probes force two top kosovo politicians to leave...
TRANSCRIPT
Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012 Issue No. 100 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1
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NEWS
Editor’s Word: 100 Issues of Kosovo’s Only English Newspaper > page 3
CULTURE
Macedonia’s ‘Indiana Jones’Scorns Retiring at 65
Pasko Kuzman, who is expected to retiresoon as head of the Cultural HeritageProtection Office, says he will never stopsearching for the tomb of Alexander theGreat, which he is convinced lies some-where in southeast Macedonia.
Many in Macedonia...page 12-13news
Thaci Installs Ally to HeadPrivatisation Body
When Prime Minister Hashim Thaciaddressed lawmakers on the KosovoPrivatisation Agency in October, he vowedto keep politics out of the entity that over-sees the sale of state enterprises.
“As Prime Minister, I have decided toavoid political influence...
page 7business
CULTURE
Kosovo’s Anti-CorruptionAgency has suspendedinvestigations into two pow-
erful politicians after they with-drew from business interests.
The two men acted after theagency warned them that theseactivities conflicted with theirpositions as elected officials.
The two unrelated investiga-tions, against the Alliance for theFuture of Kosovo deputy DautHaradinaj and Mitrovica MayorAvni Kastrati, followed reports onthe two men’s employment andbusiness interests by Prishtina
Insight.Haradinaj, brother of Ramush
Haradinaj, the former prime min-ister now on trial for war crimes,was working as an external advis-er at the company Erc Trade.According to his 2012 wealth decla-ration, he earned 18,000 euro peryear in that position.
The agency began investigatingHaradinaj in August, a monthafter Prishtina Insight reportedabout his second job. Haradinajtold the agency that he didn’tthink he was breaking the law.
“If the agency finds that practic-ing as the external advisor in theprivate company Erc Trade is in
contradiction with my function asa deputy, I will immediately endthe contract,” Haradinaj told theagency.
The agency concluded that hewas indeed breaking the 2011 Lawon Preventing Conflict of Interestby holding a position at Erc Trade.
“A senior official does not havethe right to practice private activi-ties (as advisor in a private compa-ny), so this practice… contradictswith holding a public position andsuch a situation should be avoid-ed,” the decision read.
In October, Haradinaj told theagency that he’d left the company.The agency closed its investigation,
concluding that he was no longer ina conflict-of-interest situation butindicated it could reopen the case.
“That’s an official decision. Idon’t have any comment on that,”Haradinaj told Prishtina Insight.
Haradinaj’s former employer,Erc Trade, represented theSlovenian company ISKRA andimported such brands as Colgatetoothpaste, Palmolive shampooand Ajax detergent.
In July, when Prishtina Insightfirst reported on his employment,Haradinaj maintained that he hadno business interests in the com-pany and was just an employee.
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Probes Force Two Top KosovoPoliticians to Leave Businesses After the Anti-Corruption Agency warned an MP and a mayor about their private-sector activities - first reported on byPrishtina Insight - both men have withdrawn from those interests.
Gotovina VerdictStirs Hope in KosovoAbout Haradinaj
NEWS
> page 19
Kosovo and SerbiaMust Reconcile,Panel Says
NEWS
> page 5
By Parim Olluri
> page 14
Klecka Case Sent to Retrial
> page 4
> page 3
Bekim Fehmiu‘Ended Life as HeLived it’
Gjakova In HotWater Over OldBazaar
KosovoOfficials’Gun-totingRights inBalanceAs grace period forUNMIK-era gun licensesends, more than 300 offi-cials have no clear right toself-defense permits,though a governmentdepartment is trying tochange that.
See Page 4
Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
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+381 38 602042, +377 44 243367, +386 49 243367
from page 1“I am only an external advisor
there since Arben, who is thebrother of Avni Arifi [former advi-sor in the Ramush Haradinaj gov-ernment], needs a person withauthority.
“Owing to the respect that peo-ple have for me, I can help him
with his business,” Haradinaj toldPrishtina Insight in July.
Mayor quits three companies:
Avni Kastrati, mayor ofMitrovica and also a member of
the ruling Democratic Party ofKosovo, has resigned from mana-gerial positions in Eko Kosovaand Oil Trade and from severalpositions in a third company,Amar.
Kastrati’s actions came afterthe agency warned him onNovember 8 that holding thosejobs potentially put him at oddswith the Law on PreventingConflict of Interest.
“A potential situation of a con-flict of interest in holding a pub-lic function has been prevent-ed,” the agency ruled afterKastrati reported that he hadcurtailed his private employ-ment.
Prishtina Insight reported inMay that Kastrati had notdeclared his entire businessinterests in his wealth declara-tions in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Two week later, Kastrati saidhe had effectively shut down thebusinesses by declaring theminactive with the Tax
Administration of Kosovo. They remained active on the
Kosovo Business RegistrationAgency’s registration rolls, how-ever.
In an interview with PrishtinaInsight, Kastrati said “the lack
of some regulation” in theRegistration Agency preventedhim from shutting down hisbusinesses.
“Therefore, I quit the posts asdirector in order to prevent theconflict of interest,” Kastrati said.
The Special Court in Belgrade has sen-tenced Mark Kasnjeti to two years inprison for torture and inhumane
treatment of two Serb civilians in theKosovo town of Prizren on June 14, 1999.
Explaining the verdict, the presidingjudge in the case, Vinka Beraha Nikicevic,said that the verdict has been based on thetestimony of the witness Bozidar Djurovicwho survived the torture by Kasnjeti andother KLA members.
“On June 14, Djurovic and his colleaguewere taken out of the car by Kasnjeti andother unknown KLA members. They wererobbed, beaten and taken to one of the localhouses where they were illegally impris-oned,” said Beraha Nikicevic.
“After couple of hours, Kasnjeti releasedthe two civilians, gave them back their per-sonal documents and forced them to leavePrizren and flee to Serbia, “ the judge added.
The judge also said that the TrialChamber did not accept Kasnjeti’s alibi thathe was not present at the crime scene.
The prosecution based the case againstKasnjeti on a photo which was given to theWar Crimes Proecutor’s Office by the vic-tims.
The photo shows Kasnjeti and three otherKLA members beating two people, who hadtheir hands tied behind their backs, withthe end of their rifles.
Serbian police arrested Kasnjeti atMerdare border crossing, in south Serbia,on April 14.
The arrest was criticized in Kosovo as itwas perceived to be politically motivated.
Following the arrest, the Council forHuman Rights and Freedom from Prizrensaid the international community shouldreact urgently because there is no evidencethat Kasnjeti was a member of the KLA, orthat he committed any war crimes.
The Serbian deputy prosecutor, BrunoVekaric, however, says that with Monday’sverdict all the prosecution's claims wereconfirmed.
“The prosecution was under pressurefrom different sides, there were talks thatwe had arrested an innocent man, but theTrial Chamber with this verdict proved thatwe were right,” said Vekaric.
All sides have 15 days deadline to appealthe verdict.
Probes Force Two Top Kosovo Politicians to Leave Businesses
BY Marija Ristic
Ex-KLA Sentenced forWar Crimes in PrizrenMark Kasnjeti, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, hasbeen found guilty of war crimes against civilians committed in Kosovo in1999.
Acourt has set January 10 2013, as thefirst date for the trial of Kosovo’s for-mer Deputy Prime Minister, Bujar
Bukoshi, accused of corruption in connec-tion to the Ilir Tolaj case.
A mixed panel of judges chaired byCamila Pek of EULEX on Monday set the
schedule for the main hearing against 11former Ministry of Health officials forJanuary and February.
Bukoshi is one of a group of defen-dants charged with abusing their officialpositions and accepting bribes to awardhealth contracts in the case known as“Ilir Tolaj et al.”
Prosecutor Maria Bamief has added anew item in the indictment againstBukoshi, accusing him of illegally rein-stating Ilir Tolaj as the PermanentSecretary of the Ministry of Healthwhile he was minister.
Bukoshi’s attorney, Besnik Berisha,accused the prosecutor of “continuingwith innovations in the case”.
The EULEX prosecutor chargesBukoshi with holding private meetingswith companies that participated in ten-ders before issuing decisions on whom toaward contracts when he was Minister ofHealth in 2008.
Bukoshi resigned in July 2012 after theEU rule of law mission announced thathe was being investigated in connectionto charges against Tolaj.
Tolaj, former permanent secretary atthe Ministry, was arrested in 2010 byEULEX police and the Kosovo PoliceAnti-Corruption Task Force in the con-text of a criminal investigation into taxevasion.
Tolaj was later charged, together withother nine defendants, on 10 counts,ranging from abuse of official position totaking bribes from private companies.
The government said Bukoshi steppeddown as Deputy Prime Minister out ofrespect for legal procedures and to givejustice institutions room to do theirwork.
Kosovo Ex-Deputy PM'sTrial Set for JanuaryThe corruption trial known as 'Tolaj et al' will start in January, a judgefrom the EU rule of law mission, EULEX, announced on Monday.
By Fatmir Aliu
This photo was key to the prosecution’s case.
Bujar Bukoshi, right, leaves court.
Daut Haradinaj used to make 18,000 euro per year from his extra job.
Avni Kastrati is no longer a businessman.
Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012news 3
Amixed panel of threeEULEX judges and twolocal judges has
ordered on Tuesday the retrialof Fatmir Limaj and threeother co-defendants in theKlecka case.
The four men were acquit-ted on May 2 but the prosecu-tion appealed the verdict.
“The Supreme Court panelpartially granted the appeal ofthe EULEX Special Prosecutorand annulled the verdict ofthe first instance court whichacquitted Fatmir Limaj,Nexhmi Krasniqi, Naser Shalaand Naser Krasniqi,” reads apress realease iessued by theEU Rule of Law Mission toKosovo, EULEX.
According to the indict-ment, Limaj and other co-defendants had “violated thebodily integrity and health ofan unspecified number ofSerb and Albanian civiliansand Serb prisoners of warheld in a detention centre inthe village of Klecka.”
Prisoners were held in"inhumane conditions, whichincluded keeping prisonerschained, cold and hungry, inunsanitary conditions, andfrequent beatings," reads theindictment.
Almost all of the chargeswere based on the testimony ofAgim Zogaj, known as WitnessX, who killed himself lastSeptember in Germany, beforethe first trial started.
Zogaj was a prison guard atthe Klecka prison and hisdiary about events there wascrucial to the prosecution’scase. However, on March 21,the court found that his testi-
mony and diaries were inad-missible.
But on Tuesday the panel ofjudges at the Supreme Court,presided over by Judge Gerrit-Marc Sprenger, overruled thatdecision.
“The panel also ruled thatthe evidence of Agim Zogaj,also known as “Witness X”, isadmissible,” states EULEX’spress release.
The prosecutor, MaurizioSalustro, has requested animmediate “detention onremand for the defendants”.
However the Supreme Courtwas unable to rule on thatmotion as such competenciesfall under jurisdiction of theDistrict Court.
Limaj, the Vice President ofthe ruling Democratic Party ofKosovo, also faced war crimecharges at the HagueTribunal, ICTY.
He was charged, along withIsak Musliu and Haradin Bala,with war crimes against Serbsand Albanians suspected ofcollaborating with Serbia dur-ing the Kosovo war.
In November 2005, the ICTYacquitted him and he returnedhome to a hero’s welcome.
On November 16 this year,EULEX has indicted Limaj fororganized crime and corrup-tion during his time as theMinister of Transport,between 2008 and 2010.
Kosovo Ex-MinisterIndicted for Corruption
EULEX prosecutor accusesFatmir Limaj, his two broth-ers and four other suspects ofdepriving the Kosovo budgetof 2 million euro and of laun-dering another million euro.
Kosovo’s former Minister ofTransport, Fatmir Limaj, andsix other defendants have been
accused of depriving the coun-try’s budget of over 2 millioneuro and of laundering a mil-lion euro.
An EU rule of law, EULEX,prosecutor indicted Limaj andsix other suspects onNovember 16 for organizedcrime and money laundering.
Johannes Picker, EULEX’sspecial prosecutor in theMinistry of Transport andPost -Telecommunication,MTPT, case, alleges that “theoffences took place in variousperiods of time between 2008and 2010; with regards tomoney laundering between2009 to 2012.”
The prosecutor chargesLimaj, his two brothers,Florim and Demir Limaj, hisformer cabinet chief, EndritShala, the procurement chief,Nexhat Krasniqi, Gani Zukaj,the IT administrator andFlorim Zuka, owner of the“Tali” construction company,of manipulating tender proce-dures and giving and receiv-ing bribes.
EULEX has been investigat-ing Limaj since April 2010when police raided theTransport Ministry andLimaj’s properties inPrishtina as part of a corrup-tion probe linked to road ten-ders issued between 2007 and2009.
Limaj has denied anywrongdoing during his time ashead of the ministry.
The defendants are alsoaccused of obstructing evi-dence in relation to three ten-ders in the MTPT that wereallegedly fixed for the Tali con-struction company fromGjilan.
Limaj is also charged withnot declaring received cam-paign money when runningfor Prishtina’s mayoral elec-tions in 2007 as well as other
criminal offences that he isalleged to have committedwith his two brothers.
BIRN reported onSeptember 7 that Limaj, who iscurrently a member of parlia-ment for the rulingDemocratic Party of Kosovo,was about to be charged withcorruption during his time asthe Minister of Transport,Post and Telecommunicationsin 2009.
A Balkan Insight investiga-tion revealed that a number oflucrative building contractsappeared to have gone tofriends and relatives of Limaj.
Limaj was recently freed inanother trial relating to warcrimes during the 1999 conflictin Kosovo.
On May 2, a mixed panel ofEuropean and Kosovo Judgesat Prishtina’s District Courtannounced that they hadfound no evidence to justifycontinuing the trial against 10former Kosovo LiberationArmy fighters, includingLimaj, who had been accusedof war crimes.
Editor’s Word
1 0 0
This is Prishtina Insight’s 100th edition. It’sbeen a little more than four years since thenewspaper’s founding, in a journey that
reflects the overall state of journalism inKosovo.
The first issue came on Friday, October 3, 2008,and since then the paper has come out every twoweeks, except for some holidays. Its purpose wasgive the international community and those inter-ested in Kosovo a reliable and unbiased source ofinformation about current events and issues inthe country, in English.
Kosovo is a small market when it comes to peo-ple and money, so many laughed at the idea ofpublishing a regular English-language newspaperhere . Surely, many doubted the paper would stillbe around four years later — let alone in printform.
But we believed and still do in the importance ofreaching English-speaking readers, who’veincluded key decision-makers here. Our reader-ship continues to push us toward ever-higher jour-nalistic standards.
Our investigative reporting — backed by rigor-ous research and editing — has scrutinized power-ful people and held them accountable, especiallyin cases where the law was broken. This newspa-per is case in point.
On the front page, you’ll read about the how theAnti-Corruption Agency successfully pressuredtwo top elected officials to withdraw from theirbusiness interests. The agency’s investigationsinto MP Daut Haradinaj and Mitrovica MayorAvni Kastrati followed reports in PrishtinaInsight, which revealed that both officials hadn’tdisclosed employment or business interests.
While our reporting holds powerful peopleaccountable, we also are committed to doing sofairly while adhering to high ethical standards.
Prishtina Insight also strives to give a voice tothose who’ve been wronged — like whistleblowerswho’ve been unfairly fired — as well as givingspace for people to freely share their opinionsabout developments in Kosovo and the region.
We’ve also set precedents for the availability ofpublic information in official documents andother materials, which often prove invaluable instories. And many public officials have learnedabout their obligations in transparency in theprocess.
Prishtina Insight’s efforts also reach beyondour core English-speaking audience. The newspa-per works in concert with the BalkanInvestigative Reporting Network’s Albanian out-lets in Kosovo — including the online newspaperGazeta Jeta ne Kosove and the TV programs “Lifein Kosovo” and “Justice In Kosovo.” Other news-papers often pick up our stories, either by re-print-ing them or reporting them anew.
Other journalists in Kosovo have also followedPrishtina Insight’s lead by adopting our methodsfor researching public records. We actively sup-port the journalistic community by holding regu-lar trainings to share our experiences.
Over the years, Prishtina Insight’s investigativejournalism has earned several awards from theAssociation of Professional Journalists ofKosovo. And just a few weeks ago the BIRNKosovo director, Jeta Xharra, received an awardfrom South East Europe Media Organisation.
But above all, it’s the assessment of readers thatmatters. Each week Prishtina Insight gets newsubscribers in Kosovo and abroad, and those leav-ing the country seek to continue reading the papervia digital subscriptions.
As we mark this milestone of 100 issues, weremain committed to providing you with the kindof high-quality journalism you’ve come to expectfrom us. To all our readers — whether you’re newor have been with us from Issue 1 — thank you.
Klecka Case Sent to RetrialFatmir Limaj and three more ex Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, fighters will have to answer again war crimescharges after Kosovo’s Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the so-called Klecka case. Two days ago,November 19, EULEX prosecutor accuses Limaj for organised crime and corruption durigrn his tenure asminister of transport.
By Fatmir Aliu
Tough times for Fatmir Limaj.
