Honorable President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Vjosa Osmani Sadriu,
Honorable Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo Mr. Glauk Konjufca,
Honorable Deputy Speakers of the Assembly of the Republic, Mrs. Saranda Bogujevci,
Honorable Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and MPs,
Honorable Commander of the Kosovo Security Force, Lieutenant General Bashkim Jashari,
Honorable Uncle Rifat, Rifat Jashari,
Excellencies ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of friendly countries,
Honorable families of the martyrs,
Honorable invalids and veterans of the liberation war,
Honorable soldiers of the Kosovo Security Force,
Honorable partners of international and local organizations,
Dear citizens of the Republic,
Ladies and gentleman,
Since March 1999, while it was still wartime, when the “Hamez Jashari” Military Artistic Troupe, composed of actors and soldiers, wearing the uniform of the Kosovo Liberation Army, marked the first anniversary of the resistance of the Jashari family, the Kosovo army had a central role in the commemoration of the events of March 5, 6 and 7, 1998 in Prekaz. At that time, the first anniversary of these events was marked with the motto “He is alive”, before March came again, and this ceremony became annual and was marked with the name of the KLA Epic, as we still call it today.
On this 25th anniversary of the KLA Epic, let us remember the beginnings of this commemorative tradition, started on March 5, 6 and 7, 1999, when KLA soldiers first said: “He is alive”. Those days were still the time of war, of that war for which Adem Jashari had prepared all his life and that war that he devoted his whole life to. They were told “He is alive” even though he had died for freedom, because it was precisely his heroic fall that had caused Adem Jashari to remain alive among the soldiers of the Kosovo Liberation Army. “He is alive” even today, especially today, and especially to you soldiers of the Kosovo Security Force.
It is so because the origin of the Kosovo army must be sought at the end of the 80s, when Adem started talking to his friends about the need for Kosovo to have an army. Therefore, today, we also fulfill the vision of Adem Jashari for the Kosovo army at that time, as we help the Kosovo Security Force, which is in the process of transformation into the Kosovo Armed Forces, by increasing the personnel and increasing the capacities, being equipped with modern weaponry and being trained in the best military academies of our allied countries.
Just as in 1991, Adem Jashari was trained by the officers of the Albanian Army, together with about 100 other volunteers, among whom is the one who can be called the other wing of the double-headed eagle, which the KLA would carry on its head and in wing, Zahir Pajaziti.
After these trainings, Adem, Hamza and many other friends, united around the idea of the war for the liberation of Kosovo, would create the first armed groups, which would then constitute the core cells from which the Kosovo Liberation Army would be conceived and born.
It was 1993, when their older brother, Uncle Rifat Jashari, who was working in Germany, would send Hamza and Adem military uniforms from there. These are the uniforms we have seen Adam and Hamza wearing in the photographs and video recordings of that time. Even symbolically, they can be called the first uniforms of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The one who had bought those military uniforms in 1993, thus making it the biggest and most precious investment for Kosovo, Uncle Rifat Jashari, is among us today, in front of the thousands of uniforms worn by the soldiers of the Kosovo Security Force.
Moreover, all this is happening in this commemorative ceremony of the 25th anniversary of the heroic fall of Adem Jashari, in the central barracks of the Kosovo Security Forces, which bears the name “Adem Jashari” Barracks. Therefore, you soldiers and non-commissioned officers and officers of the Kosovo Security Force, every time you wear your uniform, do not forget that you are wearing a uniform derived from the uniform of Adem Jashari, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
As you did today, when you prepared under this uniform in the squares, to line up in front of your commander, the Commander of the Kosovo Security Force, Lieutenant General Bashkim Jashari, the nephew of Commander Adem Jashari. A survivor of the fighting in Prekaz in 1998, where he had resisted together with Adem, Hamza, Shaban and others in front of thousands of Serbian policemen and from which he had managed to get out alive, General Bashkim Jashari is not only the commander of the Kosovo Security Force, but also an extension and direct presence of that glorious history of liberation fighters, as well as that spirit of national values summarized in the life and figure of Adem Jashari.
On March 5, 6 and 7, 1998, the members of the Jashari family resisted in their hometown, where they had learned to love their country over the generations and where they were educated to fight for its freedom even with their lives. In the family of Shaban Jashari in Prekaz, it was fought for three days in a row, under an armored siege by several thousand police troops of Serbia, that with military machines in frontal proportions, fired shells and bombarded at very intense rates on the houses of Shaban, killing a total of 59 people.
Milosevic’s fascist Serbia thought at that time wrongly that by killing Adam and Hamza, it could extinguish the KLA and its just fight for the liberation of Kosovo. But by igniting the war in Prekaz, it only encouraged even more the mobilization and unification of people around the Kosovo Liberation Army, since from several groups of armed persons, with its fair and open war, it also managed to win the support of the NATO alliance and especially the United States of America, which then joined the war to deliver the final blows to Serbia and to liberate Kosovo in June 1999.
It was precisely this war, the one that not only freed us from the conqueror and the occupier and then brought us the state and the Republic, but also the one that created space for us to live in freedom and opened the way for us to build democratic and stable institutions . Thus, from an oppressed people and from an occupied country in the last century, in this century we have become a modern society that respects human freedoms and rights, as well as having built a democratic state, which is becoming stronger and more progressive every day.
Capable of protecting its citizens and committed to creating equal opportunities for everyone, the state of Kosovo is the institutional embodiment of the ideals of the fighters and fallen for freedom. As it also participates in joint military exercises with our strategic partners, while it is involved in international peacekeeping operations, while we increase the equipment, capabilities and budget, the Kosovo Security Force, is our reality that is actualizing Adem Jashari’s vision for the Kosovo Army.
Glory to Commander-in-Chief Adem Jashari, glory to all those who fell on March 5, 6 and 7, 1998, as well as to all those who gave their lives for the freedom of Kosovo!
Last modified: March 8, 2023