This is Lake Trump and it is in Kosovo

Gazeta Express

24/09/2020 19:15

It all started as an idea to relax negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia delegations, but the idea to name the Gazivoda/Ujman Lake “Lake Trump” as seen in the photo seems more serious than initially thought. 

An idea that started as a joke for the Ujman Lake, which Serbs refer to as Gazivoda, to find a compromise name seems to be taking shape. During the negotiations at the White House, the US Presidential envoy for the dialogue, Richard Grenell, gave the idea to name the lake after Trump.

Initially everybody laughed with the idea. But not today. Gazeta Express has learned that  Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah  Hoti expressed his readiness to support Grenell’s idea at a meeting with him. The same idea was endorsed also by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at another meeting. 

The debate, and later the Agreement, about Ujman Lake have triggered a wave of reactions in Kosovo. Kosovo has reached an agreement with the US for the State Department to carry out a feasibility study on how to share the lake’s resources.

The Ujman/Gazivoda Lake is mostly located in Kosovo’s territory but almost 20 percent of it is part of Serbia’s territory. This artificial lake was accumulated decades ago by the “Iber Lepenci” company, back when Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia. After the end of the war in 1999, there was a lot of tension caused about the lake as Kosovo considers it as its own property, while Serbia claims its ownership since part of it is in Serbia.

As politicians are dealing with this topic on the theoretical side, someone has not remained cross-handed. As seen in the photo, this lake and the bridge located in Bernjake, northern Kosovo, have been named after US President. One thing is unclear: Trump’s’ reaction when he sees this. /GazetaExpress/