By Petrit Collaku
Fatmir Limaj takes questions after his acquittal in the Klecka war crimes case. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling.
news4 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
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More than 41,000 licensedguns became illegal inKosovo as of November 1
in accordance with a 2010 law thatrequires UNMIK-era firearmsowners to obtain new permits.
“Any person who carries aweapon without a permit afterNovember 1 is breaking the law,”said Driton Gashi, head of publicsafety in the Interior Ministry.
More than 95 per cent of those41,000 guns are for hunting and,according to Kosovo police, mostowners have applied for newlicenses.
“As such, they are considered tobe in accordance with the Law onWeapons,” Kosovo policespokesman Baki Kelani said,adding that hunting weaponswould not be confiscated duringthe licensing procedure, whichtakes at least three months.
But the fate is unclear for 344guns previously licensed for self-defence purposes.
Gashi did not reveal the owners’identities, but said almost all wereofficials, including ministers,members of parliament, mayors,prosecutors and judges.
As of now, they could be in ille-gal possession of guns.
Some have got their owners intotrouble before. A semiautomaticpistol belonging to EconomicDevelopment Minister BesimBeqaj went off in a government
building where a cabinet meetingwas taking place in November2011. Beqaj said his driver andbodyguard fired it accidentallyand no charges were filed.
In May, Burim Ramadani, secre-tary of the Alliance for the Futureof Kosovo party, reported that hiscar was stolen from a parking lotin Prishtina containing his gun,for which he had a license.
These permits were issued bythe UN Mission in Kosovo,UNMIK, from 2001 to 2009.According to UNMIK’s Regulationon the Authorization ofPossession of Weapons in Kosovo,those seeking self-defense permitsneeded to provide evidence thatthey were in danger.
But Kosovo’s 2010 Law onWeapons says police may onlyissue new permits to security pro-
fessionals employed to protect peo-ple, money or other valuables.
Citing a provision in theweapons law, the Interior Ministryin 2010 allowed those who obtainedpermits under UNMIK to apply fornew two-year permits.
“This was done when the risk ofofficials was evaluated,” Gashisaid. “These are not weapons andlicenses for fun.”
Those permits expired onNovember 1.
New permits promised:
Gashi, whose department in theministry deals with gun licensing,said his office is working on aregulation to allow UNMIK-erapermit holders to obtain new per-mits.
Gashi wouldn’t offer details
about the regulation or when itwould come into force. Whenasked where this left people withexpired gun permits, Gashi said:“This is a process.”
For the time being, there doesappear to be a loophole. Policespokesman Kelani said a self-defense permit will be consideredvalid as long as the owner is inthe process of applying for a newone — even if the law wouldensure the rejection of the appli-cation.
Lawyer Fehmije Gashi-Bytycisaid any regulation on gun per-mits would still have to conformto the 2010 law.
“If the regulation accords withthe law and its function, then it isOK,” Gashi-Bytyci said. “If itbreaks the [weapons] law, it isillegal.”
Since the 2010 Law states thatonly security professionals canobtain permits to carry guns forself-defence, it’s unclear how theInterior Ministry can come upwith a regulation allowing othersto obtain permits.
Behar Selimi, a former policecolonel, and now a deputy in par-liament, said he applied for a self-defence permit in 2010 after hedecided to join politics.
“Since then, I haven’t receivedany response,” Selimi toldPrishtina Insight.
Selimi admitted that he wanteda gun out of habit rather thanbecause he felt a pressing need todefend his safety.
“I wanted to have a weaponbecause when you work in thepolice for a long time, it becomesa habit to have one,” he said.
Kosovo Officials’ Gun-toting Rights inBalanceAs grace period for UNMIK-era gun licenses ends, more than300 officials have no clear right to self-defense permits,though a government department is trying to change that.
The normalization of rela-tions between Kosovo andSerbia is essential for trans-
forming the hostile relations ofthe last 20 years, a debate organ-ized by the Kosovar Institute forPeace agreed on Tuesday.
Representatives of the Institutesaid negotiations between bothparties should be based on “reci-procity and mutual trust, compli-ance mechanisms, time limitation,historical compromise and inter-national assurances and monitor-ing”.
Bajram Kosumi, a former primeminister of Kosovo who chairs theboard of the Institute, said recon-ciliation between Serbs andAlbanians, “be it in the context ofKosovo or Southeast Europe willhelp the process of normalizingrelations between Kosovo andSerbia”.
Kosovo declared independence
from 2008 in 2008, which Serbia hasvowed never to recognise.However, Kosovo and Serbia areengaged in a political dialoguefacilitated by the European Union,which started in March 2011.
The process has resulted so farin agreements on freedom of move-ment, regional representation,mutual recognition of universitydiplomas and integrated bordermanagement, IBM. But not allagreements have been fully imple-mented.
On October 19, fresh talks, nowconducted at a higher level thanbefore, were held in the office ofthe EU High Representative forForeign Policy and Security,Catherine Ashton, where HashimThaci, Kosovo’s Prime Ministermet his Serbian counterpart, IvicaDacic.
Talks are expected to resume inDecember, but no agenda is offi-cially set.
Natasa Kandic, director of theHumanitarian Law Centre and oneof the founders and leaders of acoalition of NGOs, the Coalitionfor RECOM, said resolving the
issue of missing people from the1999 conflict is “the start of accept-ing the past.
“The admission of this by oneparty and the acceptance of thisadmission by the other party is astart for another relationship,”Kandic said.
“We haven’t arrived there yet.There are still discussions on miss-ing persons that are not in linewith the facts,” she added.
The Humanitarian Law Centerbelieves 13,421 persons died, werekilled or went missing during theconflict in Kosovo in 1998-1999.
Most of those still missing areconsidered to be Albanian, while
some 2,000–2,500 were Serbs, Roma,Bosnians and ethnic Albanianswho were loyal to Serbia.
Thirteen years after the end ofthe war in Kosovo uncertaintiesregarding the victims’ identitiesremain.
“We all know the figures... butnames are important, because inthe Balkans there have alwaysbeen battles about numbers,”Kandic noted.
Issues linked to missing personshave been discussed between gov-ernmental commissions of bothparties led by the InternationalRed Cross but with no concreteresult.
Kosovo and Serbia MustReconcile, Panel SaysDebate in Prishtina hears calls for rediscovery of trust and a degree of compromise between the two estranged neighbours.
By Jeton Musliu
By Edona Peci
41,000 guns in Kosovo need to be re-registered in accordance with a 2010 law.
Kosovo’s independence remains a sore spot for Serbia.
Driton Gashi
news 5Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
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Hajredin Kuci, Kosovo'sDeputy PM, has expressedconfidence that the verdict
in Ramush Haradinaj’s case willlead to his release.
“The release of Mr. Haradinaj inthe first case was the right deci-sion and I believe the second trialwill confirm that decision,” Kucitold BIRN.
The Hague Tribunal, ICTY, isdue to pass the verdict in the caseknown as Haradinaj et al, onNovember 29.
Haradinaj, former KosovoLiberation Army, KLA, leader, andhis fellow KLA commander, IdrizBalaj, were acquitted of all warcrimes charges following a three-year trial at the ICTY. The thirddefendant, Lah Brahimaj, was sen-tenced to six years for cruel treat-ment and torture.
A partial retrial for the trio hadstarted on July 2010 after the prose-cution convinced an appeals judgethat it had not been given sufficienttime to hear the evidence from twokey witnesses.
Haradinaj, Balaj and Brahimajare charged with being a part of ajoint criminal enterprise and withcrimes against Kosovo Albanians,Serbs and Roma in the Jablanicadetention camp.
Although not being activelyinvolved in politics since 2010,Haradinaj, who briefly served asprime minister of Kosovo, is stillthe leader of the Alliance for the
Future of Kosovo, AAK.For Ahmet Isufi, one of the
party’s deputy leaders, the HagueTribunal’s acquittal of the twoCroatian generals, Ante Gotovinaand Mladen Markac, bodes well forHaradinaj’s case.
“This is good news, because itwas based on the right of liberationof people attacked by Serbia. Thisraises hope that Mr. Haradinaj willbe back in Kosovo,” Isufi said.
Last Friday, the Appeal Chamberof the Hague Tribunal has quashedthe first-instance verdict passed inApril, 2011, under which Gotovinaand Markac were jailed for 24 and18 years for involvement in a jointcriminal enterprise aimed at theforcible removal of Serbs from theKrajina region in Croatia.
The court ruled that they werenot guilty of killings, deportationand inhumane treatments of Serbcivilians during the Croatian mili-tary operation codenamed "Oluja"["Storm"] in the summer of 1995.
Xhavit Haliti, one of KLA’s for-mer political leaders and a deputyin the Assembly of Kosovo, said noprejudice should be made in anycase until the court’s decision ismade.
“Verdicts are given based onexisting facts and arguments. I
think there are no arguments tosentence Mr. Haradinaj,” Haliti toldBIRN.
However, Aleksandar Vulin, thehead of the Serbian governmentOffice for Kosovo, fears thatHaradinaj’s acquittal would impedetalks between Prishtina andBelgrade.
"The ICTY acquittal for RamusHaradinaj would send a messagethat it is permissible to kill Serbs inKosovo. How can we talk about thefate of missing persons, justice forthose killed and return of thoseexiled, if a man who talk part in allthis is set free," Vulin told theSerbian daily newspaper VecernjeNovosti.
EU-mediated talks betweenPrishtina and Belgrade started inBelgium in March 2011, three yearsafter Kosovo declared its independ-ence from Serbia in 2008.
Serbia has vowed never to recog-nise Kosovo as a state, but says it isopen to deals that improve dailylives on both sides of the [fromSerbia's point of view unrecog-nised] border.
So far, the two sides have reacheddeals on freedom of movement, uni-versity diplomas, regional repre-sentation and on trade. But not allthe deals have been implemented.
Gotovina Verdict Makes KosovoHopeful Over HaradinajAs the release of two Croatian generals has raised hope in Kosovo of not guilty verdict forRamush Haradinaj, a Serbian official fears Haradinaj's acquittal would impede Belgrade-Pristina talks.
Prime Minister Dacic saidthat a lasting solution for theformer Serbian province of
Kosovo, which declared independ-ence in 2008, might resemble the1995 Dayton Ohio peace accord.
"A Dayton agreement is possiblefor other problems, such asKosovo," Dacic said.
The peace deal signed in the USin 1995 ended the three-year war inBosnia and Herzegovina andorganized the country into twoautonomous entities, theRepublika Srpska and theFederation of Bosnia andHerzegovina.
Marking the occasion of the17th anniversary of the Daytonagreement, Dacic recalled it as ahistoric document that ended awar and created the legal, politicaland constitutional conditions forBosnia to function.
Noting that any changes to theDayton Accords could only takeplace if all peoples and entities inBosnia and Herzegovina agreed tothem, Dacic reiterated that Serbiawas a guarantor of the peace dealand wished to have good relationswith the country as a whole.
Meanwhile, not all Serbianpoliticians agree with the idea of"new Dayton" for Kosovo.
Oliver Ivanovic, former StateSecretary in Serbia's Ministry forKosovo, said that such an agree-ment for Kosovo was unrealistic.
"Only Serbia thinks thatKosovo's status has not beenresolved, while for the [Kosovo]Albanians and the West the issueis resolved," Ivanovic said onWednesday.
He was referring to the fact thatthe US and 22 of the 27 EU memberstates long ago recognisedKosovo's independence.
So far, Kosovo has been recog-nized by a total of 93 of the 193 UN
member states - not far from amajority, after which Kosovo mayexpect to apply for and obtain UNmembership.
Slobodan Samardzic, politicalscience professor at the Belgrade'sUniversity, also ruled out the ideaof a new Dayton-style deal forKosovo, through for different rea-sons.
"I don't understand why we donot insist on the implementationof [1999] UN Security Council doc-ument [Resolution 1244], whichguarantees Serbia's sovereigntyand integrity [over Kosovo], buttalk about some kind of confer-ence [Dayton], whose rules are notknown," Samardzic said onWednesday.
Resolution 1244 empowered theUN to take control of the formerSerbian province, but did not prej-udice Serbia's claim to the territo-ry.
BOX BOX BOX BOX BOXKey principles of the Dayton
Agreement:The Dayton Peace Agreement,
DPA, comprises 11 annexes cover-ing the military, political and civil-ian aspects of the peace settle-ment, as well as those of regionalstabilisation.
The Agreement created Bosniaas a sovereign state composed oftwo largely autonomous entities --a Muslim and Croat dominatedfederation, the Federation ofBosnia and Hercegovina, and aslightly smaller Bosnian Serb-runentity, Republika Srpska.
The DPA obliged Bosnia,Croatia and then Yugoslavia tofully respect each other's sover-eign equality and to settle disputesby peaceful means. By signing theAccords, the parties undertook acommitment to respect humanrights and the rights of refugeesand displaced persons. They fur-ther agreed to co-operate fullywith all relevant entities andorganisations in implementing thepeace settlement and investigatingand prosecuting war crimes andother violations of internationalhumanitarian law.
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Security Forces Minister Agim Ceku are thefirst to fill out applications to register as veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Cekuis leading the initiative to register veterans as well as those who were wounded or diedwhile serving in the war. The last registration recorded 40,000 people, but its accura-cy was widely criticised.
Photo News: Registering War Veterans
By Edona Peci andBojana Barlovac
By BIRN
Ramush Haradinaj is a hero to many in Kosovo.
Serbia PM MullsDayton-Style Dealon KosovoAs Serbia marks the 17th anniversary of the historicaccord that ended the 1992-5 war in Bosnia, Ivica Dacichas suggested that a 'New Dayton' might solve the Kosovoissue, too.
YMCK
news6 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
"For me, Prishtina Insight means straight talk, high-profile authors, civil engagement and no-nonsensejournalism. All these components are essential forthe further development of Kosovo society, so Ihope that together with its web and TV brothers andsisters, this strong team will continue to give seriousinsight during these tabloid times."
Samuel Zbogar, Head of European Union Office and EU Special
Representative
“With time, each issue of “Prishtina Insight” hasbecome like my “Madeleine de Proust” (Proust’sMadeleine).Appreciating even more and more its pragmatic,pertinent — and sometimes, yes, impertinent — in-depth investigations and descriptions of facts,events, characters, policies, places as well as of thelack-of-policies. Using it as a tool for further information aboutunsuspected (and “suspect”) subjects, and as intel-ligence in order to better understand what is atstake today in the Kosovo society and in the region.My wishes for at least the next 10 years: Keep onrocking (the boat), Prishtina Insight!”
Pascal H. Gregoire Head of Mission, Kingdom of Belgium
Diplomatic Office in Prishtina
“Congratulations on this happy milestone. PrishtinaInsight has set a high standard when it comes toreporting on the Balkans. Long may it continue.”
Tim Judah, The Economist “Prishtina Insight is a terrific resource for English
speakers eager to get the scoop on what’sgoing on here in Kosovo. Each new editionexplores something new and exciting aboutKosovo and its vibrant communities.Congratulations on your 100th edition, and Ilook forward to continuing to turn the pagesas Prishtina Insight launches into its next 100editions!”
Paul Engelstad, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy, Prishtina
Prishtina Insight is
Q as in qualityU as in uniqueO as in outreachT as in truly investigativeA as in ambitiousB as in boldL as in look into realityE as in English
Lage OlofssonAuditor General of Kosovo
“Congratulations to Prishtina Insight on its100th edition. I always find Prishtina Insight alively and stimulating read. It is good to havean English language newspaper in Kosovo.This is useful for many members of the inter-national community whose Albanian orSerbian is not so strong and it improves theEnglish language skills of Kosovan readers.”
Ian Cliff, UK Ambassador to Kosovo:
"It is always worth waiting for the next edition ofPrishtina Insight. It offers independent and in-depth media analysis of key political, economicand cultural events. Prishtina Insight is bothlocal and regional and strikes the right balancein being such. It features refreshing articles,stories and opinion pieces that are thoughtinspiring."
Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger,Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo
“Every time an independent and professionalnewspaper in Kosovo marks a jubilee oranniversary, as in this case of Prishtina Insightmarking its 100th edition, all journalists and thegeneral public as well, should share a satisfac-tion for such an achievement. Because, inKosovo is hard to survive as a professional,without compromising personal and profes-sional integrity, without bending against politi-cal pressure, business and power.
For this reason, I congratulate Prishtina Insightfor this occasion, which at the same time is forall of us, because, even though it’s in English,this newspaper is of Kosovo and for Kosovo,and above all, remains a professional one whatis needed for our country and society. On behalfof Koha Ditore, as a precursor of independentand professional journalism, in the service oftruth and society, but also in my name, I wishPrishtina Insight and its journalists many moresuch jubilees, with the only requirement not toavoid the path so far in the profession.”
Agron Bajrami, Editor-in-chief, Koha Ditore
Our Readers’ Reflections
Marking Prishtina Insight’s Milestone Issue
YMCK
news 7Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
When Prime Minister Hashim Thaciaddressed lawmakers on theKosovo Privatisation Agency in
October, he vowed to keep politics out of theentity that oversees the sale of state enter-prises.
