Kurti: Belgrade not recognizing Kosovo diplomats, Serbian official denies claim

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Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti said on Wednesday that his insisting on reciprocity in Belgrade-Pristina relations includes university diplomas, the Kosovo state TV (RTK) reported.

Kurti, the man seen as the next prime minister of Kosovo, cited the example of a young woman from southern Serbia who is attending university in Pristina saying that she won’t be able to get a job in her home town of Bujanovac because Serbia does not recognize diplomas issued by universities in Kosovo. He said that the problem has to be resolved through reciprocity with both sides recognizing each other’s diplomas.  

Kurti’s claims were denied by the deputy Director of the Serbian govenrment’s Office for Kosovo Dusan Kozarev who said that the Vetevendosje leader was spreading misinformation. Kozarev’s written statement said that Belgrade and Pristina had an agreement on mutual recognition of diplomas and added that 75 percent of requests to recognize diplomas from Kosovo universities after 2016 had a positive outcome. “In that same period, Pristina has not recognized a single diploma issued by the Serbian education system,” Kozarev said. “Pristina refused to accept a list of our universities and recognize the (Belgrade-backed) Pristina University temporarily based in Kosovska Mitrovica which led to our side discontinuing the recognizing of diplomas,” Kozarev said.