Assembly of Kosovo, solemn session/ Political messages for Liberation Day

2024-06-12 11:47:57, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Assembly of Kosovo is holding a solemn session on June 12 in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Day of Freedom or Liberation of Kosovo, when NATO peacekeeping forces entered Kosovo, marking the end of the war that left more than 13,500 people killed, mostly Albanians.

The session started with the singing of the national anthem of Kosovo and the Albanian national anthem, as well as a minute of silence for all those who died in the war of 1998-'99.

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, speaking at the solemn session, said that NATO's entry into Kosovo was "the triumph of good over evil and the triumph of justice over oppression."

Osmani, in her speech before the deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo, said that NATO brought the message that it had not forgotten Kosovo.

"They were not just soldiers, they were saviors, they brought with them the promise of freedom, the assurance that the world had not forgotten about the people of Kosovo, and the determination to put an end to the atrocities committed against our people," she said.

Osmani also said that today Kosovo deserves to be part of the NATO alliance.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that "today we mark the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Kosovo by standing together with our allies, just like on June 12 and just like in the first days of liberation".

He emphasized that he wants that in "our democratic Kosovo, precisely why we have lost and suffered so much" all citizens regardless of ethnicity "to enjoy and win; the Albanian majority together with the Serbian, Bosnian, Turkish, Ashkali, Roma, Egyptian minorities, but also with Croats and Montenegrins".

"As if then and now, Serbia stands behind Russia, just as Russia stands behind many of Serbia's actions, while our state Kosovo, together with Albania, has been strengthening its ties and alliance with the United States, with Britain and Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, France, Italy and other western countries. The European Union is our target political family, while NATO is our military destination", Kurti added.

The President of Albania, Bajram Begaj, on this occasion, among other things, said that Albanians need to preserve and strengthen their national and social-cultural cohesion even today, "at a time when Serbia and its allies have mobilized diplomatic capacities and media in a deeply malicious campaign to tarnish the fair and principled struggle of the Albanians for the liberation of Kosovo.

Kosovo marks the 25th anniversary of Liberation
June 12, 11:00

"We need more than ever to be together. We need more than ever a manifesto of national pride".

He said that Albania will continue to lobby for Kosovo for new recognition and its integration into
international organizations.

The former president of Croatia, Stipe Mesic, said that the European Union is the common home of the region and NATO a common security and economic umbrella.

"This is exactly what I am emphasizing here, in Pristina, in the Republic of Kosovo, marking 25 years since the liberation of Kosovo, first of all thanks to the KLA, with the help of the international community, especially the NATO alliance and the USA ", declared Mesic.

Although it was thought that the most difficult time had passed, he added, there is still a need for action and the presence of the international community in the region, not only in Kosovo but also in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"We must always be ready to face many challenges, actually old challenges that have been redesigned. I can freely say that the border architecture in the region was completed with the declaration of independence of the Republic of Kosovo. Unfortunately, there are still threats and dangers from the so-called mega-state projects. Peace and stability should be our sanctuaries that should ensure the prosperity of all of us. The best answer to all challenges and threats is the Euro-Atlantic perspective", he added.

Speaker Glauk Konjufca said that the Serbian state had "only one goal: the extermination of an entire people" from the territory and through crimes that "took the scale of genocide".

"For us, Serbia remained the same, despite the fact that it was once called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and then it was called Federative or Socialist Yugoslavia. The policies of oppression, deportation, expropriation, discrimination and belittling have been a constant feature of each of these regimes," said Konjufca.

Also present at the session is the then head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Verification Mission, William Walker.

Walker played a key role in documenting the massacre in Reçak i Shtime, where Serbian forces killed 45 Albanian civilians on January 15, 1999. Walker described the event as a crime against humanity.

The NATO bombing campaign, which lasted 78 days, ended on June 10, 1999, after the adoption of Resolution 1244 of the Security Council of the United Nations (UN), with the capitulation of Serbia and the withdrawal of its forces from Kosovo.

UN Resolution 1244 in Kosovo established the interim UN administration, UNMIK, to administer the war-torn country for a transitional period until local capacity building and the resolution of Kosovo's status.

With the entry of international troops, the return to their homes of more than 800,000 refugees, people displaced inside and outside Kosovo, expelled from their homes, who were sheltering in camps in Albania and North Macedonia, was made possible.

NATO's military intervention came after nearly a decade of international diplomatic efforts to stop the wars in the former Yugoslavia. In Kosovo, it was preceded by the Conference of Rambouillet and Paris, where Serbia rejected the compromise to stop the violence of its forces in Kosovo.

In the war of 1998-99, more than 13,000 people were killed and more than 6,000 people disappeared.

Hundreds of Albanians killed from Kosovo have been found in mass graves in Serbia. Their bodies were taken away by Serbian forces in order to cover up the crimes.

According to the data, more than 1,600 people are still considered missing.

Twenty-five years after entering Kosovo, the number of KFOR troops has decreased and currently there are over 4 thousand troops from 28 countries of the world./ REL