to selectively exclude M violence into their hands. formally recognized by the Great Powers. ratism. We have distorted the significance crucial facts is thus equaled by our pres- C This was a crucial leap forward in the But many of those crucial loyal parties of their contributions to Ottoman society ent attempts to ignore and outright air- K and service to the state, thereby taking international April 26 - May 9, 2013 15 Albanian History

Turks, were part of a multiplicity of reli- gious orders. Not only were they Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant Christians, but Jews and Muslims of numerous Sufi and other traditions. The religious and “ethnic” distinctions that led to forced migrations took place when the Ottoman political order broke down and was replaced by political orders commanded by smaller states with nar- row strategic interests. These narrow interests required excluding previously autonomous or economically powerful constituencies. Thus, Kosovo as a larger entity after 1878, with Skopje as its administrative capital, had to be first invaded by Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria, and then violently torn into aggregates based on religious distinction, with Muslims collectively identified with Isa Blumi is an associate professor of history and post-Ottoman Turkey (large numbers of Middle East Studies at Georgia State University. non-Turkish Muslims were forced to move to Anatolia from 1912 onwards), their writings out of context as well. Catholics who were entirely eradicated Ismajl Qemajli with other leaders on November 28, 1912, when Albania declared independence. and many Albanians, Turks and Muslim PI: What are the most important Slavs who were forcefully converted to patterns of socialization and exclusion in individual, case specific engagements issues regarding Kosovo and Albania Orthodox Christianity. Ottoman societies that are strategically where the profiteering and opportunism that historiography has all but Another way of answering this ques- ignored in Albanian historiography. of one group or a small coalition often ignored since the end of World War 1? tion is to highlight again that during the This applies to the assumed tensions served the larger interests of neighboring Blumi: The emphasis on the relation- Ottoman era, Albanians were far more that existed between “different groups.” states that sought to disrupt Ottoman ship between communities, and indeed divided among themselves. Indeed, there For instance, how people interacted in the state supply chains. the composition, of being Albanian or is a contradiction in logic if we allow his- context of the weekly market in, say, Peja, exclusively Serb, Greek, or Turk, did not torians to continue to use post-WWI ter- was most often determined by non-ethnic PI: Many people encourage a more constitute the criteria for building soci- minology to apply to a different, Ottoman or religious factors. For instance, Slavs, thorough look at our history now the eties prior to World War I. This is also the era. This is why I emphasize so much the Albanians, Turks, and others constantly war with Serbia has been over for case with the way religion functioned in use of Geg and Tosk in the book; not as traded in such market environments; the more than a decade. What should be the Balkans and larger Eastern replacements of one universal category key factor with whom people traded was the major corrections in the way the Mediterranean world. Remember, Slavs, with two, but to make the point that a determined not by ethnic or religious Albanian students learn history? like Albanians, Armenians, Arabs and simple clarification highlights important affiliation but the reliability of a per- Blumi: Beyond acknowledging and inte- son’s credit or reputation. grating the Ottomans into our history, Anthropologists have long studied such Albanians also need to adopt a broader market environments and noted that curriculum that allows them to study trust was the crucial element that other cases in the world and comparable accounted for whether or not “different” stories of development in the crucial era peoples traded. With the emergence of of “modernity” and globalization. The modern states like Serbia, Montenegro or parallels between peoples of the Ottoman Greece, where state elites may have an world and those in some corners of Africa, interest in stigmatizing one group identi- Asia and the Americas are critical. This fied increasingly by religious affiliation, requires that Albanians study other lan- the use of propaganda, can quickly guages, and learn how interlinked other destroy such trust. Also, the penalties for parts of the world, say the Indian Ocean trading with identified “other” or and Latin America, contributed to global “enemy” communities began to con- processes rather than focus exclusively on tribute to the destruction of previously Albania or the Balkans. indigenous, multi-sectarian societies that We Albanians need to develop a existed in the Ottoman Balkans. stronger sense of complexity that does not surrender the dynamic of context for the PI: You talk of “the swift capture of sake of reinforcing myths about a uni- Kosovo by Serbian and Montenegrin form Albanian polity that does not exist. troops in 1912 and the brutal annexa- Being able to compare our varied strug- tion of more than half of Geg-inhabit- gles for social and economic justice in the ed lands by Slav states.” Why didn’t 20th century with those in Africa, Asia Kosovo become part of the Albanian and the Americas would allow us to better state in 1912? articulate to outsiders why our quest for Blumi: Crucially, the Ottoman state had independence is just, for example. mismanaged its human resources and was Albanian students and teachers must not prepared to handle a multi-front become literate in how other societies assault in 1912. In many ways, which we experienced global transformations over do not see in our textbooks, certain com- the last two centuries. This would help us munities like those formed around Isa appreciate our collective struggle today to Boletini and their neighbors, collaborated deal with such dramatically changing with outside forces, in particular with forces that result in our continued impov- Serbia and Montenegro, to destabilize erishment, diplomatic isolation, and frontier regions. This resulted in persecu- exploitation by foreign (and domestic) tion and adoption by the “modern” economic interests. Committee of Union and Progress party The simplistic and parochial under- members (again, many were Albanians) of standing of how the world works, espe- the kind of anti-insurgency methods pop- cially with respect to Kosovo’s American ular in British Africa and German and European allies (as if they only had Namibia. As Ottoman reforms paralleled our best interests in mind) remains debili- those in the rest of Europe (and the tating and corrupting. If Kosovars under- United States), the use of modern stood better the nature of the struggle of weapons, food to coerce people, and forced peoples in Africa and Asia, they would be population movements all contributed to better prepared to understand their past the undermining of local communities to in that context and perhaps confront the properly engage an invading army once kinds of forces that pit us against KFOR Y the Balkan Wars began in earnest. and the KEKs [the power company] and The sad irony is that there never was a mining companies that have continued to M collective, unified Albanian revolt, but harm our society’s ability to develop. C K 16 April 26 - May 9, 2013 Guide

