Gjini: Kurti wanted the Special Court and deliberately drove the country toward elections

The chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Ardian Gjini, has harshly criticised caretaker prime minister Albin Kurti, accusing him of pursuing a deliberate strategy to keep the country in a political crisis and drive it toward elections, as reported by Telegrafi.

Gjini stated that Kurti is among the Albanian politicians who, in his view, have supported the Specialist Court the most.

“Kurti is perhaps the only Albanian politician who has wanted this court with every cell of his brain and body,” Gjini said.

Referring to Vetëvendosje’s stance in 2015, Gjini claimed that the party’s MPs not voting for the establishment of the Specialist Court was, according to him, “pure opportunism” rather than principled opposition.

According to him, Vetëvendosje had known that the parties in power at the time would vote to establish the court and had therefore chosen not to take part in the vote.

Gjini also linked the issue of the Specialist Court to Kurti’s rise to power, stating that “the Specialist Court is the core of the reason why Kurti is in power.”

The AAK chairman said that his party had warned Kurti since June that the country could head toward new elections.

He accused the prime minister of closing off all possibilities for exiting the political deadlock — by failing to consider the AAK’s offer, by “humiliating” the Democratic League of Kosovo, and by playing games, in his view, with the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

Gjini argued that if there had truly been a will to avoid elections, Kurti would have acted earlier.

“Otherwise he would not have waited until today to vote on the law in principle. He would have done it earlier,” he stated.

He also criticised the introduction of 22 draft laws under an expedited procedure, as well as the conditioning of the vote on the Specialist Court law with the vote for president.

According to Gjini, these actions prove that Kurti had no real intention of avoiding elections.

“If he truly wanted to avoid elections, a win-win was possible. But he did not want to,” he said.

Speaking about the recent political developments, Gjini also reacted to the protests and tensions in Pristina, mentioning the use of tear gas and the bangs heard in the capital’s main square.

“We see tear gas and bangs in the main square of the capital, against our values of freedom,” Gjini declared.

He also criticised Vetëvendosje’s decision to turn to the Constitutional Court regarding the possibility of Albulena Haxhiu declaring elections.

Gjini described the situation as “chaos programmed by Kurti”, claiming that the prime minister does not want, in his view, “an independent, free and democratic Republic of Kosovo”.

In the end, despite the criticism of the political situation, Gjini said that Kosovo will overcome this crisis too.

“But our Kosovo will not be destroyed. It will survive this crisis too. It will survive Kurti and his clique of wrongdoers as well,” he concluded.