“As Prime Minister, I have decided toavoid political influence and not proposeministers of the board of the KosovoPrivatisation Agency,” Thaci said in theOctober 2 parliamentary session.
It took less than a month for Thaci torenege on that pledge. On October 29, duringa cabinet meeting, Thaci proposed BlerimRexha to head the Privatisation Agency aschairman of the board. The cabinet assent-ed.
The former chairman of the board, DinoAsanaj, died in June. According to authori-ties, Asanaj stabbed himself 11 times forreasons unknown.
Party member:
Rexha is a member of Thaci’s DemocraticParty of Kosovo, PDK, and formerly ran forassembly. He also served as minister in thePDK’s shadow cabinet when the party wasin opposition. Once the PDK came to power,Rexha became deputy minister for Energyand Mines.
The Office of the Prime Minister did notrespond to Prishtina Insight’s questionsabout Rexha’s nomination and connectionsto the PDK. Rexha also did not respond.
The Assembly still must approve Rexha’snomination. As part of the process, Rexhasubmitted an obligatory biography to theOffice of the Secretariat at the Governmentof Kosovo.
Rexha listed his educational qualifica-tions, including a doctorate from theTechnical University of Vienna, and hisstint as deputy minister for Energy andMines from 2008 to 2011.
He did not mention that he served in thePDK’s shadow cabinet as the director of theDepartment of Technology.
Rexha has not explained why he omittedhis post in the shadow government.
The four other candidates nominated tothe Agency board do not have any knownpolitical ties to Thaci.
They are: Haxhi Arifi, head of theAlliance of Independent Unions of Kosovo;Skender Komoni, chief inspector of KosovoCustoms; Maja Milanovic, an economistwho worked in the privatisation agencyfrom 2007 to 2009; and Dardane Peja, a proj-ect manager for the US Agency forInternational Development, USAID.
Strange death:
More than four years ago, in 2008, theKosovo government named New York busi-nessman Dino Asanaj to chair thePrivatisation Agency board.
He became the agency head in 2010 undera new mandate that placed the chairman ofthe board in charge of the agency as awhole.
Asanaj had close ties to Thaci. He toldPrishtina Insight in 2008: “The governmentnominated me… However, I do not deny thatthe Prime Minister is a good friend.”
On June 14, Asanaj was found wounded inhis office at the International Village inPrishtina. He died two hours later.
An autopsy ruled that he had committedsuicide by stabbing himself 11 times. TheKosovo Public Prosecutor’s Office affirmedthe finding in October. But the office is stillinvestigating why Asanaj took his own life.
Asanaj’s death and the expiry of the
terms of the board’s four Kosovar membersin July have left the Kosovar PrivatisationAgency without an oversight body formonths.
The board has three international mem-bers whose terms last until 2014, but lacks aquorum.
Andrea Capussela, who served on theboard as an official in the InternationalCivilian Office, said the PrivatisationAgency cannot function properly without aworking board.
“The board must approve all tenders andall sales and many other things, and withouta board PAK can only administer itself, notdo its job,” he said.
Capussela added it would be a mistake toappoint someone with connections to Thacias the head of the agency shouldn’t be seento be acting “thanks to political or personalinfluence”.
PM’s right questioned:
It is also unclear whether the PrimeMinister or cabinet has the legal right to
nominate members of the PrivatisationAgency’s board.
The 2011 Law of the Kosovo PrivatisationAgency gives that right to the Assemblyunder Article 12.2.
Daut Beqiri, head of Assembly’s legaloffice, could not point to a section in the lawthat granted the Prime Minister or the cabi-net the right to nominate agency boardmembers but said it was established prac-tice. He also pointed to new section in thelaw, Article 12.3, which gives the cabinet thepower to nominate the three internationalmembers of the board.
Zenun Pajaziti, a PDK member who headsthe Assembly’s commission for EconomicDevelopment, Infrastructure, Trade andIndustry, said his commission had askedcabinet to nominate the board members.
“The Assembly Legal Office hasn’t object-ed to this practice and I have acted in com-pliance to this practice,” he said.
“Since the Legal Office gave no objection,we have the right to continue this way,”Pajaziti added.
By Parim Olluri
Thaci Nominates PDK Ally to HeadPrivatisation Agency Back in October, Kosovo PM vowed to keep politics out of the agency – onlyto nominate a political ally as chairman of the board.
Blerim Rexha is Thaci’s pick to head the Privatisation Agency.
It’s not clear if Thaci’s cabinet has the legal right to nominate the Kosovar members of the Privatisation Agency’s board, but it did anyway.
neighbourhood business 8 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
“We have reduced all of ourexpenses, even food rations.The prices of everything went
up, so what else we could do?”So asks Jasmina Boskovic, a 65-
year-old retired professor, carefulchoosing groceries in a Belgrademarket.
Most prices in Serbia have risenby 10 per cent compared to October2011.
Unemployment rose from 22 to27 per cent over the same period,while the average monthlysalaries of those in work fell by 13to about 370.
“I have no clue how my familysurvives the month,” MilosPavlovic, 42, a taxi driver, says.
“We’re always calculatingthings, such as where to buy foodor when to turn on the heating andthe washing machine. We never goto restaurants or the cinema.”
With average monthly salariesnow on about 370 and an averagebasket of goods and services cost-ing about 520, most Serbs arebecoming much more price sensi-tive.
Experts attribute the hikes infood prices to the severe drought,and the other increases to VATrises, monopolies and inflation.
Meanwhile, consumer protec-tion organisations claim the aver-age family needs more money thanstate statistics suggest.
Under the guise of revising the2012 budget, the new governmentraised prices on items rangingfrom food to heating. The amend-ments came into force on October1st.
The wave of hikes, ranging from3 to 40 per cent, hit householdchemicals, alcohol, processedfruits and vegetables, beverages,canned meat and fish, city trans-port fares, frozen fruits, confec-tionery, ice cream, clothing,footwear and mobile phones.
Heating went up by 18.5 per cent,diesel fuel by around 3 per cent,
liquefied petroleum by 20 per centup and cigarettes by 10 to 16 percent.
The revised budget increasedVAT on non–food items from 18 to20 per cent while taxes on profitswill rise from 10 to 12 per cent nextyear.
Although basic food VATremained at 8 per cent, a signifi-cant price hike was also registeredin September when the VATincrease was announced toinclude dairy products, cookingoil, flour, pastries, eggs, fruit,juices, chemical and energy prod-ucts.
The summer’s severe droughthalved the harvest of corn, soyabean and sunflower while othercrops, including fruit and vegeta-bles also suffered.
The Chamber of Commerce esti-mated the cost of the damage atroughly 1.68 billion, stating thatthis had also had an impact onprices of flour, oil, sugar, milk andmeat.
“The drought and the VATincrease are objective factors thatcaused price hikes, but monopo-lies also used the situation to raiseprices,” Sasa Djogovic, an econo-mist from the Institute for MarketResearch think tanks, says.
“Serbia must liberalise its mar-ket, bring more retailers andincrease competition,” he adds.
At the moment, according to thestatistics office, Serbs spend mostof their income on food and bills.
About 41.3 per cent of the aver-age household’s money goes onfood and beverages and 16 per centgoes on bills such as rent, electric-ity or water.
Serbs spend about 4.4 per cent oftheir income on alcohol and ciga-rettes, 4.1 on health services, 4.8per cent on clothing and footwearand 1.9 on restaurants. Only 0.9per cent goes on education.
According to the state statisticsoffice, Serbs need about one-and-a-half salaries to cover a consumer’sbasket for an average three-mem-ber family.
But consumer protection organ-isations say that the statisticsoffice underestimates the scale of
the problem.“They present a false image. For
example, they calculate the aver-age family basket based on a pricefor toothpaste that is so low that itcannot be found anywhere,” GoranPapovic, president of the NationalOrganisation of Consumers, says.
“Our assumption is that an aver-age basket actually costs about1,000 [a month],” he adds.
Papovic says that the stated con-tents of the “average” basket arealso misleading.
“If you say that you need one-and-a-half salaries for a basket, itdoesn’t sound too bad. But the con-tent of the Serbian basket is verydifferent to the content of the aver-age EU consumer’s basket,” henotes.
The average basket in Serbia isdominated by food and beverages,clothing, housing, water, electrici-ty, gas, health costs, transport,communications, recreation andculture, education and only asmall element is set aside for luxu-ry items such as alcohol, tobacco,restaurants and hotels.
Basic necessities of food andbeverages account for 41 per centof this consumer’s basket.
In an average basket in the EU,by contrast, such basics accountfor only about 12 per cent of thetotal amount spent.
Amid pressure to reduce overallconsumption, consumers are look-ing hard for discounts and creditdeals.
Big retailers are now giving 200days grace to make payments,while just a year ago the graceperiod was about 30 days on aver-age.
“Compared to the same periodlast year, more consumers areturning to cheaper products. Theytarget only those goods that are onsale, spend more time in compar-ing prices and finding the bestdeals,” Delhaize, Serbia’s biggestretailer firm, told the dailyPolitika in early November.
“[Cheaper] label products arebecoming a more common choicefor customers and the share ofthese products in trade is about 15per cent,” it added.
By Gordana Andric
The US financial magazine inits annual list ranksSlovenia in 23rd position out
of 141 analyzed countries world-wide. Macedonia is second in theBalkans, ranked in 37th place.
Montenegro is ranked 45thwhile Croatia is two places belowin 47th place. Bulgaria takes 49thposition and Romania is ranked in60th place.
Greece, which is currentlystruggling with its debt crisis,takes 68th position. Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina andSerbia are in 74th, 85th and 90thplaces respectively. The list doesnot include Kosovo.
Forbes scanned 141 countries onfactors that include stock marketperformance, property rights,taxes, technology and innovation.
Globally, New Zealand toppedForbes annual list, followed byDenmark and Hong Kong.
The least business friendlycountries on the planet, accordingto the magazine, are Zimbabwe,Venezuela and Guinea.
Slovenia, Macedonia Top Forbes' BusinessRanking in BalkansForbes magazine has rated Slovenia and Macedonia as thebest countries in the Balkans in which to do business.Serbia is rated worst.
BIRN Skopje
“On November 16 we will cutoff electricity to the watersupply companies that owe
CEZ a total of 38 million,” CEZShperndarje said last week.
“We advise the public to fill upany water reservoirs at their dis-posal or check up with their utili-ties if they have any alternativemeans of supplying them withwater,” it added.
CEZ bought Albania’s largestutility company in 2009 for €102million, promising fresh invest-ments and a drive to cut losses andstem theft in the grid.
CEZ Shperndarje is a member ofCEZ Group, a multinational corpo-ration that is among the tenlargest energy companies inEurope, both in terms of installed
capacity and number of cus-tomers.
The move to cut the power tolocal water supply companiescomes as Albania’s governmentand CEZ Shperndarje are increas-ingly at odds over electricity tar-iffs and tax fines.
The Czech company has threat-ened to withdraw from theAlbanian market, citing a substan-dard business environment.
Albania's WaterCompanies FacePower CutThe embattled Albanian subsidiary of the Czech powergiant CEZ has threatened to turn off the electricity supplyto water companies citing their unpaid debts.
By Besar Likmeta
Price Hikes Force Serbsto Hunt for BargainsWave of recent price rises means that the pressure is now on for the average family tomake ends meet.
profile 9Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
Euphoric Croats waved nationalflags and held up photos of thegenerals along with banners
reading "Pride of Croatia" while patri-otic songs blasted from speakers.
The main square was covered in redsmoke from flares, with the crowdsinging "My Croatia" and chantingVukovar when the generals arrived.
Gotovina thanked the crowd andstate institutions for the support. Hesaid: "The future is in our hands andwe are all together. Thank you and goodluck".
Markac also addressed the crowdsaying " I carried my homeland in myheart and my homeland are all of you".
"I knew there was no joint criminalenterprise, I knew that the Croatianarmy and police liberated the countryin an honorouble way"
He added that he is "happy thateveryone now can say that Croatian lib-eration was without a stain.
"Croatia is free" he concluded.Along with Gotovina and Markac's
photos on a big screen a sign read"Thank God, welcome home".
The government has sent an officialplane to bring Gotovina and Markacback to Croatia on Friday. They landedin Zagreb around 4pm.
Branko, a 60 year old Croat toldBalkan Insight that "today is the mostbeautiful day as justice has prevailedand light has shined on Croatia". Ana,a 49 year old from Vukovar was alsoemotional saying she lived to see thisday arrive.
"After seven years of torture in theHague now the entire world knows that
this grave error has been rectified andthat the Croats have been victims notvillains."
Earlier, the Hague Tribunal rulingwas watched live on the main square inthe Croatian capital Zagreb, with manycitizens, mostly veterans of the inde-pendence war, present. The sentencewas watched live also in several othercities, including Zadar, where Gotovinawas army commander for severalyears.
As Judge Theodor Meron read outthe sentence, the mood in the crowdchanged rapidly from one of fear tocheer. When Meron announced theacquittal, loud celebrations erupted.
Last night, thousands of Croatsresponded to appeals to attend churchservices and pray for the release of thetwo generals.
"We always knew that 'OperationStorm' wasn't a joint criminal enter-prise. There were crimes, but Gotovinaand Markac weren't guilty for them,"Croatian President Ivo Josipovicdeclared soon after.
Prime Minister Zoran Milanovicmade a similar statement. "Gotovinaand Markac are obviously innocent,but that doesn't mean that the [inde-
pendence] war wasn't bloody, that mis-takes were not done," he said.
"There were mistakes, and for themCroatian state is responsible. To allthese we did harm, Croatia will repay,"Milanovic added, expressing gratitudeto Gotovina and Markac "for with-standing so much for Croatia".
Stipe Mesic, Croatia's formerPresident, said ther verdict was wel-come but should not be politicised.
"The politicization of the decisionsmade by the ICTY Appeals Chamberwould not serve Croatia or Croatianimage in Europe and in the world," hesaid.
"Verdicts to individuals, whoeverthey were and whatever they were,were never judgments on Croatian sol-diers, the Croatian people and theCroatian state, as was once claimed.
"Today's decision should not be anobstacle to a much needed facing thetruth about the past and learning les-sons from the past. It's about time forCroatia to move forward."
Serbian officials have slated the rul-ing as shocking and scandalous, sayingit only confirmed the Hague's politicalagenda.
Croatian Generals Greetedwith Hero's WelcomeTens of thousands of Croats gathered at the main square in the capital to greet army generals AnteGotovina and Mladen Markac after they were acquitted of war crimes charges in the Hague.
AZagreb court on Tuesday sen-tenced Ivo Sanader to three-and-a-half years in prison in the
"Hypo Alpe Adria Bank" case and forseven years in the "MOL-INA" case. Hewas also ordered to pay a fine of 5 mil-lion euro.
"You were found guilty of bothoffences for which you were charged,"the presiding judge Ivan Turudic said,reading the verdict.
Sanader was charged with takinghalf a million euro in bribes fromAustria's Hypo bank in 1994 in order toallow the bank to enter the Croatianfinancial market.
He was also charged with taking 10million euro in bribes from the
Hungarian oil company MOL, in orderto give MOL a dominant position in theCroatian oil company, INA.
MOL was a shareholder in INA, butSanader was accused of giving MOLmore authority in the company than itsshareholding should have allowed.
The two indictments were consoli-dated in November 2011, soon after thetrial for the Hypo bank case started inOctober 2011.
The trial lasted for a year, and about30 witnesses testified in the court.
In the closing arguments last week,the prosecution asked for the maxi-mum sentence of 15 years, while thedefence sought Sanader's release.
One more trial against Sanader isongoing. Another indictment hasmeanwhile been filed against him forallegedly creating a slush fund for hisparty, the Croatian Democratic Union,HDZ, by skimming off profits from
state-owned companies and manipulat-ing public tenders.
The 59-year-old, who served as primeminister from 2003 to 2009, is the high-est ranking former official in Croatiato be tried for graft.
Croatia has been under pressurefrom the European Union to take atough line with corruption, andBrussels has followed the case closely.The country is in line to join the EU inJune 2013.
Both the defendant and prosecutorshave the right to appeal, in which casethe Supreme Court will deliver a finalverdict.
Sanader was elected premier in 2003and 2007, and left office without expla-nation in 2009. He was arrested inDecember 2010 in Austria on an inter-national arrest warrant and was extra-dited to Croatia in July 2011.
Croatian Ex-PM SanaderJailed for Ten YearsIvo Sanader has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking bribes from two foreign companies.
Bojana BarlovacBIRN Zagreb
By Boris Pavelic,Bojana Barlovac
Komsic Sounds Out BosniaOpposition Leftists
The Croat member of Bosnia's state presidency,Zeljko Komsic, has met leaders of the opposi-tion Nasa Stranka [Our Party] with a view to
forming a joint bloc in the 2014 election.Zeljko Komsic recently met leaders of Nasa
Stranka [Our Party], a small left-oriented opposi-tion party, to discuss campainging together in the2014 elections.