Here is Prishtina Insight’s guide to the best places in town to eat, drink, shop and be merry. We’ll keep this section updated with the newest and coolest places

town. Select a booth, ask the amiable staff to seat, if you intend to make a night of it. Next opening in Kosovo. tune into your match and grab a 'double to A&A restaurant and has round windows. decker' or 'triple burger', which look like Opens: 8pm-to late. Shut on Sundays. Restaurants: community of Kosovo. If you are acquaint- American fast-food classics but taste better. ed with Thai food, you're not in for any sur- Friday night Karaoke is a must-see, must- prises here, with the typical assortment of Fastfood: Liburnia 1 and 2 sing event. curries, salads and deep fried treats, deliv- Rr Meto Bajraktar, tel. +381 (0)38 222 719. Hard Rockers Club ered to decent standards. At 7 or 8 euro for a There are actually two Liburnias opposite Road Ilaz Kodra, contact: vraja_fatos@ hot- Bel Ami main course, it's relatively pricey compared each other, both very similar in style and mail.com. It's one of the few places in Rr Luan Haradinaj, Tel: +377 (0)44 133 848, to its neighbours. Open Monday-Thursday food. Housed in a fine Ottoman abode and Prishtina where you can catch regular live +386 49 133 848. The ideal town-centre stop 11:00-14:00 and 17:45-22:30; Friday-Sunday surrounded by pleasant walled gardens, acts and the only place which caters for for a quick lunch or takeaway snack, Bel 11:00-23:00. Liburnia oozes atmosphere, whether in win- those who like their rock served up heavy, or Ami unceremoniously serves some of the ter or summer. The food is a roll call of hard. On a quiet night, it's quite a comfort- best chicken doner in Prishtina in a surpris- Renaissance II decent traditional Albanian food, including able venue to grab a beer, even if you are not ingly un-greasy, smoke-free environment. Rr. George Bush (behind the Pro Credit Bank the usual stews (tave) and grilled meat. It’s being entertained by hirsute musicians . Ask for a “komplet” to get the classic doner HQ), tel. +377 (0)44 118 796. Renaissance not the best place in town to sample local packed with salad and sauces and wrapped offers arguably the best overall dining expe- delicacies, but a good choice given the set- The Cuban in tin foil. Monday-Friday 9 am - 7.30 pm; rience in Prishtina. It's quite an experience ting. Open 8 am - 11 pm Road Luan Haradinaj Tel: +377(0) 45 620 620. Saturday 9 am - 8 pm. just to find the place. Tucked away along a This is a decent addition to the city's drink- tiny alleyway, you enter the homely, stone Country House ing scene, even if the place can be full of building through heavy wooden doors. It's Clubs: Off road to Podujevo from Pristina, right spivs and tarts who aren't going to a fancy- 15 euro per head, and for that you will be after the Muciqi Mercedes-Benz garage, tel. dress party. The Cuban-themed décor is kept fed, watered and supplied with booze P1 +377 (0)44 656 054. This rustic restaurant is decadent Havana, the food is average, and for at least a three course meal, including a Fehmi Agani, +377 (0)44 608 669. If you’re a 15-minute drive outside Pristina (on a not very Caribbean, but the cocktails are wonderful meze starter and a delicious looking for cool, then P1 is probably not good day) and provides glorious views good. 8 am - 1 am. main course cooked on embers. Open 11 am the spot for you. The decor is pretty unin- across rolling, verdant hills and is especial- spiring, the music is bog standard and the - 11 pm. Xhoni’s Bar ly pleasant place in the summer to watch atmosphere reminiscent of a cattle mar- Rexhep Mala, Pristina, tel. +377 (0)44 750 720. the sunset. The overall food quality is ket. But if your thing is scantily clad Bars: Xhoni’s is, without doubt, a Prishtina insti- decent, with special marks for the fresh young women or packs of amorous boys, tution. It’s small, friendly and smoky, plays bread, straight from the wood stove, and than it’s an excellent choice. And, in the excellent soul, disco and classic rock music speca me maze (peppers in cream). 10 am - Tapë venue’s defence, it does have a pleasant from vinyl and is open until the last man or 11 pm. Hajdar Dushi Street Nr. 2 (next to Zani Bar, outdoor area for summer dancing. woman staggers out. Arrive by 11pm at the Kada Books, in front of the Radio Working hours Wednesday, Friday, weekend to secure a corner, or even better a Princesha Gresa Dukagjini). Tapë — which means “cork” in Saturday from 9 pm to 3 am. 23 Rr. Fehmi Agani, tel. +381 (0) 38 24 58 41. If Albanian but is often used to denote you have a horse-size hole in your stomach extreme drunkenness — is a bar with a to fill, this is the place to come. The meal warm atmosphere in Prishtina’s centre. It starts with some free bread and dips and is serves homemade rakia, as well as a variety followed by gargantuan portions of salad, of beers and other liquors, and, of course, meat, fish, or anything else on this varied Stone Castle wine - all at reasonable prices. menu. The food is sometimes great, some- times average but always served in massive Crème de la Crème portions. Open 10 am - 11 pm. Rr Robert Doll, tel. +377(0)44259912. Crème is probably the best all-round bar in the city. Hemingway It's run for the amusement of the young, Rr Ilaz Kodra, tel. +386 (0)49 145 637. Yes, you arty owners and not for profit, which can get fresh sea fish in landlocked Kosovo. explains the more-than-generous pricing Hemingway is tucked away in an unappeal- arrangements, especially for the perfectly ing end of the city but worth a trip if you executed cocktails. Its five tiny floors heave are craving food of the piscine variety. It's a on Fridays and Sundays with Pristina's cool pretty basic sort of set-up and relatively to the variety of beats. Every Wednesday, expensive for the setting, but undoubtedly Friday and Saturday from 8pm to 3am. one of the best places in town for fish. Open 9 am - 11 pm Filikaqa Rr Mujo Ulqinaku BL 4/1, Pejton, website Le Siam Thai www.filikaqa.com; 038 244 288. Whistle, as it Rr Fehmi Agani, tel. +377 (0)45 243 588. translates from Albanian, offers a dizzying Stylishly designed and smoke-free, Le Siam array of televisions on which to watch your has become a real hit for the international sport of choice and eat the best burgers in Hot Food: VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT (ABOVE), Rruga Garibaldi, Behind Metro Caffe. Tingell-Tengell’s short-lived but much loved vegetarian menu gets a restaurant of its own. It doesn’t have a name, and it’s delicious. There’s falafel, hummus, baba ghanouj and more. The stew is also luxurious. All the food is under 5 euro. The bar also fea- tures a few whiskies you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere in Prishtina, as well as an allegedly 36-year-old rakia. The space also feels like home, in that down-to-earth hipster sort of way. The only quibble is the bread, which is a rather basic white bread that’s toasted and garnished with herbs. It doesn’t do justice to the otherwise spectac- ular fare. Don’t miss the poppyseed cake, either. - Gravlax

FRESCO (LEFT). Rr. Fehmi Agani. The newest eatery to hit Prishtina’s fine-dining scene, Fresco has designs on being one of its best. Forgive the excessive interior design - the food is is elegant and simple, with a gastronomic sense that in-step with the times. The salmon filet (11.50 euro) is a standout: succulent and flavorful, appear- ing alongside a sweet potato puree and tempura-fried zucchini. The steaks are perfect, too. +377 (0) 44 333 772.

