The battle for Interpol begins: The offensive of Pristina and the sharp response from Belgrade
The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, confirmed today that Belgrade will everything possible
In order for Kosovo to be admitted to the International Criminal Police organization Interpol, several prerequisites are needed - for their request to be placed on the agenda of the 87th Session of the General Assembly of the organization that will be held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in November, chaired by its chief who comes from a country that has recognized Kosovo's independence, and that lobbying at the highest level has been successfully completed. However, one thing is certain - the official Belgrade will not watch it silently!
After Kosovo became an associate member of Francophonie, an organization gathering French-speaking countries, it seems that Kosovo officials got the wind in the back due to the appointment of Kim Jong-Yang from South Korea to the head of Interpol, who came to that place instead of Chinese Meng Hongwei, who was accused of corruption.
Thus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Kosovo Institutions, Behgjet Pacolli and the vice-president of the Kosovo government, Fatmir Limaj, do not hide hope when they say that they expect Kosovo to be admitted to Interpol in November.
- Kosovo in Interpol is not a threat to anyone. Kosovo in Interpol means the fight against terrorism and international organized crime, Pacolli claims, while the president of the "Social Democratic Initiative" and authorized negotiator in dialogue with Belgrade, Limaj, announces three things expected at the end of the month - "visa liberalization, army formation and membership in Interpol".
The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, confirmed today that Belgrade will do everything possible.
- Some of our western partners are trying their best to make Kosovo the member of Interpol. We now have an additional problem, we will see who will lead that after the arrest of the previous director of Interpol. If there was a man from a country that didn't recognize Kosovo, we would know that there would not be any problems from the procedural side - Vucic said and added that Prime Minister and he will be particularly engaged, while Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic will have more journeys in the coming days due to this, and that police minister Nebojsa Stefanovic will work on it until November 1st.
Stefanovic is active since mid-September when he sent a letter to all members of Interpol stating that there is no basis for the request of a non-existent Kosovo state to be on the agenda of the next Interpol session.
Marko Nicovic, a member of the World Association of Police Chiefs, told Telegraf he is not overly optimistic about the next session of the General Assembly of Interpol on suspicion that the Arabs and Muslims are bribed.
- There are great chances for Kosovo to become a member of Interpol, especially since the chief of Interpol is from South Korea, and it is known that he works as Americans dictate. Also0, there is room for suspicious actions, because everybody present in the hall of the General Assembly has the right to vote, and not those who came - Nicovic explains and adds that the consequences would be bad for Belgrade and Serbia since Kosovo would be able to put any person on Interpol's wanted list and to charge him for, let's say, war crimes, and that Kosovo officials could misuse the information from the criminal police searches and blackmail criminals, to provide them with shelter, or to trade with data.