According to reports, on November 22 theyagreed to act together in the general elections as aunited opposition block.
Dino Mustafic of Nasa Stranka said the new blocwould have a clear program that would bring aboutmuch-needed changes in politics.
He added that Nasa Stranka would talk to all left-wing parties “which did not give up on a better andhappier Bosnia” and Komsic's announced partywould be one of them.
“We agree 100 per cent with Zeljko Komsic,”Mustafic said. “We did not firm up details of ourcooperation but we will continue these talks in thefollowing months.”
The Bosnian Presidency member is working onforming his own new party after quitting the rulingSocial Democratic Party, SDP.
Driver Tries to Intercept SerbianPresident’s Vehicle
Concerns grow for head of state's security afterunidentified driver tries to cut throughPresident Tomislav Nikolic's motorcade sev-
eral times.A Skoda Fabia with no licence plates tried to cut
into President Nikolic’s motorcade several times onWednesday afternoon, the Serbian Interior Ministryconfirmed.
The incident took place in Yuri Gagarin Street inNew Belgrade around 6 pm local time, the Ministrysaid.
The police are searching for the driver, theMinistry added. Officials at the Serbian Presidencyhave not commented on the incident.
According to the Belgrade-based daily newspaperBlic, the Skoda driver tried four or five times to cutthrough the motorcade, after which the cars in themotorcade tried to make the driver stop, but heescaped.
Earlier this month, on the Belgrade-Nis highway,an official jeep of the Interior Ministry got too closeto the President's motorcade, contrary to regulations.
The investigation on this case is still ongoing.
Albania Arrests CEZ Staff asPower Row Escalates
Albanian police on Friday detained nearly 20employees of the Czech power company CEZ,after they cut off power to water utility com-
panies, in an escalating dispute over unpaid elec-tricity.
Five detained employees remained behind barson Saturday and the Ministry of the Interior hasannounced that it will bring charges against them.
Police acted after CEZ Shperndarje, the local sub-sidiary of CEZ in Albania, cut the power to watercompanies in several cities, a move the governmentclaims is illegal.
“We will not allow CEZ to act like a vigilante, andwill stop all attempts to cut off the power to waterutility companies,” the Minister of Interior, FlamurNoka, said.
CEZ Albania’s director, Miroslav Macek, said thearrests of its employees were illegal and they hadevery right to cut off electricity to clients whorefused to pay for it.
“The police have detained our employees arbi-trarily and illegally,” said Macek. “We will file crim-inal charges against the police for illegal imprison-ment and improper intervention in the electricitydistribution system,” he added.
CEZ bought Albania’s largest utility company in2009 for 102 million, promising fresh investmentsand a drive to cut losses and stem theft in the grid.
CEZ Shperndarje is a member of CEZ Group, amultinational corporation that is among the tenlargest energy companies in Europe, both in termsof installed capacity and number of customers.
The company and the government have beenlocked in a struggle over debts, which threatens tobring Albania’s power sector to a collapse.
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Aleksandar Vucic, the manin charge of Serbia’s policeand military secret servic-
es, claims he had been tapped, butdoes not know the identity of theculprit. Answers may come at theend of November, he says, when“everything will become clear”.
Vucic, police officials, observersand reporters have all presentedpossible scenarios about the phonetapping scandal.
One relates to Vucic’s high-pro-file battle against corruption,another to bids to cause a riftbetween him and his party’sSocialist coalition partners, and athird to struggles for the positionto head Serbia’s police.
Vucic, Defence Minister, DeputyPrime Minister and a senior figurein the governing SerbianProgressive Party, is also secretaryof Serbia’s National SecurityCouncil.
This means that all relevantinformation from the SecurityInformation Agency, BIA, theMilitary Security Agency, theMilitary Intelligence Service andMinistry of Interior lands on hisdesk.
Experts say that the case high-lights how a poor legislativeframework and broken chain inpolice command can affect the pri-
vacy of Serbian citizens, whichonly comes to light when a seniorpublic figure is targeted.
Rodoljub Sabic, Commissionerfor Information of Public Interest,warns that in just one year, in acountry of around seven millioncitizens, the police and BIAentered the systems of Serbia’sfour mobile network operators amillion times to seek phonerecords.
According to him, this is deeplyalarming and a violation of theconstitution.
The four laws that currently reg-ulate this area must be amendedso that phone listings can only berequested on the basis of a courtorder, he adds.
Different scenarios:
Vucic told the daily VecernjeNovosti on November 1 that agroup within the InteriorMinistry had tapped his phoneand that of President TomislavNikolic.
His conversation was not lis-tened into, he said, but somebodywithin the police had entered themobile network operator,Telekom, and obtained informa-tion about his received and dialledcalls, call lengths and movements.
Serbia’s Interior Minister andPrime Minister, Ivica Dacic, andthe Director of Police, MiloradVeljovic, both stated they knewnothing about it and pledged toinvestigate.
Police, the Prosecutor’s Officeand BIA have since launched sepa-
rate investigations on whoaccessed Vucic’s and Nikolic’sdata. As the probes are continu-ing, no findings have yet been pub-lished.
The trail behind the tappingand request, signed by someonefrom the police, which mightreveal who gave the original order,has not yet been found.
Vucic himself suggested thathis fight against corruption hadirritated various tycoons whomight be behind the affair.
Since Vucic assumed his post,
YMCK
neighbourhood10 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
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Tapping Scandal Highlights Serbian
Aleksandar Vucic, right, is in charge of Serbia’s police and military secret Service and says his phones were tapped.
By Gordana Andric
The mystery of who ordered the tapping of the Deputy PM and President’s phone records highlights broken police chain of command.
The exhibition, which wasopened last Saturday night,displays some 20 photo
essays made by 15 photographers,on the topic of 'New Perspectives'.
Each photo essay is accompa-nied by a large poster, and a book-let containing descriptions and theremaining photos from the story.
The essays feature wide range ofsubjects including the Balkankitchens, the Albanian heavymetal fans, arranged marriages
between Albanians and Serbs andthe depiction of student life inBulgaria.
The exhibition is a part of amaster class organized by WorldPress Photo and the Robert BoshStiftung foundation with an aim tocontribute to the professional
development of photographers, aswell as to bring up a discussionabout important social issues inthe Balkans.
The photographers agree thatbeing involved in the projecthelped them to go deeper in thestories they are working on, meet
new colleagues from other coun-tries, as well as too promote theircarriers internationally.
Marko Risovic said that he issatisfied with the exhibition andthe project as it contributes to thepower of photography to shed alight on certain problems, and
Photographers from theThe touring exhibition ofphoto-essays "SEE NewPerspectives“made by theBalkan photographers hasopened at the ArtgetGallery in Belgrade.
By Nemanja Cabric
Photography from Ferdi Limani (above and right) was featured in the exhibition.,
he has focused on 24 problematicprivatisation deals.
A police official who preferredto remain anonymous told BIRNthat the aim of tapping was not totrace Vucic’s calls or movements.
The likely aim was to disruptthe corruption probes by under-mining Vucic’s trust in the policewith whom he needs to cooperateon these cases.
“Behind this are tycoons withpolice connections and an interestin stopping what we are doing,”the source said.
On the other hand, Ivica Dacic,the Socialist Party leader andPrime Minister, believes Vucicwas given the information on thetapping to create political turmoil.
“Someone tried to play the cardof government disunity to makeVucic and me fight, but it won’t bepossible,” Dacic told the publicbroadcaster RTS on November13th.
Others suspect the tapping ofVucic’s phone was the result of apower struggle within the policewhose new director will soon beappointed.
According to this scenario, thegoal was to undermine Vucic ‘strust in the current director,Milorad Veljovic , who is planningto apply again for the position.
Veljovic’s mandate expiredabout a year ago and the InteriorMinistry is about to open a call fora new director.
After his appointment in 2006 bythe then Democratic Party ofSerbia-led government, he laterbecame close to the DemocraticParty, which governed Serbiafrom 2008 to 2012.
Veljovic has never been close toDacic, who told RTS on November13th that the police directorateunder Veljovic had not beeninforming him of police opera-tions, although it was obliged to.
Meanwhile, Veljovic is one ofthose with whom Vucic closely
cooperates in corruption investi-gations.
Missing links in commandchain:
Security analysts say that as thepolice cannot establish who tappedVucic’s phone records - or find outwho might have given such anorder – it shows the chain of com-mand in the police and InteriorMinistry does not function.
According to the Law onPolicing, adopted in 2005, alldepartments of the police aredirectly responsible to the policedirector who must inform theInterior Minister of their work.
“The case has shown the chaosin the police and Interior Ministry- that in practice there is no com-mand mechanism,” Orhan Dragas,head of the Institute for Security,an NGO, said.
A BIRN source in the police saysthat some police departments com-municate directly with MinisterDacic, instead of with the policedirector.
“We have some departmentsthat are professional and followprocedures, while others are led bypeople who obey their politicalsuperiors, the interests of tycoonsor friendly ties,” the source said.
Daniel Sunter, Director of theEuro-Atlantic Initiative, says thereappears to be a power vacuumwithin the police.
“Veljovic’s mandate has expiredand Veljovic and Dacic have nevercooperated well,” he noted.
“Now you also have a new play-er, Aleksandar Vucic. It seemsunclear who is in charge of whatand who has the last word,” headded.
Confusing laws:
Rodoljub Sabic estimates thepolice and BIA have probablyrequested phone listings on a mil-
lion occasions from June 2011 toJune 2012. | Photo by MediaCentre Belgrade
According to data gathered byRodoljub Sabic, the Commissionerfor Information of Public Interest,and Sasa Jankovic, theOmbudsman, from June 2011 toJune 2012 the police and BIAaccessed the system of just one ofSerbia’s four mobile phone opera-tors no less than 270,000 times.
The three other operators do nottrack when and who accessed theirsystems.
But Sabic said the police andBIA have probably requestedphone listings on a million occa-sions in the year to June 2012.
In practice, BIA has onlineaccess to mobile network opera-tors’ databases and can accessthem without informing the opera-tor of its actions. Through BIA’sonline systems, police enjoy thesame access.
People with the right to use thesystem have passwords. Althoughthere should be a paper trail aboutwho ordered a tapping, Vucic’scase shows this is not always so.
While a court order is requiredto listen to a phone conversation,phone records containing infor-mation on received and dialledcalls, call lengths and the locationof the person at the time of a call,are easier to retrieve, obtainingthis data does not count as wire-tapping.
Based on the Law on Policing,BIA and the police can thus obtainsuch records without court order.
It was only after the news of thetapping of high state officials waspublished that Vucic said the lawson who can tap phone records, whyand for how long, needed tochange.
Currently, it is still not clearwho in the police and BIA is enti-tled to request records.
In some cases the police and BIAact on prosecutors’ orders but in
others the police director or BIAsign requests themselves, orempower somebody else in theforces to do that.
Sources told BIRN that SBPOK,the Organised Crime Unit, issometimes entitled to do so,whereas on others UKP,Department for Criminal Police,or the Department for IT Crime,may do so. Sources say that the listis not exhaustive.
Mobile network operatorsmeanwhile also give clients’phone records to courts and prose-cutors.
In the course of a year, opera-tors responded to more than 4,500requests from courts and prosecu-tors, although more than half ofrequests did not say on what legalbasis the records were beingrequested, as the law requires.
“The fact that three of fourmobile network operators are notmonitoring when police or BIAentered their systems, and the factthat they give phone records tocourts and prosecutors withoutknowing the legal grounds forthose requests shows they are notrespecting the law but the author-ity of institutions,” RodoljubSabic told BIRN.
“There is no control on when
and why the police access phonerecords,” he added.
“The fact that the police direc-tor and other people from thepolice can decide on tapping,instead of a court, is against theconstitution,” Sabic concluded.
In May, Sabic and Jankovicasked the Constitutional Court todeclare unconstitutional thoselegal articles that allow this prac-tice.
In future they say that tappingphone records should only be per-mitted on a court order thatexplains why the person is beingtapped.
In April, the ConstitutionalCourt ruled that similar articlesthat allowed the Military SecurityAgency, VBA, and MilitaryIntelligence Agency, VOA, toaccess phone records on theorders of their own directors areunconstitutional.
These two agencies must nowseek a court order if they wish toobtain phone records.
“The best solution would be toconstitute one body that controlswho has access to phone records -like a national council that keepsan indelible track on who took therecords, when and why,” Sabicsaid.
neighbourhood 11Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
‘Police Chaos’
Aleksandar Vucic says his phone was tapped four times in 2012. Photo by Beta
region Exhibit in Belgrade
points towards the ways of solvingthem.
“Our mission is to contribute tochanges and to transmit messages,ideas or stories to other people,“Risovic said.
Jetmir Idrizi said that this proj-ect gave him a respite from dailynewspaper journalism andallowed him to focus on one par-ticular problem.
“It was helpful because I hadmore opportunity to play with mysubject, to do it my own way, andalso get professional advice,“Idrizi explained.
Nemanja Pancic added that he
hopes that projects like thiswould help photography as wellas culture in general to gain backthe influence it once had in theBalkan countries.
“Today, photography is notviewed as an art form, or as some-one’s expression, but only assomething colourful that simplyexists,“ said Pancic.
The director of Robert BoshStiftung foundation, SandraBreka, said that that the exhibi-tion aims to find new perspectivesby examining the “the view of theother“ in the region.
“If you look what we havetoday, for example, media cover-age of the Hague decisions, wesee how present the past is andhow everything goes back to whathave happened several years ago.There are good reasons for it, butthe understanding between coun-tries is also important, as well asthat people know how other peo-ple live,“ Breka explained.
Breka concluded that the exhi-bitions unique design, made byartist Jeroen de Vries from theNetherlands, as well as interac-tive features such as the chat boxand the website, helps to establishunderstanding and a broader dis-cussion on the issues presented.
The managing director ofWorld Press Photo, MichielMunneke, said that the projecthelped photographers not only toimprove technical skills, but alsoto enhance their visual story-telling.
“We consider the project thatwe launched with the Robert BoshStiftung as a part of our Academy.We are happy to be able to setupthis programme, as it enablesphotographers to really learn“,he said.
The exhibition was already dis-played in Sarajevo last month,and after December 14, when itcloses in Belgrade, it will beshown in Zagreb and Berlin. Eugenia Maximova, of Bulgaria.
neighbourhood12 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
Pasko Kuzman, who is expect-ed to retire soon as head ofthe Cultural Heritage
Protection Office, says he willnever stop searching for the tombof Alexander the Great, which heis convinced lies somewhere insoutheast Macedonia.
Many in Macedonia comparethis restless, adventurous andeccentric-looking archeologist toIndiana Jones.
Recently, he vowed to give nomore interviews until the govern-ment decides whether to retirehim this year or extend his termuntil 2014. But he broke his "vow ofsilence" for Prishtina Insight.
Kuzman says that even if hedoes leave the Cultural HeritageOffice, he will not rest at least
until he is 99.“There is no force in this world
that will make me stop workingafter retirement,” he toldPrishtina Insight.
“Pasko Kuzman will work untilhe is 99, and afterwards we shallsee. Pasko can be retired only byPasko,” he said in Ohrid, his hometown, where he has conducted hismajor researches.
Kuzman’s name is closely linkedwith the extensive excavations inthis ancient town, dominated by amedieval fortress, as well as withthe reconstruction of the prehis-toric settlement in the Bay ofBones, on the nearby Ohrid Lake.
Sitting in a café near St Sofia, amedieval church that is more thana thousand years old, he says hewas always captivated by the city’sbeauty.
Beside his long almost whitehair, one of the most strikingthings about him are four wristwatches that he wears on bothhands.
“I love watches, they are myhobby,” he declares.
“I don’t wear them to measuretime conventionally in 24 hours asothers do… they are timemachines, vessels that help metravel through time. Definitely notin minutes, but in centuries.”
Seen often at public eventsstanding next to Prime MinisterNikola Gruevski, and presidingover the main institution incharge of cultural heritage, manysee him as the mastermind behindthe grand revamp of the capitalcalled “Skopje 2014”.
Kuzman is a member ofGruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE party.
Drawing inspiration fromClassical Antiquity, and intendedto give the neglected capital amore monumental appearance, theSkopje 2014 project envisages theconstruction of numerous tallbronze and marble monumentsand some 20 buildings.
Statues of Alexander the Great,of his father and mother, Philipand Olympia, as well as of themedieval Tzar Samoil are amongthe focal points of this massiveundertaking.
“No, they exaggerate! I am notthe mastermind!” Kuzmanexclaims, adding that the manpulling the strings behind Skopje2014 is Prime Minister Gruevski.
“This man has amazing ideasand visions that fitted into ourideas, and so the project started.But Gruevski was the one initiat-ing the building of these monu-ments,” he says.
“It is true that I was on all thecommittees, selecting the monu-ments, suggesting historical fig-ures from that time and insistingon [the construction of ] the Musesand Dionysius in Skopje,” Kuzmanconcedes.
He strongly defends one of themost disputed aspects of the proj-ect, placing characters fromClassical antiquity under the spot-light.
“We did not skip the MiddleAges, but there were simply noMacedonian characters from thattime,” he notes.