PAPIRUN Tel. 045 26 23 23. Papirun has seating at two perpendicular counters in what’s basically a hole-in-the-wall just off Mother Teresa Boulevard, near the Grand Hotel. The menu has 13 options: 6 pizzas and seven sandwiches. The sandwiches are Y the stars, though. Every component is handled with care. The bread alone is good M enough to make just about any sandwich into a glorious feast. It’s freshly baked and seasoned with rosemary. C K April 26 - May 9, 2013 17 Guide Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like your event to feature or to advertise your venue. Email [email protected]

Where to pick up Prishtina Insight?

Prishtina Insight has teamed up with these excellent venues to offer a limited Hotel Prishtina number of complimentary copies of Kosovo’s only English-language newspaper. Hotel Prishtina’s 43 charming guest rooms and suites are Grab a copy of the publication and settle down with a drink or a meal to read it. reminiscent of a small hotel in the European tradition. You'll immediately feel at home in our living room, sipping a glass of wine in our fine restaurant surrounded by a gallery of paintings by local artists. The hotel offers free, fast wifi internet, complimentary breakfast, Papillon Bistro Bar conference room, swimming pool, sauna and laundry service. Hotel Prishtina, This newly reopened bar in Prishtina, Papillon, offers St. Vaso Pasha nr. 20 more than 60 types of wines from France, Italy, Spain, +381 38 / 22 32 84 and Kosovo with great prices and delicious dishes. They serve pasta, sandwiches, salads and different appetizers. You can also try different types of local or internation- al beers. The bar, with it’s stunning new design, is located in the centre of Prishtina, near ProCredit Bank headquar- ter, RTK radio centre, and the Mother Teresa cathedral.

Papillon Mother Teresa Str. Nr. 51 A [email protected] 044 103 310

Hotel AFA Te Komiteti Located in a quiet neighbourhood just Te Komiteti’s large trees and a beauti- outside the city centre, Hotel Afa can fully garden, which surround the small guarantee guests a peaceful night while outdoor terrace, give you an impression being within walking distance of all the of an exclusive place for ordinary peo- action. The venue has won a host of ple. And this is exactly what it is. From awards for its excellent service to cus- brunch to lunch-time snacks and special tomers and offers a good range of facili- evening meals, this restaurant offers ties, from an exclusive restaurant and dishes comprising quality, varied ingredi- VIP bar to pretty, tranquil gardens. ents, combined to perfection. Alongside Rooms start at 45 euro for a single, and one of Prishtina’s best ‘modern luxury rooms and apartments are avail- European’ style menus, you’ll also find a able. The hotel’s rooms are well appoint- good selection of wine, and great san- ed and comfortable. gria and cocktails . 15, Rr Ali Kelmendi, Te Komiteti Sunny Hill, Prishtina Qamil Hoxha Street +381 38/225 226 Prishtina www. hotelafa. com +381 38 24 96 63

Paddy O’Brien’s A taste of Napoli in Prishtina.

The staff at After ten years of making pizza in Napoli, and Paddy O’Brien’s with only love to blame, Fatmir, the head chef, If you live in Kosovo and would like to have a saying: “It’s returned to Prishtina. His pizzas, made in a wood- easy to walk in, but burn stove, are definitely genuine napolitanas. receive the hardcopy of the newspaper very hard to leave.” Fatmir also has several delicious pastas on offer, a And with its true joy for the taste buds. Napoli has an excellent delivered to your door, you can also sub- warm atmosphere, selection of red and white wines or, for the more scribe for 13 editions, the equivalent of fantastic range of ambitious, one of the region's best quince raki. drinks and excel- Napoli makes for delicious lunch, dinner or even six months, for 13 euro, including deliv- lent food, it is easy after-theatre time out in the centre of Prishtina. ery, or for 26 euro for the whole year. to see why. There have been Pizzeria Napoli Please note, deliveries outside of many attempts to off Luan Haradinaj, opposite Newborn Prishtina may be refused due to trans- establish a proper 044/409-402402 Irish pub in port costs. Prishtina, but this You can pay through an international is the only one to hit the spot. bank transfer or in cash at a Kosovo From classic coffees to cocktails, via, of course, Guinness, you really wont find it difficult to select the perfect drink. branch of Raiffeisen bank. A mouth-watering menu of Irish specialties is also on offer, If you are interested in subscribing please spanning from all-day breakfasts to Irish stews at night. Options include shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash, fish ‘n email us at [email protected] chips, and whopping great burgers. with the subject "subscription", listing Thursday is pub quiz night, but there is always something going on at the pub, whether it is sport screenings or just a good what type of subscription you require. We shindig. will then provide you with an invoice and Paddy O’Brien’s Tringe Smajli Street, by the Illyria Hotel bank details. Y Prishtina: 045-420900 M C K 18 April 26 - May 9, 2013 timeout

Theatre

“The last station” “As if this was a show” Every Thursday at 8pm Every Wednesday at 8pm The story is situated in the "In the bus no. 4...during year 2015. Nowadays and past the war in Prishtina ...a problems are carried in the 26 years old - young year of 2015. Burim is the man...is wearing jeans main character who is looking and a black T-shirt... At for the truth, for his family "Union" hotel...sniper and his fiancé, which are still breaks a window... and missing since the war of KLA the youngster is shot in ended. After many attempts he the neck... A lady dressed finds out that his neighbour is in white, who was stand- still alive and that he knows ing near him starts to more about his family. Burim scream. When she sees can’t live in the present; he is always going back to the the blood in her shirt she past, in the memories of his family and Behare, his faints... two hours fiancé. Halfway he meets a young girl called Shpresa later...she is seen at the Big Mosque...near café who reminds him of Behare and finally gets part of "Romantika", but this time accompanied by a friend Burim’s life. younger than her... Based on the novel “Birds fly on their own” by Ibrahim Based on the drama by: Almir Imshireviq Kadriu. Directed by Agon Myftari “The Croods” 3D Directed by Lirak Celaj and Florent Mehmeti Cast: Rebeka Qena, Ardian Morina, Armend Ismajli, Every day at 4pm Cast: Besnik Krapi, Liridona Shehu, Ilire Celaj, Adrian Besnik Krapi The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure Morina, Eshref Durmishi and Kushtrim Sheremeti. that follows the world's first family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them from danger is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the National Theatre of Kosovo Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures -- and their outlook is changed forever. April 26, 8pm, “Kopelia” ballet Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders Choreograph Ilir Kerni Writers: Chris Sanders, Kirk De Micco etc. Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan April 27, 6pm Reynolds. “Lale group” from Turkey Concert

