„I canceled police actions in Zubin Potok and Karacevo, it was Thaci’s game“ – this is not an April Fool’s joke, but a statement Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti made three years ago.
In April 2020, while making a guest appearance on Jeta Xharra’s renowned show „Life in Kosovo“ on Kallxo, Kurti revealed that he prevented special police unit actions in Zubin Potok and Karacevo – located between Kosovo and Serbia proper, monitored by KFOR, instead of the Kosovo Police.
According to what he said at the time, the actions had been ordered by former Kosovo Interior Minister Agim Veliu and then Deputy Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.
The action in question was aimed to tackle „crime and corruption.“ According to Kosovo PM, it was presented to him only orally.
„The former Minister of the Interior with Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Hoti asked for my consent for police actions against crime and corruption on two occasions. They said that they were well prepared and that I was only expected to give some kind of consent to the police action, which had been prepared carefully and over a long period of long time. I asked them where that action was, and they told me that one was in Zubin Potok and one in Karacevo, in that part of the territory for which, based on the Kumanovo Agreement, it may not be clear whether it is in Kosovo or Serbia, but we know that is part of Kosovo. I then asked for clarification in order to have some kind of analysis in text form as to why these operations would be successful because we do not have good experience in interventions in these areas. And when I asked for written proof, it was never presented to me, so I was forced to say that…” Kurti said on April 24th, 2020.
How can crime and corruption be dealt with in the parts bordering Serbia, without having a plan on how to continue the action? – went the question Kurti posed at the time.
Three years ago, he also believed that an action would be unsuccessful if only four people were arrested leading to 40 barricades:
„There are not only spectacular failures, but also catastrophic failures. You can arrest four people, but if 40 barricades are installed for four people, that isn’t success“.
Such interventions by the police, orchestrated by Veliu, were in fact’ Hashim Thaci’s ‘games’, the Kosovo Prime Minister stated the time.
As prime minister, Kurti replaced Hoti and Veliu. The latter’s removal sparked a vote of no confidence in Kurti’s government, while removing Hoti from the position of Deputy Prime Minister was Kurti’s first move after the vote of no confidence.
The interview also revealed Kurti’s explanation as to why he did not take action in the north and Karacevo: Because „the largest number of corrupt people and criminals per square meter is in the capital“.
Now, three years later, the Kosovo Prime Minister and the head of the Kosovo MIA regularly emphasize the rule of law in Kosovo, Pristina, with the north being the exception.
Yesterday, however, Kurti said that the arrest is a matter for the investigative police, the arresting units, and the prosecutor’s office, and that there are arrests that he becomes aware of only when everyone else does.
„Arrests are not my business, I believe, nor is it the business of any European official. The rule of law in Kosovo is a matter for the Kosovo police, who have conducted countless training sessions in Western countries and learned there that police operations should not be allowed to be politicized,“ Kurti said yesterday, as reported by the Pristina-based Koha.
Now, however, Kurti’s time in power is viewed by part of the public as being characterized primarily by operations carried out by the Special Police Units, construction of their bases, and their deployment to institutions in the north.
In fact, just two days after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, the Kosovo Police began the construction of special police bases in two municipalities in the north.
A year later, there are now at least five such bases in the area.
It was the presence of members of these police units that triggered the dissatisfaction of local citizens, although they were practically ignored and marginalized by Belgrade, until last fall.
The demand for their withdrawal from the north is now one of the key conditions presented by Srpska Lista for the Serbs’ participation in the elections and return to the Kosovo institutions, which the local Serbs left in November last year.
By permanently stationing special units of the Kosovo Police in the north, a precedent was set when it comes to the post-war period in Kosovo.
Previously, the short-term stay of the former ROSU units in Jarinje and Brnjak in the summer of 2011 provoked a months-long crisis, during which these crossings were set on fire and a ROSU members, Enver Zumberi, was killed.
These events served as the reason for the urgent launch of the Brussels talks between the then Serbian government and Pristina.
The so-called package of technical agreements culminated in the adoption of the first framework agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which officially began the integration of the north into the Kosovo system.
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