Gjakova, March 27, 2023
On the 24th anniversary of the kidnapping of 11 men and boys from Gjakova, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, visited the house-museum of the Qerkezi family, where he was received by Mother Ferdonije Qerkezi.
Prime Minister Kurti thanked Mother Ferdonije for the stability and courage she is giving to the entire Albanian people. He said that the Serbian forces did not take her four sons and her husband like many, many others because they belonged to the Qerkezi family, but because they were Albanians and loved their country.
“I know that the pain does not diminish, but at the same time it has kept you strong for a long time, and an entire nation has raised in solidarity with the Qerkezi family, and mother Ferdonije, that today there is no Albanian who does not know who she is and care about her”, he said.
The prime minister singled out the importance of opening the archives from Serbia, since the murder and disappearances during the war were part of the Serbian project for the extermination of Albanians, “Horseshoe”. He said that Serbia should be open to more research and opening of mass cemeteries. However, he emphasized that the fact that there are no memorial plaques in the mass graves discovered in Serbia is evidence that Serbia does not want the truth to be revealed.
Mother Ferdonije thanked Prime Minister Kurti for visiting the house, from where on March 27, 1999, mother Ferdonije’s husband, Halim and his four sons, Artan, Armend, Ardian, and Edmond, her grandson Vegim Qerkezi, their house friend Shpejtim Ymeraga, as well as neighbors Skender Dylhasi with his son Myrteza, and the two sons of the Jetishi family, Shpend and Fatos were kidnapped.
Along with Mother Ferdonije was Mother Dudije Dylhasi, whose son Myrteza and husband Skender were kidnapped by Serbian forces.
During his visit, the Prime Minister wrote in the memoirs book: “Artan and Armend, Ardian and Edmond, are the sons that Mother Ferdonije misses, because they were Albanians like all of us, who loved their country. Now we are all her sons, and she is the Mother of all our people, because everyone knows and loves her as a mother. The 24 years since the abduction of her four sons and her husband Halim have not diminished her pain, but have increased her strength, which she has carried to all of us. We love her as a Mother, we admire her as a Heroine, we thank her forever and we all owe her.“
In this visit together with Prime Minister Kurti was Andin Hoti, Chairman of the Governmental Committee on Missing Persons, as well as the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Abërie Nagavci and MP Mimoza Kusari, both of the same generation as Artan Qerkezi and Myrteza Dylhasi at the same school in Gjakova, and prof. Jahja Koka, who was in the same class with Halim Çerkezi. Minister Nagavci was also the teacher of Edmond Qerkezi, who was kidnapped and disappeared at the age of 14.
Last modified: March 28, 2023