Kosovo, Albania to boycott Nobel Literature award ceremony
by: FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI, Associated Press
2019 Nobel Prize laureate in literature Peter Handke speaks at a press conference at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Dec. 6, 2019. (Anders Wiklund/TT via AP)
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo and Albania say they will boycott the Nobel Literature Prize ceremony Tuesday to protest the award being given to Austrian writer Peter Handke who both countries link to the war in the former Yugoslavia.
Handke was an opponent of NATO's airstrikes against Serbia in the Kosovo War of the late 1990s and spoke in 2006 at the funeral of autocratic Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Kosovo was part of Serbia until 1999 when NATO intervened to stop Milosevic.
Kosovo's outgoing foreign minister, Behgjet Pacolli has instructed the ambassador in Sweden "to boycott the ceremony," adding that "a writer who supported Milosevic and his genocide in Bosnia and Kosovo does not deserve the Nobel Prize."
In solidarity with Kosovo Albanians, Albania's ambassador to Sweden won't attend Tuesday's Nobel ceremony, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The country is boycotting the ceremony because of Handke's support for "Slobodan Milosevic, the 'butcher of the Balkans,' who led so many mass atrocities during the bloody collapse of the former Yugoslavia."
Albanian acting foreign minister, Gent Cakaj, who was born in Kosovo, tweeted that the "justification of war atrocities during the Yugoslavia break-up must not be rewarded."
For Milazim Krasniqi, a resident of Hoce e Vogel, a small village 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of the capital Pristina, he can't believe "that Milosevic's friend and supporter gets the prize in the 21st century." There were more than 40 people killed in the village during the war.
More than 10,000 were killed or died in total in the 1998-99 war. A 78-day NATO air campaign ended Serb rule in Kosovo, and the United Nations governed the province until 2008 when Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, which Belgrade hasn't recognized yet.
"It is intolerable, unacceptable to promote notorious writers with such a prize, writers who make reasoning of the crimes in the region," said Shkelzen Maliqi, a Pristina-based analyst.
The frontpage of Koha Ditore daily newspaper showed Milosevic applauding Handke with the Nobel Prize.
That was, nevertheless, not the opinion of the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo.
"Whatever he wrote about the Serbs, he wrote it good and frightfully," said Dimitrie Dimitric, an ethnic Serb in Hoce e Madhe, close to Hoce e Vogel. "Those who gave it to him are not senseless."
Posters were plastered around Hoce e Madhe that said "Congratulations to our Nobel!"
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have been worsening in recent times. The European Union-facilitated dialogue that started in 2011 has been stalled since last year after Kosovo set a 100% import duty on all Serbian and Bosnian goods, despite international calls to lift or suspend the measure.
Kosovo insists on full recognition of its statehood as the end result of the talks, something which for now isn't acceptable to Serbia.
More US & World Stories
by Associated Press / Jan 20, 2020
MADRID (AP) — The former head of Catalonia's regional police and three others are standing trial on charges of rebellion and sedition for their alleged roles in the illegal bid by the Catalan regional government to break away from Spain in 2017.
The trial starting Monday in the National Court could inflame secessionist sentiment again in Catalonia after several weeks of calm in the northeastern region. It also comes as new Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promises to try to resolve the regional conflict with political talks rather than legal actions.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An armed security guard shot and killed a man suspected of fatally shooting a woman and injuring 15 more people outside a bar in Kansas City, Missouri, police said Monday.
A motive for the attack shortly before midnight Sunday outside 9ine Ultra Lounge was not immediately clear.
by DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press / Jan 20, 2020
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry says he's taking a "leap of faith'' as he steps back from royal duties in an attempt to build a more peaceful life — one free of the journalists who have filmed, photographed and written about him since the day he was born.
Impeachment Proceedings
Reed, Whitehouse doubtful of conditions for Trump's impeachment trial
Politics / 3 days ago
Trump's trial begins, senators vowing 'impartial justice'
US & World / 4 days ago
More Impeachment Proceedings