On February 9 and 10 of this year, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in his capacity as the chairman of the Vetëvendosje Movement, stayed in Skopje, North Macedonia, to participate in the regional meeting with leaders of sister parties of the Party of European Socialists (PES), which was held at the Headquarters of the Social Democratic League of Macedonia (LSDM).
From there, in addition to official media announcements from LVV for the meeting with sister parties and one announcement from the Government There was no additional information about the visit her boss made to the Kosovo Embassy in the neighboring country.
However, the local media published news that worried many.
Kosovo Public Broadcaster, RTK, in its online version, reported about a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Kurti in Skopje. This plan, according to RTK, was made after the United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting on Kosovo, which took place on February 8.
"Reliable sources from security institutions in Kosovo have told RTK that, immediately after the UN Security Council meeting, they have received information that there is an attempt from Serbia to assassinate the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in Skopje, where he stayed last night," RTK reported.
Screenshot from the RTK website
Subsequently, RTK came out with a more extensive report, where it published several photos taken from social networks, mainly from the Telegram application, which stated that they had been taken as a basis by Kosovo's security institutions to launch investigations into a plan to assassinate the prime minister.
Image published by RTK in the article about the assassination plan against Kurti
RTK, citing only one source, said that "the Serbian terrorist plan was preceded by an article in the Serbian media, accusing Serbian opposition leader Dragan Gjilas of meeting with Kurti."
Screenshot from the RTK website
Prime Minister Kurti, meanwhile, returned to Kosovo on February 10, where during a public appearance he was asked about the plan for an assassination attempt against him.
Without answering specifically, he said: "I have learned that there are many threats from individuals and structures that have roots in Belgrade, but I just came here from Skopje. I did not feel threatened, but I saw that there were many police forces that took care of the meeting held in Skopje," Kurt said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Macedonia responded to media interest regarding this reporting.
Although the news provided by RTK spoke of a assassination plot, the Macedonian MUP said there was no assassination attempt towards Kurti.
"We inform you that during the visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, to Skopje, there were no assassination attempt towards him. Regarding security during Prime Minister Kurti's visit, it is organized according to predetermined rules and security assessments.", that Macedonian MUP spokesman, Toni Angellovski.
Based on this statement by the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, many actors in the country commented on it as a denial of RTK's reporting.
Media lawyer in Kosovo, Kusari butterfly, described RTK's reporting as a "text", saying that it "cannot be called news" because, according to her, it does not meet the standards for being such.
Kusari, referring to the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs' response, said that "moreover, the text has been denied by the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs."
She even said that the news "looks like a text written by the party," referring to the Vetëvendosje Movement.
Analyst Dardan Gashi said that the news about the assassination plot against Prime Minister Kurti "was a movie."
"We were worried about the whole of Kosovo having a plan to assassinate the prime minister. What was this RTK masquerade? Is there anything worse than the government of a friendly country saying it has no such plan? Albin Kurti is making films, North Macedonia denied it. An unnecessary theater by the prime minister," Gashi said.
The head of the Macedonian government, Talat Xhaferi, meanwhile, said that the news of the plan to attempt to assassinate Kurti "has nothing to do with reality."
"The issue of information is the competence of the relevant state institutions that deal with monitoring the situation and state security, including the security of the holders of the highest institutions in the respective states. The issue was destined to come to an end because through the state public medium, information is given about the alleged preparation, staging, staging of a possible assassination, which according to the data I have, which are verified, so it is not data just because as prime minister I say it, it has nothing to do with reality", said Xhaferi.
Regarding the allegation of a plan to assassinate Kurti, the Acting Chief State Prosecutor, Besim Kelmendi, and the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Prosecution Office of Kosovo (SPRK), Blerim Isufaj, said they have no information.
"At the moment, there is no action in our Office regarding this news," said about the "Oath for Justice", Chief Prosecutor Kelmendi said.
"No, I don't have any information," said on the other side Chief Prosecutor Isufaj.
RTK, meanwhile, said that the plan for the assassination of Kurti was confirmed by the Parliamentary Committee for the Oversight of the KIA, during a report by the head of this security institution, Petrit Ajeti, on February 21.
Salih Zyba from Vetëvendosje, who is the vice-chairman of this commission, according to RTK, "confirmed that the director of the KIA spoke specifically about this plan and the threatening calls", about which he stated that the Kosovo authorities have also notified the relevant ones of North Macedonia.
How did security experts comment on this news?
Security Expert, Agim Musliu said that Serbia is known for these things, mentioning the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, but also the reported plan to assassinate the now-deceased Swiss senator Dick Marty.
"The Serbian secret service school is based on brutality and not intelligence. They have always had an assassination/assassination section within their services. They have contracted criminals to do this. The last known is their plan to assassinate Dick Marty. So Serbia is known for these things. They have killed their own prime ministers, let alone the prime ministers of their enemies. Prime Minister Kurti has been secured by MV security forces but also by RKS security forces as police, perimeter surveillance, information gathering, together with the Macedonian internal intelligence service, AKI, close physical security, RKS police," Musliu stated.
Another security expert, Avni Islami, has said that the assassination of Kosovo's Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, would only suit Serbia.
"The news is bombastic and time is short and I, from my perspective, can say that this would only suit our enemy Serbia, not because I want to attribute it to them because it may not be so, but such a murder would not suit the Albanian politics of Kosovo and Albania because it would destabilize the country and the goal is this, to take revenge among the Albanians of Kosovo.", Islam has expressed.
There was no official confirmation of the planning of the assassination attempt, or the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Skopje, from any security institution in the country, nor from those in the neighboring country where it was said that a plan had been made to assassinate him.
A confusion occurred between RTK's reporting and the Macedonian Ministry of Interior's response, with many actors taking this institution's response as a denial of RTK's reporting, although the Skopje Ministry of Interior's response spoke of an attempted assassination, while RTK reported a plan for an attempted assassination. However, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferi, said that according to the information he had, there was no plan for an assassination.
Analytical article by Agon Osmani