April 28, 8pm “After Miss Julie” By Patrick Marber Director: Kushtrim Koliqi

April 30, 8pm Ballet from America

Premiere of “Broken City” Every day at 8pm In a city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart seeks redemption and revenge after being double- crossed and then framed by its most powerful figure: Mayor Nicholas Hostetler. Director: Allen Hughes Writers: Brian Tucker Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zetta-Jones ------Soon: “Epic” 3D and “Evil Dead”

For any further questions or reservations call at 038 243 238 or visit them at www.kinoabc.com

Prishtina Diary Y Hamam Jazz Bar M Micah Blue Smaldone (USA)/ Asa Irons (USA) C Tuesday, 30 April 2013 K culture April 26 - May 9, 2013 19 Clearing the Cultural ‘Mines’ of the Balkan Wars Kosovo playwright Jeton Neziraj discusses his work on such topics such as nationalism in art, Kosovo-Serbia relations, the links between religion and terrorism, and his new play on the possible independence of Wales. installing in our cultural environment a layer of crawlers who are willing to sell their souls to the devil,” he says. By Nemanja Cabric Comparing the political influence on art in Kosovo with that of other coun- tries, Neziraj points to the announce- ment that the controversial Serbian film osovo playwright Jeton Neziraj director Emir Kusturica will open the believes he belongs to the com- Sterijino Pozorje in Novi Sad on May 25. Kpany of the few artists in his Supporting the decision of Selma home country that the state does not Spahic, theatre director from Bosnia and control and who are thus free to deliver Herzegovina to abandon competing with a wider humanistic message and use her play at the festival, Neziraj says that, art to awaken in people the “view of by inviting Kusturica, the theatre is the other”. For him, this presents a Jeton Neziraj is prolific Kosovo playwright. being used to empower Serbian national- starting point towards reconciliation. ism. Neziraj, author of more than 15 ments to cite the geographical, histori- “That it is the most natural step that plays, the latest of which are political cal, linguistic and cultural distinctions, Selma could do,” he says, referring to her comedies or tragicomedies, says the but were supported political and eco- decision to pull out. “It is absurd and cure for the region’s wounds lies in “de- nomic arguments for change. astonishing in a way, to see that there are victimization” of people, confronting Neziraj meanwhile says his theatre still art institutions in Serbia that are them with the suffering of others, and company also prepares to stage Kosovo influenced by kitsch nationalistic ideas. reminding them that “national” pain version of his play, “The Demolition of “It is sad to see that theatre there is does not exist, and that “pain remains the Eiffel Tower,” which will be an inter- still not free from ghosts of the past, individual”. national co-production with artists from which see theatre as means for fostering With his postmodern plays that Kosovo, Italy, France, the UK and Serbia. and empowering nationalism. I mean, revolve around central motives such as The play, written in 2010 and staged really, Kusturica is an 'icon' of idiotism,” Kosovo-Serbia relations, the political New York’s Gerald W. Lynch Theater in Neziraj says. influence on art, the connection between 2011, and then in Sarajevo at the MESS religion and terrorism or migration of Festival/ SARTR Theatre, addresses one young people in Europe, Neziraj chal- of the modern world’s most significant Defying currents: lenges public opinion and break down problems – terrorism arising as a conse- His political and social engagement social taboos and prejudices. quence of global political and religious on sensitive issues has won Neziraj He has done so with Patriotic conflicts. respect in theatre circles as well as Hypermarket, co-written with Milena The conflict is depicted through a among audiences across the region and Bogavac, a play that calls for honest com- story of a European who is kidnapped by internationally. munication between Kosovo and Serbia, two Islamic terrorists because he insists But that has not altered the negative and with One Flew Over The Kosovo on removing burqas from the heads of attitude of media critics and authorities Theatre, which depicts how politics Muslim women in Paris. in Kosovo towards him and his work. influenced art in the days leading up to “I tend to confront cultural divisions, According to Neziraj, he was kicked the declaration of independence in 2008, misunderstandings, religious fanati- out of the National Theatre in 2011, as well as in The Demolition of the Eiffel cism, violence, and other issues that because of his controversial cultural Tower, which deals with terrorism aris- divide orient and oxiden,” says Neziraj, activism and his belief that there should ing as a consequence of global political explaining that the play tries to open up be “no more Albanian plays of poor and religious conflicts. a discourse on the most substantive quality on the repertoire just because His plays have toured the region and issue, which is “to know and understand they are Albanian plays”. internationally. the trauma of the other”. The final event that led to him being In an interview for Balkan Insight, the Another play Peer Gynt from Kosovo, replaced was the invitation from Atelje founder of the theatre company Qendra a coproduction between Qendra 212 in Belgrade to the National Theatre Multimedia reveals that he is now Multimedia and the Hessisches of Kosovo to perform its play “Cifti widening his mission internationally by Staatstheater of Wiesbaden, which deals Martin” (“The Martin couple”) by the writing a play about the possible inde- with migrations of people in Europe, fol- Kosovo director Bekim Lumi. pendence of Wales, which will be staged lowing its premiere in Prishtina and the According to Neziraj, the Kosovo gov- in the National Theatre of Wales during rest of the region in April 2014, will be ernment also tried to stop the staging of the next season. performed in Wiesbaden. “One flew over the Kosovo Theatre“, the The story is about a boy from Kosovo play he wrote in 2010, because the Balkanization of Britain: who spent almost 20 years of his life in Ministry of Culture “imagined” that it Germany and Sweden, both legally and was anti-national – before even seeing it. Neziraj says the invitation to write illegally. Full of adventure and shocking He recalls that the main idea of the the play comes at a time when the inde- drama, the story offers a deeper insight play was not to question the Kosovo’s pendence of Wales is more plausible into the reality of European migration independence but to question “what than ever, and he will look at it from the and into the fate of thousands of young kind” of independence Kosovo had perspective of an author coming from immigrants in Europe who often turn obtained. Kosovo, a country that declared its own to crime to survive. “This is a very ‘classical’ story of cen- independence relatively recently. sorship; when they have no artistic or “For myself, as an author from the Nationalist kitsch: other relevant arguments, than they go Balkans, tackling this topic is attractive to ‘national – antinational’ arguments,” but challenging, because Wales is not Neziraj says that both Kosovo and he says. Kosovo and England is not Serbia, just as other countries in the region share the “Treating an art product through this the United Kingdom is not Ex- common problem of politically con- prism I find very primitive and danger- Yugoslavia,” he says. trolled art that serves nationalistic pur- ous, too,” Neziraj adds. He recalls that the former Yugoslavia poses. He is not driven by populist ideas and was a country built on the ideological The role of the artist is to “make a concepts and does not care “what a premises of "equality of nations and serious effort to convey messages of mediocre bureaucrat from ministry of nationalities”, adding that this equality understanding beyond the never-ending culture or government” might think of was never applied in Kosovo. prejudices, hatred, pain, sufferings and his work”, he continues. He says that while researching the political barriers caused by wars and “I do understand well my role I have as play he faced people with very different conflicts,” he says. a writer,” he concludes. attitudes towards whether Wales should However, as he has experienced, they “I live in Kosovo and there I make my secede, most of which he expected. are not always free to do so, because in contribution but I would give the same “Some, of course, favour total inde- Kosovo, as well as across the region, contribution if I were living in Sarajevo, pendence, others favour greater inde- there is an extensive control of culture, Mostar or Vienna. pendence within the UK and a third manifested in both public and non-pub- “The work that I and a few other peo- group, which probably constituted the lic cultural institutions that are com- ple are doing resembles that of de-min- largest group, maintained that the cur- pletely dependant on state budgets. ers after the war. Metaphorically, we are rent political construct was functional “Transforming artists into clients of ‘de-miners’, trying to remove the mines and had no need for change.” the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo is that have been left in these countries by Neziraj notes that supporters of inde- developing into a successful means of the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.” pendence mainly used the classic argu- cultural ‘silencing’ and ‘stunning’... Scenes from some of Neziraj’s plays. 20 April 26 - May 9, 2013 opinion Ecosovo BioNatural’s Surprising Bounty

