In the course of an official visit to Albania, the Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo Dr. Jakup Krasniqi had a meeting today with the member of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia and representative of the Albanian community to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Ms. Ermira Mehmeti.
In a press statement, the Acting President Dr. Jakup Krasniqi said: “We are in Albania to hold official contacts and to make sure that these contacts are not interrupted. Perhaps in a special way, we dealt with the report by the Council of Europe Rapporteur Dick Marty to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.
We are also here a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, who represents the Albanian community at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, to adjust our positions about the report, which we consider a recycling of some issues that were raised before and inquired into by the Hague International Tribunal. The Tribunal had to terminate these investigations, because there were no facts, there were no pieces of evidence.
The report is a recycling of those things and we are convinced that it is not a serious report. However, we are obliged to ask from the Rapporteur and from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly to hand over all the facts, if any, to the Hague Tribunal or EULEX, as professional EU institutions tasked with supporting the justice system in Kosovo. At the end of the day, we don’t rule out the creation of a task force to have its final say on facts and evidence.
We are aware that this was an unjust blow against both Kosovo and Albania. Therefore, both Kosovo and Albania and all Albanians, wherever they are, are supposed to meet the obligation and to exercise the right to providing evidence of their innocence with any European or international institution. On balance, those who might have committed such criminal offences, which are unacceptable to us, should confess their guilt”.
Asked by journalists in what terms have they agreed about the representation at Strasburg during today’s meetings with the delegation of the Parliament of Albania to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and with Ms. Mehmeti, the Acting President Dr. Jakup Krasniqi said: “It is known that Kosovo cannot be represented there, because it is not a member of the Council of Europe. Even if we’d be there, we wouldn’t be entitled to speeches. This is how it is, at least until now.
We are also asking from the members of the Republic of Albania and from Ms. Mehmeti to help challenge the report and to ask from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly to make sure that whoever is in possession of facts about such things hands them over to respective bodies rather than intoxicates the public with something about which the justice has not had its say yet. Justice should have its say first and then the public be informed of what justice, an international court in this case, has ascertained”.