Prishtina, 2 November, 2024
Today, a memorial academy was held under the patronage of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo to mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of the nation’s martyrs Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu, which was attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, family members of the martyrs, representatives senior state institutions and war veterans and invalids.
In his speech, Prime Minister Kurti emphasized that through the state protocol of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, we institutionalize even more strongly the work of the martyrs Zhitia and Fazliu in the being and identity of our independent and sovereign state.
“As the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, I feel the weight of the work of the heroes of the people, Afrim Zhitisa and Fahri Fazli, which came as a political bequest for all of us, a bequest that must be re-read especially on the anniversaries of their fall”, he declared in his speech.
Recalling their life and work, the prime minister mentioned the commitment of Afrim Zhitija in the organization of protests and demonstrations, during which he met Fahri Fazliu, with whom they would be immortalized in the history of Kosovo, both together, from that time to this day and forever.
“Everything that they had done and everything that Fahriu and Afrimi had gone through, was tried and tested on November 2, 1989, when they both resisted armed in front of the special police units, until they fell martyrs. With their act of resistance and endurance, Afrimi and Fahriu completed their political work in a common example, as two companions of the ideal, as two martyrs of the nation, as two heroes of our freedom-loving people”, he said.
In this commemorative academy, among other things, the prime minister emphasized that the legacy of Fahri Fazli and Afrim Zhitija was continued by their friends and collaborators, some of whom were present in the hall, while others were immortalized on the road to freedom, like the brother of Fahriut, Bahri Fazliu, then Agron Rrahmani, Ilir Konushevci, Zahir Pajaziti and many other fighters.
“The martyrs are the only fighters for the freedom of the homeland and for the progress of the nation, who with their activity have completed the account of obligations to the homeland and the nation”, Prime Minister Kurti concluded.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Dear Zhitia and Fazliu families,
Dear mother Qamile, Mrs. Sahadete and Mr. Naim, family members of Afrim Zhitija,
Dear Mr. Fadil and Mr. Nebih, two brothers of the nation’s martyrs, also brothers, Fahri and Bahri Fazliu,
Dear Ms. Fahrije Fazliu and the honorable young Fahri Fazliu,
Dear Ms. Atifete Jahjaga, President of the Republic of Kosovo,
Dear Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the Government,
Dear members of the Assembly of the Republic,
The honorable Mr. Durim Abdullahu from the University of Pristina,
Dear families of martyrs and martyrs of our nation,
Dear invalids and veterans of the KLA liberation war,
Ladies and gentlemen, sisters and brothers,
By punctuating the past through historical dates, we create reflection stations for our history, through which our view and memory of the past are clarified and our perspective and will for the future are clarified. This is how we thought and conceived this memorial academy for Afrim Zhitina and Fahri Fazliu: as a commemorative event, i.e. reflective on the one hand, and as an academic event, i.e. also study and historical on the other. So today we have come together here to exchange memories with each other and to think together about the life and work of Afrim Zhitija and Fahri Fazli, these two martyrs of Kosovo’s freedom and heroes of the Albanian people.
Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu were two prominent political activists of the 80s of the last century. Both were born in the mid-60s; both were from the area of Llapi: Approach from Lluga and Fahriu from Llausha; both have fought in the same organization, the People’s Movement for the Republic of Kosovo, and both were killed together, resisting with weapons until their last breath, here 35 years ago, on November 2, 1989.
Their life and work looks like a work written in co-authorship, but in fact, Afrimi and Fahriu are two historical characters of the same drama, that although they enter the same work with the demonstrations of 1981, they appear on the same stage together only in September 1989, after Afrimi and Fahriu had only known each other for the last six weeks of their lives. But maybe this is how the unifying ideal works: we are authors together without being co-authors; and, we are not co-authors when we set out precisely because we will become so along the way.
