Kosovo celebrates independence with eye to reaching deal with Serbia
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[February 17, 2023]
By Fatos Bytyci and Ivana Sekularac
PRISTINA (Reuters) - National flags waved in Pristina's streets on
Friday as Kosovo celebrated 15 years of independence with an eye to
reaching a normalisation deal with Serbia, crucial to stability in a
region still recovering from ethnic wars in the 1990s.
"Our independence was achieved through struggle and sacrifice, but our
independence will only grow through work," o Kosovo Prime Minister Albin
Kurti said as the capital prepared for a police and army parade later in
the day.
Tensions with Serbia linger as Belgrade continues to support the refusal
of 50,000 minority Serbs in north Kosovo to recognise the country's
independence, declared almost a decade after an uprising against
repressive Serbian rule.
Serbia, whose forces were driven out of ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo
by NATO bombing to stop a brutal security crackdown by Belgrade, still
deems its former southern province an integral part of its territory.
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U.S. and European Union envoys are pressing the countries to approve a
peace plan presented in mid-2022 under which Belgrade would stop
lobbying against Kosovo having a seat in international organisations
including the United Nations.
Kosovo would commit to forming a semi-autonomous association of
Serb-majority municipalities in the north, where local Serbs have
resisted Kosovo state authority for years and clashed repeatedly with
police.
Belgrade and Pristina have both accepted the EU plan in principle,
saying it is a good base for further negotiations. Normalisation of
relations is one of the key conditions for Serbia and Kosovo to progress
towards EU membership.
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![](../images/021723PIX/news_u99.jpg)
A man crosses a street decorated with
Kosovar flags on the day of celebrations of the 15th anniversary of
Kosovo independence in Pristina, Kosovo, February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Florion
Goga
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/17/images/ads/current/graue_lda_preowned_NEWENCORE_021323.jpg)
"We welcome your endorsement of the EU proposal on normalisation,
with the eventual goal of mutual recognition which would help secure
a more peaceful and prosperous future for the people of both Kosovo
and Serbia," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a letter to Kosovo
counterpart Vjosa Osmani on Thursday evening.
Ali Reshani, 73, among thousands of Kosovars gathering in Pristina's
streets for the Feb. 17 independence anniversary, told Reuters:
"Thanks to God we have our own police, we also have our own army. I
expect better days."
He added: "I hope God will give good things to the Americans for
helping us."
There were no celebrations in the Serb-majority town of North
Mitrovica in north Kosovo.
Local Serb taxi driver Lazar Kostic, 58, said he had ethnic Albanian
friends but was in touch only by phone. "(Kosovo) doesn’t mean
anything to me personally. It is not a state and for me it never
will be," he told Reuters.
Alluding to the former federal, multinational Yugoslavia torn apart
by ethnic wars in the 1990s, he said: "We grew up during times when
it was not important who or what you were or what your name was.
Those were the happy times. But, when politics got involved in our
lives, it became another story."
(Additional reporting by Branko Filipovic in North Mitrovica;
editing by Mark Heinrich)
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