Later that year, an initiative to abolish the court was undertaken through the Kosovo Assembly, a movement which Haradinaj supported, claiming to have been against the Special Court even when he was in opposition. Media later suggested that in fact Thaçi had managed to subordinate Haradinaj, despite “all that was expected from the latter.”

Things soon changed, and the idyll reported by the media was either short lived or perhaps never even existed. In March, discussion began on how the arrest of Serbian senior official Marko Đurić by the Kosovo Police in North Mitrovica had strained relations between Thaçi and Haradinaj. Thaçi had reportedly disregarded his prime minister when ordering Kosovo Police special units to arrest Đurić.

Another scandal soon followed, which again saw the prime minister and president taking different lines. On March 29, Kosovo Police arrested five individuals of Turkish nationality, employees of Mehmet Akif schools in Kosovo. According to Turkish state news agency Anadolu, the Gulistan Educational Institutions, which operate four Mehmet Akif elementary and high schools in Kosovo, are part of what they call the “Gulenist terrorist organization, FETO.”

Haradinaj said that the deportation of Turkish citizens was a kind of “stealing” of people from Kosovo and claimed he was not informed about their deportation. Thaçi said that “no one can escape responsibility by saying he was not informed,” and defended the arrest by saying that he received a report from the Kosovo Intelligence Agency after the arrest, and, quoting that report, said that “the Turks committed illegal and dangerous activity in Kosovo.”

The pair have also been brought into discord by their approach toward Milan Radojčić, a man labelled in the press as ‘a mafia boss who controls the Serb-inhabited northern part of Kosovo territory.’ Radojčić’s connection to the murder of Oliver Ivanović has also been speculated upon in the press, with Thaçi allegedly pushing for rule of law institutions to question Radojčić on his role in the killing.

Haradinaj meanwhile, has been photographed eating lunch with the alleged gangster and has spoken of his respect for Radojčić, also inviting him to his prime ministerial office. Thaçi later made implications about their relationship through the press, accusing Haradinaj of acting ‘for the sake of an individual in the north.’ Haradinaj responded by stating that the president had also met with Radojčić in Prishtina.

Clashes over border correction and the number of KLA veterans

Tensions between the pair also became public after July, when the idea of what was initially called the exchange of territory and later the correction of borders with Serbia surfaced.

Haradinaj reiterated that he would not negotiate with Serbia for Kosovo’s partition and called on all political parties to reach a consensus on the dialogue. When asked about Thaçi’s statements that there would be no red lines on dialogue with Serbia, the prime minister said that: “we have the Constitution and whoever disrespects it violates the contract of the Declaration of the Independence.”

Even two months later, Haradinaj said that he believes the President is making statements on territory exchange only as part of his rhetoric. “Serbia is claiming the north of Kosovo and so the President is claiming something,” Haradinaj said. “He can claim Niš, the Presheva Valley, but it is just counter-rhetoric, otherwise we would have serious problems in Kosovo.”

At the end of September, when asked about the request that the President had submitted to the Constitutional Court on clarifying his competences for the conclusion of the agreement, Haradinaj said that “we never questioned the President and his competences, but neither should the competences of the Assembly be questioned,” repeating his position that he would never vote for a change of borders.

The pair’s clashes have also been transferred onto social networks. In a post on his Facebook account, Haradinaj announced that the government had drafted a 6-point Draft Resolution for harmonizing positions on the dialogue, which according to many assessments was being raised by coalition partners to prevent the president from negotiating an agreement with Serbia single-handedly.

However, Thaçi responded with constructive language: “I welcome the decision of the political parties of the government coalition to harmonize political positions and draft a joint resolution on the dialogue,” the president said on Facebook, adding that it is very important for the state of Kosovo that all the parties be more unique and united for the defense of civic and state interests in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels.

This year, Prime Minister Haradinaj has publicly spoken against Thaçi’s policy on the dialogue with Serbia, even when appearing alongside his president. Photo: Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo.

In early October, while both Thaçi and Haradinaj were in Skënderaj at the inauguration of a martyr’s memorial complex, the latter said that “Kosovo must safeguard its territory and keep its borders untouchable by everyone, whether he is here among us, or elsewhere.”

The answer from the president didn’t take long. A few days later, at a press conference, he called on the Prime Minister to be more rational and responsive in his statements about the dialogue, even threatening him, saying that “our positions are not eternal, prime ministers and presidents can be replaced, can come and go, and of course those who don’t correct themselves, can be replaced.”