By Elizabeth Gowing

ioNatural Shop is just about to celebrate its first birthday. This small shop just opposite the Qafa building on UCK Street has hung on where Bothers (notably the lovely Sacro shop in the centre of town) have failed to find enough custom to keep afloat, and after 12 months of trading is still offering a great range of products for organic living in Pristina. It’s a delight to be able to buy local honey, and a distinct luxury to be able to buy Kosovar saffron. But BioNatural also offers spices and teas from beyond Kosovo, and some supplements I’ve never come across, such as nettle seeds (said to be good for the hair and the kidneys) for sprinkling on salads. Jeta Xharra and Samuel Zbogar: A study in contrasts. This is where I can buy my propolis (the natural antiseptic harvested by bees from flower buds, which I use for startlingly immediate effect on mouth Outside In ulcers, or for gargling when I have a sore throat. Since the sad demise of Sacro I’ve not known of anywhere else I can replace the stocks of nigella that I lost when my cleaner told me that the coffee that had been in the cupboard Despite Shared Yugoslav had gone off, so she’d thrown it away. When I ask whether the shop stocks fennel, Anila, the owner, asks whether I want wild fennel flowers for tea, fennel for flavouring food, or fennel seed. It reminds me of the story of the man who went to test Harrod’s in London Past, a Study in Contrasts since they’d claimed that they were the world’s emporium. He asked cheeki- ly whether they could sell him an elephant and was calmly asked by the sales ing pot of intellectual and cul- northern corner bordering the assistant, “would that be an Indian or an African elephant, sir?” tural ideologies as well as move- likes of Italy and Austria. The shop also has an impressive range of more than 60 (no doubt both ments. There seemed to be a As the dissolution of Yugoslavia settled across the African and Indian) essential oils. For massage, scenting your home or mak- By Kreshnik Hoxha joint determination in the ing your own cosmetics and cleaning products, these oils can help your men- Slovenian society when it came region, the two protagonists’ tal and physical state — I notice they even have eucalyptus for skin-freshen- to embracing and nurturing Yugoslav past began to diverge ing, sinus-clearing inhalations — and you won’t find a better range anywhere such progressive values. It is immensely, only to intersect ffluent and impover- in Kosovo. If you’re not making your own, you can buy beauty products for perhaps precisely because of later on a completely different ished, prominent and skin and hair at BioNatural (and yes, that includes the gorgeous olive oil this that, in many aspects, plot. Arundown – can be just a Having broken away from the Slovenia was regarded as the soaps made in The Ideas Partnership’s microfinance project with Roma, few of the thought-provoking trendsetter for the other Yugoslav federation much earli- Ashkali and Egyptian women). contrasts that emerge when a Yugoslav republics and its two er than Kosovo, Zbogar’s The interest in organic and natural products seems to be growing in Slovene and Kosovar are found Slovenia took a reformatory Pristina. Anila’s business has more than 8000 ‘likes’ on Facebook, and she side by side debating. provinces. route, which in conjunction says she’s not dependent on foreigners in Kosovo for her business as there are Last week, Kosovo’s most Those who remember the with its progressive values, plenty of Kosovars who see the benefits of the products she sells. She’s help- watched current affairs show, days of the old Yugoslavia moved the country towards EU ing to create the market too, educating a new generation of Prishtinali about BIRN’s “Life in Kosovo,” hosted would quite unequivocally say integration. Having followed the traditions and recipes their grandmothers would have known. She shares the Head of the EU Office in that Slovenes were some kind of the same break-away route a recipe for a facemask using the calendula oil she sells, and is regularly on Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar. The a different kettle of fish from almost two decades later, television offering ideas for how to use natural and local herbal remedies in Slovene diplomat discussed the rest of the Yugoslavs. While place of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Kosovo-Serbia relations with undoubtedly there are many out Xharra’s Kosovo took a sluggish So here’s hoping that BioNatural Shop has many more birthdays and, as BIRN Kosovo Director Jeta there who would challenge this route, which in conjunction the Albanians would say to young lads on their birthdays – may it grow old Xharra. statement, one thing is for sure: with its piled up problems, with a beard; a luxuriant beard whose growth is stimulated by plenty of net- But, aside from the impor- Slovenes are definitely a differ- moved the country to an inde- tle seeds. tance of the topic discussed, ent kettle of fish in the post- pendence with frail rule of law. BioNatural, incongruously close to the Kosova Petrol station, is open 9am there was something much Yugoslav Balkans and maybe Slovenia’s trajectory enabled to 7pm Monday to Saturday. more remarkable than the topic the rest could learn a lesson or Zbogar to take up many diplo- itself: the common Yugoslav two from them. matic positions in his career, Elizabeth Gowing is a founder of The Ideas Partnership, a Kosovan NGO past of the two. On the other hand, born in with the most recent being his using volunteer power to tackle educational, cultural heritage and environ- The two protagonists were Prishtina, the capital of the current position as the head of mental challenges. She is also the author of Travels in Blood and Honey; born in the very same country, Yugoslav province that had got a the EU Office in Prishtina becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo (Signal Books, 2011) and Edith and I; on the when Tito’s power and ideology broad autonomy few years reporting to EU’s Catherine trail of an Edwardian traveler in Kosovo – www.edith-and-i.com – published was still radiating strongly in before, Xharra was raised in the Ashton on the development of next month. She can be reached on theideaspartnership@ gmail.com every corner of what was then most impoverished, rundown Xharra’s Kosovo. Yugoslavia. Albeit born in dif- and certainly conservative fed- The trajectory followed by ferent decades, both Zbogar and eral unit of the former Kosovo challenged Xharra’s Xharra would have probably Yugoslavia. While further up character and ambitions to never thought that their north in Yugoslavia, people fight for a Kosovo with strong upbringing under the same were preoccupied with cultural rule of law and empowered Yugoslav regime would be and other social issues, south- democracy, because it is pre- replaced by the sort of adult- ern parts of Yugoslavia were cisely these two aspects that hood that finds them belonging enmeshed in an ethnically have continued to hinder to two very different countries fuelled tossery and debate. Xharra’s compatriots from facing problems of utterly dif- Kosovo, of course, was part of it being granted visa-free travel ferent natures. all. by the EU officials to whom However, even more striking While Zbogar was the person Zbogar reports. is the fact that they also belong who opened the Slovenian The divergence from their to two very different axes in Embassy in Beijing in 1993, Yugoslav past and today’s inter- today’s current political, social Xharra was a high school stu- section are definitely interest- and economic affairs: one is dent “breaching” the Milosevic- ing insights worth noting. But, part of the club; the other is imposed Yugoslav law by com- something that is even more knocking on the door, waiting to pleting her education in worth noting is that Kosovo is be let in. Albanian. There used to be a ought to perhaps scrutinise the Born in the Slovenian town of mockery within Yugoslavia that nitty-gritty of the Slovenian Postojna and brought up in went along the lines of “the fur- domestic success, reform and Nova Gorica, Zbogar was raised ther south the more state-building, so that next time Y in Yugoslavia’s most prominent, deplorable,” alluding to the when Zbogar and Xharra meet, M affluent and forward-thinking mess the southern parts were the contrast of their countries C federal republic. Within financially, mentally and social- is not as pronounced as it is K BioNatural’s shelves are filled with natural bounty. Yugoslavia, Slovenia was a melt- ly compared to the Yugoslavia’s right today. opinion April 26 - May 9, 2013 21

