The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has criticized the Vetëvendosje Movement, saying that it did not show willingness to support the resolution on the protection of war victims.
After failing to secure approval to place it as the first item on the agenda, PDK left the parliamentary session, with MPs Përparim Gruda and Vlora Citaku making statements in the hall of the Assembly building.
MP Citaku said the resolution should have united all political parties.
“We have requested a resolution in defence of historical truth and the victims of the last war in Kosovo. Revisionism begins by creating confusion, then by raising doubts, and then by attempting to create artificial balance between the aggressor and the victim. We asked that this resolution oblige the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo to protect the just war and the dignity of the victims. We distributed the text to parliamentary groups and registered it in the Kosovo Assembly yesterday. Some parliamentary groups gave us remarks and proposals, we received three very substantial comments and proposals from LDK representatives, however LVV, although in writing it gave no proposal, today requested that this issue be treated somewhere at the end of the agenda,” she said.
Asked whether they expect a deal on electing the president, Citaku added:
“For quite some time, from LVV and the current parliamentary majority, compromise is seen as weakness and agreement as a dirty word. And it is true that when we have not seen political will from Vetëvendosje today to agree on an issue that should not even be up for discussion, it is difficult to believe there is political will to agree on other issues,” she added.
PDK MP Përparim Gruda said the refusal to include the resolution as an agenda item was a political stance to block its adoption.
“The refusal by the Assembly Speaker and the parliamentary majority to include it as an agenda item after discussions outside the agenda, after parliamentary questions, and before international agreements is not technical, as the Speaker said. If it were technical, it would have been approved. It is a political stance to prevent us from even reaching the afternoon discussion. In the afternoon, a committee would be convened and then it would be said that there is no agreement on PDK’s draft. We have read the draft and it cannot be approved. So this is a refusal of the resolution, not a technical issue but a substantive one,” he said.
He added that the text contains no political language and does not refer to individuals, but to international practices.
“The resolution has only one purpose: to express the commitment of the Assembly, to make institutional obligations to create legislation that protects the historical truth of Kosovo. The practice of protecting the history of victims and the memory of a nation is not something we invented. In this resolution, we have only consulted practices that exist in democratic countries since the end of World War II regarding the protection of truth. We cannot continue to allow public spaces in Kosovo, through exhibitions, publications, and other forms of public activity, to distort the truth of Kosovo and present a narrative served by Serbia,” he said.
PDK MPs left the plenary session of the Kosovo Assembly after their proposal for a resolution in defence of war victims was not included as the first item on the agenda. The resolution comes after an exhibition by Shkëlzen Gashi, which PDK claims contained inaccuracies about massacres in Kosovo during 1998–1999.
LVV opposed placing the item first, saying it should be considered as the last item on the agenda.
Despite several attempts by Assembly Speaker Albulena Haxhiu to reach a compromise, no agreement was reached between parliamentary groups.
