Kurti travels to Skopje after the incident with Vjosa Osmani

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, is visiting North Macedonia, where he will meet with his counterpart, Hristijan Mickoski. This visit is taking place at a time when the relations between the two countries have deteriorated due to an incident on August 1 at the Skopje Airport, which involved the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani.

"There (in Skopje) there will be a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, with whom they will discuss bilateral relations, regional cooperation and infrastructure projects of interest to the two states. The realization of this visit has been agreed on July 20", said the spokesperson of the Government of Kosovo, Përparim Kryeziu, for Radio Free Europe.

The Kosovar Presidency has claimed that a member of the Skopje Airport security tried to take President Osmani's personal phone, in violation of international practices and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of Kosovo sent a note of protest to North Macedonia, asking for clarification and investigation of the case of August 1.

Kurti has not yet reacted to this event, which involved the number one of the state of Kosovo, while analysts in Kosovo have said earlier that the two heads of state have disagreements on various issues and their reports have suffered another "crack".

The Kosovar presidency has said that despite being informed of the diplomatic rules, the security "attempted to physically push the president, in which case the Kosovo Police was forced to react to clear the way".

This institution has also said that the events of August 1 cannot be evaluated in any other way than "a pure provocation and a tendency to cause an incident".

The Kosovar delegation for this visit to Skopje includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gërvalla, who sent a note of protest to Skopje, as well as the Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, and the Minister of Spatial Planning, Liburn Aliu.

The authorities in Skopje have said that they have launched investigations into the case, while the Ministry of the Interior of North Macedonia has said that while Osmani was going through the border control, at the moment she was asked to let her phone go through the scanner, "a member of her security was pulled over by an airport employee, in order for her to pass without a scanned phone and hand luggage".

The Macedonian Foreign Ministry expressed regret for, as they said, the misunderstandings that occurred during Osmani's trip through the airport in Skopje.

Meanwhile, the Skopje Airport has said that they have a legal obligation to check all passengers, luggage and goods, including those traveling through the VIP area of ​​the airport.

The event at Skopje Airport has been condemned by opposition political figures in North Macedonia, even by the chairman of VLEN, Arben Taravari.

The VLEN coalition is part of the Macedonian Government, led by Mickoski's VMRO DPMNE. This coalition, made up of parties that were previously in the opposition, was supported by Kurti and his party, the Vetëvendosje Movement, which had members on the electoral list of this coalition./ REL