Signs in protest of Vojvodina Prime Minister Bojan Pajtic in Novi Sad. (Beta Photo/Dragan Gojic) Serbia’s Progressives Play Dangerous Games in Vojvodina As Serbian nationalists try to re-enact the Yogurt Revolution of the late 1980s, it sounds like history replayed as farce – but it is still no laughing matter. of 25 years ago. days before Serbia was expecting Just like then, people were the state leadership to deliver its brought to Novi Sad by bus from all decisive “nyet” to the “Brussels By Dinko Gruhonjic over Serbia. They were given ultimatum” on Kosovo, came as packed lunches and 1,000 dinar great comfort to Serbia’s ruling daily allowances, yet most seemed Progressive and Socialist parties. to have no idea why they were They gleefully interpreted the It was as if I had fallen asleep there, although they did like Novi tabling of the Declaration as an act and suddenly woken up in Sad. of treason. And, although the Draft “1988.” So many people in There is also the fact that the Declaration contains no mention of Serb Nationalists in Vojvodina. Vojvodina have said these days, state government was organising secessionist aims, Pajtic and his recalling the so-called Yogurt those buses. In other words, the government were stigmatised as Revolution, when supporters of power in Novi Sad by the warn that they may “no longer be state authorities were organising separatists and even as “Ustashas” the regime of Slobodan Milosevic Progressives, to the launching of able to channel and control people’s demonstrations against the region- - Croatian Fascists - because, so it took to the streets of Vojvodina, the scandal involving Razvojna discontent”, as Igor Mirovic, the al government. was claimed, they had deliberately after which the broad autonomy of Banka Vojvodine, Pajtic and his deputy leader did, a line has clearly the northern province within Then there was also the grue- scheduled the debate on the government were mainly silent been crossed. Yugoslavia was abolished. some, inflammatory reporting by Declaration for April 10, the day and kept turning the other cheek. As it has with when the provin- What followed then was also the the leading media, which, in spite when the quisling Fascist For the Democrats, Pajtic’s tim- cial authorities are linked with the extinguishing of the autonomy of of the whole wave of trash journal- Independent State of Croatia was ing in tabling the Draft Declaration Ustashas. This is when red lines Kosovo - events that many believe ism, tabloidisation and sensation- proclaimed in 1941. [Incidentally, was a success, and the result is new have been crossed and there is began the bloody break-up of the alism, still managed to shock and Serbia’s President, Tomislav hope for the party, at least in practically no going back. It then former Yugoslavia. remind us both of the times and Nikolic, defended the rights of Vojvodina. They now have some- no longer has to do just with Indeed, events on April 12 out- the style of media reporting in the Serbs convicted by the Hague thing to mobilize for, now that dan- Mirovic or Pajtic, to whom the side Banovina, the Vojvodina gov- Serbia of the late Eighties and Tribunal also on April 10 at the gerous insults and even death insults and threats were addressed, ernment building, did call to mind early Nineties. United Nations.] threats have been hurled at Pajtic but concerns all the people who the hot summer days in Vojvodina It was all too reminiscent of 1988, All in all, the accusations were and his associates. voted for exactly the kind of gov- even if few yogurts were thrown in like firing a cannon at a fly, though So, perhaps the whole farce was ernment that multiethnic the direction of the Banovina that did not prevent the simply a product of need and Vojvodina has today. Bad blood has building. Reminiscent, but also far- Progressives, Socialists and the despair. The Progressives and been spread, even if all talk of cical, which again proved that his- other “patriotic” parties from Socialists got a bit of fresh wind Vojvodina’s separatism and seces- tory only repeats itself as a farce. organising their performance out- before the uncertain continuation sionism were to stop tomorrow. This, of course, doesn’t means that side the Vojvodina government on of negotiations on Kosovo while It is almost unbelievable that, for we will have much reason to laugh April 12. the Democrats and Pajtic finally a whole quarter of a century, poli- at the new “happenings of the peo- On the other hand, with the Draft got some energy that they can use tics in Serbia are still being pur- ple” and “truth rallies”, as the pro- Declaration, Pajtic has suddenly to lubricate their rusty party sued according to the principle of, Milosevic demonstrations in the livened up. Following the engine. “When you can’t solve one prob- late 1980s were called. Democratic Party’s election defeat The state government is, mean- lem, create another”, and that it From the point of view of politi- last May in presidential and while, using the row to continue doesn’t seem to matter what it cal pragmatism, one might say that national elections, just like the exerting pressure on the province costs so long as they buy a few the whole drama over the Draft whole of the Democratic Party, its to secure early provincial elections more years in power. Declaration on the Protection of deputy leader in Vojvodina also and thus grab power in the provin- That is what is happening now Constitutional and Legal Rights of seemed completely lost. cial assembly. On the other hand, with the story about Vojvodina. Vojvodina is a “win-win” situation He was constantly on the defen- the Democrats are clinging on to Unfortunately, we can be certain for both the authorities and the sive as one blow followed another. Vojvodina, because it is only there that this is just the beginning of a opposition. From the Serbian Constitutional and in Belgrade that they have the long and painful saga without a Vojvodina Prime Minister Bojan Court decision, which disputed the kind of power that means anything happy ending for the humble and Pajtic’s decision to release the already humble competences of the on a wider scale. in every sense of the word impov- Novi Sad’s mayor office - Draft Declaration on April 6, so, province, to the forceful seizure of in several languages. However, when the Progressives erished local citizens. If you would like your NGO to appear in our Making a Difference feature, please email [email protected] 22 April 26 - May 9, 2013 International Boston Bombing Suspects Echo Home-Grown Terrorists in Madrid, London Attacks of Internet activity — the things that every- one in the counterterror community worries about." by Sebastian Rotella, ProPublica The brothers had traveled in recent years to Russia, officials said. Tamerlan returned via New York from a trip to Moscow in July 2012, according to a U.S. law enforcement s an eighth-grader in a Cambridge official. But officials said nothing so far indi- public school, suspected Boston cates recent travel to Chechnya, in southern AMarathon bomber Dzhokhar Russia, or war zones where terrorist groups Tsarnaev was quiet, friendly, spoke good provide training and direction to Western English and seemed at home in his adopted recruits. country. "The big question is, are they part of a big- While hundreds of police officers pur- sued the 19-year-old during a nationally-tel- ger network or just two brothers who decid- evised rampage across Boston Friday, a for- ed to do this and pulled it off on their own?" mer classmate recounted memories of the the law enforcement official said. The well- refugee who, according to counterterror choreographed bombing, the preparation of officials, became a U.S. citizen on an ironic multiple explosive devices and the ferocity date: Sept. 11, 2012. with which the fugitives battled police could The story of the Boston bombers, indicate overseas training, officials said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old Suspected Chechen terrorists have been brother, Tamerlan, is still unfolding at high arrested in alleged bomb plots in Denmark, speed. Many aspects of the case, including France and Spain in recent years. The failed the brothers' motivations, are not yet clear. "underwear" bomber who tried to blow up a But a portrait began to emerge based on plane over Detroit in 2009 was trained and Mourning the dead in Boston. (Photo/Vjeran Pavic) deployed by al Qaida in Yemen. Would-be ProPublica interviews with counterterror Those cases similarly featured frantic In reality, it appears the suspects were the officials, the public statements of relatives bombers in plots against New York in 2009 and 2010 were directed by al Qaida and allied manhunts, publicized photos of suspects, mix that most worries law enforcement: and associates, and reports in the media. and chaotic and confused media reports. longtime Americanized residents who know networks in Pakistan. Counterterror officials believe the broth- In Madrid, police tracked down a group of the society well, but have a profile