Prime Minister Kurti's new clash with Quinn and KFOR

States of the QUINT countries -- United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy -- through a joint statement issued this week -- have said the main evidence of the new government's commitment, at the helm of Albin Kurti, to rule of law, will be implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision on the land of the Decani Monastery.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has not yet reacted to this request of the allied states of Kosovo.

On the other hand, the minister of this government, Liburn Aliu, in a speech to his country in Kosovo this week, has warned of a mistake to withdraw from the construction of a section of Decani-Plav street that runs through the Protected Zone of the Decani Monastery.

Construction of Decan-Plava Street was cut off for a while last year, at the request of the then government, just because some of it passed through the protected Zone.

“Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, has requested that work be suspended on R108 Street, which, in a part of it, affects the special protected area of the Decani Monastery”, was said at the statement of then Prime Minister Abdullah Hoti, published in August 2020.

That was rejected by Decani Chairman Bashkim Ramosaj.

Later, the text of a non-paper who was accepted by Prime Minister Hoti, Mayor Ramosaj, and KFOR commander, with whom construction of a road bypass was envisioned that would avoid the protected area.

Democracy.com owns this “non-paper” where it says that the issue of this road will be resolved in accordance with the Special Protection Areas Law, based on the decision of the Implementation and Monitoring Council and in a process with objectives aimed at the possibility of syncronic jobs in two road systems: bypass (sideways) and western and green roads.

For the section of the road known as problematic, the section affecting the Decan Monastery protected area, in “non-paper” is said to be installed by “Police stationed” on the street, type “K1”.

The rehabilitation of green roads/street roads and the side road (Nini A, B, C in Annex C) will be done simultaneously, based on achievements according to Annex A. No further work can be launched on the Monastery's road, the green-road or the sideway, until all previous targets” are met, writes in “non-paper”.

The fourth point of this <x0non-paper” says KFOR members will monitor progress in all the above-mentioned road systems.

“Details of this non-paper, which will be implemented as decision by the Monitoring and Monitoring Council, do not prejudge any future agreements regarding the normalisation process and will be presented to QUINT, EU and OSCE Mission Chief, and others, for support and to consider financing”, further says the document provided by the document. Democracy.com.com.

However, on Monday (May 17th), the minister of Infrastructure, Environment, and Space Planning, Libron Aliu, spoke against the idea of building the 18km bypass instead of the 6km road inside the protected Zone.

The “Ide is to build a 18km road instead of six kilometers inside the protected area, through mountains and mountains. Why? Because you go over certain properties. This is wrong because we create a dangerous precedent. And wherever we have separate areas will seek to do bypass”, Minister Aliu said in his speech at the Kosovo Assembly.

Even in 2020, the deputies of the Vetevendosje Movement had demanded clarification by former Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and the baning of the works had called it an extremely harmful “, not only in economic and infrastructure, but also in the state's political and state”.

In 2008, the Kosovo Assembly adopted the Law on Special Protection Areas, which should ensure the protection of Serbian Orthodox monasteries, churches, other religious sites, as well as historical and cultural sites of special importance to the Serb community as well as to other communities in the Republic of Kosovo. Decani Monastery is one of the protected areas under this law.

Under the law, various activities, such as construction or industrial developments, such as exploration and use of mineral resources, and the construction of dams, power plants or power lines, furnaces and factories and transital roads in rural areas; and construction or developments leading to deforestation or pollution of the environment.

Kosovo's Constitutional Court in 2016 had ruled under which the ownership right is known to the Decani Monastery on 24 hectares of land. But this decision has never been implemented by this municipality.

Officials of international institutions in Kosovo have consistently called for the Constitutional Court's decision to be respected.

For years the Constitutional Court of Kosovo had ruled, under which the right to ownership of the Decani Monastery is recognised over 24 hectares of land. But this decision has never been implemented by this municipality.

Works for the construction of the Decan-Plave (R-108) road, which links the Dukagjini region with that of Plav and Guita, started in 2018 and had to be completed in 2020. /Democracy. com/