Tetovo, April 14, 2023
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, participated in the Memorial Academy in honor of the life of the martyr, Alban Ajeti on the 24th anniversary of his death, organized in the main amphitheater of the University of Tetova.
In his speech to the audience, Prime Minister Kurti exalted the figure of the KLA fighter, Alban Ajeti, who left his studies in Tetovo and joined the Kosovo Liberation Army in the fighting against Serbian forces in Zhegoc i Eperm, Gjilan, where he was martyred.
“The itineraries of the roads followed by the martyrs build the map of the nation’s freedom, in which every place and every road must be recorded and marked with precision! It is exactly these signs, the ones that ask us to come from Pristina here to Tetovo to remember a martyr from Gjilan,” said the Prime Minister.
Under the nickname “Pëllumbi”, Alban Ajeti had fought wearing the KLA uniform as a fighter of Brigade 171 “Kadri Zeka”, in the Operational Zone of Karadak, together with Pajazit Ahmet, Sali Mustafa, Fadil Rashit, Skender Veseli, Raif Musliu and many other soldiers of the same oath and of the same uniform.
According to Prime Minister Kurti, there are many ways to follow the paths made by heroes and martyrs: from learning about their ideals, to following those ideals. “In the case of the martyr Alban Ajeti, we can orient ourselves in his work and life through Alban’s own words, as he articulated and arranged them in his poems, which he saw as important enough to keep as secret”, he emphasized.
Among other things, the prime minister said that indeed the lives of the martyrs were cut in battles, but their extensions extend from the past of the time of war to our present, in endless forms, as today here in Tetovo, that we have gathered to remember the work of Alban Ajeti, the student of the University of Tetova, the chronicler poet from Gjilan and the martyr “Pëllumbi” of the KLA.
Glory to the self-written and lived work of Alban Ajeti as well as to all the martyrs who fell for the freedom of Kosovo.
Prime Minister Kurti’s full speech:
Honorable Rector of the University of Tetova, Professor Kushtrim Ahmeti,
Honorable Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Mr. Artan Grubi,
Honorable Chairman of the BDI, Mr. Ali Ahmeti,
Honorable KSF Commander, Lieutenant General Bashkim Jashari,
Honorable Director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Mr. Petrit Ajeti, brother of the martyr Alban Ajeti,
Honorable uncle Sheqir and other family members,
Honorable Director General of the Kosovo Police, Colonel Gazmend Hoxha,
Honorable Chairman of the Senate of the University of Tetova, Mr. Vullnet Ameti,
Honorable Deputy Minister of Defense of Kosovo, Mr. Shemsi Syla,
Honorable mayors of the municipalities of Tetova and Gjilan, Mr. Bilall Kasumi and Mr. Alban Hyseni,
Honorable Myfti Qani Efendi Nesimi,
Honorable ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo in North Macedonia Mr. Florent Qehaja,
Honorable chairman of the Association of Veterans of the National Liberation Army, Mr. Fazli Veliu,
Honorable vice-rectors, deans, professors and students of the University of Tetova,
Honorable war veterans, invalids and families of martyrs,
Ladies and gentleman,
Sisters and brothers,
The itineraries of the roads followed by the martyrs the build the map of the nation’s freedom, in which every place and every road must be recorded and marked with precision! It is exactly these signs, the ones that ask us to come from Pristina here to Tetovo to remember a martyr from Gjilan. Along the paths of freedom, oftentimes, martyrs are both road pavers and guideposts! It is our duty, then, to keep the paths opened by the martyrs of freedom always open, for which it is necessary that those paths be trodden and the places where they lead be visited from time to time and as often as possible.
There are many ways to follow the paths taken by heroes and martyrs: from learning about their ideals, to following those ideals. In the case of the martyr Alban Ajeti, we can orient ourselves in his work and life through Alban’s own words, as he articulated and arranged them in his poems, which he saw as important enough to keep as secret.
Just as three months after the liberation of Kosovo, a hidden poem by Alban about his mother was discovered, in the first verse of which, Alban asked his mother Fazlije not to cry because he had died. There are more than 40 of his poems saved, through which one can understand the world of thoughts and feelings of their author, Alban Ajeti, especially during the war. So, as if today, April 14, 1998, at 10:45, Alban wrote a poem about Adem Jashari, of course, without knowing that the date when he wrote this poem, a year after he himself would be martyred.
While Alban had written poetry for Adem Jashari a month earlier, on March 10, 1998, three days after Adem’s fall, as he had also written poetry for Hamëz Jashari a day later, on March 11. Apparently, he had created a habit of being a chronicler poet, following step by step the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army by writing poems about its martyrs, still not knowing that he himself would join them.
This becomes clear when we follow the dates below Alban’s poems, such as the case of the poem “Simbolet e lirisë”, written by Alban on the evening of February 18, 1997, while he was here in Tetovo as a student. This poem is dedicated to Zahir Pajaziti, Hakif Zejnullah and Edmond Hoxha and was written only 18 days after their fall, on January 31, 1997.
I’m quoting:
“The boys of Albania did not give up,
that they are taught to be free,
to fly over the sky of the motherland…
No, you will never die, you symbols of freedom”
This is what Alban wrote in his poem about Zahir, Hakif and Edmond, in 1997 here in Tetovo, weaving verses in the second person plural, with ‘you’, in which he addresses the three martyrs with the words: “No, you will never die, you symbols of freedom”.
Until he returned from Tetova to Gjilan and joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, Alban Ajeti continued to write poems about Gjilan, about Kosovo, about war and death for the homeland, about Bekim Berisha and Adrian Krasniqi, as well as about the spring of freedom, which he only knew its first days. This is because on April 15, 1999, Alban Ajeti was killed in fighting with Serbian forces in Upper Zhegoc, becoming a martyr for freedom. With the nickname “Pëllumbi”, Alban Ajeti had fought wearing the uniform of the KLA as a fighter of Brigade 171 “Kadri Zeka”, in the Operational Zone of Karadak, together with Pajazit Ahmeti, Sali Mustafa, Fadil Rashiti, Skender Veseli, Raif Musliu and many other soldiers of the same oath and uniform.
The Kosovo Liberation Army confronted the Serbian occupying forces who were implementing the genocidal extermination plan throughout Kosovo, killing and massacring and using sexual rape as a weapon of war. Today’s date also coincides with the memorial day of the survivors of sexual violence of the last war in Kosovo, so I also started today in Pristina with tributes and honors to all the victims and survivors of this war crime.
True, the lives of the martyrs were cut in battles, but their extensions extend from the past of the time of war to our present, in endless forms, as today here in Tetovo, that we have gathered to remember the work of Alban Ajeti, the student of the University of Tetova, the chronicler poet from Gjilan and the “Pëllumbi” martyr of the KLA. However, Alban did not manage to complete his pharmacy studies and did not manage to get a degree from the University of Tetova, because time required him to exchange the status of a student for that of a freedom fighter. But, precisely by fighting for the freedom of Kosovo, he received the diploma of the martyr of the nation, a diploma that no university in the world can issue, and which Alban received under the emblem of the KLA. It is precisely this difference, what makes history and what has brought us together here today, to remember Alban and his comrades in arms.
Of course, it is not a coincidence that this university of yours and ours, where Alban came, was started and built with many sacrifices and the blood of martyrs. It will soon be three decades since the establishment of this University with the well-known professor Fadil Sylejmani as its first rector.
Glory to the self-written and lived work of Alban Ajeti as well as to all the martyrs who fell for the freedom of Kosovo.
Last modified: April 26, 2023