enabling The brothers are ethnic Chechens whose ers were Islamic extremists. And the infor- suspects who died after a shootout when them to develop connections to Islamic family moved around the war-torn Caucuses mation available so far suggests that they their booby-trapped hideout exploded, extremist ideology, if not actual movements, region when the boys were young. Tamerlan appeared to integrate well into U.S. society, killing a police officer. overseas. was born in Dagestan, near Chechnya, and yet slid into a spiral of Islamic radicaliza- The profiles of the Madrid and London The Madrid bombers had strong ideologi- Dzhokhar in Kyrgyzstan, according to offi- tion with bloody results. The profile has sim- suspects resemble the information emerg- cal links to al Qaida, but carried out the cials and media reports. They went as ilarities to the home-grown terrorists ing about the Tsarnaev brothers. Spaniards attacks with minimal overseas training and refugees to the United States, arriving sepa- behind attacks in Madrid in 2004 and and Britons were shocked to discover that direction. The London bombers, in contrast, rately, according to counterterror officials London in 2005, according to counterterror the terrorists had grown up in their midst communicated with al Qaida masterminds and televised statements by an uncle in officials. and benefited from the comfort of Western who provided training and directed them to Maryland. "He was always a nice kid," said Cam societies. their targets from Pakistan. Dzhokhar arrived in 2002 on a tourist visa, Blauchner, who attended middle school with A Tunisian-born leader of the Madrid The results in both cases were devastat- obtained permanent resident status in 2007 Dzhokhar, in a telephone interview with bombers had received a Spanish university ing. and became a citizen in 2012, officials said. ProPublica. "He was shy, but not in a creepy scholarship and was a well-liked employee Now, U.S. intelligence officials are comb- Tamerlan was admitted as a refugee in 2003 way. He was a sweet guy. We played soccer at a real estate agency. ing through files, intercepts and data bases and later became a permanent resident, offi- together. I knew he was from Chechnya, but A Moroccan-born leader spoke street to see if they had previous information on cials said. Tamerlan has an arrest for domes- he never talked about it. He never mentioned Spanish, was known by the nicknames "El extremist activity of the Tsarnaev brothers. tic violence on his record, the law enforce- his religious affiliation. I didn't know he was Chino" and "Mowgli," dealt drugs and The FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Muslim." ment official said. zoomed around with his long-haired the elder of the brothers suspected in the At some point, however, Dzhokhar and his The family lived in Cambridge when Spanish girlfriend on a motorcycle. Boston bombings, in 2011, two U.S. law brother plunged into a subculture that is Dzhokhar was in middle school at the Several convicted bombers in the failed enforcement officials told ProPublica grimly familiar to counterterror agencies in Community Charter School of Cambridge, London attack had come to Britain as chil- Friday evening. The FBI agents conducted Europe and, to a lesser but worrisome according to his classmate, Blauchner. dren thanks to generous asylum policies for the inquiry into suspected extremist or ter- extent, the United States, officials said. Dzhokhar stood out in a mostly African- refugees from East Africa. Three of the sui- rorist activity at the request of a Russian There are signs that the brothers showed American student population, but he got cide bombers who died in the successful security agency, the officials said. interest in the conflict in Syria, which has along well with classmates at the school, attack two weeks earlier were seemingly “Yes he was interviewed,” a U.S. law drawn al Qaida fighters and other militants which stresses academic rigor and strict dis- well-integrated, British-born sons of enforcement official said. “Nothing deroga- from across the Muslim world and Europe, cipline, according to Blauchner, now a soph- Pakistani immigrants. tory came of it. We reported it back to the according to a U.S. counterterror official. omore at the University of Chicago. Yet, despite their Western ways, the other agency, but never got anything as far Like others interviewed for this story, the Dzhokhar had long hair and was short, attackers in London and Madrid harbored as further communications from them. official requested anonymity because he was pale and thin when Blauchner knew him in deep hatreds and inflicted indiscriminate There was never any reason to do anything not authorized to discuss the ongoing case. seventh and eighth grade. The immigrant slaughter on their fellow citizens. else.” The brothers had viewed videos about the boy wore the school-mandated uniform of Young men from Muslim immigrant back- Tsarnaev’s mother has told media outlets plight of Syrian Muslims, the official said. khaki pants and a white, black or red polo grounds who radicalize in the West get that the FBI had contact with her about her Syria is the latest hotspot on the world map shirt. He often ate lunch in the cafeteria swept up in the seductive outlaw culture of son’s potential involvement in extremism of jihad. Holy warriors a decade ago were with Blauchner and friends of Ethiopian jihad. They construct a new identity in five years ago, but the law enforcement offi- inspired by videos about brutal combat and Bengali descent. which the struggles of their Muslim home- cial said authorities were only aware of the between jihadis and Russian troops in the Dzhokhar studied hard and stayed out of lands, even if they do not know them well, inquiry in 2011. Other media outlets also brothers' family homeland: the predomi- trouble, according to Blauchner, and went play a powerful role and foment anger at the reported the 2011 interview late Friday. nantly Muslim region of Chechnya, a breed- on to win a scholarship, according to media West. In past cases in the United States and ing ground for al Qaida fighters in the late reports. He was a student at the University Counterterror officials say a similar tra- overseas, law enforcement and intelligence 1990s and early 2000s. of Massachusetts Dartmouth, according to jectory could explain why the Tsarnaev agencies have identified, followed or investi- Tamerlan had viewed a video titled "I media reports. brothers designed an attack on families at a gated suspects who were later implicated in Dedicate My Life to Jihad," according to a "He never seemed disgruntled," festive sporting event. attacks or plots. Experts point out that secu- U.S. law enforcement official. The brothers Blauchner said. "He never seemed sad. We Whatever the motive turns out to be, the rity forces simply do not have enough per- also were apparently influenced by the weren't the nerdy kids, but we were more fact that the brothers spent years in Boston sonnel to constantly watch every potential online Inspire magazine, a slick English-lan- into academics." sheds light on their choice of target. They extremist who comes to their attention. guage publication that plays a strong role in Although he has not seen Dzhokhar since likely knew the significance of the Hard decisions have to be made. disseminating ideological tracts and bomb- they graduated from middle school, marathon, the ebb and flow of the crowds Cases that have brought criticism of U.S. making techniques to Western extremists, Blauchner said he recognized his former during the race, the geography. It remains to authorities include the failure to more the U.S. counterterror official said. classmate from the photos made public by be seen whether they considered the sym- closely investigate leads about Maj. Nidal "It's like London, it's like Madrid in the the FBI. Blauchner was stunned. bolism of the date: April 15 was both tax day Hassan, the accused shooter in the 2009 Fort radicalization," the counterterror official The frenzy after the Boston Marathon and Patriots' Day, marking the first battles Hood massacre, and about David Coleman said. "These guys were produced by the attacks recalls the aftermath of the bomb- of the American Revolution. Headley, a central figure in the 2008 Y international jihadist machine. The biggest ings on public transport systems that killed The choice of the day led some countert- Mumbai attacks. thing is they were individuals willing to die. M 191 people in Madrid in 2004 and 52 people in error officials in recent days to suspect that That is not necessarily a scandal; it is They were committed. There was interest in C London in 2005, as well as a failed bombing the bombers were American-born, extreme- simply the reality of the terrain of countert- events overseas affecting Muslims. And a lot K in London two weeks later. right, antigovernment terrorists. errorism. April 26 - May 9, 2013 23 Classified Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like to advertise Email [email protected]

