Kosovo Foreign Minister Under Fire over War Court Comments

Abelard Tahiri, the head of Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK's parliamentary group, called on Thursday for the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla because she said in 2016 that she was willing to provide evidence material to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

Amid fiery exchanges in the Kosovo Assembly, Tahiri told Gervalla that she had brought "shame" on Kosovo's diplomacy and urged Prime Minister Albin Kurti to fire her.

Tahiri claimed that the Specialist Chambers were established due to "false facts from Belgrade" and that Gervalla was aligning herself with the Serbian position on the court.

"We as the PDK cannot allow the minister to speak using a narrative built in Belgrade. We ask Prime Minister Kurti to dismiss this irresponsible minister as soon as possible," he told a press conference afterwards.

Gervalla denied that she has ever been a witness at the Specialist Chambers and accused the PDK of being responsible for the establishment of the Hague-based 'special court' that is prosecuting former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters for war crimes.

Not only did you not fight and not do anything to prosecute post-war crimes, but you were able to avoid prosecution for crimes in Kosovo. In this way, you are the ones who made the Special Court possible," Gervalla said.

In the past, Gervalla has also accused former PDK leader Kadri Veseli of being "the head of an organisation that committed crimes".

Veseli and three other former KLA leaders who became senior politicians after the war, including former President and PDK chief Hashim Thaci, are currently awaiting trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Specialist Chambers. They have all pleaded...