Prishtina, March 5, 2025
As part of the state event program to mark the 27th anniversary of the Kosovo Liberation Army Epic, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, participated in the Kosovo Security Force cadres’ alignment ceremony held at the Adem Jashari Barracks.
Full speech by Prime Minister Kurti:
Honorable President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Vjosa Osmani Sadriu,
Honorable Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Mr. Glauk Konjufca,
Honorable Baca Rifat, Rifat Jashari,
Honorable President, Fatmir Sejdiu,
Honorable Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Members of Parliament,
Honorable Commander of the Kosovo Security Force, Lieutenant General Bashkim Jashari,
Excellencies Ambassadors and Diplomatic Representatives of Friendly Countries,
Honorable Families of the Nation’s Martyrs,
Honorable Invalids and Veterans of the Liberation War,
Honorable Military Personnel of the Kosovo Security Force,
Honorable Partners of International and Local Organizations,
Dear Citizens of the Republic,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sisters and Brothers,
Today, on the first of the three days of the Epic of the Kosovo Liberation Army, we have come together in this ceremony at the central base of the Kosovo Army, at the Adem Jashari barracks in Pristina. Dear soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers of the Kosovo Security Force, your formation today in squares here in front of this platform where members of the Jashari family and officials and heads of institutions of the Republic of Kosovo are seated together, creates a ceremonial scene that preserves a tradition that has been going on for 26 years.
This tradition originated on March 6, 1999, when the “Hamëz Jashari” Military Artistic Troupe, founded in February 1999 at the General Headquarters of the Kosovo Liberation Army in Likoc, prepared the commemoration of the KLA Epic, on the anniversary of the resistance and endurance of the Jasharis in Prekaz, on March 5, 6 and 7, 1998. The scenario of that commemorative event included the lineup of military units, the raising of the flag and the reporting by the military, speeches and the artistic performance “He is alive”.
Today, on the 27th anniversary of the KLA Epic, we continue to preserve almost the same tradition, only that the former scenario organized by the KLA, we have formalized in the protocol of the state of the Republic of Kosovo, this state for which so much was fought and sacrificed. Dear members of the Kosovo Army, dressed in the most glorious, beautiful and now modern uniform, you are holding weapons and flags in your hands, as you stand lined up as a sign of readiness and honor in remembrance and gratitude to those who laid the foundations of the Kosovo Army, Commander-in-Chief Adem Jashari, the Jashari family and others who traveled with them.
I am addressing you conventionally as the Kosovo Army, because this is how Adem Jashari’s armed group had called themselves and their idea, since 1989, five years before the organization took its name and form; the Kosovo Liberation Army. So close is that time 35 years ago that even today, among the members of the KSF, there are veteran KLA fighters, starting with, or culminating with, its Commander, Lieutenant General Bashkim Jashari. As a survivor of the fighting of March 5, 1998 in Prekaz and as a grandson of Adem and Hamez Jashari, with General Bashkim Jashari at the head of the KSF, you and we together, have the KLA Epic and the legacy of the Jashari resistance, at the head and in the guiding spirit of the Kosovo Security Force.
The Kosovo Army, which began in 1989 with Adem Jashari’s group in Drenica, was formed with a few personal weapons and military equipment, but which were maintained by a group of people with great dedication and unwavering will. During the 1990s and at the time of the just war of the Kosovo Liberation Army, weapons, ammunition, uniforms and other military equipment were never sufficient and abundant for the KLA’s fight for the freedom of Kosovo.
Therefore, since the liberation of our homeland in June 1999 and until today, one of the key tasks for preserving the freedom won with the blood of the fallen and martyrs of our people has been and continues to be the strengthening of the Kosovo Army. Therefore, today, with joy, I can state that since 1989 when Adem Jashari and his friends began to talk and work for a Kosovo Army and until today, we have never had a stronger, better armed, better equipped and better trained army than today.
This is because through the increase in the budget for the Ministry of Defense, respectively for the Kosovo Security Force and through the increase in investments in the purchase of weapons, ammunition supplies and weapons systems, the KSF has exceeded some of the objectives foreseen for 2028, when according to the Comprehensive Transition Plan, the transformation of the construction of full military capacities of the KSF should be completed.
Meanwhile, the purchases of weapons systems and equipment according to the state-by-state and state-by-producer concepts, in addition to reducing the procurement process, have provided modern high-quality weapons at prices much more favorable than previously paid, and have deepened the cooperation of the Republic of Kosovo with NATO member states. For the Kosovo Army, we have expropriated and given for use thousands of hectares of land and property throughout Kosovo, to guarantee the operational expansion of our army and space for the training of our military troops for the defense of the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.
All of this is associated with the vision of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo for Comprehensive Defense, or total defense as a modern concept that puts all human, technical, military capacities and institutional infrastructure at the service of the defense of the country’s territory, the lives of people, their assets, our economy and the people themselves and our state as our common political, social and economic home.
In recent years, Kosovo has signed a number of defense agreements with NATO countries, while increasing its joint landings with military troops from the United States of America and Great Britain around the world. Thus, from a country that once needed help from 19 NATO member states to liberate itself, Kosovo has now become a country that also exports security to its allies around the world, and here we must undoubtedly mention our support for Ukraine.
Finally, we have laid the legal infrastructure for the establishment of the defense industry, with a factory for the production of our own “Made in Kosovo” ammunition and drones. Dear soldiers, let us pause for a moment and think and imagine among ourselves: in early December 1991, when Adem Jashari and his friends were returning from Albania to Kosovo after military training there, loaded with automatic weapons and a bag of ammunition to cross the border with and take with them to organize armed resistance in Kosovo. And today, 34 years later, Kosovo is not only better equipped, better armed and better supplied with ammunition than ever before, but will soon become a producer of military ammunition. And if then Adem and his friends wanted to go illegally to Albania to train secretly, today, you are training, being trained and educated in the best defense academies in the United States of America, in Great Britain, in Germany, in Turkey, in Albania and in Croatia.
Therefore, dear soldiers of Kosovo, all our eyes are turned to you, so keep your weapons strong in your hands, the flag high together with your will and courage, tighten your ranks, dedicate yourself to your education and advancement, so that you may become masters of our homeland and respect your oath.
You are the most direct but also the longest-lasting heirs of the Kosovo Liberation Army, of that volunteer army that in 1999 became an ally with the troops of NATO countries in the war to stop the genocide of Serbia in Kosovo, and today is on a good path towards the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in the North Atlantic Alliance.
Glory to Commander-in-Chief Adem Jashari and the Jashari family, glory to the fallen in Prekaz on March 5, 6 and 7, 1998. Glory to all the fallen and martyrs of the nation who fell for the freedom of Kosovo.
May we have a free and strong Kosovo, as Adem Jashari and his friends dreamed of, and as it behooves us, the current generations, to leave a legacy for the generations to come. Long live the Republic of Kosovo and our entire nation for ever and ever!
Thank you!
Last modified: March 6, 2025