Prishtina, 16 February – President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, in honour of the ninth anniversary of declaration of the Independence of Kosovo, addressed today Members of Parliament and citizens in the solemn session of the Assembly of Kosovo.
President Thaçi stated that 17 February marks the day when sacrifice and dream for Kosovo citizens to live free and equal to others in their state was crowned.
“The first thing crossing my mind is for those who gave everything they had so we can enjoy this day. Today we are closer than other days with our heroes, martyrs, families of martyrs and families of missing persons” stated President Thaçi, adding that 17 February is a holy day for Kosovo and is the history of Kosovo.
President Thaçi also presented an overview of the works carried out for the past nine years, stating that daily challenges prevent us from seeing great steps we have made.
“Our brothers and sisters from Diaspora come for visit home and remind us how much our Kosovo has been developed, how much our state has progressed, and that the cities have been built, schools have been built and arable lands have been cultivated, and roads and highways have been paved,” stated President Thaçi.
President stated that Kosovo today is recognized by 82 percent of EU, 86 percent of NATO, 56 percent of UN, 100 percent of Pacific Islands Forum, 61 percent of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, 57 percent of KARIKOM and 49 percent of African Union.
According to President Thaçi, this period marks the building of democratic institutions and most professional police in the region, whereas members of Kosovo Security Force compete in the most difficult training throughout the world and win golden medals.
“We have integrated all communities and we work every day to prevent any citizen from feeling excluded, regardless of his/her ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation”, stated president Thaçi.
He also stated that stories in the media throughout the world do not present anymore war and sufferings in Kosovo; they present successes in building the state and promoting peace and dialogue.
President Thaçi mentioned also various athletes and artists from Kosovo who impacted on the shaping of Kosovo state identity during these years.
“Majlinda Kelmendi, Nora Gjakova, Rita Ora, Dua Lipa, team of film “Home” or film “Shok”, our football players and basketball players… This is the Kosovo seen by the world today”, stated President Thaçi.
President Thaçi expressed his commitment before the Members of Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo to continue the work for building Kosovo, and membership of Kosovo in NATO and EU.
He requested from all to unite and be unique in realizing the priorities.
“This will require the same commitment and zeal from us, as it happened so far. More than everything else, this issue requests from us to be united when it comes to Kosovo”, stated President Thaçi.
The head of the state emphasized that differences in political beliefs, views for the world or our society should not prevent us from being unique in our commitment to protect Kosovo state.
“Only by strengthening our state, our Kosovo, we will be able to realize our ambitions”, stated President Thaçi.
The President stated that we live in a fast-changing world and in the time of changes we cannot predict, but based on our past, we know very well that if we remain united, firm and fair, our project of Kosovo state will succeed.
“God bless Kosovo. God bless the friends of Kosovo”, President Thaçi stated at the end.