Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani was involved in a scuffle with airport security in Skopje on Thursday that grew into a diplomatic altercation.
The incident began when Osmani, who was traveling from the Macedonian capital to Slovenia, refused to hand over her mobile phone to airport security, who asked to scan it, Egnesa Vitia, an adviser to the president, told Kosovo media.
Vitia called the request “contrary to international practices” and said Osmani’s refusal to comply led an airport staff member to attempt to “push” the president.
“The president did not [hand over her phone] because it would be a serious violation,” Vitia said. “Despite the explanation of the rules that the president’s team made known to the airport official, he tried to physically push the president,” at which point Osmani’s security detail intervened, Vitia said.
Osmani’s spokesperson Bekim Kupina slammed the airport staff’s “arrogant and violent behavior,” adding that the altercation was “unprecedented and has never happened on any trip of the president anywhere in the world.”
“It is clear that in the case in question there was a desire to provoke the delegation of the Republic of Kosovo and to cause an incident,” Kupina said.
North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry confirmed the incident occurred but gave a different account, saying 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, according to a statement to Macedonian media.
The ministry’s statement added that half an hour later, three Kosovo security officials working for Kosovo’s parliamentary speaker Afrim Gashi arrived at the airport “and started threatening the employees of [Skopje International Airport] and asking who caused a problem to the president,” after which one of the officials “pushed a police officer working at the border crossing.”
In a statement to local media, Gashi’s office denied the account, saying his security staff “were present only to calm the situation” and resolve the dispute between Osmani’s staff and the airport security.
North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry said it had launched an investigation into the incident, which First Deputy Prime Minister Izet Mexhiti called a “misunderstanding.”
Representatives for Osmani and the Macedonian Interior Ministry did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment before publication.
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