Prishtina, April 11, 2018 – The President of the country, Hashim Thaçi, attended today the Memorial Academy for the Martyrs Day of the “Agim Ramadani” 138 Brigade, which is also the day of the fall of Agim Ramadani, organized in the framework of the manifestation “Ditët e Shqipes”.
The Head of State said that two days ago, with the highest institutional honors, the 19th anniversary of one of the most important battles of the Kosovo Liberation Army was marked, the battle of Koshare.
“Kosovo had entered the crucial stage of liberation. The most powerful military alliance of the world, NATO, two weeks earlier had started the bombings on Serbian military and police targets. The Kosovo Liberation Army had gone through many trials, demonstrating unconquerable military and political strength. The KLA had joined not only members from Kosovo, but also from other Albanian lands and from the Diaspora”, stated President Thaçi.
He said that the call of the General Staff for mobilization was answered by all social categories, numerous volunteers, young and new, men and women, former officers and patriots who had been eagerly waiting for the moment to contribute to the freedom of our country.
“The Koshare and Pashtriku battles showed the best that the KLA was ready for frontal military operations. Thus two important and historical objectives were achieved: the expulsion of the Serbian army from the barracks and the demolition of the border stone, which for a century had divided the Albanian lands. Even in the battles along the border, in Koshare and Pashtrik, a universal principle of the Kosovo Liberation Army war emerged, the fall of the commanders at the head of the battles”, said President Thaçi.
The Head of State stressed that the example of legendary commander Adem Jashari was followed by Commanders Fehmi Lladrovci, Mujë Krasniqi, Ilaz Kodra, Shkëlzen Haradinaj, Agim Bajrami, while this example was followed by the commanders of the Koshare battle, Agim Ramadani, Sali Çekaj and Xhemajl Fetahu.
“With Agim Ramadani I met several times abroad and in Albania before and during the war. He was a man of political vision, a man of art, a man’s parable, belonged to no party and his attitude was always clear: Kosovo could not be liberated without the armed struggle. With Sali Çekaj I met in Albania. Earlier, I had heard from common friends about him, he was a prominent lawyer, a wise man, but very determined and saw the liberation war without alternative, for which he worked night and day. I have travelled with him and these memories are always fresh and with respectful piety. I met often with Xhemajl Fetahu, as a student he was proven to Kosovo’s freedom and independence. Wherever Xhemajl was he united and approached people without political differences. He had a crystalline political stance and steadfast determination for the liberation of Kosovo. With the other fellow fighter Abaz Thaçi we were raised in a common environment. Patriotic education, willingness for sacrifice. Therefore, it couldn’t have happened differently, Abaz heroically fell for Kosovo’s freedom. This very feature of the KLA war makes the name under which this event is being marked, Ditët e Shqipes, meaningful”, stated President Thaçi.
“The Kosovo freedom fighters were at the same time soldiers and commanders, officers and leaders of the battles. Here stands the originality and special stamp of the KLA, at the readiness for sacrifice. But here is the overall value of the KLA vision and strategy that links battles developed everywhere in Kosovo”, he added.
President Thaçi said that the KLA Epopee in Prekaz, the Epopee of Dukagjini in Gllogjan, the battles in the Operational Zones of Drenica, Llapi, Pashtrik, Nerodime, Shala and Karadak are the entirety of the resistance and sacrifice of the Kosovo Liberation Army as the one and only.
“That is why we say the great truth with the highest pride: we are proud that we belong to the generation that founded, organized and developed the most successful guerrilla of the twentieth century – the Kosovo Liberation Army. We are proud that this political and military organization, with vision and responsibility, found support in the democratic world”, said President Thaçi.
He stressed that without the just war of the KLA, without the sacrifice of the freedom martyrs, without the support and resistance of all citizens, without the support of the democratic world, Kosovo would not become a free country.
“The year 2018 is the year of the 19th anniversary of liberation. Within this time frame Kosovo has marked extraordinary transformation. A society emerged from material destruction, which experienced massacres, genocide and deportation, recovered successfully within a transition period. With determination and commitment, Kosovo has been heading towards the inevitable process of independence”, stated President Thaçi.
President Thaçi emphasized that our citizens, the institutions and the state of Kosovo, after the achievement of the fundamental objective – the liberation, after the declaration of independence now have the third major goal, the Euro-Atlantic integrations.