Skopje, 2 August 2024 (MIA) – TAV Macedonia, the operator of the Skopje International Airport, in a statement says it categorically rejects any allegation that its security staff member tried to confiscate the phone of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani during a screening yesterday at the Skopje airport’s VIP terminal.

“They asked for her phone in order to undergo a mandatory security screening through an x-ray device. According to Document 30 of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and the National Program for Civil Aviation Security, all passengers, cabin luggage and their personal items they fly with on commercial flights, such as this one, are subjected to a security screening. If we are not aligned with these rules, the plane’s pilot will not allow the passenger on the plane,” TAV Macedonia says.

Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, it adds, only official guests of the government of the Republic of North Macedonia should not undergo a security screening and the airport’s operator is notified by the Interior Ministry. 

“The orders our security department received by the department for protection of VIP people and facilities clearly stated that the delegation members should undergo a standard security procedure,” notes TAV Macedonia. 

Members of Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi’s staff yesterday threatened TAV Macedonia staff after asking the Kosovo President to leave her phone in order to go through a scanner passing through border control at the Skopje International Airport. 

A member of her security detail pushed the airport staff member in order her telephone and hand luggage not to be scanned. Her luggage was scanned later on, the Interior Ministry said earlier. 

“A half an hour later, a member of Speaker Gashi’s security (police officer) arrived with two other people (police officers) and started threatening TAV staff asking who caused the problem with the President. In the meantime, he pushed a police office employed at the border crossing,” the Interior Ministry said. 

Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry voiced concern following yesterday’s incident involving Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani at the Skopje airport saying it has started collecting information regarding the case, MIA’s Prishtina correspondent reports. 

Calling Osmani’s treatment by the airport security “undignified”, the Kosovo Foreign Ministry in Friday’s press release said it has asked for an official information regarding the incident from the North Macedonia embassy in Prishtina and the Macedonian Foreign Ministry. 

Last night, Osmani’s office in a statement said the Skopje airport security had attempted to confiscate the president’s personal phone calling it “against international practices and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.” 

MIA file photo