Pristina, 9 August 2024 (MIA) – The Presidency of Kosovo has rejected allegations of the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) of North Macedonia, regarding the incident of August 1 involving President Vjosa Osmani with the security of the Skopje Airport, noting that "the Republic of North Macedonia violated international rules that apply everywhere in the world by requesting to scan the phone of the President of another country", MIA's Pristina correspondent reports. 

Following the CAA's statement which said that the airport services responsible for security control acted professionally and following the rules imposed by the implemented international regulation, Osmani's cabinet reacted noting that "in no country in the world is the head of state required to hand over the phone for scanning".

"In other countries, neither the personal luggage nor the personal bag of the head of state is checked, let alone the personal phone. As the Presidency, we have enough experience with other trips as well, we don't need to prove it, because nowhere, never, neither the personal bag nor the suitcase (personal luggage) nor the phone of the head of state have been subjected to control," Osmani's cabinet said. 

Osmani's cabinet points out that contrary to allegations of the Macedonian CAA, "there is nothing professional in the conduct of the security" at the Skopje Airport.  The Kosovo Presidency also notes that Osmani has not returned to Kosovo via the Skopje Airport because her security team has assessed that "after the unparalleled propaganda, even the basic security conditions for such a thing do not exist". 

"As we have stated several times, the president handed over her bag to the check-in and it passed the scanner. Any other statement is propaganda for political purposes. There is nothing professional in the conduct of the security that stands in the way of the head of state and blocks her movement after she has placed her bag in the scanner. The Republic of North Macedonia violated international rules that apply everywhere in the world by requesting to scan the phone of the President of another country, which would present a potential breach of national security. The President has not returned to Kosovo via the Skopje Airport, so she changed her travel itinerary, because her security team has assessed that after the unparalleled propaganda, even the basic security conditions for such a thing do not exist," says Osmani's cabinet. 

The Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) of North Macedonia previously released a statement noting that a team of inspectors from the CAA, personally headed by the Director General, Dragi Stojanoski, has performed reinspection of the evidence and carried out unscheduled oversight at TAV Macedonia, in relation to the unfortunate event in which the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, was involved, and it was concluded that "the airport services responsible for security control, within their working responsibilities, acted professionally and following the rules imposed by the implemented international regulation". 

"During the initial inspection, it was concluded that the airport services responsible for security control, within their working responsibilities, acted professionally and following the rules imposed by the implemented international regulation, not allowing the avoidance of the standards and procedures even under pressure from the persons accompanying the passenger," reads the statement. 

The CAA notes that rejection of conducting standard security control with the same passengers, according to records, also occurred in 2022 and 2023 when security controls were accepted only after the pilot-in-command refused to admit passengers at the aircraft without preformed security control.

"If the personnel at TAV Macedonia acted differently from the implemented rules and allowed omissions and avoidance of the prescribed procedures, they would have faced serious sanctions from the Civil Aviation Agency as the authority responsible for performing the inspection over their institution. Considering the fact that these are generally accepted international standards, if anyone doubts their reliability, we recommend that they apply the same procedure at one of the European international airports so that they could be convinced in their enforcement," the statement adds.  

Photo: MIA archive