Embassies and Liaison Offices in Prishtina

American Address: "Nazim Hikmet" no. 30 Arbëria/Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 549 516 Austrian Address: "Ahmet Krasniqi" no. 22 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 249 284 Belgian Address: "Taslixhe" I, 23 A 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 734 734 British Address: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 6 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 254 700 Bulgarian Address: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 12 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 038 245 540 Dutch Address:" Xhemal Berisha" no. 12 Velania, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 224 61 Finnish Str. Perandori Justinian No. 19 Pejton 10 000 Prishtina Phone: +386 43 737 000 French Address: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 67 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 22 45 88 00 Greek Address: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 68 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 243 013 German Adress: "Azem Jashanica" no. 17 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 254 500 Italian Address: "Azem Jashanica" no.5 Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 244 925 Japanese Address: "Rexhep Malaj" no. 43 10000 Prishtina Alcoholics Anonymous Personal Trainer Phone: +381 (0) 38 249 995 Luxemburg Classified Ads Address: "Metush Krasniqi" no. 14 (English speaking) Mentor Azemi - 044 811 921 Do you have a flat to rent? Position to fill? Students to find for a language Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina course? Why not speak directly to Kosovo’s international community Personal attention and Phone: +381 (0) 38 226 787 through Prishtina Insight classified ads. training schedule Malaysian Almost every international organisation, embassy, NGO and many oth- For further information... Time and place of your Address: "Bedri Shala" no. 48 ers subscribe to Kosovo’s only English language newspaper, which is also choice 10000 Prishtina on sale at newsstands in seven cities and received in electronic format by Contact : 3 per week = 150 month Phone: +381 (0) 38 243 467 scores of paying clients across the world. Erik - tel nr.: 044937397 5 per week = 200 month Norwegian (Other schedules possible) Address: "Sejdi Kryeziu" no. 6 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 232 111 00 Saudia Arabian Easy Medium Hard Address: Dardania SU 7, building 2, #1 y| y | |y 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 549 203 59 45 2 53 1 8 Slovenian Address: "Anton Ceta" no. 6 1578 65 3 10000 Prishtina Phone: +381 (0) 38 244 886 923819 7924 Swedish Str. Perandori Justinian No. 19 98 6 1465 38 7Pejton 10 000 Prishtina 615 389 53 5 Phone: +381 38 24 57 95 Swiss 271 9387 648Address: "Adrian Krasniqi" no. 11 10000 Prishtina 4283 974986 Phone: +381 (0) 38 248 088 8939 649Turkish Y Address: "Ismail Qemajli" no. 59 M Arbëria /Dragodan, 10000 Prishtina C 64468 9574Phone: +381 (0) 38 226 044 K 24 April 26 - May 9, 2013 advert

Y M C K