“Macedonia was under the five-century-long rule of the Turks…so, everything that we’ve pre-
served comes from AncientMacedonia”, Kuzman says.
“Even the Prime Minister askedme once, ‘Did we go over the topwith the Ancient characters andneglect the Slavic ones?’” herecalls.
“I replied by asking him to nameme one character from that timeand we would include it. But therearen’t any. We only have StClement and we already have auniversity in Ohrid named afterhim.”
Kuzman says the wax figuresbeing prepared for the new archeo-logical museum in Skopje will tryto add some balance in thatrespect. The museum, adorned by
Macedonia’s ‘Indiana Jones’ Scorns Pasko Kuzman, Macedonia’s excavator in chief, says he is not putting down his shoveluntil he finds the tomb of Alexander the Great – even if it takes him till he is 99.
Pasko Kuzman is a celebrity in Macedonia.
By Sase Dimovski
Questions about party financing arebeing raised in Serbia after a surpris-ingly large number of individuals
gave the country’s former ruling partyalmost exactly the same amount of moneyon the same day.
Ninety individuals donated more than€5,000 to the Democratic Party, DS, this year.The party still runs the city of Belgrade.
The party’s financial report shows that onOctober 17, seven people donated about€5,000, two paid exactly €5,370, and three oth-ers donated €5,373.
Seven days later, another seven peoplefrom Belgrade donated sums from €5,050 to€5,720.
This pattern was repeated throughout theyear. On July 20, 11 donors gave between€4,870 to €5,220, for example.
BIRN contacted 15 donors, all modestlypaid employees of Belgrade public compa-nies and agencies under the control of theDemocrats. Eight responded to BIRN’s ques-tions about the donations while sevenrefused contact.
All had donated about €5,000, a large sumfor poorly paid Serbs on monthly averageearnings of €350.
While the pattern of payments raises sus-picions that the party is channelling fundsfrom unverified sources into its accountsvia city hall employees and low-rankingparty officials, the donors interviewed byBIRN denied being used in this way.
What actually happened will be hard tofind out, however, because no state body isobliged to investigate the origin of thismoney.
Since last year, when Serbia adopted aLaw on Financing Political Activities, allparties in Serbia are obliged to release regu-lar reports on receipts of donations.
By law an individual may donate to allpolitical parties in one year a maximum of20 average monthly salaries, that is, €6,760.
The Democrats’ financial report showsthat throughout this year the party obtainedfinancial support from some 30 business-men and over a thousand individuals wortha total of €1.6 million.
This contrasted with other parties thathad just a few individuals providing dona-tions.
Of 89 donors in Serbia who gave theDemocrats €4,400 to €6,760 from January tillNovember, all but two were from Belgrade.
High-ranking party officials, with theexception of Bozidar Đelic who donated€5,000, donated less than junior public ser-vants, BIRN found out.
Dragan Sutanovac, former minister ofdefence and DS outgoing vice-president gift-ed the party €320, Oliver Dulic gave €450 andBojan Pajtic €390.
At the same time, Marko Bastac, a 28-year-old Democrat municipal councillor inBelgrade, donated about €5,000.
He declared to the Anti-CorruptionAgency that his monthly income was €756
with a 1993 Subaru as his only asset.“It is meaningless to ask anyone about
private matters. That [donation] was mypersonal decision,” he said.
“No one advised me how much to give, itwas my decision,” Bastac said in a tele-phone statement to BIRN.
Marko Nikolic, a Democrat councillor inVracar municipality, who told BIRN that hehad recently graduated, gave €5,370.
“I wanted to do something for Serbia’swell-being in any possible way that I can,”Nikolic said.
Lavish Party Donations RaiseCurious pattern of donations to the Democratic Party – many from poorlypaid civil servants - raises fresh questions about party financing.
By Aleksandar Djordjevic
YMCK
neighbourhood 13Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
Classical columns, is due to opennext year.
The figures will range fromPhilip of Macedonia to themedieval King Marko and the firstSlavic princes, he says.
One of the things that putKuzman on the covers of the worldpress was his controversial deci-sion to place a set of valuableAncient sculptures excavatedacross Macedonia out in the openat the entrance to the Macedoniangovernment building.
Despite objections, mainly fromGreece, which saw the move asprovocation, the 15 statues foundin Stibera, Stobi and Herakleaexcavation sites are still there.
“We wanted to present our cul-tural heritage in the Government[HQ], inside and outside, so thatdistinguished visitors to the coun-try who don’t have time to go tomuseums can see these things,” herecalls.
“Initially, we wanted to place thesculptures inside the building butafter talking to the architect, hesaid they were too heavy to goinside,” Kuzman adds.
With possible retirement fromoffice looming, Kuzman says hewill not give up his dream of find-ing the tomb of Alexander theGreat, who he is convinced isburied in present-day Macedonia.
Recently he told the media thathe was close to making this granddiscovery.
“There are two theories: accord-ing to the first his tomb is inEgypt, but a mosque was builtabove the tomb so no one dared digunder the mosque and reveal thetomb.
“We opt for the second theory,that there is a grave in Egypt, butthat Alexander is not there,because on the request of hismother, Olympia, the sarcophagiwere replaced and one coffin wassent to Egypt, while the other trav-eled to Macedonia, whereAlexander is buried.
“He was buried with all the hon-ours, but in a secret location insoutheast Macedonia at a ceme-tery which still exists”, Kuzmancontinues, comparing the mysteryof his grave with the mystery ofthe lost kingdom of Atlantis.
“I'm always behind him, closelyfollowing his footsteps! My pas-sion since my student days is tofind his grave. I am convinced thatday will come,” he insists.
Kuzman is proud of the excava-tions he led in and around hishome town of Ohrid.
The discovery in 2002 of anancient golden burial mask and agolden burial glove near Ohrid,believed to date from the 5th or 6thcentury BC, made Kuzman a localcelebrity.
However, he is disappointed thatthe extensive excavations at TsarSamuil’s fortress on the hill abovethe old part of the town did notreveal much about the life of thisking.
Kuzman says the golden arti-facts along with a rare bronzekrater used for mixing wine andwater from Ohrid will be the starattractions in the new archeologi-cal museum in Skopje. They willbe “our biggest surprise”, Kuzmanmaintains.
In 2008, another of Kuzman’sdreams came true when
Macedonia opened a museum onwater.
The museum in Lake Ohrid onwhich Kuzman worked lies on thesouthern coast of the Gradistepeninsula in the Bay of Boneswhere a stilt-house settlement, orpile-dwelling, dating from between1,200 and 700 BC has been recon-structed.
Now he is engaged on anotherambitious project, to explore,reconstruct and prepare all themain archeological sites andfortresses situated nearMacedonia’s main highway lead-ing to Greece in the south and toSerbia in the north.
The highway, part of the pan-European corridor 10, was recent-ly named after Alexander the
Great.“The forts will be fully explored
and preserved and lit up to attractthe attention of night driversalong the highway,” he explains.
“The plan includes Skopjefortress, Kozhle fortress on theSkopje-Veles stretch, Stobi,Antigona, Demir Kapija, IsarMarvinci and Vardar Hill, whichis located near Valandovo andGevgelija.
“We will rebuild the walls of thefortresses. These are buildingsfrom the Ancient and medievalperiod and the plan is to finalizethem by 2020.”
Kuzman announces one moremajor archeological project.Under his leadership, a team ofexperts in various fields is work-
ing on a vast scientific tome thatcovers the whole of Macedonianhistory from the Stone Age untilthe present time.
Still secretive about this work,which he says may attract hostileviews from neighbouring coun-tries, he says that it will soon bepublished in three volumes, eachcontaining some 2,600 pages.
Finally, Kuzman has a veryimportant key, which opens thearcheological depot in his hometown. It is full of unearthed valu-ables.
But with his retirementapproaching, he is faced with adilemma: with whom should heentrust safekeeping of the key? Hesays the government will decidehis successor.
Retiring at 65
Kuzman says he won’t retire until he finds the tomb of Alexander the Great.
Asked to comment on the originof his gift, he said: “No one gaveme money for the donation, thiswas my money.”
The head of the city’s day careagency for developmentally chal-lenged children, Mirjana Bilbija,who donated €4,900, also said thedonation was her private affair.
“It’s my personal business. I cangive money to whoever I want andas much as I want and that’s noneof your business,” she said.
“I love the Democratic Party andI would give everything for them,”Bilbija added.
Daniel Hadnadjev, programmerat the city-run Water Supply andSewerage company, who donated€5,100, gave a similar response.
“I’ve been a party member forten years… they needed help and Ihelped,” Hadnadjev said.
The donation was his alone andno one had used him, or instructedhim when or how much money todonate, he added.
Milan Cerovac, a business secre-tary with Belgrade City Council,until a few months ago a coordina-tor for the Stari Grad Youth Office,who donated €5,100, also said thegift “was my private decision tohelp the party”.
These statements are unlikely to
be legally challenged. The Anti-Corruption Agency, the govern-ment body tasked with implement-ing the Law on Financing PoliticalActivities, explains that donorsworking in public companies andinstitutions are free to give to par-ties.
The law does not oblige theAgency to check the origin of themoney that individuals or legalentities donate to political entities,a written response to BIRN said.
Djordje Vukovic, an author ofthe Law on Financing PoliticalActivities, from the Centre forFree Elections and Democracy,CeSID, an NGO, said if there areany indications of irregularitiesconcerning donations to politicalparties, the Anti-CorruptionAgency could order the TaxAdministration to investigate.
Experts doubted this step wouldbe taken as the Agency has neverbefore checked the validity of par-ties’ financial reports or the originof donations.
Some experts say that the body,whose members the governmentselects, is politically dependantand reluctant to act.
Transparency InternationalProgramme Director NemanjaNenadic says all circumstances
need to be investigated if there aresigns that persons other than thelisted donors are giving money toparties.
“Elements arousing suspicionare payments made on the sameday and in similar amounts. Thisshould certainly be subject to aninvestigation,” he said.
Democratic Party representa-tives say it is not their duty toknow who is helping them, orinvestigate the origin of the dona-tions.
“Whoever gives money is wel-come. The one thing important tous is that the amount is within theallowed limits and that no oneasks us for favours in return forthe money,” the party secretary,Tamara Trpic, said.
The party says that it only runschecks on private companies want-ing to support them.
“The Democratic Party is not aninvestigative body. We have 197,000members; do you think it’s possi-ble to check them all?” Trpicasked.
“The public has been informedand everything is in line with thelaw. Unlike the other parties, atleast we release information on allour donations,” she concluded.
Hackles in Serbia
Bait for partiesDjordje Vukovic, from CeSID, says the upper limit on donations
was raised to 20 average monthly salaries so that political partieswould feel more motivated to report all donations.
“This was ‘bait’ for the parties to put their money into legal chan-nels,” he said.
“If the limit was five average salaries the parties would notreport all their donations,” Vukovic added.
So far the Democrats are the only ones to have swallowed the so-called bait. Their report for 2012 listed over a thousand donations,while the Serbian Progressive Party listed only one.
After the Democrats, United Regions of Serbia, URS, has thehighest number of listed individual donations, almost 900, but thetotal value of these payments was only €191,000.
The average donation to URS is €215 while for the Democrats it is€1,570.
The website of the Socialist Party of Serbia, SPS, contains a listof 23 names who donated a total of €53,867 over the year.
Over the past nine months 43 donors gave the Liberal DemocraticParty, LDP, a total of €200,000.
YMCK
culture14 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
Dressed tastefully like a stage actressfrom a bygone era, Branka Petric-Fehmiu arrives at Belgrade’s
Zvezdara Theatre in a coat, scarf andcream-coloured hat.
It’s a small but prestigious theatre. Petric-Fehmiu has acted here often, the last time in2011. She still acts, but not as much as sheused to. Now 74, she the same age as her latehusband, Bekim Fehmiu, was when he tookhis life in 2010.
Fehmiu was an acting legend both inYugoslavia and abroad, appearing in morethan 40 films. He starred in the 1967 film “IEven Met Happy Gypsies,” known as“Skupljaci Perja” in Yugoslavia, whichchronicled the lives in Roma living in theVojvodina province of Serbia and whichwon the jury prize at the Cannes film festi-val.
“This movie opened doors around theworld,” Petric-Fehmiu recalls. “When hereturned from Cannes, he was received likea hero. All of Yugoslavia was happy aboutthe success of the movie.” Fehmiu was 31 atthe time and married Petric-Fehmiu a yearlater.
Proud of his identity:
“Radiance and Sadness,” the second partof Fehmiu’s autobiography, published inOctober, reveals that the acting legendreceived various offers to join political par-ties, but Petric-Fehmiu says politics neverinterested her husband.
“He did not want it [politics]. He wantedto be totally free,” she says. “He didn’t wantto belong to anyone.”
On screen, Fehmiu played roles in a vari-ety of places and languages, but never inAlbanian. But Petric-Fehmiu says Fehmiuwasn’t suppressing his identity.
“This shouldn’t be seen as contempt,”she says of his non-appearance inAlbanian-language films. “He absolutelywas an Albanian. But you are forgettingthat we were in Yugoslavia at that time. Hebelonged to everyone.
“When we started to see who was what,what happened, happened,” Petric-Fehmiusays, referring to the disintegration ofYugoslavia.
Far from scorning his origins, when anumber of people in the film industryasked Fehmiu to change his name, herefused.
“They asked him three times but he did-n’t accept,” she says, recalling what hap-
pened when Fehmiu was making the 1970American film “The Adventurers”.
“The filming stopped and Bekim toldthem that he wouldn’t change his name,and if they didn’t like it, they could changethe actor. In the end, they gave in.”
Passion for tango:
While Fehmiu was an actor by profession,Petric-Fehmiu says tango was his privatepassion.
“He danced tango very well,” she says,adding that her late husband turned downoffers to pursue dancing in Argentina pro-fessionally. “He taught me, too. We celebrat-ed success and joy by dancing together.”
At home, she says, life was normal. “Butthere is no word that can describe life afterhim. I don’t even want to find those words.”
Petric-Fehmiu, wrinkles her face as shereflects on families who maintain that theirdomestic life is only “good, good, good.”
“Our life was like a ship that cruises withsails but sometimes needs oars. Sometimesit appeared to be sinking but we alwaysmanaged to get to port, and there it would befixed to sail again”.
There was always an anchor: “That wasthe love that Bekim had.”
Devoted to family:
Fehmiu was something of a sex symbol.In an obituary, the British Daily Telegraphnoted his “youthful conquests andacquaintances with the likes of BrigitteBardot and Ava Gardner.”
But Fehmiu was devoted to his family,especially his mother, his widow recalls.“He would see her whenever possible,” shesays.
“I’m just sorry that I never managed tolearn Albanian … [but] each time I’d go [tohis mother’s house], everyone would speakSerbian.”
Today, Branka Petric-Fehmiu lives withher youngest son, Hedon. The eldest,Uliks, is an actor in the US.
“I am blessed to have two children,”Petric-Fehmiu says. “Bekim wanted 12,but I said we should be happy with two.Maybe I feel a bit sorry we didn’t have athird.”
‘He ended his life as he lived it’:
In July 2010, Fehmiu ended his life byshooting himself with a revolver.According to his will, the ashes werethrown into the river in Prizren, inKosovo, the town where he spent much ofhis childhood after his birth in Sarajevo.
“He ended his life the way he lived it,”Petric-Fehmiu says. “He was determinedand never in doubt.”
That same resolve led him earlier toabandon the theatre in 1987. He was per-forming “Madame Kolontine” at the timein Belgrade when he left the show. Fromthat moment he never appeared in thetheatre.
“He threw down the anchor and thatwas it. Finished,” Petric-Fehmiu says. “Atthe time, in the 1980s, all the anti-Albanian propaganda was starting [inSerbia under Slobodan Milosevic]. Heabandoned the theatre and, in the 1990s,his international movie career, too.”
The couple sent their children out of
Serbia to avoid military service as warbroke out in the former Yugoslavia.
Petric-Fehmiu says it was a difficulttime for her husband. “He had great faithin humanity, and at that moment, thatfaith started crumbling down.”
Feeling powerless, Fehmiu decided thatthe best way to make a statement was bynot saying anything at all.
“Only when he left this world did peo-ple understand the meaning of hissilence.”
By Jeton Musliu
The widow of the Yugoslav-Albanian acting legend recalls her late husband’s film successes, love of tango, pridein his roots – and, finally, the resolve with which he took his own life.
Bekim Fehmiu ‘EndedLife as He Lived it’
Branka Petric-Fehmiu says her late husband was a family man.
Bekim Fehmiu in his heyday.
Fehmiu and his wife, Branka Petric-Fehmiu, out and about in Belgrade.
In his later years, Fehmiu spends time with his sons, Uliks and Hedon.
YMCK
international 15Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
The columns, written by two business-men, a lawyer, and an academic, heappraise on the Russian government for
its “ambitious modernization strategy” and“enforcement of laws designed to better pro-tect business and reduce corruption.” Oneof the CNBC opinion pieces, authored by anexecutive at a Moscow-based investmentbank, concludes that “Russia may well bethe most dynamic place on the continent.”
