(I Just noticed that the word game played in the title makes sense only to my compatriots- )
Oops… they did it again!
Due to the endless wisdom of our political leaders ( or the lack of it)- Kosovo ended up in the international news headlines again ( 2nd time in a week, third in a month) . And this time it wasn’t as funny as in early march when 25 European countries had their clocks run late because of the endless disputes between here and Belgrade.
…that one just went to prove that the Europeans will end up being hungry, unless we tell them it is time for their lunch.
Nor was it a move , like the one they made when they arrested Djuric, the effects of which are positive and meaningful.
Nope… this time they Fucked up royally — and it is getting difficult to figure out which version is worse. If they are lying ( which is what most of Kosovars are betting on) it means that they have just decided to disrespect the same human right and humanitarian principles, which, in several cases- were the rights and principle that saved their asses from being wrapped, packed and delivered to the Serbian government.
On the other hand ( the less possible version) if it ends up that none of them is lying, and that they really did not know what was happening- then it gets even worse. It means that someone ( and it doesn’t matter who, why or from where) from the outside could have picked up a phone and order our police to arrest foreign citizens and hand them over to the MIT ( Turkish Intelligence- definitely not very famous for respecting human rights and treating their prisoners with due respect)
OK… for the ones who have not been in the loop….
After 2 years of refusing all the requests and pleas of Erdogan’s government to extradite Turkish citizens who, according to Ankara, were involved in the coup of 2016, all of a sudden, our police goes out and arrests 6 Turkish citizens ( accused as Gylen supporters, but who have been working at a school here for about 5 years ) and then, hand them over directly to the Turkish intelligence Services which, BTW, managed to send an entire team and one airplane just so that the 6 will have a quick delivery to Turkey. And this is where the problems start…
Less than an hour after the arrest, the story gets in the hands of the media, who ( normally) try to figure out what is happening, and why the hell are those 6 being Handed over to Ankara without any kind of judicial process. At first, our government said that the 6 have outstayed their residency visas ( untrue, they were active until 2022).. then they say something else, and finally, everyone on top- The president, the PM, the parliament speaker,go in front of the press claiming that none of them knew what was happening and that the incident will be “Investigated”- in the meantime they got rid of the minister of interior as well as the head of intelligence- the usual scapegoats in these cases.
After almost a week of endless BS, today they held a parliament session about the issue- and , as predicted,despite the well over 10 hours of them talking, it went along the lines of “ It will be investigated. Human rights were breached. We shouldn’t have extradited them”… all of which are a bit too late considering that the 6 are firmly in the hands of Turkish authorities….
The issue for the public is not only the faith of the 6 ( their families are protesting in the center of Prishtina for days) but the question of who ordered it…
If, what our leaders ( and I use the term loosely) really had no idea what was happening- than, it means that someone in Turkey was capable of picking up the phone and ordering an arrest of individuals down here- meaning that these guys are not controlling anything- enough to make them resign. If, on the other hand they are lying ( or at least one of them is… the popular consensus is that it was the President who set it up, him and Erdogan are buddies after all, and now he is blaming everyone else) than it means that they are the ones who have been functioning under Erdogans orders… which, again, is a reason to put them in court for treason….
There is third option, which no one is mentioning…. Several years ago, the Kosovar security services got into the spotlight after conducting some quite amazing operations inside Syria. The most visible case was when a father who joined ISIS, took his son to Syria ( keep in mind- this was back in early 2016, when even the western intelligence was saying they can not get information from inside the caliphate) … The mother went to the media, and, a month or two later, AKI ( kosovar intelligence- an oxymoron, I know) — out of nowhere pulled a media stunt in which they suddenly appeared on the airport delivering the son to his mother- when everyone said that caliphate was impossible to penetrate- Kosovar guys went in, pulled the kid out, and came back without any casualties…
( or just look for Erion Zemaj…)
Thing is, that Turkey provided the helicopters and some logistics for the operation… As well as, ( and this is my guess) some information, or at least electronic surveillance capabilities….
And this might have been the payback…..
It is nothing new in the intelligence community… the “I’ll scratch your back and you scratch mine” is a system which has been keeping that community going for decades- and I see no reason why it shouldn’t have happened in this case. The fact that no one is making the connection- just makes me more convinced that there is something to the story. But.. I am getting off subject here
It is to be noted that all of this is happening exactly at the time when Erdogan, Rouhani and Putin are deciding what is happening in Syria and Trump is making the American withdrawal public- meaning, he is leaving Syria to Russia and Iran.
At the same time, the Serbs, the Croats, the Montenegrins.. keep arming themselves as in preparation for another round of Balkan conflicts and there is a renewed rumor mill about a land swap between Serbia and Kosovo (Northern Kosovo for southern Serbia- a story which has been in the making for decades- and which will never come true- )
Not that I am trying to be cynical, or paranoid… but it is reminding me a whole lot, of scenarios which I have seen several times before — and which usually end up with my homeland becoming a trade-off territory for someone else, somewhere else , or , in the best case scenario, as another arena for their conflicts. ( if anyone thinks it never happened, just compare what was happening in Chechnya during 98/99 and here…you know, when the Russians told the west “OK=- I am not going to interfere with what you do down there- and you do not interfere with what we are doing up here”)
We’ll see… But , all the signs are pointing north these days