SECURITY ASPECTS OF NORMALIZATION OF BELGRADE-PRISHTINA-TIRANA RELATIONS

On Friday, June 27th 2014, Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS), Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCSP), and Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) held the 6th Security Research Forum: Belgrade-Prishtina-Tirana.

The conference mainly discussed the ‘Security Aspects of Normalization of Belgrade-Prishtina-Tirana Relations’, with a great focus on the role of police in the normalization process and the implementation of the overall security aspect of such process. The conference was divided into two panels, with great discussions and questions from the audience.

The first panel was mostly focused on the implementation of the security aspects of Brussels Agreement and the expectations of the ordinary citizens of Albania, Kosovo and Serbia from their governments. The three panelists, KCSS Executive Director, Florian Qehaja, BSCP Director, Sonja Stojanovic Gajic, and IDM Head of Research, Arjan Dyrmishi, presented their perspectives on the greatest achievements and remaining challenges in the implementation of security provisions of the Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue as well as the effectiveness of EU facilitation in the overall process of normalization.

The main discussion on the second panel revolved on the role of police in the normalization of Albanian-Serbian relations and the integration of ethnic minorities in security institutions. The panel presented the main findings of the three joint publications by KCSS and BCSP researchers, which were done parallel in Prishtina and Belgrade as a part of Exchange of Researchers activity within Security Research Forum.

KCSS Researcher, Sofije Kryeziu, presented the main findings on the integration of Albanians in the Serbian Police in the three municipalities in the South Serbia with focus on the continuous challenges of this process. The progress made and the remaining challenges from the Brussels Agreement on the integration of Serbian police officers in the Kosovo Police were also presented by the BCSP researcher, Maja Bjelos, who also presented the recommendations on aiming to further improve the process. This panel has also presented for the first time the preliminary findings on the explicit role and cooperation of police in Belgrade-Prishtina relations, especially in the border control aspect. The study was conducted by Shpend Kursani, KCSS Research Associate, during his Exchange of Researcher activity at Belgrade.

The panel has also shared the perspectives and experiences of the two institutional representatives in Serbia, Riza Halimi, Member of Parliament, and Slaviša Arsenijević, representative from Ministry of Interior in Serbia.