Prishtina, November 10, 2017 – Under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, today, the Memorial Academy for the Heroine of the Nation, Shotë Galica, on the ninetieth anniversary of her death, has been held.
President Thaçi has said that beyond the formal decree, Shotë Galica has turned into a metaphor of the Heroine of the Nation, into a symbol of endurance and bravery.
He said that in a nearly ten year period, the pillar of the uprising against the deployment of the Serbian military and police power was the armed group of Azem Bejta and Shotë Galica.
The Head of State said that the high consideration of the ideator of Albania’s Independence, Hasan Prishtina, for the commander of the insurgent groups of the time, Azem Bejta, was not a coincidence.
“The co-fighters of Azem Bejta were not few in number, being part in severe conditions in coordinated battles and uprisings as the one of 1919, but above all the the profile of the famous warrior Qerime Halili – Shotë Galica is a unique phenomenon, wife and co-fighter of the great leader, Azem Galica”, said President Thaçi.
He added that Shotë Galica did not leave the combating formation for a single day.
“She faced the entourages, participated in attacks, helped the weak population to retreat, helped the wounded comrades, drove the orphaned children to Albania, returned to Kosovo from the north of Albania as often as the continuation of the uprisings was necessary”, stated President Thaçi.
Even after the murder of Commander Azem Bejta, President Thaçi said that Shotë Galica for three more years did not stop her insurgent activity with her fellow fighters until resistance became impossible.
The Head of State said that Shota Galica’s death is defined by the fate of the tragic hero, a non-rare end of great figures, who, despite the massive size, end their life unjustly in social and economic misery, without their fault.
“Despite the tragic end, Shotë Galica turned into a symbol of a loyal woman to the homeland, the heroine fighting for freedom, the warrior ready for sacrifice. Shotë Galica became a symbol of the contribution of the silent heroines of the nation, of mothers, daughters, girls and women who in every historical period faced the good and the bad besides the family and the nation. Shotë Galica is a symbol of the pride and dignity of the Albanian woman. She is a symbol of the mothers, women and sisters who cooked, nourished, cleaned, and healed the Liberation Army fighters everywhere in Kosovo and beyond. Shotë Galica is a symbol of the Albanian mother, of the mother who gave birth to Shotë Galica, Azem Bejta, Shaban Polluzha, Adem Demaçin, Jusuf Gërvalla, Adem Jashari, Zahir Pajaziti, Xheva Lladrovci and many warriors and heroes who fell for the freedom and independence of Kosovo”, stated President Thaçi.
The Head of State said that the historical context of Kosovo left outside of Independent Albania in 1912 was quite complex and tragic.
He said that it remains to the Albanian historiography to record and systematize the painful history of the violence that was exerted by the wild invasions during the Balkan wars and during World War I when the Serbian kingdom was violently putting to life the power for the rule of Kosovo.
These violent and systematic actions, according to President Thaçi, made the Albanian people of Kosova to draw warriors and insurgents from their midst, who disagreed with the division of ethnic lands, with the denationalization, assimilation, displacement and denial of basic human rights.
“The Albanian insurgents were not simply rebels or Kaçaks, but were fighters aware for the realization of natural rights for life, for free life, for national and political rights”, said President Thaçi.
He stressed that Kosovo’s insurgent groups were linked to the Kosovo National Protection Committee based in Shkodra, which consisted of ideologues and ideators of Albania’s Independence, of prominent figures such as Hasan Prishtina, Luigj Gurakuqi, Bajram Curri, Hoxhë Kadri Prishtina, Bedri Pejani etc., who never agreed with the Serbian rule of Kosovo and its separation from Albania.
The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, on the 90th anniversary of the passing away of Shotë Galica constituted the “Shotë Galica” order, by which the nation’s outstanding figures will be honored for sacrifice and freedom.