Kosovo Accuses Bosnia of Delaying Basketball Players' Visas

Elvira Dushku, the secretary-general of Kosovo Basketball Federation, FBK, said on Wednesday that the participation of its youth basketball players in a European championship in Sarajevo was under threat due to visa issues.

Kosovo was scheduled to play the first match in the tournament against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, but the FBK said that by late Wednesday, it had still not received any answer from Bosnia and Herzegovina's nearest embassy in Skopje, Macedonia about its visa applications for the players.

"Despite the fact that we have sent all the necessary documents in time, we only received a green light from the embassy to apply on Tuesday, only after we informed [International Basketball Federation] FIBA that things are not going in the right direction," Dushku said.

She added that FBK officials are staying in Skopje waiting for the visas, while time has run out for the players, trainers and staff to depart for the Bosnian capital.

"The trainers, players and the staff are all in the [basketball] Federation premises, waiting for the news from the embassy," Dushku said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not recognise Kosovo and runs a tight policy on issuing visas for Kosovo citizens, while Pristina installed reciprocity measures for Bosnian citizens in 2014.

Mutual visa requirements, coupled with the absence of diplomatic missions in Sarajevo and Pristina, mean that Bosnian citizens have to first travel to Croatia to get a visa for Kosovo, while Kosovo citizens must travel to Macedonia to request a visa for Bosnia.

Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed regrets about the delay on Wednesday, calling on the Sarajevo authorities "to not confuse sports with politics".

"Kosovo became a full member of FIBA...