Bursa, Turkey, April 23, 2025
Yesterday, the acting First Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue of the Republic of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, attended the opening ceremony of the Cultural and Humanitarian Association of Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia in Bursa, Turkey.
“For us in Kosovo, Bursa holds a special place as the city with the largest Albanian community. A community that has continued to cultivate and carry the Albanian language, culture and values from generation to generation for more than a century. And one of these very important values for us is the the heartfelt hospitality we are deeply feeling here today” said Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi during his speech.
He added that Turkey is the country with which we share a strong and deep relationship, whereas beyond our cultural and human ties, Kosovo’s relationship with Turkey is also flourishing in the economic sphere.
“Turkey is now one of Kosovo’s largest investors and trade partners. The trade volume between Kosovo and Turkey has reached 1 billion euros. Turkish businesses have invested over 400 million euros in Kosovo, engaging in very important sectors such as infrastructure, energy, finance, health and education. There are around 10 thousand people who have found jobs in corporations and enterprises owned by Turkish businesses”, said the Deputy Prime Minister.
He emphasized that we must cultivate economic cooperation every day and more by institutionalizing it through initiatives such as the latest one of the joint economic and trade committee between Kosovo and Turkey, which is expected to further strengthen our relations, bringing new opportunities for the Albanian community and Albanian businesses in Bursa.
“This way of organizing the Albanian community – exemplified by the association we are inaugurating today – represents a valuable initiative that will broaden our ongoing cooperation. The association that is being inaugurated today is more than a cultural and humanitarian organization; it is also an emblem that unifies the identity, belonging and values of the Albanian community in Turkey,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
He concluded his speech by congratulating everyone on the opening of this cultural and humanitarian association and thanking them for their valuable work, while as institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, we stand ready to support this initiative and others, in order to jointly honor our history and exalt our common achievements.
Full speech of Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi:
Honored guests,
From the handshake I had with each of you, it was a pleasure to be able to get to know Albanian citizens from almost all parts of Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia for a few minutes, which was a very special emotion for me. It is a tremendous honor to participate in and witness today’s historic inauguration of the Cultural and Humanitarian Association of Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia—alongside our Consul Mrs. Novoberdali, Honorary Consul Mr. Gülener, newly sworn-in Assembly Member Mrs. Liza Gashi, and my advisor Agnesa Jashari.
On behalf of the government of the Republic of Kosovo, allow me to sincerely thank the representatives of Bursa for the fact that with their work and commitment, decade after decade, they have tried to make the Albanian community and other communities from the Balkans feel at home here, to prosper economically, and now to be able to cooperate with the municipalities of Kosovo to help the schools there and each municipality with which they cooperate. Allow me to thank Mr. Recep and Mr. Gulcen, and to thank each of you for every commitment you have made to cultural associations throughout Turkey so that our community can feel as good as possible here. Meanwhile, thanking Mr. Gülener, I would like to thank all Albanian businesspeople in Turkey whose support has made the important work of cultural associations across the country possible. In addition to strengthening the closeness of the Albanian community in Bursa and in every city in Turkey, your commitment has also influenced this community to come closer to their homeland.
For us in Kosovo, Bursa holds a special place as the city with the largest Albanian community. A community that has continued to cultivate and carry the Albanian language, culture and values from generation to generation for more than a century. And one of these very important values for us is the hospitality that we are feeling strongly here today.
Turkey is the country with which we share a strong and deep relationship. But, beyond our cultural and human ties, Kosovo’s relationship with Turkey is also flourishing in the economic sphere. Turkey is now one of Kosovo’s largest investors and trading partners. The trade volume between Kosovo and Turkey has reached 1 billion euros. Turkish businesses have invested over 400 million euros in Kosovo, engaging in very important sectors such as infrastructure, energy, finance, health and education. There are around 10 thousand people who have found jobs in corporations and enterprises owned by Turkish businesses.
And now we are taking care to cultivate this economic cooperation more and more every day by institutionalizing it through initiatives such as the latest one of the joint economic and trade committee between Kosovo and Turkey, which is expected to strengthen our relations even more, bringing new opportunities for the Albanian community and Albanian businesses here.
Of course, valuable initiatives like today’s will help us to bring together businessmen of Albanian origin, so that we have as many as possible who also see Kosovo as a place for investment opportunities.
This way of organizing the Albanian community, like the association that we are inaugurating today, are valuable initiatives that expand our ongoing cooperation. The association being inaugurated today is more than a cultural and humanitarian organization: it is also an emblem that unifies the identity, belonging and values of the Albanian community in Turkey.
Cooperation and advancement of the situation of the Albanian community throughout Europe is one of the main priorities of our government. There are four mechanisms through which we target Albanians throughout Europe and we want to strengthen their ties with Kosovo.
The first mechanism is that through Albanian schools, cultural activities like the one we saw at the beginning, conferences, and others, we preserve the cultural identity of Albanians throughout Europe.
The second mechanism through which we aim to strengthen your connection with Kosovo is that through visits and activities of associations like today’s, we ensure that you continue to keep Kosovo close to your heart and come and visit us there, and in this regard we already have concrete ideas with Mr. Gülener on how to move forward by utilizing the capacities of associations like the one that is opening today.
The third mechanism is that through the twinning of our municipalities with municipalities with counterparts where Albanians live in significant numbers; we aim for the closest possible cooperation and benefit from the experiences that you have achieved and are ahead of Kosovo and I think that in this mechanism, Bursa has performed extremely well since you already have cooperation with a large number of municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo. The number of Kosovo municipalities that have active cooperation with the municipality of Bursa is extremely large and I am very happy about this.
And the fourth and very important mechanism is that we will ensure that all those Albanians who have been successful with their businesses throughout Europe, including in Turkey, transfer part of their business and help strengthen the economy of Kosovo. There are few cities in all of Europe where there are so many successful Albanian businessmen, within such a small perimeter as is the case with Albanian businessmen in Bursa. Therefore, I think that in this regard we still have work to do.
Finally, let me congratulate everyone on the opening of this cultural and humanitarian association and thank you for your valuable work so far and what you will do in the future. As institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, we stand ready to support you in this initiative and others, so that we can jointly honor our history and exalt our common achievements.
Thank you very much!
Last modified: April 29, 2025