In late October 2018, it was again reported that President Thaçi had sent word to Haradinaj through Pal Lekaj, the Minister of Infrastructure from AAK, that if he does not soften the words to the President, the latter will overthrow the government. Haradinaj answered that “if someone thinks he can discipline me with a chair, no matter who, he is wrong,” while his party’s vice-chairman, Ardian Gjini, said the President has no constitutional right to dismiss the prime minister.

The finalization of the agreement with Serbia was not the only point where Thaçi and Haradinaj are divided in recent months. Another topic that has left the two “commanders” squaring up to each other is the subject of “their soldiers.” More precisely, the number of former KLA soldiers, after prosecutor Elez Blakaj stated that the number of veterans on official lists are inflated and that the prime minister tried to interfere in his investigation as to why.

Haradinaj insists that the figure of 60,000 veterans is not unrealistic and has made accusations against Blakaj, strongly denying his allegations. Hashim Thaçi, on the other hand, as if he wanted to oppose Haradinaj on everything out of spite, has said there were no more than 12-15,000 KLA soldiers and called on political representatives not to interfere in justice issues.

Afterwards, Haradinaj revived old accusations against Thaçi that during the war he stayed more in Tirana hotels than fought on the front lines. When asked to comment on the President’s statements about the number of KLA veterans, he answered, “Did he count even those who were in Rogner [a hotel in Tirana]?”

Truth or theater?

While the conflict appears to be bubbling between Thaçi and Haradinaj, there are many voices who either see the clash between the two institutional heads as unserious or simply as theater.

Driton Lajçi, a former PDK deputy and adviser to PDK Chairman, Kadri Veseli, has told the press that the Thaçi-Haradinaj clashes are just momentary statements and there is nothing dramatic behind them. Meanwhile LDK MP, Armend Zemaj, thinks that all this is a feint. “It is a tactic to draw attention from mistakes and non-exercise of the responsibility as institutional leaders,” he said.

In a way, political analyst Imer Mushkolaj agrees with both positions. “Neither [of these two leaders] have been consistent in their positions and both are unpredictable, and even the animosity created during, and especially after, the war was more about personal interests and not over issues of principle,” he tells K2.0.

Political Analyst Imer Mushkolaj is not convinced that the conflicts presented to the public between the president and prime minister are a true reflection of the power relations behind the scenes. Photo: Majlinda Hoxha / K2.0.

Mushkolaj sees it as part of a number of internal ‘conflicts’ between the PAN coalition that he sees as creating a sense of internal democracy that isn’t necessarily there. Regarding Kadri Veseli’s so-called ‘objections’ to Thaçi, Mushkolaj believes that: “it is more a game between these two, because Veseli and Thaçi are one, despite the fact that one may not have the will to see them as such, or tends to see Veseli as a PDK reformer etc.. In fact, both of them are the same in their political thoughts and actions, and Veseli does nothing without the blessing of Thaçi.”

Agon Maliqi, an analyst, tells K2.0 that it is possible that the Haradinaj-Thaçi clash is just a game, but it is hardly a reliable option since there have been many signals, not just one. “Anyone who has a sense of reading the situation can notice that there is a clash, a strain, between them,” he says.

Mushkolaj believes that Thaçi’s threat that “the Prime Minister should be corrected” is a sign that Thaçi could break the coalition whenever it suits him, and that Haradinaj knows that it is not in his hands to keep the government on its feet. Maliqi agrees, adding that Ramush Haradinaj in power will be more cooperative than Ramush Haradinaj in opposition because “ultimately, if he continues to block issues, the government risks falling, as has been threatened by Thaçi, whose great impact in PDK is a defining leverage.”

Maliqi believes that despite the fact that consensus seems to be very difficult nowadays — given the political history of Kosovo in the last three to four years — there is a possibility of building a kind of reconciliation: “if the parties see that there is an open window for an agreement, and when they see that there is a greater international consensus on this issue. What will happen this year has enormous world dimensions and the pressure for it will be much greater than for demarcation,” he says.

But, despite Maliqi’s optimism for a possible future reconciliation, what is sure is that for the time being, the two heads of state, Thaçi and Haradinaj, are neither stopping collisions among themselves nor drawing a veil over it. Exactly the same as an Albanian folk song that recounts a godforsaken battle in the late 19th century between two far-famed aghas in Prizren: “The masters have gone feral on each other.”[logo]

Feature image: Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo.

‘The masters have gone feral on each other’

A history of the ongoing clashes between Hashim Thaçi and Ramush Haradinaj.

Fitim Salihu

‘The masters have gone feral on each other’

A history of the ongoing clashes between Hashim Thaçi and Ramush Haradinaj.

Fitim Salihu