Both Afrimi and Fahriu were high school students when in 1981 they took to the streets to join the students and all the people in the spring demonstrations of that year. In February 1984, one month after Rexhep Mala and Nuhi Berisha were killed, Afrimi was arrested and imprisoned, and in August, he was sentenced to 8 years in prison. During the four years spent in prison, Afrim Zhitia was formed theoretically and politically, through reading literature and from the experience of being a political prisoner, that is, convicted for his convictions and for his political activity.
The imprisonment cut his military service in half, which Afrimi was forced to return to complete in June 1989 after his release from prison. In the meantime, Afrimi was appointed organizational secretary of the LPRK, while Fadil Vata was appointed political secretary of the organization. But this time, it was the political developments of the time with his comrades, that led Afrim to stop military service. On September 13, 1989, Afrimi returned from military service on the grounds that he would perform an exam at the faculty, but another military service and another exam awaited him in Kosovo. Service and exam for the freedom of Kosovo. During the following six weeks, Afrimi was intensively engaged in the organization of protests and demonstrations, a time when he also met Fahri Fazliu, with whom they would be immortalized in the history of Kosovo, both of them, together, from then until today and forever!
Fahri Fazliu was in his last year of high school when he learned to demonstrate his political beliefs among thousands of students and citizens in the demonstrations of 1981. Soon after, he did his military service, gaining military knowledge and life experience. that would be very busy until his downfall.
Since 1982, Fahriu managed, for a relatively short time, to get to know activists and former political prisoners from all Albanian territories under the former Yugoslavia, creating a wide network of people, which for the time meant more opportunities cooperation and coordination, as well as more opportunities for action and mobilization.
This network of acquaintances was turned by Fahriu into an army of people for the organization of demonstrations in 1988 and 1989. At this time, Fahriu’s entire political profile, built over the years between actions and organizations, readings and discussions, came to the fore. the idea of preparation through awareness and emancipation as well as the organization of resistance through the liberation war.
Thus, everything that they had done and everything that Fahriu and Afrimi had gone through, was tried and tested on November 2, 1989, when they both resisted armed in front of special police units, until they fell martyrs. With their act of resistance and endurance, Afrimi and Fahriu completed their political work in a common example, as two companions of the ideal, as two martyrs of the nation, as two heroes of our freedom-loving people.
So today, remembering Fahri and Afrimi through the state protocol of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, we institutionalize their work even more strongly in the being and identity of our independent and sovereign state and within the values on which our state was founded towards the path that awaits him in the future. As the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, I feel the weight of the work of the heroes of the people, Afrim Zhitisa and Fahri Fazliu, which came as a political bequest for all of us, a bequest that must be re-read especially in the anniversaries of their fall.
But what does the political trust of Afrim Zhitija and Fahri Fazli tell us more precisely? Let’s read it, recalling their words, namely Afrim’s, when in his speech at the demonstration on November 1, 1989, that is, just one day before he was killed, he said, I am quoting: “… to unite around the Movement and We will take the dedication for freedom to every Albanian home.”, the quote ends, and Fahriu had said this dedication among his friends countless times, insisting as they show I am quoting: “only with armed struggle can Kosovo be liberated”.
Fahri Fazliu and Afrim Zhitia fell martyrs for the freedom of Kosovo, and their legacy was continued by the friends of the collaborators, who are also here in this hall today, while some of them were immortalized on the path of freedom, the path of liberation and unification , as if in the first place Fahri’s brother, Bahri Fazliu, then Agron Rrahmani, Ilir Konushevci, Zahir Pajaziti and many, many other fighters.
The martyrs are the only fighters for the freedom of the homeland and for the progress of the nation, who with their activity have completed the account of obligations to the homeland and the nation.
The fallen for freedom are the living dead, – as Bahriu has called them in one of his poetic verses – that no one can take into account, but that each of us must be counted with the measuring box of their work, in the face of a difference that is never compensated, until even “we living mortals” leave this life, during which we must strive and work under the best examples of the martyrs.
Among the fallen martyrs for the freedom of Kosovo and together with all of them, Lavdi Afrim Zhitisë and Fahri Fazliut!
Last modified: November 4, 2024