At Lake Gazivode, 17 structures have been demolished one after another. The Kosovo authorities claim they were illegally built, even though many of the owners had ongoing court proceedings. The demolitions were not halted by warnings from foreign embassies or by Belgrade’s muted response. And it was precisely over Gazivode that Serbia’s president vowed ten years ago that he would never give it up, even though the lake has, in the meantime, effectively come under different control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where the “Jezero” motel once stood, there is now only rubble. The Jak\u0161i\u0107 family has lost the motel they had invested in for thirty years. It made no difference that they had filed a lawsuit against the public company Ibar-Lepenac, which requested the demolition, or that the court hearing was scheduled for August 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Special forces stormed in with long guns and pointed their weapons at us, telling us to leave the building immediately,” said Aleksandar Jak\u0161i\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was at this very location, considered strategically important for northern Kosovo, that Serbian officials were sending very different messages ten years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I once said in Brussels\u2014talk about anything you want, but we will not give up Gazivode. After that, we did not continue those talks, and our position has not changed,” then-Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 said in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A decade later, Gazivode is fully controlled by the Kosovo authorities. Representatives of the non-governmental sector point out that the biggest problems are faced by people who built properties between 1999 and 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“People who built during that period generally have only Serbian documents, permits, or purchase agreements. That creates a huge property issue\u2014who is the legal successor to the property and how the rights of people who purchased property in the meantime should be treated, while Kosovo institutions were not functioning here. That legal vacuum cannot be ignored,” said Milica Andri\u0107 Raki\u0107, Executive Director of the New Social Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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