There’s nothing unusual about Ketchum’swork on behalf of Russia. Public relationsfirms constantly peddle op-eds on behalf ofpoliticians, corporations, and governments.Rarely if ever do publications disclose the roleof a PR firm in placing an op-ed, so it’s unusu-al to get a glimpse behind the scenes and seehow an op-ed was generated.
What readers of the CNBC and HuffingtonPost pieces did not know — but JusticeDepartment foreign agent registration filingsby Ketchum show — is that the columns wereplaced by the public-relations firm workingon a contract with the Russian government to,among other things, promote the country “asa place favorable for foreign investments.”
In at least one case, a Ketchum subcontrac-tor reached out to a writer and offered to placehis columns in media outlets. The writer,Adrian Pabst, a lecturer in politics at theUniversity of Kent, said that his views werehis own and that he was not influenced or paidby Ketchum.
A spokesman for CNBC, which publishedthe pieces on the Guest Blog section of itswebsite, declined to comment. A HuffingtonPost spokesman said the column placed byKetchum did not violate the site’s policy.
Ketchum spokeswoman Jackie Burton toldProPublica that when the firm correspondswith experts or the media on behalf of Russia,“consistent with Ketchum’s policies andindustry standards, we clearly state that werepresent the Russian Federation.”
Russia, often criticized for human rightsabuses and corruption, paid handsomely forthe public-relations work. From mid-2006 tomid-2012, Ketchum received almost $23 mil-lion in fees and expenses on the Russiaaccount and an additional $17 million on theaccount of Gazprom, the Russian state-con-trolled energy giant, according to foreignagent filings.
Op-ed editors interviewed by ProPublicasaid they work to include full disclosure of rel-evant financial interests or conflicts — ordecline to run pieces that read like advertori-al.
“People write op-eds because they haveagendas. Separating out what’s an ethicalagenda from an unethical agenda is reallytough,” says Sue Horton, op-ed editor of theLos Angeles Times.
Horton said the role of the Russian govern-ment’s public-relations firm in placing theCNBC and Huffington Post op-eds "absolutelyseems like something the reader would wantto know.”
The op-eds placed by Ketchum for Russia,according to the filings, are:
A March 2010 CNBC piece by PeterGerendasi, then managing partner ofPricewaterhouseCoopers Russia, that praisesthe government of then-President DmitryMedvedev for its “strategic priorities [of]diversification, innovation, promoting smallbusiness, supporting families and strengthen-ing the country's financial system so that itcan provide the investment capital that willenable business to grow and people to realizetheir potential.” Gerendasi declined to com-ment on the piece andPricewaterhouseCoopers said it did not payKetchum to place the piece and declined tocomment further.
An April 2010 CNBC piece by KingsmillBond, then chief strategist at the Moscowinvestment bank Troika Dialog, that ranunder the headline “Russia—Europe's BrightLight of Growth.” It called Russia possibly“the most dynamic place on the continent” forinvestors. Bond, now at Citigroup, told
ProPublica he could not recall Ketchum’s rolein the piece.
A September 2010 Huffington Post piece,titled “President Medvedev's Project OfModernization,” by Pabst, the University ofKent academic. While acknowledging humanrights and corruption problems, the thrust ofPabst’s op-ed was praise for Medvedev’s“transformational vision for Russia's domes-tic politics and foreign policy.” Pabst toldProPublica he was contacted by a Ketchumsubcontractor, Portland Communications,and that he was not paid to write the piece.The piece, as well as another he wrote for aweb site run by Ketchum, “reflect my ownideas and arguments,” he said in an email.
A January 2012 CNBC piece by LauraBrank, the head of the Russia practice for theinternational law firm Dechert. Brankpraised the Russian government for workingto overcome the perception of an inhospitableinvestment climate “through the implementa-tion and enforcement of laws designed to bet-ter protect business and reduce corruption.”Brank did not respond to requests for com-ment.
While Ketchum maintains it always identi-fies its client when dealing with the media, the2010 email sent by Ketchum to HuffingtonPost pitching the Pabst column did not men-tion that Russia was the firm’s client. (See thefull email.)
“Below is a piece from Adrian Pabst, a lead-ing Russia scholar in Europe,” wrote then-Ketchum Vice President Matt Stearns, who isnow at UnitedHealth Group.
Ketchum says that Stearns had in previouscorrespondence identified Russia as his clientto the Huffington Post editor, including to set
up "a blog on the editor’s site for a member ofthe Russian government." The company didnot provide that correspondence.
Huffington Post spokesman RhoadesAlderson said the site has a policy requiringbloggers to disclose any financial conflicts ofinterest related to the issue they are writingabout, but Pabst did not violate the policy.
“The job of our blog editors is to make sureall of our posts add value for our readers,”Alderson said in a statement. “Part of that ismaking judgment calls about the transparen-cy of each blogger's motive, even in caseswhen there is no technical violation of the dis-closure policy. A submission by a PR firm rais-es flags but is not automatically disqualified ifthe blog adds value and is in keeping with ourguidelines.”
Placement of op-eds is a standard part ofthe influence game, but it’s rare for readersever to find out who is behind the curtain.
In 2011, top public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller came under criticism after it askeda blogger to author an op-ed criticizingGoogle’s privacy standards. Burson was work-ing on a contract for Facebook at the time.
Public-relations firms have also beenknown to write op-eds and have them placedunder the byline of a third party, and even topay experts to write favorable op-eds. There’sno evidence Ketchum paid any of the authorsof the Russia op-eds or that it ghost-wrotethem.
Update: This post has been updated withmore detail on Ketchum's correspondence with
Huffington Post.This story is published courtesy of The
ProPublica http://www.propublica.org underCreative Commons license.
An Israeli soldier standson top of a military vehicleas the sun rises in a stag-ing area near the Israel-Gaza border. As ofThursday, a fragile trucebetween Israel and Hamasappeared to be holding. Itended a week-long conflictthat left more than 120Palestinians and fiveIsraelis dead. Diplomaticefforts by Egypt and theUS led to the ceasefire,which appears to haveaverted a full-scale groundinvasion by Israeli forcesinto Gaza. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Photo News: Fragile Truce in Gaza
From Russia With PRSeveral opinion columns praising Russia and published in the last two yearson CNBC’s web site and the Huffington Post were written by seemingly inde-pendent professionals but were placed on behalf of the Russian governmentby its public-relations firm, Ketchum.
A PR firm hired by the Kremlin pitched pro-Russia op-eds to US websites.
By Justin Elliott
YMCK
16 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012 Guide
Restaurants:
Liburnia 1 and 2Rr Meto Bajraktar, tel. +381 (0)38 222 719.There are actually two Liburnias oppositeeach other, both very similar in style andfood. Housed in a fine Ottoman abode andsurrounded by pleasant walled gardens,Liburnia oozes atmosphere, whether in win-ter or summer. The food is a roll call ofdecent traditional Albanian food, includingthe usual stews (tave) and grilled meat. It’snot the best place in town to sample localdelicacies, but a good choice given the set-ting. Open 8 am - 11 pm
Country House Off road to Podujevo from Pristina, rightafter the Muciqi Mercedes-Benz garage, tel.+377 (0)44 656 054. This rustic restaurant isa 15-minute drive outside Pristina (on agood day) and provides glorious viewsacross rolling, verdant hills and is especial-ly pleasant place in the summer to watchthe sunset. The overall food quality isdecent, with special marks for the freshbread, straight from the wood stove, andspeca me maze (peppers in cream). 10 am -11 pm.
Princesha Gresa 23 Rr. Fehmi Agani, tel. +381 (0) 38 24 58 41. Ifyou have a horse-size hole in your stomachto fill, this is the place to come. The mealstarts with some free bread and dips and isfollowed by gargantuan portions of salad,meat, fish, or anything else on this variedmenu. The food is sometimes great, some-times average but always served in massiveportions. Open 10 am - 11 pm.
Hemingway Rr Ilaz Kodra, tel. +386 (0)49 145 637. Yes, youcan get fresh sea fish in landlocked Kosovo.Hemingway is tucked away in an unappeal-ing end of the city but worth a trip if youare craving food of the piscine variety. It's apretty basic sort of set-up and relativelyexpensive for the setting, but undoubtedlyone of the best places in town for fish. Open9 am - 11 pm
Le Siam Thai Rr Fehmi Agani, tel. +377 (0)45 243 588.
Stylishly designed and smoke-free, Le Siamhas become a real hit for the internationalcommunity of Kosovo. If you are acquaint-ed with Thai food, you're not in for any sur-prises here, with the typical assortment ofcurries, salads and deep fried treats, deliv-ered to decent standards. At 7 or 8 euro for amain course, it's relatively pricey comparedto its neighbours. Open Monday-Thursday11:00-14:00 and 17:45-22:30; Friday-Sunday11:00-23:00.
Renaissance II Rr. George Bush (behind the Pro Credit BankHQ), tel. +377 (0)44 118 796. Renaissanceoffers arguably the best overall dining expe-rience in Prishtina. It's quite an experiencejust to find the place. Tucked away along atiny alleyway, you enter the homely, stonebuilding through heavy wooden doors. It's15 euro per head, and for that you will bekept fed, watered and supplied with boozefor at least a three course meal, including awonderful meze starter and a deliciousmain course cooked on embers. Open 11 am- 11 pm.
Bars:
Crème de la CrèmeRr Robert Doll, tel. +377(0)44259912. Crèmeis probably the best all-round bar in the city.It's run for the amusement of the young,arty owners and not for profit, whichexplains the more-than-generous pricingarrangements, especially for the perfectlyexecuted cocktails. Its five tiny floors heaveon Fridays and Sundays with Pristina's coolto the variety of beats. Every Wednesday,Friday and Saturday from 8pm to 3am.
Filikaqa Rr Mujo Ulqinaku BL 4/1, Pejton, websitewww.filikaqa.com; 038 244 288. Whistle, as ittranslates from Albanian, offers a dizzyingarray of televisions on which to watch yoursport of choice and eat the best burgers intown. Select a booth, ask the amiable staff totune into your match and grab a 'doubledecker' or 'triple burger', which look likeAmerican fast-food classics but taste better.Friday night Karaoke is a must-see, must-sing event.
Here is Prishtina Insight’s guide to the best places in town to eat, drink, shop andbe merry. We’ll keep this section updated with the newest and coolest placesopening in Kosovo.
Hot Food:NOMNOM, Rr Rexhep Luci, Prishtina. A superb edition to Prishtina’s dining scene.Its London chef serves up food fit for a high-end eatery in the Big Smoke. The excel-lent variety of ingredients on offer is particularly pleasing, as is the extensive winelist. The outdoor area is also great for people watching while you sup a cocktail ortwo.
PAPIRUN(LEFT). Tel. 045 26 23 23. Papirun has seating at two perpendicular coun-ters in what’s basically a hole-in-the-wall just off Mother Teresa Boulevard, near theGrand Hotel. The menu has 13 options: 6 pizzas and seven sandwiches. The sandwich-es are the stars, though. Every component is handled with care. The bread alone isgood enough to make just about any sandwich into a glorious feast. It’s freshly bakedand seasoned with rosemary.
Hot Shop:SACRO(ABOVE), Rruga Garibaldi, Behind Metro Caffe, Prishtina, tel. +377 44 234499, www.sacrobio.com Where in Pristina can you buy dried Kamenica mushrooms?Lentils to help with a vegetarian/ vegan diet? Marshmallow root? Sacro, the newly-opened shop in central Prishtina, is an education and a delight.
Hard Rockers ClubRoad Ilaz Kodra, contact: vraja_fatos@ hot-mail.com. It's one of the few places inPrishtina where you can catch regular liveacts and the only place which caters forthose who like their rock served up heavy, orhard. On a quiet night, it's quite a comfort-able venue to grab a beer, even if you are notbeing entertained by hirsute musicians .
The CubanRoad Luan Haradinaj Tel: +377(0) 45 620 620.This is a decent addition to the city's drink-ing scene, even if the place can be full ofspivs and tarts who aren't going to a fancy-dress party. The Cuban-themed décor isdecadent Havana, the food is average, andnot very Caribbean, but the cocktails aregood. 8 am - 1 am.
Xhoni’s BarRexhep Mala, Pristina, tel. +377 (0)44 750 720.Xhoni’s is, without doubt, a Prishtina insti-tution. It’s small, friendly and smoky, playsexcellent soul, disco and classic rock musicfrom vinyl and is open until the last man orwoman staggers out. Arrive by 11pm at theweekend to secure a corner, or even better aseat, if you intend to make a night of it. Nextto A&A restaurant and has round windows.Opens: 8pm-to late. Shut on Sundays.
Fastfood:
Bel AmiRr Luan Haradinaj, Tel: +377 (0)44 133 848,+386 49 133 848. The ideal town-centre stopfor a quick lunch or takeaway snack, BelAmi unceremoniously serves some of thebest chicken doner in Prishtina in a surpris-ingly un-greasy, smoke-free environment.Ask for a “komplet” to get the classic donerpacked with salad and sauces and wrappedin tin foil. Monday-Friday 9 am - 7.30 pm;Saturday 9 am - 8 pm.
Clubs:
P1Fehmi Agani, +377 (0)44 608 669. If you’relooking for cool, then P1 is probably notthe spot for you. The decor is pretty unin-spiring, the music is bog standard and theatmosphere reminiscent of a cattle mar-ket. But if your thing is scantily cladyoung women or packs of amorous boys,than it’s an excellent choice. And, in thevenue’s defence, it does have a pleasantoutdoor area for summer dancing.Working hours Wednesday, Friday,Saturday from 9 pm to 3 am.
YMCK
Te Komiteti
Te Komiteti’s large trees and a beauti-fully garden, which surround the smalloutdoor terrace, give you an impressionof an exclusive place for ordinary peo-ple. And this is exactly what it is. Frombrunch to lunch-time snacks and specialevening meals, this restaurant offersdishes comprising quality, varied ingredi-ents, combined to perfection. Alongsideone of Prishtina’s best ‘modernEuropean’ style menus, you’ll also find agood selection of wine, and great san-gria and cocktails .
Te KomitetiQamil Hoxha Street
Prishtina+381 38 24 96 63
Where to pick up Prishtina Insight?Prishtina Insight hasteamed up with theseexcellent venues tooffer a limited num-ber of complimentarycopies of Kosovo’sonly English-lan-guage newspaper.Grab a copy of thepublication and settledown with a drink ora meal to read it.
Hotel PrishtinaHotel Prishtina’s
43 charming guestrooms and suites arereminiscent of asmall hotel in theEuropean tradition.You'll immediatelyfeel at home in ourliving room, sipping aglass of wine in ourfine restaurant sur-rounded by a galleryof paintings by localartists.
The hotel offers free,fast wifi internet, com-plimentary breakfast,conference room,swimming pool, saunaand laundry service.
Hotel Prishtina,St. Vaso Pasha nr. 20
+381 38 / 22 32 84
A taste of Napoli in Prishtina.
After ten years ofmaking pizza inNapoli, and withonly love to blame,Fatmir, the headchef, returned toPrishtina. His piz-zas, made in awoodburn stove,are definitely gen-uine napolitanas.Fatmir also has sev-eral delicious pas-tas on offer, a truejoy for the tastebuds. Napoli has an excellent selection of red and white wines or, forthe more ambitious, one of the region's best quince raki. Napolimakes for delicious lunch, dinner or even after-theatre time out in thecentre of Prishtina.
Pizzeria Napolioff Luan Haradinaj, opposite Newborn
044/409-402402
Hotel AFA
Located in a quiet neighbourhood justoutside the city centre, Hotel Afa canguarantee guests a peaceful night whilebeing within walking distance of all theaction. The venue has won a host ofawards for its excellent service to cus-tomers and offers a good range of facili-ties, from an exclusive restaurant andVIP bar to pretty, tranquil gardens.Rooms start at 45 euro for a single, andluxury rooms and apartments are avail-able. The hotel’s rooms are well appoint-ed and comfortable.
15, Rr Ali Kelmendi,Sunny Hill, Prishtina
+381 38/225 226www. hotelafa. com
Paddy O’Brien’s
The staff atPaddy O’Brien’shave a saying: “It’seasy to walk in, butvery hard to leave.”
And with itswarm atmosphere,fantastic range ofdrinks and excel-lent food, it is easyto see why.
There have beenmany attempts toestablish a properIrish pub inPrishtina, but thisis the only one tohit the spot.
From classic coffees to cocktails, via, of course, Guinness,you really wont find it difficult to select the perfect drink.
A mouth-watering menu of Irish specialties is also on offer,spanning from all-day breakfasts to Irish stews at night.
Options include shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash, fish ‘nchips, and whopping great burgers.
Thursday is pub quiz night, but there is always somethinggoing on at the pub, whether it is sport screenings or just a goodshindig.
Paddy O’Brien’sTringe Smajli Street, by the Illyria Hotel
Prishtina: 045-420900
Papillon Bistro Bar
This newly reopened bar in Prishtina,Papillon, offers more than 60 types of winesfrom France, Italy, Spain, and Kosovo withgreat prices and delicious dishes.
