Haradinaj: Kurti is a simple fraud, he should have asked for the recognition of Kosovo at the meeting with Vučić

The President of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (ABK), Ramuš Haradinaj, today called the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Aljbin Kurti, "an ordinary fraudster" and accused him of a wrong approach to the dialogue process with Serbia.

Haradinaj assessed that at yesterday's meeting in Brussels with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, Kurti should have requested the recognition of Kosovo.

"This is exactly what we warned about, the danger of the fraudster Kurti. He is an ordinary fraudster and deceives the people of Kosovo with a dangerous approach to dialogue, without looking for the substance for which the dialogue is conducted. It is not a dialogue, it is a waste of time and a deception for Kosovo because the focus it is not about mutual recognition, which remains the main issue," Haradinaj told Pristina's KosovaPress agency.

The leader of ABK assessed that Kurti "returns the dialogue to the beginning".

Haradinaj also criticized the Prime Minister for the proposal that the CEFTA agreement on free trade in the region grow into SEFTA (Southeastern European Free Trade Agreement), which, according to him, is "something more than a 'mini-Schengen' and a dangerous idea".

A new round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina at the highest level, in which Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti met for the first time, was held yesterday in Brussels.

The meeting was attended by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borel, and the Special Representative of the EU for Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajčak.

Before the joint meeting, Borel and Lajčak spoke separately with Kurti and Vučić.

Vučić: He told me: 'I came to ask you when you will recognize independent Kosovo'. My answer was, 'Never!' Then he detonated himself..."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić yesterday accused the Kosovo delegation and Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti of trying to stop the dialogue by performing in Brussels.

"The man came not to agree on anything. He told me: 'I came to ask you when you will recognize independent Kosovo'. My answer was: 'Never!' Then he detonated himself...", Vučić told reporters in Brussels.

He repeated that Serbia will never stop the dialogue, but that he sees what he saw as an attempt to stop the dialogue.

Vučić said that he is not satisfied with the essence of the talks, because it seems to him that the delegation from Pristina came to provoke a quick response from Belgrade and the eventual abandonment of the talks.

The President of Serbia said that the EU representatives who attended the talks were correct and that they understood what happened.

In his answer to foreign journalists, Vučić said that official Belgrade insisted on first fulfilling what had already been agreed so that other matters could be discussed and that he clearly expressed his willingness to continue the search for missing persons.

He added that Serbia is always ready to excavate any remains of the murdered, in whatever location it is requested, in order to help the families of the missing to determine the truth about their members.

"But they wanted to talk about Veljko Odalović as Goebbels... Today, we also heard that Jesus was born on February 14, when Kurti won the elections. We really didn't know that," he said.

Kurti: We believe that this is a dialogue about mutual recognition

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti repeated yesterday in Brussels that the goal of the dialogue with Serbia is mutual recognition and that US President Joseph Biden also said this, which is a proposal with which the Kosovo authorities fully agree.

"Serbia should recognize Kosovo and Kosovo should accordingly recognize Serbia. Although the EU officials do not say directly, it is clear that the goal of the dialogue is mutual recognition, because without the recognition of Kosovo, Serbia's path to the European Union is impossible," Kurti said in his address. to Kosovo journalists in Brussels after the meeting with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.

He assessed that during today's meeting, "the Kosovar side was constructive".

"We will participate in this process, which is difficult. The other (Serbian) side talked about old issues, we made four new proposals," Kurti said.

He said that the first new proposal refers to "upgrading the CEFTA agreement into a SEFTA agreement that would use the model that Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway have with the European Union".

"The next proposal was that the day after yesterday's NATO summit, where very clear and unique messages were given, Kosovo and Serbia should sign a declaration of peace where we, as states, would undertake not to attack each other, and that in this way we would contribute to peace and security in our region and beyond," said Kurti.

According to him, the third proposal related to the issues of the missing, in connection with which it was requested "to remove from the Serbian delegation Veljko Odalović, who was the infamous head of the so-called Kosovo District in 1997-1999 and who, together with Zoran Anđelković, managed the occupied Kosovo."

Kurti referred to the statement of Serbian politician Nenad Čanko, who stated that there are 16 mass graves in Serbia with the bodies of Kosovo Albanians, of which only five have been opened.

"Our fourth proposal relates to minority issues and bilateral reciprocity, which is a general principle, according to which we would have one National Council for the Kosovo Serbs, as it is in Serbia for the Albanians and Bosniaks," Kurti said. As he said, "the last three proposals were rejected, while the Serbian side did not express itself regarding the first proposal.

Asked about the issue of the missing and the agreement reached with the Government of Avdullah Hoti, Kurti said that the agreement was reached by an "illegitimate and unconstitutional government".

He reiterated that no agreement is valid without reaching agreement on all topics.

He expressed his belief that an agreement is possible if the principles are discussed at the beginning and if it is honest.

"But it will be difficult - that's for sure. I'm not a pessimist, since we're now considering the issues in their essence and we're not trying not to see the elephant in the room. Now we have mutual non-recognition, Serbia doesn't recognize Kosovo and Kosovo doesn't recognize Serbia," he said. Prime Minister of Kosovo.