Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci. Photo: Kallxo.com

Kurti calls for Thaci’s dismissal over ‘secret agreement’

A ‘secret agreement’ made in April 2013 between NATO and then-Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has been made public by current Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who considers it a breach of the country’s constitution and grounds for Thaci’s removal as Kosovo President.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti has made public a letter sent by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci to the former Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in April 2013, during Thaci’s mandate as prime minister.

The letter, made public on Wednesday, contains assurances that the Kosovo Security Force, KSF, would only undertake a mission in northern Kosovo “with prior concurrence” from the NATO-led international peacekeeping force, KFOR. It also states that, to reach this concurrence, KFOR may engage with representatives of the local community in northern Kosovo.

NATO sources, including current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, have spoken of such an agreement to the media before, but this is the first time the agreement has been made public by a Kosovo official.

In an official opinion issued by the Office of the Prime Minister alongside the publication of the letter between Thaci and Rasmussen, Kurti stated that “there exists sufficient evidence to conclude prima facie that President Thaci, the then prime minister has committed serious violations of the Constitution of Kosovo and that such violations justifies the initiation of constitutional procedure to remove him from the position of Kosovo President.”

Kurti also sent a public letter to Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Vjosa Osmani, to inform her of the discovery. The Prime Minister stressed in the letter to Osmani that it was the secretive nature of the so-called agreement rather than its contents which should be the focus of MPs.

“To avoid any possible misunderstanding, I want to be clear: I, as prime minister, do not express any position for or against the secret agreement or its content,” Kurti stated in the letter. “However, when the president of the country, the then Kosovo prime minister, transfers sovereign competences from the Republic of Kosovo to an international organization through a secret agreement, without notifying the Assembly of Kosovo and in breach of his constitutional obligations, this is a state of affairs I cannot tolerate, neither as prime minister nor as a citizen of the Republic of Kosovo.”

In the letter to Osmani, it is also stated that a copy of the letter between Thaci and Rasmussen, and the official opinion of the Office of the Prime Minister was also sent to the Office of the President and Kosovo’s Chief Prosecutor, Aleksander Lumezi.

26/02/2020 - 12:34

26 February 2020 - 12:34

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