They serve pasta, sandwiches, salads anddifferent appetizers.
You can also try different types of local orinternational beers.
The bar, with it’s stunning new design, islocated in the centre of Prishtina, nearProCredit Bank headquarter, RTK radiocentre, and the Mother Teresa cathedral.
PapillonMother Teresa Str. Nr. 51 A
[email protected] 103 310
1717Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
Guide Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like your event to feature orto advertise your venue. Email [email protected]
If you live in Kosovo and would like toreceive the hardcopy of the newspaperdelivered to your door, you can also sub-scribe for 13 editions, the equivalent of six months, for 13 euro, including deliv-ery, or for 26 euro for the whole year. Please note, deliveries outside ofPrishtina may be refused due to trans-port costs. You can pay through an internationalbank transfer or in cash at a Kosovobranch of Raiffeisen bank.If you are interested in subscribing pleaseemail us at [email protected] the subject "subscription", listingwhat type of subscription you require. Wewill then provide you with an invoice andbank details.
YMCK
timeout18 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
IBRAHIM KODRA EXHIBITION -FANTASTIC ALBANIA
Curated by Rubens Shima
The Kosova National Gallery and theMinistry of Culture, Youth and Sport of theRepublic of Kosovo cordially invite you tothe opening of the exhibition IbrahimKodra Shqipëria Fantastike on Tuesday20th November. The opening ceremony willtake place at the Kosova Art Gallery at19:00h.
The exhibition will mark the 100thAnniversary of the Independence ofAlbania and is being organized in collabo-ration between the National Gallery of Artsin Albania, “Ibrahim Kodra” Foundation(Italy), the private collector Mr. KozmaDashi, along with the kind support of pri-vate collectors.
Mustachers & COPublic Event by Team Mosovo
At the Cuban, on Monday 26November
What about showing our mustaches,and raising some more funds!
What about for a night of funk dillymusic!
What about raising some prostatecancer awareness!
And because prostate cancer willaffect 1 in 6 men in Kosovo without dis-crimination, The Cuban will also besupporting TEAM MOSOVO's efforts toraise awareness among all communi-ties Kosovo-wide about prostate cancerand other men's health issues.
BASSOUND - Andrea Mi (It),Larssen (it), Roots Raid(Al), Dagg X Base (Ks)
11pm Saturday, 24 November This night emerges from the great desire to organize a
DUB/DUBSTEP night accordingly. A Hall and a SoundSystem, is this which constitutes primarily the atmosphereof a DUB Dance since 1960s. Through its musical selectionthis night will offer a unique perspective of the evolution ofBASS MUSIC.
At the Controls: ANDREA MI (It), a DJ and one of themost noticeable journalists in Italy that covers this genreand LARSSEN (It) a producer and DJ part of Nasty FM UK,Pocket Panther Recs and "Puglia Sounds". Supported byROOTS RAID (Al) and DAGG X BASE (Ks).
Pre-Event at Dit' e Nat' : Multimedial presentation from ANDREA MI on the evolutionof Dub Music. (English Language)
The whole event happens through the irreplaceable support of Dit' e Nat'Entrance: 2 Euro
“HotelTransylvania”
In Kino ABC will bescreened the premiere ofthe “Hotel Transylvania3D”
Every day at 2pm and4pm.
The film tells a story ofDracula, the owner ofHotel Transylvania, wherethe world's monsters can take a rest from human civ-ilization. Dracula invites some of the most famousmonsters, including Frankenstein's monster,Mummy, a Werewolf family, and the Invisible Man,to celebrate the 118th birthday of his daughterMavis. When the hotel is unexpectedly visited by anordinary 21-year-old traveler named Jonathan,Dracula must protect Mavis from falling in love withhim before it is too late.
Released on September 28, 2012, the film was metwith mixed critical reception, while the general pop-ulation received it very favorably. Despite mixedreviews, Hotel Transylvania set a new record for thehighest-grossing September opening weekend, earn-ing a total of $283 million on a budget of $85 million.
“TAKEN 2″every day at 6pmBryan Mills is the retired
CIA agent with a “particu-lar set of skills” whostopped at nothing to savehis daughter Kim from kid-nappers. When the father ofone of the villains Bryankilled swears revenge, andtakes Bryan and his wifehostage in Istanbul, Bryanenlists Kim to help themescape. Bryan then employshis unique tactics to get his family to safety and sys-tematically take out the kidnappers, one by one.
“SKYFALL” every day at 8pm and
10:30pm
Daniel Craig is back aslan Fleming’s James Bond007 in Skyfall, the 23rdadventure in the longest-running film franchise ofall time. In Skyfall, Bond’sloyalty to M is tested as herpast comes back to haunther. As MI6 comes underattack, 007 must trackdown and destroy the threat, no matter how person-al the cost.
“SPARKLE”Every day at 10.30pm
Sparkle is an Americanmusical film directed bySalim Akil and produced byStage 6 Films, It wasreleased on August 17, 2012by TriStar Pictures.Inspired by The Supremes,Sparkle is a remake of the1976 film of the same name,which centered on threesinging teenage sistersfrom Harlem who form a girl group in the late 1950s.The remake takes place in Detroit, Michigan in the1960s during the Motown era.
For any further questions or reservations call at 038 243238 or visit them at www.kinoabc.com
Prishtina DiaryPrishtina Diary
Filikaqa karaoke nightevery Friday at 9:00pm
until 1:00am
De Po club Friday – Hip Hop night Hippopotamus with DJ
Jungle
Saturday – Tech House Toforoff from Skopje
Hamam Jazz Club Friday, 23 November
FRIDAY BLUES NIGHTCrossroad Blues band
Saturday, 24 NovemberGROOVE RELATIONBossa Nova, Latin jazz,
Funk
Paddy O’Brien’s IrishPub –
Live Sport - GAA,Rugby, American Football
and more. All Football -Champions League,
Premiership, La Liga,Serie A.
Every Thursday at7.30pm there is organized
Quiz Night.For more information:
038 221 070 & 038 221 077or write at
National Theatre8pm Saturday, 24November“Lisistrata”by Aristophanes, directedby Elmaze Nura
8pm Monday, 26NovemberEthno-musical showfrom Ulcinji8pm Saturday, 27November“Lisistrata”by Aristophanes, directedby Elmaze Nura8pm Wednesday, 28November“Twelfth night” William Shakespeare,directed by Ilir Bokshi8pm Thursday, 29NovemberBallet “The flight towardthe light”cerography by SilviaTomova
8pm Friday, 30November “The house in auction”by Fadil Hysaj8pm Saturday, 01December “The house in auction”by Fadil Hysaj
National Theatre
“The Last Station”8pm, Every Thursday, Drama
Written by: Lirak ÇelajDirected by: Lirak Çelaj & FlorentMehmetiMusic by: Labinot SponcaCostumes: Rudina XhaferiThe cast: Besnik Krapi, Liridona Shehu,Ilire Çelaj, Adrian Morina, EshrefDurmishi, Kushtrim SheremetiThe story is situated in the year 2015.Nowadays and past problems are carried inthe year of 2015. Burim is the main charac-ter who is looking for the truth, for his fam-ily and his fiancé, which are still missingsince the war of KLA ended. After manyattempts he finds out that his neighbour isstill alive and that he knows more about hisfamily. Burim can’t live in the present; he isalways going back to the past, in the mem-ories of his family and Behare, his fiancé.
Halfway he meets a young girl calledShpresa who reminds him of Behare andfinally gets part of Burim’s life. The authorof this play is inspired from the novel“Birds fly on their own” by IbrahimKadriu.
It was a play 8pm, Every Friday
The play is based on the drama by AlmirImshireviq. Director: Agon Myftari.During the war time, on bus number 4 inPrishtina, near Hotel Union there was a 26year-old guy wearing jeans and a black T-shirt…Sniper bullet breaks the windowand shot the youngster in the neck. a ladywho was next to him, stars to scream.When she sees the blood in her shirt shefaints. Starring: Rebeka Qena, Adrian Morina,Armend Ismajli, Besnik Krapi.
For more information call +381 (0)38 246 555 or write [email protected]
inside kosovo 19Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
Don’t be fooled by its resemblance to alighting shop. Despite having morechandeliers and lamps than seats,
Fresco is a restaurant. And it’s the mostpromising fine-dining establishment tograce Prishtina in at least two years.
Fresco just opened last week on FehmiAgani Street. Any review of such a newrestaurant needs to carry a caveat: Newplaces tend to still be working out kinks orhave yet to develop bad habits. With thatsaid, Fresco appears to be doing all the rightthings even if the execution isn’t perfect.
The food is simple, elegant and ingredi-ent-forward. The menu, printed on a singlesheet of paper, largely sticks to stating thecomposition dishes such as, “Roastedquince + goat cheese + rukola.”
That starter (3.50 euro) arrived asdescribed. Each ingredient was in top-notchform, unified by a light vinaigrette. Thequince was sweet and succulent, the rukola
was assertive and the goat cheese waswhipped to cushion its tartness. My onlyquibble was that a few very hard seedsremained in the quince slices.
Other dishes I tried in my two visits tookthis compositional approach to highlight alimited number of ingredients. The salmonfilet (11.50 euro) arrived as a trio, with thefish — succulent and flavorful — appearingalongside a sweet potato puree and tempura-fried zucchini. The sweet potato puree stoodout, as warm and creamy, topped with a coolcompote of avocado and chimichurri. It wasa perfect exercise in contrast in both flavorand temperature.
Contrast also came through in the pump-kin soup (2.20 euro) with the addition totoasted pumpkin seeds, which added wel-come crunch and nuttiness.
The only serious disappointment camewith the roasted lamb au jus (9.50 euro). Thecoil of meat was tough — apparently over-cooked. It was offset by the sauce, whichadded a potent burst of flavor from thelamb’s own juice. If only the meat had beencooked just right, to leave it tender andflaky. This dish could have been truly spec-tacular, especially washed down with thehouse red wine (3 euro), which was bold and
fruity.Hopefully, it was just a one-time oversight.
And hopefully the kitchen doesn’t make thesame mistake with the steak tartare (12euro), which I’m very excited about trying.My dining companion’s panko-crusted friedchicken (6.50 euro) came out perfectly. Lightand crunchy on the outside and juicy on theinside, served alongside creamed greenbeans.
Fresco isn’t flawless, nor should it beexpected at this point. But the kitchen has aclear understanding that food needn’t becomplicated to be brilliant or delicious.While the interior design, with its excessive
light fixtures and abundance of mirrors,suggests ostentatiousness, the menu isgrounded in elegant simplicity. If the Frescoworks out its kinks, it could very wellbecome the premier destination for fine din-ing in Prishtina.
FrescoFehmi Agani Street
(next to Friends bar)10 a.m. - 11 p.m.
By Gravlax
A perfect salmon filet at Fresco.
When 75-year-old HamezZhubi saw workersreplacing cobblestones
with tiles on the main street ofGjakova’s Old Bazaar in earlyNovember, he asked them to stop.“You should not be working here,”he recalls telling them.
The work has now been haltedon orders from Kosovo’s CultureMinister, Memli Krasniqi, whodeclared the Old Bazaar part of a“list of heritage sites under tem-porary protection.”
The municipality has not sinceobtained approval from the min-istry to continue the project.
However, a kilometer-longstretch of cobblestone is still gone,replaced by tiles. A governmentcommission will decide if the cob-blestones will be restored.
Restoration or destruction?
The work was part of a 500,000-euro drive by the authorities inGjakova to restore the Old Bazaar,
which dates back to the Ottomanera and forms the historic heart ofthe town.
The local assembly approved therestoration plan more than 30 yearsago, in June 1982.
This called for “restoration,reconstruction, construction, andfollow-up maintenance” to keep thebazaar in “its original historical-architectural form.”
The project was never finished.Few took notice when the munici-pality re-started work October. Butthat changed once workers startedremoving the cobblestones onIsmail Qemajli Street.
Dozens of residents came out toprotest against the removal of thecobblestones and their replacementby tiles.
In 1960, the Yugoslav-era authori-ties removed the cobbles on thesame road but replaced them withnew cobblestones.
The new tiles, residents say, rep-resent an aesthetic departure fromtradition.
“We should protect our identity,we should preserve the Old Bazaarof Gjakova,” Ali Haraqia, head ofthe Association of Artisans ofGjakova, said.
Meanwhile, young people inGjakova started a Facebook groupentitled “Restore the Old Bazaar, Do
Not Change History.” In addition to opposing the
removal of the cobblestones, theycalled on the municipal assembly todiscuss the issue publicly.
“We accept restoration, but notchanging history,” Arber Fetiu, anorganiser of the Facebook cam-paign, said.
Other plans for cobbles:
Leonora Rraci, head of urbanplanning for Gjakova, toldPrishtina Insight that the munici-pality is keeping the cobblestonessafe and has plans for them.
“We will use them to restore thesecondary roads of the Old Bazaar,which are not included in this proj-ect,” Rraci said.
But Sali Shohi, head of the foun-dation Cultural Heritage WithoutBorders, said the cobblestonesshould be restored to their old site.
“If the cobblestones haven’t dis-appeared, they can be brought backto their previous place,” he said.
“What is more than 50 years oldis authentic and mustn’t betouched without the permission ofthose responsible.”
Official suspended:
In the aftermath of controversy,Minister Memli Krasniqi has sus-pended the head of the RegionalCentre of Cultural Heritage inGjakova, Osman Gojani, for threemonths.
The ministry suspended him for“serious violations of officialduties, lack of respect for the law ofthe Cultural heritage of Kosovo andneglecting work”.
Prishtina Insight contactedGojani about his suspension butsaid he could not comment.
The municipality maintains thatit informed the Ministry of Cultureabout the work planned for the OldBazaar by submitting two projecttemplates at the end of 2011.
But Ministry spokesmanShkelzen Dragaj says the ministrynever received exact plans.
“We have received a detailed proj-ect, what it concretely foresaw, and,as we have said, no approval wasgiven, as the law requires,” Dragajtold Prishtina Insight.
“The procedure requires that anyproject that includes interventionsin buildings or heritage sitesshould pass through theCommission for Conservation andRestoration, which then submits itsrecommendations.”
Article 14 of Kosovo’s 2006 Lawon Cultural Heritage states that“any intervention that impacts onthe entirety or values of culturalheritage requires written permis-sion by the competent institution”.
Gjakova Mayor Pal Lekaj hasassured Minister Kasniqi that themunicipality respects its decision,Dragaj said.
The municipality has since sub-
mitted a detailed project proposal tothe Commission for Conservationand Restoration, he added.
Town hall overstepped themark:
Municipal officials admit thatthey didn’t give sufficient noticeabout the restoration.
Rraci, head of urban planning,said “We should accept that, basedon the Law for Cultural Heritage,the project needed approval fromthe Ministry of Culture.
“We didn’t do this, but with anyspecific motive,” he added.
Rraci said the project’s inten-tion was preserve the town’s cul-tural heritage, not destroy it.
Ylber Vokshi, one of the archi-tects involved in the 1982 projectto restore the Old Bazaar, said thenew project represented a discon-nect with the history of Gjakova.
“We must be aware that the lossof our urban identity is inter-twined with elements of histori-cal heritage, which our actionscan easily destroy,” Vokshiwarned.
By Njomza Salihi
Plans to replace Gjakova’s iconic cobblestones have drawn ire among locals and have prompted ministerial interventiuon.
Kosovo Town In Hot Water Over Old Bazaar
Fresco Flirts With Greatness
Gjakova residents weren’t happy to see cobbles replaced.
YMCK
opinion 20 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
It would not be unfair to claim thatwith the unfolding of the new centu-ry, a new and definitely more positive
era started for the Albanian nation inthe Balkans. The previous century chal-lenged this nation on several occasionsand many times it brought us at theverge of collective extinction. Today, inthe wake of the 100th anniversary ofAlbania’s independence we find our-selves in a different and much better situ-ation. It is therefore a convenient time toleave aside our differences and disagree-ments and to nationally reflect back andcelebrate with wisdom and pride.
Those who resisted the passing decadesand lived through lots of regimes areprobably the best ones to undertake theprocess of reflecting back in time.Though they are tired from the strugglesthey faced during their lifetime, it is pre-cisely them — our wrinkled and shriv-elled grandfathers and grandmothers —who can guide us through the past.Every single wrinkle of theirs unfolds acertain memory or event that remainedwith them forever.
A noble grandmother from the ruralareas of Saranda remembers the olddays when the ingredients constitutingher family’s daily meal were only plainbread and water. Even to this date shestill feels the soreness of the dictatorialregime of Enver Hoxha. However, somany years on, today on the 100thanniversary of independence, she isstanding by the dinner table with herchildren and grandchildren raising adrink for the sake of this important day.She cannot hide her desire of wanting tohave her husband present in the dinner,but she quickly tries to shake off the bit-ter memories of her husband’s lifeimprisonment and subsequent death in
Shkodra’s cells.Further up north, a grandfather is
standing by the Prizren Fortress enjoy-ing the freshness of the LumbardhiRiver. He gets flashbacks of thosemoments when the statues of theAlbanian renaissance leaders werebeing thrown into the river by theSerbian regime of Milosevic back in1999. He very vividly remembers thehumiliation he felt when seeing the stat-ues of Ymer Prizreni and Sami Frasheridesecrated and demolished. A wave ofanxiety overtakes him when he remem-bers his arrest and imprisonment by thegendarmerie of Aleksandar Rankovicbecause he was simply listening to RadioTirana on a transistor.
