Kosovo Ends Standoff Over Famous Actor's Memoir

Copies of a memoir printed in Belgrade by the famous Kosovo-born Yugoslav actor Bekim Fehmiu will now be released after they were held up for three days in a Kosovo customs terminal in the northern town of Mitrovica.

Around 1,300 copies of the book, "Shkëlqim dhe Tmerr 2" ["Brilliant and Terrifying 2"], which was launched last week in Pristina,  ended up blocked in the customs terminal as part of a dispute over textbooks between Serbia and Kosovo.

Kosovo adopted reciprocal measures after Serbia's Ministry of Education refused to allow school textbooks printed in Kosovo to reach ethnic Albanian children in southern Serbia.

The actor's book, part of the project "Mirëdita, Dobar Dan", was printed by the Belgrade publishing house Samidzat B92 and was thus deemed a Serbian imported book.

As the implementation partner of the project in Kosovo, the director of the Kosovo NGO Integra, Kushtrim Koliqi, says he could not understand how the book was blocked in the first place.

"I feel sorry that Kosovo is trying to copy the discriminatory and harmful practices of neighbouring states. This act has damaged Kosovo readers themselves," Koliqi told BIRN.

"Fehmiu was free of Balkan complexes and managed to overcome provincial and nationalistic ways of thinking," Koliqi recalled. "His work should be qualified as precious heritage for all of Kosovo's citizens," he added.

Kosovo producer Bekim Lumi told BIRN that Fehmiu remained an admired and distinguished figure in Kosovo, even though he reached his artistic peak in Belgrade where he spent most of his life.

"With his brilliance and his personal example, Fehmiu is a role model for each and every Kosovo artist and a reference point for their ambitions,"...