“We have reached an agreement”, Mexhiti: Former KLA soldiers will no longer be detained at the border
Serbia’s arrest warrants for former KLA soldiers will no longer be enforced by North Macedonia’s border police, according to the country’s deputy prime minister, Izet Mexhiti. A political agreement, he said, has been reached in the Macedonian government. He said they will soon make a decision “to implement a systemic, legal and permanent solution so that former KLA soldiers are not detained at the borders of North Macedonia.”
Because Kosovo is not a member of Interpol – the largest global police organization, Serbia constantly updates lists with the names of former KLA soldiers in this security institution, allegedly for “war crimes”.
Because of this, in July 2024, at the Jazhincë border crossing point, based on an arrest warrant issued by the Belgrade Court, through INTERPOL and with the allegation of war crimes in 1999 in Kosovo, former KLA soldier Blerim Ramdani was arrested.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Izet Mexhiti, in an interview for KosovaPress says that former KLA soldiers will be able to move freely in North Macedonia, despite the issuance of an arrest warrant by Serbia to Interpol.
He states that they have a political agreement in the government cabinet and that a decision will be made very soon “according to the Croatian or Slovenian model to resolve this issue permanently.”
“One of the issues that remains from the past is the arrest of former Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers. Since Serbia is a member of Interpol and Kosovo is not, it constantly updates the lists of soldiers, and this then poses a problem. This problem has not been solved for 20 years by the previous governments or the previous Albanian parties. Now I can say exclusively to you that we have a political agreement in the government. We have a political agreement that this will be solved in a systematic way with the Croatian, Slovenian and European models. And this will happen very soon, we are just seeing which model to apply, and this will be a systemic, legal and permanent solution, soldiers to move freely in Macedonia, just as they move in European countries. We have a political agreement. We must make the solution either within the framework of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or within the framework of the government, just as Croatia and Slovenia have solved it. “And we have a political agreement that this will apply within this government, concluding this issue in a systematic manner. So that soldiers can move freely in Macedonia, just as they move everywhere in Europe,” he emphasizes.
Mexhiti, in an interview for KosovaPress, says that “North Macedonia and Kosovo have broken an international prejudice” that they are distant from each other. According to him, the two countries are very good partners and that cooperation “is only deepening, both economically and politically.”
He mentions the joint meeting of the two governments in November 2024 in Pristina, while saying that the long queues at the border points will end with the joint border point that will become operational, according to him, in early April.
Speaking about the construction of the Tetovo-Prizren road, he states that the procedure for the construction of the six-kilometer tunnel will be announced in the coming days.
Speaking about the Law on Languages in North Macedonia, Mexhiti says that the Albanian language will receive its deserved status as an official language.
According to him, it will never be violated and they will be the guarantors of its protection.
The Law on the Use of Languages obliges state institutions in North Macedonia to allow the official use of languages spoken by at least 20% of the country’s citizens. This includes the Albanian language, which is mentioned as the language of a significant part of the population and is defined in the first article of this law.
This law is under review by the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia and there has not yet been a decision on such a matter.
Political reactions have been caused in Skopje after the decision to review this law, writes KosovaPress.
The Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) in the opposition has warned that in this way the rights of Albanians in North Macedonia and the Ohrid Agreement may be violated.
DUI has called the law a symbol of the Ohrid Agreement, saying that linguistic equality is based on it.
Days ago, the Democratic Union for Integration reacted to the recent decisions of the president of North Macedonia regarding changes in the command structures of the army there.
According to Ali Ahmeti’s party, “the exclusion of Albanian military leaders from key positions undermines the basic principles of the Ohrid peace agreement,” KosovaPress reported.
These principles, as the DUI has said, are essential for a cohesive and effective military force.
“In light of these developments, DUI urgently calls on NATO and our international allies to carefully review these actions, which not only violate the principles of fair representation, but also compromise the operational readiness and security of our armed forces,” DUI said in a public response a week ago.
Regarding the criticism of the Albanian opposition in North Macedonia that there are fewer Albanians in institutions under the VMRO and VLEN government, he says that this is not true.
On the other hand, the Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia also speaks to KosovaPress about the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and regional processes.
He says that for the VALEN coalition, which is in the Macedonian government, the “Open Balkans” initiative is “dead” and that the Macedonian executive sees only the Berlin Process as a perspective – as an opportunity for cooperation between the six Western Balkan countries.
Speaking about the role of US President Donald Trump in the Western Balkans, he says that Albanians in the region should be closer to his policies, since as he says, the US has consistently been in support of Albanians.