Kosovo president shoved by Skopje airport staff

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani was involved in an altercation that became a diplomatic incident in Skopje, North Macedonia, where airport security demanded she hand over her mobile phone for scanning, on Thursday, 1 August.

The incident began after the Kosovar head of state refused to hand her mobile phone to airport security, who had asked to scan it, presidential adviser Egnesa Vitia said, describing the request as “contrary to international practices”. Osmani’s refusal led an airport staff member to attempt to shove the president, she added.

Vitia said Osmani had not handed over her phone because that would represent a “serious violation”. The airport official ignored the presidential entourage then tried to push the head of state, at which point her security detail intervened, Vitia recalled.

Osmani’s spokesperson Bekim Kupina criticised the airport staff’s “arrogant and violent behaviour”, adding that the altercation was had “never happened on any trip of the president anywhere in the world”. There had been, Kupina added, “a clear desire to provoke the delegation of the Republic of Kosovo and cause an incident”, he added.

North Macedonia gives different account of events

North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry confirmed the incident but gave a different account, stating that a member of Osmani’s security detail physically pulled an airport staff member aside to allow Osmani to pass through border control without having her phone scanned, in a statement to local media.

The ministry’s statement added that three security officials working for Kosovo House Speaker Afrim Gashi soon arrived at the airport “and started threatening the employees of Skopje International Airport and asking who caused the problem for the president”, after which one of the officials “pushed a police officer working at the border crossing”.

Gashi’s office denied the account in a statement to local media, saying his security staff “were present only to calm the situation” and resolve the dispute.

North Macedonia’s right-wing nationalist Interior Ministry said it had launched an investigation, which Deputy Prime Minister Izet Mexhiti called a “misunderstanding”.