If someone had told him 13 years agothat him and his family will be celebrat-ing Albania’s 100th anniversary of state-hood in an independent Kosovo, hewould have probably laughed from theabsurdity of this claim back in thosetimes. It would have been an absurdclaim not only because Kosovo’s inde-pendence seemed like a dream, but alsobecause all of us had lost those littletraces of belief and hope that we wouldactually be alive for the 100th anniver-sary of Albania.
As he is being mesmerised by the viewof Prizren, this old Kosovar grandfatherremembers the injustice Albaniansfaced as a nation. Lots of memories crosshis mind and they are related to theharassment and suffering caused by theSerbian police, the sacking from publicsector jobs, exterminations and humilia-tions. He cannot avoid remembering thecohabitation with poverty which hadbecome his routine for a while. All thesememories undoubtedly cause him totremble and wonder how is it possible fora nation to be forcefully stripped out ofits dignity to this level.
He, however, shakes off his tremble byrecalling the solidarity, resistance andpatience. These were his only remainingunwavering sources that enabled him to
live through everything which was beinglooted, humiliated and even killed infront of him by the most chauvinist andbloodshed-causing regime and state inthe history of postmodern Europe.
His age has started to crumble hisphysical fitness, but his memoryremains intact enough to remember theresistance in Kosovo during 1990s. Thecelebrations for the 100th anniversaryhave yet another meaning for this grand-father. He is also celebrating the virtuesof his nation, which were the only toolsthat enabled our survival at a time whenour collective extinction seemed like theend scenario.
For the likes of the Sarandian grand-mother, the Prizrenian grandfather andall of us that are witnessing these cele-bratory periods, days such as November28 and February 17 represent importantturning points. The gravity of these twodays is irrevocable and their value willcertainly not depreciate with time. Theregimes, presidents, prime ministersand ministers come and go. Their politi-cal work could bring benefits or prob-lems to both Albania and Kosovo.However, no force, neither internal norexternal, cannot undo or shadow ourability to keep the chin up and standahead of threats.
November 28 and February 17 are twoimportant days that served justice for abelittled nation in Europe. It is thereforethe best time to nationally reflect on thechallenges that brought us to this 100thanniversary. However, this should bedone without provoking others, byreminding them of the cruelty theycaused, but without repeating this cruel-ty to them in revenge.
Celebrating with wisdom and pridewould be the best honour that we as anation can give to ourselves and to the100th anniversary of the guarantee thatthe Albanian nation strongly deservesits place in Europe.
So, hajde, let’s raise a drink for our-selves! Urime!
An Albanian CelebrationBy Kreshnik Hoxha
EcosovoGreen Cooking: AKosovar Solution
Some aspiring chefs dream of an AGA cooker,multiple gas burners or a Hibachi grill, but mykitchen fantasies currently involve a tupan. You
may not think you know what I’m talking about, butthese efficient ovens are a common sight for sale inKosovo, and you have probably seen them stacked up inthe market or in homeware shops.
Tupan just means drum, which is the shape of theoven, just big enough to fit one of the large round tepsitrays which are used for most traditional Kosovar cook-ing – for making pogace bread, for fli and for pite, thehuge round cornbreads, and pies like lecenik, as well asdesserts such as tespishte and baklava. But of courseyou can put anything you like in the tepsi – jacket pota-toes, vegetables for roasting, sponge cakes and pud-dings. The reason why you might choose to use thisbrilliant Kosovar traditional kitchen item for any kindof baking is because of its wonderful efficiency: thespace that is heated is little more than the space takenup by the tepsi and your food, so you are not wastingvaluable electricity to heat a gaping oven only for thesake of one dish. Anyone who’s loved the retro class ofthe Czech Remoska pots will get the idea and its appealimmediately.
And the outlay for these neatly portable tupans isreasonable, too – a few tens of euros, depending on sizeand make and where you buy it.
My newly conceived passion for the tupan has led meinto conversations on other ways to cook with less elec-tricity. I haven’t yet used a straw box, but these originalcrockpots are the mark of the truly green chef – a wayof slow-cooking casseroles, chilis, rice, soups and por-ridge. By heating the ingredients at the beginning andthen leaving them overnight or during the course of aday away from the heat source but in an extremely well-insulated box, the food can cook with only a fraction ofthe heat needed for conventional cooking. The reduc-tion in heat is a reduction of fuel used (and bills paid).
The Teflon-coated version of these is the slow cookerand although it doesn’t have the farmyard chic of ahaybox, the slow cooker has a similar effect on the envi-ronment. And even if you don’t invest in either bit ofkitchen equipment, slow cooking techniques can saveyour (our) fuel. Dishes like rice pudding can be mademuch more efficiently by heating the rice and milk andthen leaving with no source of heat, than by simmeringfor hours as some traditional recipes require.
Interested in cooking greener but finding all of thistoo technical? Don’t want to make a haybox or buy aRemoska, a tupan or a slow cooker? Well, for goodness’sake then just remember to put the lid on the pan whileyou’re boiling. That goes a long way to reducing theelectricity needed for cooking.
There are funky foods available to those interested inexperimenting with ‘retained heat cooking’ but not upfor buying or making new equipment. A friend recent-ly told me about ‘thermos flask cake’ which uses thesame principle as a haybox. And a British austeritywartime recipe (echoing an Orthodox Jewish recipe I’dread, which was designed to remove the need for any-thing that could be classified as work on the Sabbath)suggests making ‘one-pot’ meals where the vapourfrom water in which vegetables are boiled is used tosteam a muslin-wrapped sponge pudding suspended inthe same pot. If any reader can actually make thatwork (and not produce a chocolate sponge with astrange tang of the carrots over which it swung whileit was cooking) then please invite me over. In exchange,once I’ve become the proud owner of that shiny tupan,I’ll bake you a low-carbon tepsi meal of something localand delicious.
Elizabeth Gowing is a founder of The IdeasPartnership, a Kosovan NGO working on educational,cultural and environmental projects. She is also theauthor of the recently published, “Travels in Blood andHoney; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo” and “TheLittle Book of Honey,” both available for delivery inPrishtina by ringing 044 151180. She can be reached [email protected]
By Elizabeth Gowing
“Isn’t it a paradox if the Privatisation Agency is privatised?!?”
Outside In
opinion 21Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
If you would like your NGO to appear in our Making a Difference feature, please email [email protected]
Editor’s note: A version of thistext was originally delivered as aspeech during the Germia HIll for-eign policy conference in Prishtinain November.
There have been numerousstatements, analyses andposition papers written
about the so-called American pivotto Asia and US reset of relationswith Russia, which were supposedto have taken place in the last twoyears.
In a way, these are natural prior-ities for US. Asia is quickly out-pacing everyone else in economicgrowth and the future of global sta-bility involves China as an indis-pensable new economic and politi-cal pole. Russia’s assertive powerin energy sector and its immediateneighborhood also require itsinclusion in global debates as wellas decisionmaking.
In this scenario, SoutheastEurope is too small and too close tothe EU in order to grab the atten-tion of US. Experts and so-calledexperts have been proclaiming foryears now the departure of US pol-icy-makers from the region. TheEU is supposed to take reign ofdevelopments from Zagreb toAthens and everything in between.
The Thessaloniki declaration of adecade ago was supposed to buildtracks for the SoutheasternEuropean countries for more inte-gration and more cooperation withthe context of Copenhagen crite-rias of good neighborly relations.
The political landscape in US isalso changing. In 1989, I was only 8years old when Kosovars hostedTom Lantos, a Democrat and theonly Holocaust survivor serving inCongress, and Senator Bob Dole,who later became a Republicancontender for US presidency.
Nowadays there’s continuity ofthe dedication to Balkans amongmembers of the older administra-tions who have institutional mem-ory, but there is a question of howmuch of Balkans the new politi-cians know? The Tea Party move-ment in US has a very ideologicalagenda, and sometimes the realityin Balkans is seen in the prism ofreligious debate, which is com-pletely foreign to us here. We knowthat in Balkans, religion was notthe cause of the war but a conse-quence of the ethnic divisions.Some Democrats, too, are askingfor US to be detached from all thenation-building that it has startedaround the globe and to dedicatemore resources inward to help theUS economy.
Some analysts also claim thatproblems related to Euro crisis,Greece debts and other points ofcontention have made Europe anunreliable partner and havecaused the US to distance itself
from European policymaking anddirect influence. If Europe cannotagree on basic foreign policy issueswithin its geographic coveragesuch as recognition of Republic ofKosovo, or the war in Georgia, orthe name issue of Macedonia, thenhow will EU ever be an actor inmajor foreign policy issues? Ifthere is a lack of unified voice, howwill EU voice be heard in Americaand how can America respond tosuch a voice if there is no unifiedstance?
From Kosovo to Iraq and fromArab spring to Caucuses, not a sin-gle policy issue in Europe receiveda consensual backing of all mem-ber states. In which case US picksand chooses the partners fromEurope to implement joint agen-das.
Now to tell you the truth, I amnot sold on any of these threepoints. There are numerous rea-sons to believe that the core of USpolicy in the region is the samesince the end of Second World War.The US believes that Euro-Atlanticintegration is the best way to over-come old grievances and to build asustainable and progressiveEurope that will be a strong andcredible partner in global affairs.
In terms of attention, SoutheastEurope still receives a dispropor-tionate amount of attention fromUS policymakers and diplomats.US Vice President Joe Biden visit-ed Balkans immediately after hiselection in 2008. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton visited the region
twice, once only few weeks ago atthe twilight of her tenure at theState Department. Our ownPresident Jahjaga met PresidentObama three times in less than twoyears. State Department officialsare an essential part of allattempts in this corner of theworld to create a sustainable andlong-term framework for peace andeconomic development.
Precisely because Europe failedto find a common voice on many ofthe issues I have mentioned —Kosovo being closest to me — USinvolvement has been key to push-ing some of the most importantsteps in reconciliation andprogress in Balkans. My under-standing is that US realizes thatjob is not finished in Balkans, thatprogress is not irreversible andthat powers of darkness and con-flict may still be reignited if wedon’t follow up carefully in ourpledge to build normal and goodneighborly relations between allstates in Balkans.
Hence, I say that for the foresee-able future there is no Post-American Europe. Instead, I daresay that if the crisis in Europe isprolonged, if enlargement fatiguebecomes a permanent feeling thatdisable us to obtain free travel andmore integration with Brussels, ifdark scenarios of status-quo andnationalism prevail, then therewill be plenty of issues in whichUS involvement becomes essential.
The EU still has not managed toconvince the rest of the world,
despite the Nobel Prize forPresident Obama, that it can fullyresolve the principal foreign policyissues in a coherent and unifiedmanner. Until that moment comes,Europe and America will alwaysneed each other for making surethat the weakest links in the chainremain strong and do not snapunder the pressure of the difficulttimes that we are all goingthrough.
Vlora Citaku is Kosovo’s minis-ter for European integration.
The Fallacy of “Post-American Europe”
Ante Gotovina and MladenMarkac, the two generalsthat the Hague Tribunal
acquitted of charges of warcrimes in Operation “Oluja”[“Storm”] in 1995, have now offi-cially become what the majority ofCroatian citizens claimed theywere anyway: heroes, not crimi-nals.
News of the release of two gen-erals created euphoria all acrossCroatia, primarily because oftheir release, but also because ofthe explanation of the verdict.
The fact that the court explainedin the verdict that there was nojoint criminal enterprise, thatthere was no planned expulsion ofthe Serbian population, or exces-sive shelling of Knin, additionallyheightened that euphoria.
Tens of thousands of delightedpeople gathered on the mainsquare in Zagreb, as in othercities, and the Prime Minister,Zoran Milanovic, sent two minis-ters, of defence and veterans, on agovernment plane to The Hague tobring the two generals home.
Such euphoria is unprecedented
in Croatia, and could only meas-ure up to such a hypothetical eventas Croatia winning the World Cup.
But when the euphoria settlesdown, Croatia faces a new prob-lem. Now that Gotovina andMarkac are found not guilty, theCroatian judiciary will have toanswer a part of the question thatthe Hague Tribunal raised in theexplanation of the acquittal: thevictims of Oluja existed, and werenot that few.
The President, Ivo Josipovic,said so himself, noting that theCroatian state has the responsibil-ity to take care of all the victims ofwar, but also punish each andevery crime. “The Croatian state isnot responsible for crimes commit-ted by individuals, but it is respon-sible for punishing each perpetra-tor, regardless of who that maybe,” Josipovic said.
Prime Minister Milanovic saidsomething similar, talking of whatCroatia faced now. “They[Gotovina and Markac] are obvi-ously innocent, but that does notmean that the war was not bloodyand that no mistakes were made,”he said.
“When it comes to what it didwrong, Croatia will settle itsdebts,” he promised. The non-gov-ernment organisation,Documenta, said immediatelyafter the verdict: “The crimes com-
mitted during and after Olujamust not remain a tragedy withoutan epilogue.”
However, will Croatian politics –despite the announcements fromhighest positions – have the will dothis, and the Croatian judiciarythe strength? The lack of politicalwill and the lack of readiness bythe Croatian judiciary to deal withwar crimes, according to many,brought Gotovina to The Hague inthe first place.
When, in the late 1990s, Hagueinvestigators wanted to interro-gate Gotovina, the highest officialsin the state did not allow him toanswer them. The then president,Franjo Tudjman, probably fearinghe could be charged by the Haguecourt himself, did not allow him tocontact the investigators. Had theyacted differently and allowedGotovina to reveal what he knew,he might not have been indicted inthe first place.
Thus the return of the generalsto Croatia will have interestingpolitical implications both indomestic and foreign policy.When it comes to internalaffairs, everyone will try toextract the maximum politicalbenefit from it. It is certainly aprize that Prime MinisterMilanovic did not hope for.
In the dramatic economic cir-cumstances the country found
itself in the last thing he neededwas possible unrest, had the out-come in The Hague been differ-ent. For his Social DemocraticParty and the centre-left coali-tion he heads, the release of gen-erals is a great plus. He himselfadmitted that hearing the ver-dict, he felt a great sense ofrelief.
The main opposition CroatianDemocratic Union, HDZ, howev-er, will find it hard to profit fromthe acquittal. It is the party thatwas in power at a time whenGotovina – with help from theCroatian secret services – wasarrested in the Canary Islands inearly December 2005 and trans-ferred to The Hague.
The current president of theHDZ, Tomislav Karamarko, at thetime was head of those secretservices. One of the founders ofthe party and the man who heldthe highest party and state posi-tions for 20 years, Vladimir Seks,authored the slogan “Locate,identify, capture, transfer”,which heralded Gotovina’s arrestand transfer to the Hague overfive years ago. That is why theHDZ will not profit at all fromGeneral Gotovina’s release.
High hopes of profiting politi-cally from the verdict were cher-ished by the ultra-right: daysbefore the verdict they saw their
chance: to radicalise the public ifthe verdict was a conviction, orput Gotovina forward as theiricon if he and Markac werereleased. But since the right,without support from the HDZ,can do little by itself, it won’tgain much political advantagefrom generals being at liberty.
While still in the Hague’s cus-tody, General Gotovina on severaloccasions, via his lawyers, askedthat his name not be used forpolitical purposes, especially notthose mentioned when protestsand possible unrest were beingannounced. He was consistent inthat request. It is likely, now he isfree, that he won’t become activepolitically but will merely enjoyhis status as a national hero,which is no longer hindered byanything since the Hague acquit-tal.
When it comes to relations inthe region, the acquittal ofGotovina and Markac (and earli-er, Cermak), judging by the fiercereactions from Belgrade, couldslow the establishment of betterpolitical relations for some time.
Since the departure of BorisTadic as President of Serbia theywere already on a downwardpath. We should hope that it is atemporary trend, becauseBelgrade, too, knows that the
General Poses Dilemma for Croatian CourtsOnce the euphoria surrounding the Gotovina-Markac verdicts fades, the justice system will still have to address the question of war crimes committed in 1995.
By Vlora Citaku
By Drago Hedl
Citaku: US still a major player inSoutheast Europe.
Life in Focus22 Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
YMCK
(Photo/Njomza Salihi)
Pride in a flag
Cities around Kosovo are decoratingstreets with the Albanian flag on theoccasion of the 100th anniversary ofAlbania’s independence on November28. While the day lost its designationas an official holiday in 2007, mostpeople in Kosovo hold the occasiondear. Prishtina’s streets are alreadyadorned with the flags. In Vushtrri, themunicipality has ordered all shops andhouses to display the flag or face afine. (Photos by Agron Haliti)
YMCK
23Nov 23 - Dec 6, 2012
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